Pausing for Research
I am pausing blogging to focus on researching educational strategies.
Community Insights Wanted - Share thoughts, ideas, and the research.
There are many different instructional strategies that all promote student growth and achievement. How are they different? How are they the same? Where do they overlap? This blog is a call for anyone to share their experiences and knowledge on different instructional strategies that teachers use to facilitate a comparison deep dive.
Reading Interventions and The Thinking Classroom Framework
The thinking classroom framework has applications beyond math instruction. It is a student-centered approach that can be applied to reading interventions and Special Education academic interventions. The data collected from the rubric will provide a more comprehensive picture of students over time.
Building a Thinking Classroom Framework: Putting It All Together
Moving to a thinking classroom is a cultural shift for the teacher and students in a classroom, but the benefits out way any inconvenience that comes with making the change. From autonomy to increased responsibility for learning and transference to grade level assessments, the thinking classroom nurtures life long learners, which is the ultimate goal in education.
(Image from Building Thinking Classrooms, p. 281.)
Using Rubrics to Inform and Support Learning Outcomes
How are students graded in a thinking classroom? Peter Liljedahl works with teachers to create a rubric that provides feedback on specific skills and the learning path in addition to providing a grade for the unit of study. This rubric structure emphasizes learning outcomes rather than just earning points.
Thinking Classrooms and Consolidation and Feedback
How do you make sure students are thinking deeply to integrate new knowledge and growing academically? Peter Liljedahl discusses a process of consolidation and feedback that he and the teachers he worked with found effective for just this purpose. Read the blog to find out more.
Using Thinking Task To Build Autonomy In Students
One problem teachers face is how to build independent, thinking students. Students who don’t give up easily and can persist through a challenge. Thinking tasks are a strategy that can help build a thinking community in the classroom. Read on to learn more.
The How, The When, The Where of Assigning Thinking Tasks
How, when, where teachers assign problems or thinking task matters. Choosing the optimal time and providing the context of the problem are key to helping students organize their thinking and engage in the learning process. In this blog, I review Peter Liljedahl’s research on the how, the when and the where. Read on to find out more.
Thinking Classrooms and Classroom Layout
How furniture is arranged in the classroom can impact student engagement and learning. Peter Liljedahl investigated this impact on students’ expectations, thinking, and behaviors in his book, Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics.
Thinking Classrooms: Standing vs. Sitting
When we think about students learning, the typical image is students sitting and working at their desks. That notion is challenged in Building Thinking Classrooms. Peter Liljedahl’s research tested and revealed different ways that students engage with the learning process and found one way that disrupts the disengaged behaviors that interfere with learning.
Thinking Classrooms and Randomized Groups
Building thinking classrooms includes grouping students appropriately to maximize their engagement, participation and learning. The best way to do this is with randomized groups. Read my blog to learn more about Liljedahl’s research on randomized groups.
Let’s Examine Thinking Tasks
When tutoring, thinking tasks can be used at the beginning of instruction to help students transition and get them ready to think. Thinking tasks also build students’ ability to think critically by applying their knowledge to novel situations and using out-of-box thinking to solve problems.
Learning Why to Disrupt Teaching Norms
As a tutor and educator, I need to use strategies that disrupt habits of not thinking and getting by. This book study of Peter Liljedahl’s book, Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics, explores the research and proven strategies that will increase students’ engagement, thinking, and learning.
Using Challenges to Get Students Thinking
Using challenges or puzzles at the beginning of a lesson will help engage students in the lesson and learning process. Challenges like this not only engage students in the learning process, but they also provide a quick informative assessment that can help you determine what students need.
Vocabulary Activity for Comprehension
Tutoring for reading comprehension needs to include vocabulary. This activity is a great way to help students interact with the vocabulary, make meaningful connections and transfer that knowledge and understanding to their reading.
Reading Comprehension Game: Scrambled Sentences
Scrambled Sentences is a great way to review a book or chapter that students have read. It’s also a great way to review basic writing mechanics.
Building Addition and Subtraction Skills
When tutoring a student who struggles with regrouping and multi-digit addition, the tutor needs to consider the skills the student didn’t solidify in a previous grade. This blog post briefly reviews how addition and subtraction skills build from kindergarten through sixth grade and where possible problems may arise.
Reading Games for Tutoring
Reading Intervention Games for Tutoring. Poison Star is a great game to review old and new skills. Students get to practice their segmenting, decoding, blending and reading skills with this game and build fluency with practice.
Tutoring Interventions for Reading: Multisyllabic Words
Reading interventions for multisyllabic words involves systematic instruction and practice. This plan for tutoring breaks down how I would approach this situation.
Reading Tutoring Activities That Work
Tutoring activities for reading interventions are critical. They need to review new skills, integrate old skills, provide opportunities to practice, challenge students and be engaging. This activity does that. By chunking words into beginning sounds (consonant, blends, digraphs) and ending sounds (vowel with a blend or digraph) on cards that students can manipulate, students can practice their reading skills and complete challenges that have students access their phonological awareness. This activity is a great tool for reading interventions and tutoring.