Visible Thinking

Creating a Culture of Thinking

International College Outreach

Workshops
January 29th , 2010

Roula Haj- Ismail & Nora Hamzeh

 Welcome to the Visible Thinking
Workshop!


 Ready to think outside

the box?
 TUNING IN
• Think Pair Share
Choose a personal artefact
you carry with you.

Share it with a partner.

• Community Circle
• Introduce your friend
to the rest of us by using the artefact.

•
 TUNING IN
• Chalk Talk & I used to think…
• What do you know or think about
the following words
• CULTURE
• VISIBLE THINKING
• ROUTINE
•
•
 Essential
Agreement
Collaboration is to work
together especially in an
intellectual endeavor.


Can you think of 4 elements

that are needed, in order to

make our learning

Experience TODAY a

successful one?


 Tuning In
Guess what’s inside the
box?
De Bono’s
6 THINKING HATS
 Tuning In
6 Thinking Hats: the White Hat
 WHAT DO I ALREADY KNOW ABOUT
MAKING THINKING VISIBLE?
 Visible F in d in g the
Thinking:
O u t what?

-The use of language

-Teachers

-Opportunities that develop

‘ thinking routines’

-The culture


Finding Out

 Visible Thinking is a systematic

research-based approach to
integrating the development of
students' thinking with content
learning across the subject
matters..

 Finding out
• An extensive and adaptable
collection of practices, Visible
Thinking has a double goal:
•
-to deepen subject-matter

learning
-to cultivate students'

disposition toward

thinking
 Finding Out
Cultural Forces
• Cultural Forces
• Expectations
• Opportunities
• Routines and Structures
• Language and Conversations
• Modeling
• Interaction and relationships
• Physical Environment
•
•
• Taken from ‘Intellectual Character –What it is, Why it
Matters and How to Get it’
• by Ron Richardt-2002
 Finding Out
Why Teach Thinking
as a Habit of Mind?
Now, what I want is Facts. Teach these boys


and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are

wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root
out everything else. You can only form the
minds of reasoning animals upon Facts:
nothing else will ever be of any service to
them.
Charles Dickens, Hard Times

Then: Stoke the furnace of the mind with

facts,
and out will grind knowledge.

Now: How to do things, not just what to do.

 Finding Out

 One Hundred Languages of

Children
 By Loris Malaguzzi

 Finding Out
The Visible Thinking Classroom
A Mind Full Classroom


Using a Visible Thinking approach,

classroom activities become more
learning oriented rather than work
oriented.
 Marshall, 1988
 Finding Out
3 2 1 Bridge
• Three thoughts
• Two Questions
• One Analogy



 Finding Out
3 2 1 Bridge
Thoughts
Our neighbourhood is harmonious because

people cooperate and do their jobs.

In a neighbourhood we have a bunch of

everything.
A neighbourhood is an organisation of people and

buildings.
Questions

Why aren’t there enough plants in the streets?

Why don’t people mean what they say and say

what they mean?

Analogy

A neighbourhood is like our school. A community

that is organized with many roles for its

members.
 Finding Out
So what is a routine?
•
• Explicit and goal-driven
• Used over and over
• Few steps
• Easy to learn and teach
• Easily supported
• Useful across a variety of
contexts
• Group and individual
practices
De Bono’s
6 THINKING HATS
 6 Thinking Hats
The Green Hat
 What new things have I
learned?
 Sorting Out
Visible thinking through
•
Literature
Select a book from the table.
• Read together within the table group.
• Discuss the story from the
perspective of the characters.
•
•

Routine: Circle of Viewpoint

 Sorting Out
Circle of View points
1. I AM THINKING OF …the topic … FROM THE
POINT OF VIEW OF…the viewpoint you’ve
chosen
•
2. I THINK…describe the topic from your

viewpoint. Be an
 actor--take on the character of your viewpoint
•
3. A QUESTION I HAVE FROM

THIS VIEWPOINT IS…ask a

question from this viewpoint

•
• WRAP UP: What new ideas do you have about
the topic that
 Sorting Out
• Listen to the story read out to you.
• Reflect on the story using
• a word, a phrase or a sentence.
• Routine: Word Phrase Sentence
De Bono’s
6 THINKING HATS
 6 Thinking Hats
The Black Hat
• What are some of the
possible obstacles that

I may face when I apply

V.T. in my class?
 Going Further
Visible thinking in Math
• Estimate the number of bracelets
given.
• Then find away to verify your
estimation.
• Explain your method using “ What
makes you say that?”
• Routine: What makes you say
that?
•
•
• New Math:
 Going Further
What makes you say that?
• Purpose: What kind of thinking
does this routine encourage?
• This routine helps students describe
what they see or know and asks them
to build explanations.
It promotes evidential reasoning

(evidence-based reasoning)

and because it invites

students to share their

interpretations, it encourages

students to understand

alternatives and multiple perspectives.

 Going Further
• Gallery Walk: browse sample
student work and resources
provided.
• Record reflections on chart about
changes and implementations you
want to make in your classrooms.
 Making Conclusions
• Read article(s)
• Discuss the articles in table groups
using Connect Extend Challenge
• Routine: Connect Extend
Challenge
•
 Making Conclusions
• CONNECT: How are the ideas and
information presented CONNECTED
to what you already knew?
EXTEND: What new ideas did you get
that EXTENDED or pushed your
thinking in new directions?
CHALLENGE:
• What is still CHALLENGING or
• confusing for you to get your mind
• around? What questions, wonderings
or
puzzles do you now have?
De Bono’s
6 THINKING HATS
 6 Thinking Hats
Blue Hat
• What can I improve in my
own teaching?
 Making Conclusions
Visible Thinking in Art
• Sand Art
http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=vOhf3OvRXKg


Reflect on the video choosing a

colour, drawing an image &

inventing a symbol.

 Routine: Color Image Symbol

 Going Further
Color Image Symbol
• A routine for distilling the essence of
ideas non-verbally.
• Choose a colour that you feel best
represents or captures the essence of
the idea.
• Choose a symbol that you feel best
represents or captures the essence of
that idea.
• Choose an image that you feel best
represents or captures the essence of
that idea.
 Making Conclusions
Visible Thinking in Music
• Beethoven’s symphony # 5
• Listen to original and remix.
• Ask yourself: If Beethoven were alive
to witness and listen to the remix
on his symphony, what would
Beethoven say?
• Routine: Four Corners: Tug of
War
http://www.youtube.com/watch?


v=W2qW6fOtAMY

 Making Conclusions
Tug of War
Purpose: What kind of thinking does
this routine encourage?
This is routine builds on children's familiarity

with the
game of tug of war to help them understand

the
complex forces that "tug" at either side of a

fairness
dilemma. It encourages students to reason

carefully
about the "pull" of various factors that are

relevant to a
 Making Conclusions
Tug of War
• Application: When and Where
can it be used?

• This routine can be used in any situation

where the fairness dilemma seems to
have two obvious and contrasting ways
of being resolved.
•
•
•
• Dilemmas can come from school subjects
or everyday life.
De Bono’s
6 THINKING HATS
 6 Thinking Hats
The Red hat
• How did I feel?
 Making Conclusions


• Revisiting our essential

agreement.

• Reflections, questions, plans …

ACTION
•
 Making Conclusions
CHALK TALK
•
I used to think But now I
• think
Consider your initial responses/
reflections on: culture, visible thinking
and routine.
•
Write your ‘ new’ or current

reflections.

Routine:
I used to think…. But now I think…
De Bono’s
6 THINKING HATS
 Taking Action
6 Thinking Hats
The Yellow Hat

• What is the best thing

about V.T.?
•

 Ta k in g A ctio n
C o m m u n ity C ircle

Check out our wikispace for all relevant materials:

http://visiblethinkingoutreach.wikispaces.com