Getting Keyed up for Thinking

Giving students tools that unlock critical and creative thinking can help them develop thinking skills and embed their learning more deeply. Hanna Miller shows how Thinker’s Keys provide a great framework for motivating students and supporting learning objectives.

As Lead of Thinking in a multi-academy trust, I am often asked what the ideal starting point for the ‘thinking journey’ is. Of vital importance is the context of the school and their needs, but regardless of these, I am always keen to involve Tony Ryan’s Thinker’s Keys at some point near the start of my ‘dream journey’.

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      string(300) "... evidence for this is non-flying birds and injured birds).Open and closed questions and OQMOne should not confuse OQM with open questions. The sharp-eyed among you will have noticed that not all the questions asked by the teacher in the latter example were open: the last question was ..."
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      string(5612) "student has now revealed his true position, one of high probability and not certainty. On this occasion, it has resulted in the student qualifying his answer (‘all birds fly except…’) in light of some of his unearthed beliefs (that ‘not all birds fly’; his evidence for this is non-flying birds and injured birds).Open and closed questions and OQMOne should not confuse OQM with open questions. The sharp-eyed among you will have noticed that not all the questions asked by the teacher in the latter example were open: the last question was grammatically closed (eliciting a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response). But, importantly, the questioner never went beyond what had been said, she encouraged the student to do so by putting what the student had said back to him and then requiring that he consider the implications of what he had said. By doing so, she urged him to reveal more of his cognitive content. Here are some examples of how OQM can be used (or not used) with open or closed questions.First, an open question but with a closed question mindset (GWIMH):T: What do you notice about this poem?S: It’s too long!T: Anyone else?S: It’s rubbish!T: Do you notice anything else? For instance, does it rhyme?This teacher clearly has certain things she is expecting, and the answers she’s getting are not included in the sorts of things she is looking for. Once she realizes that the open question is not achieving what she wanted, she resorts to leading questions (‘For instance, does it rhyme?’) This is a very common questioning style employed by many teachers (though, probably not strategically in most cases). It is a common response to the criticism that teachers use too many closed questions. The problem arises when the teacher changes his or her style from closed to open questions without making a corresponding change in his or her mindset. In these kinds of situations confusion usually ensues in the classroom as a result of disingenuousness from the teacher and the children consequently trying to ascertain the hidden agenda; what the teacher is really asking. In this situations, my advice to teachers is to be honest and transparent: if you want to teach, teach – don’t disguise your teaching in disingenuous open enquiry; if you want to tell the students something in particular, tell them. And if you want to find out what they think about something, find out what they think.Secondly, closed questions but with an open question mindset:T: Is this a poem? (Closed question)Student A: No.T: Can you say why not? (Opening up the closed question for justification)A: Because it’s not long enough?T: Does a poem need to be a certain length? (Closed question)Student B: Not really.T: Go on… (Opening up with a prompt this time)B: Because a poem can be any length?T: So, do you think it’s a poem? (Anchoring back to the main question)B: No.T: Interesting. Do you mind saying why not? (Opening up again for justification)B: Because it is not a complete thought.T: [Echoing] ‘It’s not a complete thought’. Could you say what you mean by ‘a complete thought’? (Opening up for meaning)This teacher is clearly interested in the answers given and seems only to be looking for the answers that are offered by the students. I would describe her approach as ‘descriptive’ not ‘prescriptive’.Thirdly, we have – possibly – the most interesting example. Here is an open question used to gather a closed list of answers (e.g. rhyme, rhythm, meter, stanza and so on) but where the teacher is genuinely interested in what else is offered, and in this way demonstrates OQM:T: What is poetry?Student A: It rhymes. [Teacher writes ‘rhyme?’ on the board and ticks it off her list]T: Thank you. What does everyone else think about that?Student B: Poetry doesn’t have to rhyme but it has to have rhythm. [Teacher writes ‘rhythm?’ on the board and ticks it off]A: Why does it have to have rhythm if it doesn’t have to rhyme?B: Okay, maybe it needs one or the other; it’s just prose if it’s got neither.Student C: I think a poem is a worded thought.T: What a lovely expression: ‘a worded thought’. [She writes up ‘a worded thought’ on the board] Can you say more about that? It’s certainly not on the list of things I have here! [Pointing to her lesson plan document then leaning forward to listen with an encouraging smile]C: Something you think that you find the right words for…It is also worth pointing out that OQM comes not only from questioning and listening but also from body language, tone, eye contact and so on. Being interested is exactly that: a way of being, not just an employed strategy. To this extent, a good teacher is a listening one.It’s right to be wrong!But what about when there’s a right answer and the children get it wrong? I would still recommend encouraging the students to report what they think, even if it’s wrong, because it gives you – the teacher – an opportunity to find out why they think that that is the answer. Teaching is – or should be – about bringing understanding to students (or is it about bringing students to understanding?). If a student does not know or understand something then the first step towards understanding is for the teacher to know what it is the student doesn’t comprehend and why. If students stop saying things because they don’t want the teacher to know that they don’t know something, or are afraid of appearing foolish, then learning opportunities will be missed. An OQM teacher listens in order to understand, questions in order to"
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Creative Teaching & Learning

The Listening Teacher

14 Dec 2016

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      string(5105) "parent-child planning as the key to unlocking children’s minds and enabled them to find outwhat children thought about and what was important and interesting to them■ Staff found it easier to support children■ Staff saw the importance of giving children time to that extended day to day to allow their plans todevelop■ Planning at home resulted in play, which was based upon children’s own lives.■ Parent-child planning showed that children regularly learn through their real life relationships andexperiences■ Parents or carers of 3 year olds were of the opinion that it helped them to form happy relationshipswith staff and other children although they thought that hey might be too young for planning activityin isolation from other activities■ Parents and carers of older children saw it as a valuable means of enabling children to develop self-discipline■ Parents and carers thought that it provided a self-imposed structure that helped children sort out howto go about things■ Parents or carers commented on the better channels of communication which were opened up withstaff as a resultThe overall findings suggested that parents or carers and the home culture are at the centre of children’slives and learning, putting parents or carers in a strong position to influence much of the content andcontext of the curriculum.Source: Bridge, 2001■■ Professional Learning Task: Developing involvementIn what ways does this initiative at Bell Nursery, designed to involve parents or carers in their children’s learningand development, complement their role as outlined in Table 1?How important is the development of relationships in this example? (you will need to give examples fromthe evidence provided)43raise achievement throughparent andcarer engagement……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………➜ How to…■■ Conclusion- Achieving EarlyIt is worth reflecting on the example of the BellNursery in the context of current government policy,which aims to raise achievement, increase access andreduce the attainment gap. The Tickell review (2011)acknowledged the importance of early years settingsworking in partnership with parents in this process.Current policy and research reflects the Achievement forAll Achieving Early programme – which is working withEarly Years providers to ensure that no child starts schoolat a disadvantage; emotionally, academically or socially.Achieving Early is delivered by dedicated, specialistEarly Years professionals and is designed to supportsettings to meet the needs of the most vulnerablechildren. The approach includes identification andassessment of need, planning and tracking progress, andmeets the criteria for Early Years Pupil Premium, whichcan be used to fund the Achieving Early programme.Achieving Early has four interdependent elements:■ Leadership and management■ Progress and learning■ Health, happiness and wellbeingWorking with others. This element supports theestablishment and strengthening of relationships withparents and carers, including those that you may findhard to reach.Achieving Early uses a proven approach – TakingTime for Talk – that helps build effective relationshipsbetween parents, children and staff to ensure parentsare in the best possible position to support their child’sdevelopment and work with the setting.References: Blandford, S. and Knowles, C. (forthcoming) DevelopingProfessional Practice 0-7, Abingdon: Routledge ■ Bridge, H. (2001)Increasing parental involvement in the Preschool Curriculum: whatan action research case study revealed, International Journal ofEarly Years Education, Vol. 9, No.1 ■ Katz, L. G. (1984) ContemporaryPerspectives on the Roles of Mothers and Teachers. In More Talkswith Teachers, Urbana IL., ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementaryand Early Childhood Education:1-26. ■ Keyes, C. (2002) A Wayof Thinking about Parents/Teacher Partnerships for Teachers,International Journal of Early Years Education, Vol. 10, no.3. ■ Sylva,K Melhuish, E, Sammons, P Siraj-Blatchford, I and Taggart, B (2004)Effective Pre-School Education. Final Report. DfES. London: Instituteof Education ■ Tickell, C. (2011) The Early Years: An independentreport on the Early Years Foundation Stage to Her Majesty’sGovernment, London: CrownSandra Garner, Pat Gould and Lesley WoodwardThe basis for successful mathematicaldevelopment is laid down in firstexperiences. These games andactivities are centred on earlymathematical ideas and concepts.Each pack contains 20 games, suitablefor nursery and key stage 1 children.309 Scott House, Gibb St, Digbeth, Birmingham B9 4DT Fax: 0121 224 7598www.teachingtimesbookshop.co.uk/product-category/early-years/Order Hotline 0121 224 7599For Postage & Packing add:"
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Professional Development

How to... raise achievement through parent and carer engagement

21 Sep 2015

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      string(310) "... by first talking through the type of processing that they are usingwith certain pieces of information. I then introduced the map as a method of getting the thinking onto paper.After using the thinking maps a couple of times in this way, I am now able to present students with ..."
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      string(5751) "displayed and incorporate their language into your practice.The wider role of Philosophical Enquiry and thinking tools in creating a thoughtful and considered approachto the world needs to be recognised by the educational community and not merely as a ‘bolt-on’ activityto broaden the curriculum.Carl HubbardTeacher of Science and Literacy CoordinatorExtending thinking in scienceI have used many thinking tools with my science groups and feel that one of the most beneficial towardsstudent progress and individual learning are the thinking maps. I introduced the thinking maps with classesin each year group and have found that they are generally accepted more at KS3 than KS4. However,where KS4 students have taken them on board and used them, they have realised their benefits. In somecircumstances, they have found them to be a useful revision tool.I have now been using thinking maps for a couple of years and can see the development of the use ofmaps throughout early KS3. As these students progress, they will continue to come into contact with themaps, which should provide them with very useful skills when it comes to revision for GCSEs. By usingthese maps and understanding the thinking processes behind them, they are also likely to become moreindependent learners, which will obviously benefit them in their examination years.I introduced each mind map to the class by first talking through the type of processing that they are usingwith certain pieces of information. I then introduced the map as a method of getting the thinking onto paper.After using the thinking maps a couple of times in this way, I am now able to present students with theinformation and they are generally able to derive and complete the correct thinking map. I am confidentthat with further use, the students will choose to use the correct maps without any guidance, and in someinstances this has already been the case. More capable Year 7 students are already asking to put informationinto the thinking maps without prompting.The next step and one that I am currently working on is the use of the ‘frame of reference’ which extendsthe thinking and can be used to increase complexity of the task. Where this has been used, students havebeen very keen and the process has clearly increased their thinking skills. It can be used to differentiatework and provide extension tasks for higher ability students.When using thinking maps, I’ve found it essential to plan the lesson objectives first and then choosethe correct maps to suit the processing skills needed for each lesson. The use of thinking maps just forthe sake of using them is likely to do more harm than good. As a whole school measure, they are mosteffective when introduced to KS3 as I have found them to be more receptive. The skills will then be takenup through KS4 and beyond by the students.Kelly KnightTransition Coordinator and Teacher of ScienceMaps in the maths roomI have found that the easiest thinking map to introduce into the maths classroom is the circle map,representing defining in context. I use it regularly at the start of a new topic. The students are given the topicin the centre circle and then as a starter activity, asked to fill in everything they know about it. There areno restrictions given and students can use words, comments, examples, pictures and of course, numbers.This activity encourages them to access the lowest rung on Bloom’s revised taxonomy – ‘remembering’– upon which all new learning is built.While the students are working, I circulate the room, asking questions, offering praise and returning tonnThinkingSkills14Volume4.2nCreativeTeaching&Learningthe board to put up the students’ ideas.Class discussion follows, and the boardis further updated during the discussion.Misconceptions can be addressed here ifappropriate, or if not, at a later time. Thequestioning is crucial at this stage as itmoves students up another level in Bloom’staxonomy to ‘understanding’, and can eveninch into the next level, ‘applying’. This thirdlevel is more usually addressed in the mainbody of the lesson though.Personally, I find the use of the circle mapincredibly useful as it informs me of what thestudents can actually recall independently orthrough nudges from their peers, and letsme know where I initially need to pitch thetopic. The frame of reference in this map isunused in this type of activity, as the ‘Howdo I know what I know?’ is all too oftenanswered with ‘Because my teacher toldme…’ or ‘I learnt it from Mr so-and-so lastyear’!Some teachers in the department get thestudents to return to their circle map to addtheir new learning to it in different coloursonce the topic is finished, while others useother tools to reinforce and consolidatelearning.Often in the main body of the lesson, Iwill use the flow map to identify a strategythat students need to follow for a particularprocess, such as adding/subtractingfractions. The flow map should be writtenfrom left to right, but since maths movesdown the page, it makes more sense forthe flow map to be written downwards. Thisis very useful as it ties up nicely with boardwork showing an example.Having the strategy as a sequence ofevents provides the students with theopportunity to become more independent.All too often, we finish the teaching partand students put their hands up and say‘Miss, I don’t get it’. If the strategy in theirbooks is clear, concise and can be directlylinked to an appropriate example, they haveno excuse and I invoke the ‘C3B4ME’ rule.This is where the students need"
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Creative Teaching & Learning

Cognitive tools across the curriculum

18 Oct 2013

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      string(5715) "example, if a child wearing the yellow hat noticesa flaw in the plan, another child in the group can stopthat line of thinking – and tell them to save it for blackhat thinking. Getting back on track is part of the bluerole – it can be put on briefly to remind a group of thetask in hand.Case study: using the Thinking Hats in anofficeA fictional business is considering opening its building topublic tours. Here’s how the staff could use Thinking Hatsto discuss the issue.Facilitator: Let’s start with some red hat thinking on this– how do you feel about it? I’ll move round the room andeveryone can speak briefly or gesture.There are a variety of responses. Some say they hate it,some say great. Some shrug their shoulders. One blowsa raspberry.Facilitator: OK – we need some white hat thinking. In yourgroups, can you spend five minutes or so listing whatwe know to be true? Can someone act as a scribe foreach group?All the groups work collaboratively and produce listsof fact. Questions arise – one group wants to clarifywhether the public would access all areas. There aresome points of drifting – one employee, Mr Black, saysthere would be traffic chaos. He is reminded that thegroup is in White Hat mode, so his concern is recordedas a question: “What would the impact of public accessbe on local traffic?”Facilitator: (takes the feedback and lists what needs to befound out, and who will do it.) Lets move on to yellow,black and green hats. What are the pros and cons?The proposal’s supporters lead the yellow hat conversation.With prompting, the others come up with statementsstarting with “I suppose…” or “Maybe…” A list of potentialpositive benefits, some of them funny, are listed. With black hat, the people who like the idea find itdifficult – but they contribute some possible areas ofconcern. These ideas are listed too.The facilitiator then allows ten minutes for some greenhat thinking. When the group seems to be struggling forideas, he introduces some random word techniques tospark off ideas. Hilarity arises – but there are some credibleideas offered. Summing up, the facilitator lists some tasks– mostly fact finding – and arranges a follow up meetingto pursue some of the new suggestions.The most important thing in this example is that thediscussion is harmonious, focused and target orientated.I’ve seen it used in primary school councils to makedecisions about recycling and in sixth form colleges (seeLouise Astbury’s feature) in a wider creative learningproject.Case Study two: using the Thinking Hats ina secondary schoolPicture this. Year eight – a pretty boisterous group in Stokeon Trent. The school is a ‘Change School’ – which meansthey are developing a new creative curriculum to try tochange behaviour, partly funded by Creative Partnerships.This has allowed the school to employ a graphic designerto help the Communications Team (English and ICT)to deliver a project which links several subjects into a‘Mantle of the Expert’ project. (In a ‘mantle of the expert’project, students pretend to be experts in a field solvingbusiness problems. Projects like this are thought to sparkchildren’s imaginations and encourage them to come upwith creative ideas.)In this project, the students are ‘employees’ of a failingsoft drinks company – StokaCola. Their jobs are on theline. New products are required – which need branding– to save the company. Some external consultants havebeen brought in to help the company but the ideas, themarket profiling and the manufacture and marketing ofthe products is up to the employees.When the class enter the classroom on the first day, theyare initially bemused to be in role, but they soon warm up tothe task. They are asked to identify where the problems liein the current branding. The children immediately decidedthat the name ‘StokaCola’ was too regional. They foundproblems with the image of cheap cola – they thought itwas too unhealthy.The children then drew ideas for new products, butthere was a lot of disagreement in the group. The childrenneeded help to work more co-operatively and to organisetheir thinking. We decide to start the next session with some 10Pedagogy in practice   www.teachingtimes.comTeaching Thinking&Creativity  Vol 10:1Professional Development training – with a ‘managementconsultant’ (or me!) specialising in Six Thinking Hats.I asked the groups to identify what their problemswere. They nearly all maintained their roles and spoke infirst person as if their enterprise was real. I give them anoverview of Thinking Hats and explained that we weregoing to use the hats to decide on a new cola brand.Even children who had taken entrenched positions theday before showed they were able to see the potentialweaknesses in their ideas when doing the Hats exercise.One child who normally found it very hard to concentratewas fully focused in this task – he found it easy to switchmodes of thinking quickly.Far more ideas were generated after thinking hatstraining – and the ideas were followed through. The teachersaid she was amazed how well the children had retainedthe colours. We were delighted to overhear children talkingabout the colours in class conversations – saying: “We needto put on a black hat here”.The Thinking Hats formed only a small part of the process.But the important thing is that it was contextualised in a‘real’ context. Thinking skills are often taught in isolation.While it is necessary for the hats to be ‘taught’ andexperienced"
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Creative Teaching & Learning

Hats off to collaboration

22 Nov 2009

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      string(461) "... severaldecades, has recently (Hargreaves 2014) reflected onemerging forms of school-to-school collaboration.While identifying the importance of professionallearning and ‘joint practice development’, his analysisis keyed into organisational thinking. From thatstandpoint, his thinking notes a progression from oldhierarchical structures, through strategic alliances tocomplexity and chaos theory.The kinds of collaborations ..."
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      string(5020) "door when we start our developmentsessions’, but that perception is unlikely to be sharedPolicy andpractice23……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………fully by the more vulnerable members of the group.Developing new understandings of what it means tobe a senior practitioner within a mature profession willmainly concern activity outside the home institution,including assessment, mentoring, and contributing todevelopmental working groups.The distinction between professional andorganisational relationships has even more implicationsat the level of cross-institution working, particularlyin relation to school leadership. The term ‘schoolleadership’ itself neatly amalgamated its componentparts: policy-making, governance, professional andpedagogic direction, and administration – each of whichhad different ground-rules and loci of responsibilityunder English constitutional conventions. The effecthas been to enable central governments to operate acommand and control structure using headteachers asits branch managers, some of whom have been elevatedas ‘system leaders’.This has been combined with the central idea of the‘autonomous school’ to produce current understandingsof ‘school-to-school support’, and ‘self-improving schoolsystems’. These have depended on the personification of‘schools’: schools take decisions and collaborate in certainways, as if schools were sentient persons; as if schoolswere not composed of people with minds of their own.This implies that organisational concepts, structures andlegalities underpin working relationships that in realityare often messy and ill-defined, combining a mixtureof individual and institutional relationships whichlack transparent accountability. David Hargreaves, amonumental thought leader in this field for severaldecades, has recently (Hargreaves 2014) reflected onemerging forms of school-to-school collaboration.While identifying the importance of professionallearning and ‘joint practice development’, his analysisis keyed into organisational thinking. From thatstandpoint, his thinking notes a progression from oldhierarchical structures, through strategic alliances tocomplexity and chaos theory.The kinds of collaborations to which Hargreavesrefers are actually much simpler to understand from theviewpoint of professionalism. Instead of focusing onhow schools as organisations are relating to each other,professionalism focusses on professional relationshipsbetween practitioners. As teaching becomes more of aprofession, it will seem much less important whether ornot collaborations cross school boundaries. The conceptof ‘school system leaders’, which is essentially politicalin its origins, can then give way to the more normallanguage of ‘senior professionals’.The focus of this article is on professionalism asa counterbalance to managerialism, and on activeengagement with the wider profession counterbalancinga narrow focus on one’s own institution. In this therole of headteachers is pivotal, but needs to strikethe right balance. Headteachers wanting to supportprofessionalisation should do so in ways that do notsimply reinforce existing hierarchies within the school,nor assume that the only focus should be to improvethat school. Headteachers need to encourage their staffto look outwards and to think about the long termdevelopment of the profession.■■■ New approaches to professionallearningWhat difference can professionalisation make to howwe approach professional learning? Both for moral andemotional reasons, teachers and school leaders feel lessstressed and more fulfilled when they see consistencybetween the educational values that guide their workwith students, and the values by which the adults in theschool conduct themselves. So the next paragraphs lookat consistencies and inconsistencies of educational valuesbetween student learning and professional learning.Teachers want to enable students to feel good aboutthemselves and to blossom, to develop a love of learningfor its own sake and as a means to address the immediateissues in their lives. These same aims are often mirroredin the professional cultures of schools fortunate enoughto have enlightened leadership.Secondly, teachers want students to have agency aslearners, enabling them not only to take ownership oftheir learning now, but also to be able to make informedchoices about their longer term options and goals.Unfortunately, in most schools, this educational valueis not mirrored in the professional learning available toteachers. In the UK, the idea of the autonomous schoolRe-thinking professional development and professionalisation"
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Professional Development

Rethinking professional development and professionalisation

14 May 2015

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