Thrive in Action Blog Series: Rigorous Thinking, GPS 8 - Depth of Student Thinking
The Thrive In Action blog series highlights practical applications for Great Pedagogy Strategies (GPS) within the EdConnective Thrive Framework, summarized here. The EdConnective Thrive Framework is unique in that it can be applied to teaching actions seamlessly whether learning is in-person or remote. This week we get more familiar with:
Rigorous Thinking, GPS 8 - Depth of Student Thinking: Teacher plans lesson activities and questions that are rigorous, engaging, fun, culturally sustaining, and provides for deep student thinking, talking and practice that aligns with the objective.
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In both life and schooling, the stickiest lessons are those that are memorable, impact us emotionally, and engage us cognitively. Just because the way school looks has changed, does not mean the process of learning to store new knowledge into long-term memory has changed. It is important to keep up the rigor by planning lesson activities and questions that are rigorous, engaging, fun, culturally sustaining, and provide for deep student thinking, talking and practice that aligns with your objective.
When planning, shift your thinking from “how can I?” to “how can they?”. Increasing rigor and depth of thinking requires placing the majority of the cognitive load on students. Both in-building and remotely, this can be done by pushing students to analyze an exemplar or incorrect answer. After placing an example in front of them, ask students to determine whether or not the answer is correct and require them to explain their thinking. Students can also analyze the thinking of others. Following a student share out, instead of confirming or disproving an answer, ask another student to analyze the work. Say, “Brandon, what do you think of this answer? Do you agree or disagree? Why?” The more students are required to reason out a response, the more likely the thinking process will stick with them.
Teaching virtually should not stop you from engaging students in deep thinking. Require students to provide text evidence or to make connections to previous lessons, texts, and their own life. Last year, my students read Fever 1793 in the quarter prior to our school’s shut down. During this unit, we read and discussed how the events from the Yellow Fever epidemic in 1793 aligned with the present day. We held discussions predicting what might occur if the virus continued to spread. Through this lens, we mastered cause and effect and comparing and contrasting of different texts. I am confident no student will forget that unit for quite some time, not only because it was timely, but it required them to apply history to understand their current situation and learn new skills. Pair texts with engaging videos and ask students to make connections. Push students to explain (one of my teachers constantly tells her first graders “because is my FAVORITE word!) and incorporate discussion and accountability as often as possible.
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Download a summary of the EdConnective Thrive Framework here. EdConnective provides 1:1, personalized non-evaluative coaching to teachers, instructional coaches, and administrators, as well as small group coaching and large group training.