Making+Thinking+Visible

=Deepening and Developing Understanding by Making Visible Thinking=

//Mark Church//

__Making Thinking Visible__ – how do we give ‘thinking space’ to what is behind the products of learning – important to recognise and show the messiness of thinking in the classroom – making the thinking visible reveals the story line of the class –listening for the learning –questions to probe thinking –questions demonstrate what is valued in the classroom - //how do we demonstrate that thinking is valuable?//

Learning is a product of thinking

Some issues:
 * thinking is ‘invisible’ so how do we reveal thinking
 * word ‘thinking’ is very ubiquitous in nature - we overuse it often, we are often not specific about the kind of thinking we have asked for


 * Thinking Routines** - how do these assist with activating learning?

They are a good way of beginning to get thinking going in the classroom

Thinking Routines are procedures, practices, structures for activating or facilitating specific thinking moves and behaviours.

Characterised by a few steps; easy to learn and remember; get used over and over; useful across many settings; public and private; activate and direct thinking

__Strategy Used within the session:__ Use the [|3 2 1 strategy] to explore the topic of ‘Maps and Mapping’ //(How a map means?)//

Some questions to ask as you work with the routine: What do you notice about our two lists? How do our thoughts bridge with our latest, newest thinking? What new territory did we cross into with this piece of learning?

It is not a before and after list ....... but rather as a result of the article ‘....as inspired by the article...’ It has moved the thinking towards ‘how a map means’ (the big questions)

Use the [|Explanation Game] If we called it the 'Map Game' - it would then becomes the map game and an activity. As a routine - ‘Explanation Game’ it can be used again and again in different contexts as a routine & the questions can be used again eg What do you see? ......It communicates that is how we learn in this room


 * What do you see?
 * What do you think this could be or mean?
 * What makes you say that?
 * What else do you think this could be mean?


 * What else do you see ? (important that students move into this question often during the process so that they don’t stop at their first idea and close their thinking down)

Record the thinking on sheets creates an artifact of thinking, to come back to later

It is about creating a learning opportunities for students but also creating learning opportunities for the teacher

This strategy exemplifies what students bring to the task - what they already know.

Questions to ask about the routines:

//entry points are rich, critical thinking about why you think, ‘coming into the practice of thinking’, the big ideas come to the foreground,//
 * How did this experience convey a sense of the power and dynamics for developing ideas?


 * How did this experience jump right into a big subject matter idea?


 * How did this experience begin laying a foundation for ongoing dialogue?

So what was the map about? Present a number a titles of the maps for students to consider ..... so what do you think that map is about? Students go back to the map and think about its title (__thinking reloaded)__

[|Visible Thinking Website]