THINKING ROUTINES

Question starts- colour, symbol, image routine- the bridge- circle of viewpoints- traffic light

INTRODUCTION TO THINKING ROUTINES

The routines become the ways in which students go about the process of learning. These learning routines can be simple structures, such as reading from a text and answering the questions at the end of the chapter, or they may be designed to promote students' thinking, such as asking students what they know, what they want to know, and what they have learned as part of a unit of study.

What makes these routines work to promote the development of a students thinking and the classroom culture are that each routine:

·       Gets used over and over again in the classroom

·       Consists of only a few steps

·       Is easy to learn and teach

·       Is easy to support when students are engaged in the routine

·       Can be used across a variety of context

·       Can be used by the group or by the individual

QUESTION STARTS

A routine for creating thought-provoking questions

Purpose: What kind of thinking does this routine encourage?

This routine provides students with the opportunity to practice developing good questions that provoke thinking and inquiry into a topic. It also helps students brainstorm lots of dif-ferent kinds of questions about a topic. The purpose of asking deep and interesting questions is to get at the complexity and depth of a topic. The purpose of brainstorming varied ques-tions about a topic is to get at the breadth, and multi-dimensionality of a topic.

Application: When and Where can it be used?

Use Question Starts to expand and deepen students'thinking, to encourage students' curios-ity and increase their motivation to inquire. This routine can be used when you are introduc-ing a new topic to help students get a sense of the breadth of a topic. It can be used when you're in the middle of studying a topic as a way of enlivening students' curiosity. And it can be used when you are near the end of studying a topic, as a way of showing students how the knowledge they have gained about the topic helps them to ask ever more interesting questions. This routine can also be used continuously throughout a topic, to help the class keep a visible, evolving list of questions about the topic that can be added to at anytime.

How is it done?

-Step 1 List of questions: can start asking them individually make a list of between 7 and 10 questions on the issue raised.

-Step 2 highlight the most interesting questions then pairs are to review the questions and agree on the choice of three questions that seem most interesting. These will be assigned to them before a star (asterisk) and share aloud to the class.

-Step 3 Reflection: the time to be doing reading the "Questions Star" of each partner, the professor notes those more interesting, more repeat, etc. to redirect reflection to their answers. If you raise the start of the topic, the same questions will also serve as final review to assess to what extent the initial doubts have understood or has responded to the concerns of the group.

Remark

Before using this routine, you might want some simple examples would work to show what is meant by a good question. It would also be desirable to explain that what we do is a routine of thinking whose goal is to have the opportunity to learn to perform appropriate and effective questions. They can be suggested as models help of questions like:

Why...? How would it be different if...?

What are the reasons...? Suppose that...?

What if...? What if we knew...?

What is the purpose of...? What would change if...?

COLOUR, SYMBOL, IMAGE ROUTINE

A routine for distilling the essence of ideas non-verbally

Purpose: What kind of thinking does this routine encourage?

This routine asks students to identify and distill the essence of ideas from reading, watching or listening in non-verbal ways by using a colour, symbol, or image to represent the ideas.

Application: When and where can it be used?

This routine can be used to enhance comprehension of reading, watching or listening. It can also be used as a reflection on previous events or learnings. It is helpful if students have had some previous experience with highlighting texts for important ideas, connections, or events. The synthesis happens as students select a colour, symbol, and image to represent three important ideas. This routine also facilitates the discussion of a text or event as students share their colours, symbols, and images.

Launch? What are some tips for starting and using this routine?

After the class has read a text, you might ask the class to identify some of the interesting, important, or insightful ideas from the text and list these on the board.

Write CSI:

·       Colour,

·       Symbol,

·       Image on the board.

1)  Select one of the ideas the class has identified. Ask students what colour might they use to represent the essence of that idea? What colour captures something about that idea, maybe it is the mood or tone.

2)  Select another idea and ask the class what symbol they could use to represent that idea. You might define a symbol as a simple line representation or uncomplicated drawing, such as two crossed lines to denote an intersection of ideas, or a circle to represent wholeness or completeness.

3)  Then pick another idea from the list and ask students what image they might use to represent that idea.

THE BRIDGE

Purpose: What kind of thinking does this routine encourage?

This routine asks students to uncover their initial thoughts, ideas, questions and understandings about a topic and then to connect these to new thinking about the topic after they have received some instruction.

Application: When and Where can it be used?

This routine can be used when students are developing understanding of a concept over time. It may be a concept that they know a lot about in one context but instruction will focus their learning in a new direction, or it may be a concept about which students have only informal knowledge.  Whenever new information is gained, bridges can be built between new ideas and prior understanding.  The focus is on understanding and connecting one’s thinking, rather than pushing it toward a specific outcome.

Launch: What are some tips for starting and using this routine?

This routine can be introduced by having students do an initial 3, 2, 1 individually on paper.  For instance, if the topic is “democracy,” then students would write down 3 thoughts, 2 questions, and 1 analogy.

Students might then read an article, watch a video, or engage in an activity having to do with democracy.  Provocative experiences that push students thinking in new directions are best. 

After the experience, students complete another 3,2,1.  Students then share their initial and new thinking, explaining to their partners how and why their thinking shifted.  Make it clear to students that their initial thinking is not right or wrong, it is just a starting point.  New experiences take our thinking in new directions.

CIRCLE OF VIEWPOINTS

A ROUTINE FOR EXPLORING DIVERSE PERSPECTIVES

Purpose: What kind of thinking does this routine encourage?

This routine helps students consider different and diverse perspectives involved in and around a topic. Understanding that people may think and feel differently about things is a key aspect of the Fairness Ideal.

Application: When and Where can it be used?

This routine can be used at the beginning of a unit of study to help students brainstorm new perspectives about a topic, and imagine different characters, themes and questions connected to it. It can be used after reading a book or chapter. Provocative topics and issues are encouraged and the routine also works especially well when students are having a hard time seeing other perspectives or when things seem black and white. The routine can be used to open discussions about dilemmas and other controversial issues.

How is it done?

 -Step 1. By brainstorm a list of different perspectives is prepared to address

theme.

 -Step 2 is assigned to each student or pairs of these perspectives and they are given this guión to explore:

·       Estoy thinking ... (the subject in question) from the point of view of ... (the

      perspective assigned).

·       Thinking that ... (the student must be able to approach the issue from the point of view I’m getting into the role of an actor as if it were).

·       A question I have in this respect is…………

- Step 3. The class is arranged in a circle and take turns students talk briefly about his point of view, using the schema script. They can stand up and make the gestures and movements as required.

REMARK

If students need help to think about the different views, try using the following notes:

· How it is viewed from different spatial points and from different time points? · Who (and what) it is affected by this?

· Who is involved?

The views connected with the idea of ​​perspective taking (physical) students to interpret this literally at first, naming and describing what their characters. Although it should begin with concrete examples, trying to direct them to have thoughts and feelings of the characters, rather than describing a scene or object considered. As students interpret their point of view in the circle, his ideas can be recorded or entered on the whiteboard. Once everyone has spoken in the circle, the teacher can lead the discussion by asking: "What new ideas do you have about that you had before?" And "What new questions do you have?"

TRAFFIC LIGHT

Purpose: What kind of thinking does this routine encourage?

It is a routine that builds understanding of a theme encouraging critical thinking and organizing the information as a conceptual map.

Application: When and Where can it be used?

It can be applied to the analysis of information or reading of a text to distinguish the real from the false parts.

In addition to discover positive and negative aspects of the same reality.

How is it done?

Show text, image, video, etc. students and ask what lucesrojas, yellow and green are.

·       􏰁 Red lights indicate any gray areas (in all probability, incorrect or false).

·       Yellow lights indicate 􏰁 points of uncertainty.

·       Green lights are aspects that are known or are true.