Professional Practice Study

Fall 2017 TLC: High Expectations and the Thinking Classroom - Activity 5 Resources

Course leader:
SEED Team

Teacher Quality Standards

  • QS III: Teachers plan and deliver effective instruction and create an environment that facilitates learning for their students.
    • Element D: Teachers establish and communicate high expectations and use processes to support the development of critical-thinking and problem-solving skills.
  • QS I: Teachers demonstrate mastery of and pedagogical expertise in the content they teach.
    • Element C: Teachers demonstrate knowledge of the content, central concepts, inquiry, appropriate evidence-based instructional practices, and specialized characteristics of the disciplines being taught.

Students Directing Their Own Learning

How do you balance the ideas of “letting go” and allowing students to be self-directed learners who own their own thinking and learning while holding them to high expectations and mastery of standards and learning targets?  In this activity you will explore the idea of handing the thinking over to students, by encouraging students to generate their own questions and direct their learning in a supportive classroom environment.

 

Resources

Teaching Tactics that Encourage Active Learning

This sheet provides ideas for ways to actively involve students in their learning

 

How to Scale Up Deeper Learning

This article discusses deeper instructional practices which may be a good place to begin for teachers who are attempting to hand thinking over to students.  See also accompanying video. 

BIE Book Excerpt: What Project Based Learning is Not

This post concisely outlines the difference between projects and project-based learning. Though focused on PBL, this article provides food for thought about developing projects into more authentic learning.

 

Teachers Embrace 'Deep Learning,' Teaching Practical Skills

In this news report by PBS, teachers show how they implement real-world application into their lessons and how students and teachers concentrate on improvement rather than intelligence.   

An Overview of the Question Formulation Technique™ (QFT™)

This short article provides an introduction to the Question Formulation Technique.  

 

No Quick Fix? Developing Problem-Solving Skills

This article provides a lesson plan model for asking students to solve a relevant problem in their school.  Could be easily applied across broad contexts.

 

Developing a Classroom Culture that Supports a Problem-Solving Approach to Mathematics

This article provides concrete ways to investigate and develop classroom culture to support problem-solving.  Though directed at mathematics specifically, the concepts could be applicable across content areas.

 

Don't Leave Learning Up to Chance: Framing and Reflection

This article is focused on maker education and has important applications for any kind of hands-on learning experience. It encourages teachers to frame lessons with goals and engage students in reflecting on those goals to make hands-on learning experiences meaningful.

What Happens When Classrooms Meet Higher Order Thinking

In this TEDx Talk, Dylan Hyman encourages teachers to encourage higher-order thinking by implementing "20% time" in their classrooms.