Every Day...The Amount of Thinking Just Amazes Me

Marzano's Nine Instructional Strategies Meets BTC

Marzano's Nine Instructional Strategies have always been a staple in my room.

Today I got curious to see how they fit in with Building Thinking Classrooms.

Here's what I found to be true in my room.

Similarities & Differences

With students working on vertical white boards (Ch. 3),

It is much more time efficient to compare various solving methods

When bringing the class to a whole group discussion for consolidation (Ch. 10)

We can easily discuss the similarities and differences between these methods,

Thus creating a broader understanding of how the math works.

Summarizing and Notetaking

Enter "Notes for my Future Forgetful Self" (Ch. 11) 

And you have this one covered!

Best thing ever since sliced bread.

My students are getting better as time goes on with filling out their own notes.

We still bring their ideas together as a whole class,

With me sometimes having to ask clarifying questions to make the notes as complete as possible.

But even when that happens, the information is coming from the students.

Reinforcing Effort

Creating competency charts (Ch. 12) is a great way for students to see the value in their efforts.

We did this with our Struggle chart...

Charting what we can do when we start to struggle with a problem 

And what doesn't seem to work so well.

Also, when reflecting on practice or quizzes,

Using the six symbols (Ch. 13) allows for student reflection on their efforts in their learning.

Homework & Practice

Taking away the grading

And allowing homework and practice to be just that...

Practice in their math learning,

Checking for understanding (Ch. 7)

Has been the Best. Thing. Ever.

Nonlinguistic Representation

The vertical white boards (Ch. 3) allow for better nonlinguistic representation

As students draw and model math problems.

Cooperative Learning

Collaborative random groups are created at least twice a week in my classroom.

Students are encouraged to work cooperatively,

Sharing the pen,

Asking questions, 

Explaining/justifying answers and methods,

Are just a few ways my students work together in the learning process.

Generating Hypothesis

This is kind of a by product of learning at the vertical white boards,

But it seems like the discussions that follow 

Have initiated more questions that fall into the category,

"I wonder what would happen if".

These questions allow for a deeper discussion

And students leave with a broader understanding of the content taught that day.

Questions, Cues, Advance Organizers

The vertical white boards themselves are great for cueing other boards when struggle hits.

Many conversation has been had about using the work of others 

To help get "unstuck".

This is not cheating.

It's using their cues to get moving again with solving the problem.

Objectives & Feedback

Giving the objectives/directions of a lesson while standing at the beginning of class

Is a great way for students to understand the objective of the day's lesson (Ch. 6)

Providing answer keys for any practice 

Gives students the immediate feedback they need for finding mistakes.

I used to give homework one day and then check it the next.

Reviewing homework was my least favorite thing about teaching.

Now, students are doing the reviewing.

Questions are relevant to the mistakes they are making, 

And we are addressing them most importantly when it's important to the student.

Which is right then.

Not the next day. 

Students also gain feedback from the work on the other boards. 

As mentioned in the Cues Strategy,

When students compare their answers,

Thinking increases especially if the answers differ.

Notes for My Future Forgetful Self Meet the Vertical White Boards

Today, the students took notes. (Ch. 11)

I supplied the headings.

They wrote down what they had learned

And didn't want to forget.

Since the first time we tried this,

I could see an improvement for many of my students.

There weren't as many blank spots.

Students were thinking...and writing.

Before transitioning into the next part of the activity,

We discussed what changes could be made to help them with the note taking.

1) Students have been seen taking out their notebooks during new learning

And taking NOTES ON THEIR OWN!

Seriously, I haven't said a word.

They are taking notes as notes were intended to be took!

2) Staying dialed in during class learning activities.

Some of my students are still having a hard time staying focused 100% of the time.

This is telling when they go to write down notes from their learning.

There just isn't much there,

If anything at all.

3) Not being afraid to write something down that might be wrong.

Writing on paper can be scary.

It's more permanent than the white boards.

Even if it's in your very own notebook.

I encouraged students to write down their thoughts,

Even if they were wrong.

It is better to iron out the misconceptions now in a whole group discussion,

Then wait to see the mistakes on the quiz next week.

After students got down their individual thoughts,

Each vertical white board had the same headings as their notes.

Students were to travel from board to board, 

Adding any new content from their notes.

I intended this to be an eye opening experience for my students.

BUT BOY WAS IT AN EYE OPENER FOR ME!!!!

Gaps in learning were quickly made apparent.

Mistakes jumped off the boards.

Misconceptions were brought to light.

Levels of learning (basic to advanced) were highlighted.

Once students finished contributing to the boards,

They were to go back to their seats to add to their notes.

As a whole group, we went over each board.

Correcting mistakes.

Highlighting main ideas.

And adding additional material that was initially forgotten.

While I didn't have much hope for notes for my future forgetful self at first,

Our perseverance at working on this skill is definitely paying off.

When We Must Focus On Things OTHER Than Math

We had started a new unit.

The discovery problem had them stumped. 

Student literally could not even find themselves into the problem. 

We pulled out hands-on resources.

I encouraged them to draw pictures.

They were still stumped...

And more concerning, started to shut down.

So the next day, we had a little conversation.

A conversation on what we could do to help ourselves when we got stuck.

I created the anchor chart,

And students told me what to fill in.

Interestingly, all my classes except one listed "Ask for Help" as the very first thing to do.

In that one lone class, asking for help was second from the bottom.

It was almost like an after thought,

Oh!  We could ask for help!

In the days and weeks that followed,

I found myself referring to this chart a bunch.

As students checked out,

I would have them pick something from the left side of the list to try instead.

As students struggled through and eventually became successful,

We looked at the strategies they had implemented to get them to move their thinking.

Today, as I pondered our lesson at the vertical white boards,

I knew there could be points where students jumped back on the struggle bus.

And then I remembered reading in BTC about how to promote this in the classroom. 

Chapter 12.

What We Choose to Evaluate in the Thinking Classroom.

While I didn't give a grade on their performance,

We used these ideas to guide us again through the daily process of learning new material.

I created this chart that I will have ready to use

So students can visually assess where they were when struggling through the problem solving process.