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Show don't tell. The Units of Study from TCRWP encourages each teacher in elementary to develop this within our children. Now that we have established part of my core philosophy, we are ready for some reality in action.  They say a picture speaks a thousand words... A video?  Must tell a lot more.

Check out my consolidated #TikTokforeducation that I created from one of my mini lessons on morphology.  This research based, focused and intentional way of teaching words has changed my perspective on my LA block. Yes, I am using Science of Reading thinking, yes, I am using Units of Study. Teaching is not one way or the highway. Mix and match to make it unique to your classroom, your needs and what pushes your kids to learn to read and LOVE to learn.

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Ron Ritchhart focuses on creating places where thinking is valued, visible, and promoted.

This research is part of the umbrella of Project Zero.  PZ and my philosophy as a teacher are extremely interconnected.  Please click the links to the resources from the professionals themselves.  I am merely putting my interpretation to practice as I seek for more learning opportunities to continue my passion for 'thinking to learn and learning to think'.

Learning about PZ, specifically MTV has been parallel to my conflict with the word, 'work'.   Every day students engage in Thinking Routines in my classroom, but then at the end of a unit there is a multiple choice test.  WHAT?!  No wonder why I am flustered with their results..

Shift the mindset.

If you can Google a test question, then do it.  Our assessments need to reflect what we are teaching.  Each thinking routine focuses on various types of thinking processes.  If I am teaching about The Boston Tea Party through analyzing a primary source, then I should include analyzing into the assessment component.  Each day of 'thinking to learn' is used as anecdotes of the process of learning.

What about the test?  The standards?  The pacing guide?!

If students learn to think, content will be easier to access no matter the situation.  They need to use their resources to figure it out. Our main goal is how will we assess individual growth?

Some brief ideas;

Post another primary source in Social Studies or Science and ask to make sense of it

Extra supports including prompts from the routine

I question if I could simply ask, "Why did the painter include _____" "How could this have impacted _____?"

Read a quote and show how it impacts you

Art, writing, the creation of a new club?!

Rubrics to show what you are looking for in their exhibition of learning

This way, teachers can assess what kinds of thinking students are gravitating towards (analyzing, organizing, creating, etc).  Therefore strengthening the ability to apply this same type of thinking anywhere in life.  The next 'unit' could focus on providing opportunities for other types of learning.

I am realizing I can go on for days about examples of Visible Thinking because of how it structures my entire lesson plan throughout my day.  It is easy to be insecure at first about the restrictions of public school assessment.  But, if you have intentionally taught your students to think in order to learn about content and then learn about what they are thinking about, we are doing them a much greater service for their future connections in life.

As long as we teach our students how to read (and understand what they read), the content can be found.

Which leads me to my next soap box.... literacy.

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I have been back and forth with my debate with the 'work' we are doing.  Work as defined by Dictionary.com:

noun
exertion or effort directed to produce or accomplish something; labor; toil.
productive or operative activity.

This is one snippet of the twenty seven definitions that you can find.   Let's focus on work as repeated, machine-like, and producing something part of a larger picture.  Yes, we go to work, we assign work, we work towards our goals.  If we connect our definition to the work we do in the classroom, we could see due dates, essays and projects that are crammed in before the finish line...or the quarters end.

If teachers start to reflect on why work is valuable, we notice that the process by which we achieve our goals is paramount.  This process is actually our learning.  What learning are we engaged in?  How does it look for each unique person?  What will this learning lead to?  Therefore, we cannot say that it is a repeated process, or laborious, or a piece of a larger puzzle.  Instead, learning leads to creating new vision that changes and alters our path, or mission.

If we invigorate teachers and students to actually learn, they will not be completing repeated fact pages, or recreate an artifact that already exists.  We will be focused to create new opportunities and thoughts to deepen our understanding about the traditional 'work' that has been regurgitated for years.

What are you learning about?  What are you focusing on today?
How can we strengthen these characteristics?

Let's not work a day in our lives.  Let's learn.

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Earlier this morning, my friend who is a Special Education teacher sent over an adorable Instagram account for me to follow.  Everything was perfectly cut out, colors matched, there were suggestions for where to buy fonts, the whole nine yards.

Wait...people are actually able to wrap their head around using a special font to engage students? Or themselves? Don't get me wrong, I immediately change my Google Doc font from Arial to Century Gothic or Average (duh). But that is because Arial needs to retire.

Kudos for those teachers who can A - afford B - create and C - maintain a clean, orderly, comfortable and flexible learning environment with whipped cream and a cherry on top. I do appreciate a clean looking space, but I think that my priorities are spread too thin to worry about the mess of learning.

Learning is messy. Mistakes are made. We sort, we create, we draw, we spill, we have way too many stickies splattered around the room. But this is where the magic begins! Being a virtual teacher this year has brought me to alternative methods to make 'less of a mess'. To be honest, I miss that mess. I miss the random stickies that I find in books, or stuck in a desk, or hidden in a corner. "My brain is churning like wheels" or "Why is this man choosing to kayak next to a waterfall?" are daily reminders that my kids are thinking and curious and are excited.

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The term work has received a bad rap these days!  Sunday scaries stemmed from the fear of WORK the next day.  Being so depleted and tired after a long days of WORK.  This explains why you see quotations around said word throughout my posts. Rather than a negative cause and effect relationship of assignments filling our day, I redefine it to be the individual segments that we focus on to create a pathway leading us to our goals.  After following this process, we learn from and grow to reach our final mission.  The work is the effort and energy we put forth to satisfy our passions. In some cases the 'work' we do is mundane, arduous or annoying, however in other cases the work we do leads us to deeper and more meaningful connections.  This thinking is irreplaceable.

Project Zero has done a lot of 'work' or research around this thinking.  The journey of thinking should be placed on a pedestal, shining bright with glitter and diamonds. If you are working on something applicable, meaningful and authentic, the energy behind the act of thinking is a positive force to further explore ones passion.

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Today, my students and I added to our 'Portfolios of Learning' and created a blog space via Padlet!  Ever since my first year of teaching, I wanted to create a journal of sorts.  There were some obstacles such as time and priority, however the main mission was for the 'work' to feel authentic for not only myself, but for whoever reads it.  Therefore, mirroring my blog to my students 'work' helps me stay accountable.  Modeling the process of sharing and actually using my 'mentor text' will illustrate how applicable and valuable this assignment can be.  My eleven and twelve year old students are thrilled to have their very own place to spread their minds to the world. (Granted, they will not be publishing their websites..).  Let the games of blogging begin!