Making Thinking Visible - Chapter 6

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Making Thinking Visible - Chapter 6

As with previous chapters, the title of each routine links to more information and my notes and comments follow each title.  This chapter had several routines that I don't really see using much in math classes and to be honest, my attention in this book really started waning in this chapter from pure overload, so if you've used one of these routines successfully in math class, please let me know!

What Makes You Say That?

• I definitely want to incorporate this question into my classroom!
• This routine seems to be the easiest routine in the book to implement and one that has great potential for visible thinking.  Simple, but deep.
• The author calls this the "magic question", that can transform a class into justifying their thinking and over time, students adopt this question as part of their classroom discussions without prompting.
• Link above has an example where the teacher put a controversial statement on the board with the question "What makes me say that?" to ask students to make predictions and inferences about why someone would think a certain way.

Circle of Viewpoints

• This routine focuses on seeing the point of view of others.  It can be easy for us to have tunnel vision and see a situation from our perspective, but to force ourselves to see the situation through the eyes of others is important as well.
• I really don't see much use of this one in a math class, it definitely seems like a better fit for Language Arts or History classes regarding the viewpoints of different characters or historical figures.
• While I didn't see much application here, I did like this quote:  "..students are always trying to figure out 'what we want from them.'  If they get the impression a superficial or comical response will do, they will give us more of the some.  Continue to push students' thinking."  I think that is a great reminder for a variety of classroom activities and structures.  It reminds me of another quote... 'What we permit, we promote.'  

Step Inside

• Similar to Circle of Viewpoints above, this routine also asks students to look at situations from another perspective.
• In the link above, there is a great example for Language Arts that illustrates "stepping inside" a character from a book to analyze his thoughts and feelings, however this would be more difficult with math, I think.  The best I could come up with would be a problem worked in multiple ways or maybe with error analysis and ask "What was Johnny thinking when he did this step?"

Red Light Yellow Light

• This is a good critical reading strategy that would work well in AVID.  It seems to have a lot of potential, but I'm not sure how to use it in math.  I could see students maybe marking "Red" for parts of a question they don't understand at all and "Yellow" for parts they are unsure about but are able to at least attempt, but that's all I've got. :)
• From a professional learning standpoint, this could be used with articles or research in a PLC.

Claim Support Question

• The author provides several examples of CSQ in the book, but to be entirely honest, I don't see myself using this routine.  There is something about it that doesn't flow well in my head and I can't really put my finger on it.  If you've used this routine, please help me out!

Tug of War

• I really like the visual aspect of the "tug of war" continuum, but the only application in math that I can think of would be with true/false or maybe WODB with a 4 way tug of war.  However, neither of those really allow for answers along the tug rope.
• According to the author, "If students are not connected to or engaged with the dilemma, it will be difficult for them to do good thinking."  (Sidenote:  I totally agree with the author here.  I struggled to do good thinking in this chapter because I felt disconnected from the routines being presented due to their lack of math application)
• Suggestion from the author:  Follow up with the "I used to think... Now I think..." routine

Sentence - Phrase - Word

• Another critical thinking routine that I would have loved to use with my AVID class or maybe with a professional learning community.
• I love the summarization aspect of finding a sentence in the reading that spoke to you (and why!); a phrase that you really liked (and why!); and finally a single word that has meaning to you (and why!)
• I need to try this out with some statistical reading - maybe an article or a section in the textbook? 

Okay, almost done with this book (YAY).  This was the final day of the routines and tomorrow I'll summarize Chapters 7/8 and be DONE!  I greatly apologize for not having exciting posts this week, but I had to get Making Thinking Visible out of my head and onto digital paper so that I can move on to more interesting posts :)