Our guest facilitator for this webinar was April Taylor, history teacher and Head of Campus for OneSchool Australia. For many years, April has been embracing the challenges of creating a culture of thinking in the online learning environment. In this webinar, the viewer is cast in the role of a learner in April's history classroom, experiencing for yourself how thinking routines might enrich online learning.
The session concluded with April's top 5 tips for keeping thinking front and centre in the online learning environment. Thanks to all who participated and a Special Thanks to April Taylor.
April’s Top 5 Tips to keep ‘thinking’ front & centre:
Use warm ups as lesson starters
opportunities for metacognition
opportunities for revision
place to pose wondering
Provide routines that require making connections and asking questions, e.g. Connect, Extend, Challenge
watching videos
reading articles
listening to you lecture for short periods
Allow opportunities for collaboration to push thinking through different perspectives and interpretations
shared document and breakout rooms
could form a debate!
Build in time for students to share thinking and wonderings
Q&A during discussion
using chat features
share screen and talk through thinking moves
Provide opportunities for peer assessment
set expectations around noticing what is done well and asking clarifying questions, e.g. Ladder of Feedback (Video)
provide tables for students to track ‘warm’ & ‘cool’ feedback to set goals and self-monitor
if positive the students will want to be in the ‘hot seat’!
April recommended reading:
Creating Cultures of Thinking: The 8 Forces We Must master to Truly Transform Our Schools by Ron Ritchhart
The Power of Making Thinking Visible: Practices to Engage and Empower Learners by Ron Ritchhart & Mark Church
