Professional Learning Goals

• We were able to identify and implement instructional and assessment strategies that will help all  students make their thinking more visible in Healthy Active Living Education
• We were able to proficiently assess (capture) student conversations through the use of technology that may have otherwise been missed,  thereby giving students multiple and ongoing opportunities to demonstrate their learning
• We were able to collect evidence of learning (conversations and observations) that demonstrate reliable and valid professional judgment while building a more inclusive environment for all learners and their abilities
• We were able to construct H.A.L.E. lessons that contribute to better student engagement and achievement
• We were able to provide ongoing descriptive feedback that was clear, specific, meaningful and timely to support improved learning and achievement
• We were able to create lessons that were more intentional and purposeful to allow all students the opportunity to think more deeply and in different ways

Activities and Resources

Activity #1: Facilitators of learning engaged with members of their Healthy Active Living Department in reading and reviewing several books related to making learners thinking visible. Reading these books and discussing helped to consolidate our own learning of exactly what is thinking, what are thinking skills, how can we help students make their thinking visible, and how to implement concrete routines to help promote and make students’ thinking visible.

Activity #2: To continue in the collaborative process, we decided to gather and share our learning within Google Classroom. These included, but were not limited to, articles, websites, links and lesson plans. We also took release time to have conversations about our own learning.

Activity #3: After engaging in our own inquiry process of what is visible thinking, we as a department had our students in grades 9 through 12 take a pre-survey. This survey was to assess students’ understanding of their own thinking and to provide feedback to aid in our own reflective practices.

Activity #4: To capture student conversation and evidence of their learning through conversation and observation, we purchased iPads and a Swivl. Time was spent investing and selecting different applications that would be most effective at capturing our students’ learning. Also, we spent time learning how to use the Swivl, brainstorming ways in which we could efficiently use it to capture students making their thinking visible while using different thinking routines.

Activity #5: Both individually and collaboratively teachers spent time planning lessons that incorporated thinking routines in such a way as to scaffold students’ thinking overtime by promoting and making students thinking visible. While meeting the H & PE curriculum expectation, the Big Idea became to create a culture of thinking through  implementation of these well-thought-out lessons.

Activity #6: Release time was taken to have conversations about our own learning, the implementation process of various thinking routines, post lesson feedback on how the thinking routine worked in class, and our observations of student engagement in the thinking routines.

Activity #7: At the end of the semester, students will reassess their own understanding of thinking by taking a post-survey.

Unexpected Challenges

As with any new adventure, there comes challenges and opportunities to be resilient. Not only was this pedagogy new to us, but also this type of learning was new to our students. As a result, it took more time than anticipated to introduce the concept of visible thinking to students. As students were becoming more successful in how to identify their thinking and had opportunities to practise different types of thinking, the semester was wrapping up. We are curious to know how students who have had the opportunity to engage in visible thinking will progress in the following years. Another challenge as with learning anything new is that it takes time to get good at using it effectively. There was a steep learning curve when planning for and implementing technology applications and using the Swivl to its intended capacity.

Enhancing Student Learning and Development

• Students have become aware of the difference between knowledge and understanding
• Students can now self-advocate when they have received knowledge but have not yet reach understanding. They can ask for clarification, direction, or more time for processing.
• Students now know that there are various types of thinking that can be adopted in different context
• Students now are more able to identify the types of thinking they engage in when they respond to a question
• Students now are aware that they can practise their thinking to strengthen their problem-solving skills
• Students can self-identify their thinking on the thinking continuum
• Students have an opportunity to communicate their thinking in a way in which they feel most comfortable
• Students understand how to use feedback more effectively and apply it to their thinking

Sharing

• We have applied to present at the annual Upper Grand District School Board Learning Fair: Learn, Lead and Inspire, August 23 and 24, 2018. The target audience is secondary teachers who want to foster a culture of thinking in their classrooms and are looking for ways to plan lessons and assessments that incorporate thinking routines to scaffold students’ thinking overtime by promoting and making students thinking visible.
• Professional Learning Community: We will continue to share our learnings and will continue to collaborate not only with each other, but also with other teachers at our school through department meetings and informal collaborative sessions
• The resources gathered will be shared with our professional learning community, school staff and members of the Learning Fair (if accepted) by using Google Classroom and Google Team Drive

Project Evaluation

We have been practising the language of visible thinking to place thinking as a focal point in our lessons and to intentionally create opportunities for thinking in the classroom. Our project was very successful and has reached students in ways we as teachers had not even thought of. Through students’ survey feedback and the evidence of learning we collected through conversation, observation and products, we can say that:

• Students have become aware of the difference between knowledge and understanding
• Students can now self-advocate when they have received knowledge but have not yet reach understanding. They can ask for clarification, direction, or more time for processing.
• Students now know there are various types of thinking that can be adopted in different context
• Students are now more able to identify the types of thinking they engage in when they respond to a question
• Students are now more aware that they can practise their thinking to strengthen their problem-solving skills

Over time and with more deliberate visible thinking pedagogy, we will become more efficient and comfortable with this practice. As a result, both teacher and student will think more about the type of thinking they want to be conveyed than the type of routine being taught. This should expedite students’ learning (on thinking). When more teachers adopt these practices, the expectations of student thinking becomes the norm, thus fostering students who think more deeply.