This month's Book Club utilized the 4C's thinking routine and Twitter to conduct our conversation about Chapter 4 of Intellectual Character by Ron Ritchhart. Staff placed their 4C's post-it notes on the group poster which was then photographed and shared on Twitter. Book Club members then tweeted out a few responses about other members' connections, extensions, ideas, and thoughts.  Each group member was asked to tweet at least three messages.  

Reuther had its second opportunity to be on a panel discussion to share our Cultures of Thinking journey.  Cheryl Gambaro and Rachel Mainero joined colleagues from across Oakland County to share our journey with Year 1 Foundations Seminar participants. Gambaro and Mainero also participated in a LAST Protocol looking at student artifacts of Step Inside and Peeling the Fruit.  The discussion provided additional ideas and protocols to use with our staff. Two new protocols that we plan on sharing are Considering Evidence Protocol and Slice Protocol. Our goal is to use these protocols as we continue our Action Research Project with Brandon Middle School.

This year Oakland Schools provided a different twist on the CoT Tour opportunity.  Based on strengths and needs, third year CoT schools were matched up to provide a customized tour.  Reuther was matched with Brandon Middle School and met for the first time on November 18, 2014 at Reuther.  Together, our science teachers are working on an action research project with the hypothesis: 

Will students achieve a deeper level of thinking after multiple implementations and teacher reflections of the _______ routine? 


Teachers will be analyzing their student artifacts using Ron Ritchhart's Student Thinking Continuum at three different times during this school year: November 18, January 27, and again in March. The customized tour also includes observation in six different classrooms as well as the utilization of the Opportunities Protocol to reflect upon the observations. 

Beth Rogers, 5th Grade Teacher at Clarkston Community Schools, provides a sneak peek inside the culture of her classroom. 

Today's Think Tank PLC watched a Clarkston Community Schools' video of a 5th grade elementary classroom during Readers' Workshop time.  While the video did not include a routine, it did highlight the other seven cultural forces.  Individuals noted the forces while watching the video and then discussed as a whole group.  The remainder of the time was spent brainstorming and discussing future lesson plans, collaborating on new ideas, and discussing revisions to previous lessons.  

 

Amy Hoekstra and Natalie James presented visible thinking routines to high school Geometry teachers from AHS, RHS, and SCHS on November 4 during the morning professional development session. The high school teachers were interested in seeing how visible thinking routines are being used at the middle school level.  Amy and Natalie presented several examples of lessons involving the routines, as well as answered questions from the high school teachers to help them get started with the routines in their own classrooms.