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Our kindergarten students are working on developing experiments for the up coming science fair.

After group discussions about what makes a good experiment and modeling drawing ideas, the students were then assigned to draw a representation of their experiment. This format of drawing ideas and their thinking allows students who are developing linguistically to express themselves. During the discussion the teacher modeled the WMYST thinking routine to help students provide evidence and clarify their thoughts.

During a partner discussion one of the other students was completely baffled by his partners drawing as an expression of their experiment. After an exasperated, "What is this?" the other student explained that they wanted to see if fireflies could be captured and used to generate light. The other student was silent for a moment thinking about the experiment, then asked in a WMYST style, "What makes you say that? How do you think you can capture fireflies?" The interaction shifted from a challenge to a conversation of thinking about how to make the experiment viable. This interaction showed the incorporation of the WMYST routine into the student's thinking process.

Teacher modeling for students and using ideas as ‘experiments’ for learning creates support, space and time for students to become curious. When we write it on the board, then come back to it to later to discuss topic, they percolate and become something richer and create more opportunities for interaction and sharing of ideas.

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I used to think...Now I think... routine has been a wonderful way for the students to reflect on what they originally thought and how their thinking has changed or developed over time. This routine works well for all age groups, as it can be done with the teacher writing students voices in whole group and as individual reflections as students progress into high grade bands.

One of the concerns we discussed was create and setting aside time for these routines. Things do not happen instantly- time is needed for students (and teachers) to mull over ideas and develop deeper thinking. The WMYST conversations take time and create bifurcation, rabbit warrens of discussion, but they also create richer learning opportunities. As teachers, there is an opportunity cost to be weighed against moving forward and pausing for deeper meaningful reflection. There is also the cost of our personal time taken in planning and setting up for these routines, but with the potential reward of our students have learning that resonates and engages them on a more personal level.

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3-2-1 Bridge- Order of Operations- Student Response

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The 3-2-1 Bridge activities have been a great way for students to identify what they understood at the start of a unit, and then reflect on how their thinking has changed. This is another version of the I used to thin...Now I think... with the added feature of prompting students to reflect on how their thinking has changed.

One of the challenges we are facing in secondary is limited space to post student work. Using space in the classroom to post ideas / topics for discussion places value on what we are discussing. Many have inconsistent rooms from day -to-day with shared spaces. In addition, there is limited wall space in common areas for displaying student work. One way to try and address this is using digital sources for reflection. Additional resources and processes would be needed to allow students to share and reflect on each others work. The concern is that digital curated work does not have the same impact as hand written or personally created work.

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The Mind Maps allowed students an opportunity to reflect on a topic and come up with related words or images that relate to the original subject. This routine creates time and space for students to clarify what they think, then interaction to share their thoughts with peers. This also creates opportunities for students share their thinking, which places value in what they have done and sparks ideas in other students. This is also a routine that works well for developing conversations around a topic and prompting with WMYST.

We have found that students who struggle with linguistic skills can use WMYST in conversations with peers and it provides a point for teachers to help students voice what they are thinking. Teachers are also able to extend learning or clarify thinking. WMYST is a way to shift the conversation from what a student perhaps does not understand or has a misconception about, to supporting them and guiding the student back toward clearer understanding. In peer conversations this dialogue creates opportunities to share and spark ideas.

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The Think-Puzzle-Routine allows the students to make connections to what they already know, prompts them to think about what they don't know, then foster curiosity by focusing on where their thinking can take them. This is self-determined learning that works great at the start of a unit and can help in directing some of the information that is covered.

One of our conversations centered around the belief that familiarity with the routines and with each other must be built up over time. Not just month, but years of vertically aligned routines that build on each other. They require a comfort level in working within the process of the routine, but more vital is the establishing classroom environments where students are comfortable and confident in sharing their thoughts and ideas. Kids feeling safe to share has to be intentionally planned and built upon over time. In a post-Covid, digital native world, we are faced with teaching students how to interact, sharing thoughts, ideas, and engage in meaningful conversation.