What routines have you tried in your classroom and what insights can you share with others?

2/15/2012

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Gayle Spiteri

2/15/2012 05:25:24 am

I tried the CSI routine after finishing our unit in science on Sound. We listened to a musical selection and then worked on the Color-Symbol-Image that they felt best was represented by the music. I found since this was our first CSI, it helped for me to have a selection of 8 symbols to choose from since the difference between symbol and image are a little confusing for second graders. They were able to select a symbol and explain how it worked for them. After sharing and explaining our ideas, the students were very interested to see what the artist had named the musical selection. We listened to the music again to see how other student's interpretations could have been chosen and how music interpretation is very subjective.

Ellen Cale

2/15/2012 09:49:38 am

Thanks, Gayle for letting everyone in on your great idea. The symbol part of CSI is so tricky and this is a great strategy for helping students understand the difference between a symbol and an image. Metaphorical thinking raises the bar for thinking and understanding.

Kylie Wood

2/15/2012 11:25:35 am

I started the Sound Unit with a Think Puzzle Explore. It was easy to do and the kids had some really good thinking for the Explore section.
I also tried a Hear Think Wonder for the sound box lesson...thank you Erin Detmer for the idea. Think and wonder were tricky for this lesson. We ended up doing a "think" and "hear" for each box and just left "wondering" for the end.
I'm excited to try more routines! I think we're going to try a CSI next with a poem.

Ellen Cale

2/15/2012 10:38:14 pm

Sometimes you just have to leave "wondering" until students build a knowledge base and can identify what they want to know. At the right point, go back to it because wondering will move learning forward and deepen understanding. Good luck!

Karla Hebert

2/16/2012 05:41:26 am

I used Think, Puzzle, Explore to start our Biography Unit instead of a K-W-L. I think that it resulted in more thinking being shared by my students and really has a better fit.It was a great way to get them thinking about what they already thought they knew, what they really wanted to know and then how they could go about finding answers to their questions.

In addition, today I tried Generate, Sort, Connect as a way to get students to think more deeply about biomes for our fourth grade Environments Unit. They worked in groups of two or three and each were responsible for reading about a particular biome in the What Is A Biome? trade book. I then had them generate as many words or ideas as they could about that particular biome. I am thinking of using the generated words in several ways. One, I thought each group could sort and connect the words they had generated. A second thought is to have several groups work together to sort and connect their collective words... I'll let you know how it works out!

Ellen Cale

2/16/2012 10:39:39 am

My vote is for several groups to work together...more possibilities for the sorting. Can't wait to hear how it goes.

Debbie Rosenman

2/17/2012 05:33:53 am

We used the Sentence, Phrase, Word routine after the lesson on Native Americans losing their land in Michigan in Unit 3. This routine gave me the chance to really see the understanding and empathy the students felt for the Native Americans. I was also able to clear up the misunderstanding that Europeans took over the land with treaties rather than the American government. I may not have realized this mistake in understanding if they had not shown their "visible thinking." Students also reported thinking more deeply about the topic.

Ellen Cale

2/19/2012 09:45:48 am

Thanks for sharing your Visible Thinking experience. I am finding that one of the most powerful pieces of VT is that it tells us the story of learning in our classrooms and allows us to address misunderstandings that we may not have otherwise known about.

Courtney Miarka link

3/26/2012 05:21:25 am

We tried the "explanation game" with our study of coins awhile back. This routine goes through the steps of naming your topic, or concept, explain it, give reasons or prove it, and then generate alternatives. I have found this routine can be applied in so many areas of the curriculum! Just today, we used it to help further our study of characters and give supporting reasons for why we know their personality traits. The students took it one step further to find in another text where they exhibited this same trait as their "generate alternatives". I highly recommend trying this routine out; after you've done it a few times, even the students will say, "We should do the explanation game to explain our thinking!"

Tabitha Shaw

5/12/2012 08:59:04 am

I love both of these ideas. I can't wait to use this routine in our study of coins next year!

Make Your Thinking Visible

What routines have you tried in your classroom and what insights can you share with others?

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