Hello to my friends who work with students in grades 1-6. If you don’t teach these grades, please refer to episode 48 for grades PK-K and episode 50 for specialist and supporting teachers. Welcome to this episode my friends who teach primary/elementary aged students. We are going to take a deep dive today into the thinking skills to help you broaden your understanding and help to unpack one completely. My aim is to get you to start thinking differently about the ATLs; not as an add-on to the program. In this episode, we are going to examine the ATL thinking skills from your viewpoint. We will refer to PYP From Principles into Practice: Learning and Teaching from pages 26-38. As we previously discussed, the teacher sets the tone for everything in the classroom from agency, inquiry, and the ATLs. They must consider their role in making the ATLs come to life in their classrooms. What teachers do to set the stage for thinking skills to thrive
When I look at this list, I can get overwhelmed by all of the requirements placed on me while getting learners to understand their role in developing thinking skills. Then, I take a step back and think about the PYP structure in our units of inquiry. We are always encouraged to only pick 2-3 to focus on with our learners for the length of our unit. Since we do this with our learners, why are we not doing it for ourselves? This list is a success criteria for us to strive to make goals to better our practice. Are you breathing easier now? When I do look at this list, my main goal is to explicitly ask learners to discuss and reflect on the value and limitations of the resources used through their inquiries. This makes me take a step back, because it’s quite deep. If I’m interpreting it correctly, I think we need to get our students to reflect regularly on the steps/things that are slowing down their inquiry process. It may be technology, access to reading materials, access to experts, group dynamics, and so forth. If they are regularly reflecting, they can better identify the issue and make a correction. I still need to work on this definition, but this is a doable starting point for me. It might still be quite overwhelming for you, so begin with something else. Remember a goal is to stretch you, not kill you. The thinking skills that students will demonstrate come under the sub-skill of critical and creative thinking. Critical thinking has the following sub-skill criteria:
Creative thinking has the following sub-skill criteria:
Now, we’re going to take a deeper look at one of the sub-skills and how we might approach teaching it to our learners. I chose this same ATL sub-skill for early years and specialist and supporting teachers, because it allows coordinators to see how they can be applied in different ways. As students get older, they want to become more a part of the designing process. Consider unpacking these ATLs at the beginning of the unit after you’ve introduced the topic. Ask students to help you choose which ATLs should be used in the unit. Then, they are using them as success criteria and creating goals. Once again, we are not covering all of them, but rather using them as a choice menu. Hmm...I really like this idea. Considering new perspectivesAsk “what if” questions and generate testable hypotheses
For example: I taught my fourth graders about mixtures and solutions. To test their understanding, I gave them a random box of materials to show their thinking. By the end, students were wearing sleeping masks to better understand the difference between a mixture and solution. This all came from asking “What if” questions. Apply existing knowledge to design new products processes, media and technologies
Consider multiple alternatives, including those that might be unlikely or impossible
We want our learners to think beyond the superficial connections that exist, because this is where learning is hardwired to long-term memory. They will be able to look at any two isolated ideas and be able to make a connection between them. This is a skill that is developed over many years with repeated practice. Practice flexible thinking—develop multiple opposing, contradictory and complementary arguments
Practice “visible thinking” strategies and techniques
Generate metaphors and analogies If you’re like me, I get metaphors, similes, and analogies mixed up. I think this example will help to clarify it in your mind.
We use this figurative language to get learners to make unlikely connections between objects and to be able to explain their thinking in a different way.
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