Early in my career, I mixed up “topics” with “lesson.” Here’s how I learned to plan real lesson objectives, not merely list my topic.
All AboutThinking Or Remembering?
How many of our tasks ask students to truly think about a topic versus merely remember facts?
Fluency: Asking For (Way) More Than One Answer
Being able to generate many possible answers is key to high-level thinking. So why don’t we ask students to do it more often?
Thinking or Remembering: Abstract and Concrete
One way to emphasizing Thinking over mere Remembering is to consider the level of abstraction we’re asking students to use. You might think of abstraction as a spectrum from highly specific, concrete details to really big (but vague) ideas.
Thinking or Remembering: Divergent Questions
How Gallagher and Ascher’s Divergent Questions can ensure students are thinking rather than merely remembering.
Thinking or Remembering?
A simple test for any task: does this make my students really think or merely remember? It sounds silly, but the more I consider it, the more interesting this distinction gets.
Books for Teaching Thinking
We teach our gifted students to solve math problems, write fantastic essays, and read above grade level, but do we teach them to think? Edward Debono believes that thinking should be taught as a discrete subject. As I start the new school year, I’ve found a few books to help me embed quick “thinking lessons” into my day. These tools make great options for extension menus or creative differentiated products.
