What would the people in the system be doing?
Teachers??
Students??
Administrators??
What would the standards and benchmarks look like?
What would classroom assessments look like?
What would home-work look like?
What would the teacher to student and student to student look like?
What would classroom instruction look like?
How would conferences be impacted?
What would the teacher's grade book look like?
What would a student's report card look like?
There is a template that might be useful in addressing these and other questions
that might have popped up as you explored the links on this web site. It is call a KASAB chart. It enables
individuals and/or groups to systematically seek answers to mind opening questions...
|
Desired
Changes |
Definition |
Student |
Teacher |
Principal |
|
Knowledge |
Conceptual understanding of information, theories,
principles, and research. |
|
|
|
|
Attitude |
Beliefs about the value of particular information or strategies. |
|
|
|
|
Skill |
Strategies and processes to apply knowledge. |
|
|
|
|
Aspiration |
Desires, or internal motivation, to engage in a particular practice. |
|
|
|
|
Behavior |
Consistent application of knowledge and skills. |
|
|
|
Here are some statements that might get your thinking going...
We'd know that thinking skills were humming when...
All teachers and students would be able to talk about the levels of thinking and
why they are important...
If asked students could show us in their classrooms some kind of attention to making
the thinking skills visible, i.e. displays, book mark reminders, flip-books, posters and tell us in their own word how they
know they are becoming good thinkers...
If asked, teachers could show how they pay conscious attention to the levels of
thinking skills
in their lectures/presentations,
in the questions they ask during class discussion,
in the questions they ask to guide students rather than direct students,
in the types of tasks they design for their students
in the way they organize their standards/benchmarks
in the way they design tests, quizzes, and other classroom assessments
in what they reported out to parents at parent teacher conference...
If asked, administrators would be able to relate how they are supporting teachers
and their students in becoming thoughtful thinkers; how they are modeling it and providing feedback to staff...
If asked, school board members, parents and community members would all be aware
that in their school, staff was making it a high priority to teach, provide practices w/feedback and model quality thinking
for their children...
These are just some random thoughts... hope they served as many a launch pad for
you to be able to answer the question: What would be seen and heard in your school if thinking-skills' were being
done well?
