The Thinking Questions

My very favorite visible thinking routine is probably the simplest one: the thinking questions.

What makes you say that?

What do you see/hear/read, etc that makes you say that?

What does that tell you, then?

I keep these questions laminated and have students use them with each other during discussions about ANY topic/subject/discipline.  It deepens their level of thinking and makes them justify their opinions.

The simple act of  just saying, "What makes you say that?" regularly in class is a big game-changer.  If you just start with that and make a point of doing it whenever you can, students will get used to it, and their thinking will automatically grow deeper with little planning on your part!

I also use these questions for writing prompts.  Below is a piece a student wrote regarding puberty using the thinking questions.  You can do the same with any topic.  This is written by a grade five student with quite strong writing skills, but I believe this sort of thinking, brought forth through speaking and writing can be encouraged and developed at any level.

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An Example of Using the “THINKING QUESTIONS” to write:

Introductory Sentence:

I think puberty is going to be a challenge.

What makes you say that?

From what we have read, it seems I am going to have to learn some new strategies for getting along with my parents, some new ways of communicating with my friends, plus I am going to be dealing with all my hormones at the same time.  I’m a bit worried about getting my period and all the stuff that goes along with that.

What do you see/hear/feel/read etc. that makes you say that?

I see people like my brother who are already in puberty and the way they act.  They try to be cool, but I can see that he feels insecure and uncomfortable with himself.  His voice is changing and he’s got pimples.  He sometimes talks to girls on the phone, but he always seems embarrassed around girls.

What does that tell you, then?

Watching my brother and other teenagers tells me it is going to be fun, especially since he gets to do way more things that I do, but also rather embarrassing and sometimes a struggle.

Final Paragraph:

I think puberty is going to be a challenge.  From what we have read, it seems I am going to have to learn some new strategies for getting along with my parents, some new ways of communicating with my friends, plus I am going to be dealing with all my hormones at the same time.  I’m a bit worried about getting my period and all the stuff that goes along with that.  I see people like my brother who are already in puberty and the way they act.  They try to be cool, but I can see that he feels insecure and uncomfortable with himself.  His voice is changing and he’s got pimples.  He sometimes talks to girls on the phone, but he always seems embarrassed around girls.  Watching my brother and other teenagers tells me it is going to be fun, especially since he gets to do way more things that I do, but also rather embarrassing and sometimes a struggle.

Ms. Rempel's Office Hours

I usually get to work at 7:30: I greet my colleagues, check my email and do my last minute preparations for the day.  The kids start filtering it at 8:20.  It's a good way to ease into what is always an incredibly busy day of "school stuff."

Last year, I instituted "office hours" from 8:00 to 8:20 where students are welcome to pop in and ask me about anything they're baffled, befuddled or downright confused about.  Alternately, they can chat with me about anything that is on their minds.

While I spend many of my mornings with me, myself and my coffee, a few times a week a student will pop in for a one-on-one session.

I'm all about "personal responsibility" so I never say anyone has to come and see me about academic concerns.  Obviously, I use best practices as best as I can on a daily basis and try to meet students' individual needs, but I don't profess to be a mind reader nor to know every little issue that a student is struggling with.  As teachers, we get the big picture, but it's sometimes hard to put one's finger on that one thing that could make all the difference between perceived failure and success for a student.

I really believe that by P6/Grade 5, students are ready to start taking initiative for their own learning; if it means giving up 10 minutes on the soccer pitch in the morning or sacrificing some hang out time with friends in order to figure something out with a teacher, it's a small sacrifice for what can pay big dividends academically, socially or emotionally.

Last week, L. had an "aha" moment about rounding with decimals; a few days before that E. finally figured out how to move the decimal points in division.  I. has grasped the complexities of the comma when list-making and M. has some idea about how to prepare for her period which she thinks is going to spring on her any day now. S now has a checklist we made together in five minutes flat that will help him be sure he takes everything home he needs for his homework each evening.

Often these little mini-lessons take less than five minutes and the students walk away feeling like they have just mastered the universe, and I continue sipping my coffee thinking, "Hey, I'm not a bad teacher after all."

It's those little moments that can make all the difference.  Try to make room for them in your day.  Let your students know you're willing to take the time.  They may take you up on it, they may not.  That part is up to them.

Permission to Write Rubbish

Why are so many people afraid of so many things, but they’re never afraid of mediocrity?

Alex Bogusky and John Winsor

My students all have writer's notebooks that they carry around with them so whenever they get inspired or hear some juicy conversation, they can quickly jot down their ideas or snatches of talk in their little incubator notebooks, and use their seed ideas to create stories or poems or narratives later on.  They have pages reserved for favorite words, memories, feelings, and list of all sorts that will inspire them to write.

I've been keeping a writer's notebook of one sort or another for the better part of 40 years now and probably have tens of thousands of pages of nonsense, most of which is moldering in my storage locker outside of Seattle, some of tucked in my desk at school and others in safety vaults and storage boxes all around the planet.

Truth be told, most of what I write is inane: my guess would be that at least 80% of it is detritus.  But there's gold in "them thar hills," and the job of a writer is to keep writing no matter what, and then be willing to sift through the sh#@t and find the flecks of gold.

I'm not saying everything I publish is anywhere near the gold standard or even silver: most of it is more like costume jewellry, in fact.  But then again there's nothing wrong with a bit of flashy, cheap jewelry that attracts attention and looks pretty.  I'm not looking to be the best of the best (I'll save that for the likes of John Irving and Alice Munro), but I am looking to entertain and put out some modicum of literature that does not prove distracting by its poor punctuation, prosaic by its overbaked metaphorical allusions or just plain predictable and banal.

Because, yes, I write for myself, but I also write for an audience.  Those 10s of 1000s of pages mostly deserve to be buried under the volcanic ash of unwanted paraphanalia in my storage locker, but some of it also deserves to see the light of day and to be seen by the enlightened reader.

So I tell my students to let go of their monkey minds and let their pencils bleed onto their writer's notebooks or their fingers tap onto their google docs as the case may be, but not to censor, just to write. The hard work is what comes later: the editing, the culling, the finessing. I love that part too.  How gratifying it is to watch a piece evolve from so-so to stellar; how great is it when you can toss out all those tired metaphors and replace them with figurative language that sucker punches you with its vicissitude rather than simply "jumps off the page?"

I'm all about just getting it down, throwing a lot of it out, finding the shiny gems that are sunk in the shite, polishing them up a bit, and getting them out to whatever person who happens to choose to or at least stumble upon my humble attempts at writing.

Because what is writing for if not to share?

PS: One of the most inspiring people I have read as of late is Seth Godin.  His premise is that it's important to not only write something every day, but to share it; that it's not about waiting until perfection finds itself hidden in your product or your writing, but that after a bit of polishing, you actually take the risk and put it out there.  In the age of Internet, you can edit and revise and repost your work, but it's good to step off your jagged cliff and share, even if you've not reached your impossible-to-reach pinnacle of perceived perfection.

Be willing to have an audience, even if it is a critical one.  Godin cites Steve Jobs and how he put out his products, flaws and all, and that later how his team improved on them and put out more and better products based on the earlier ones.  But if he never would have put them out in the first place, Apple would not be the multi-billion corporation that it is today.

Worth considering, right?  For those of you who are writing but not sharing, take the risk and start a blog today.  It just takes a few minutes to set one up.  Cull through some of your old writing, spruce it up a bit, and share it with a few friends to start with.  Who knows where it could go?