Children must be taught how to think, not what to think." - Margaret Mead
The following resources and thinking routines are from the Visible Thinking research of Ron Ritchhart and Harvard Project Zero ![]() Did you know that ROUTINES is only one aspect of a Cultures of Thinking classroom? Click here to find out more about the other forces! Stories From Oakland County Classrooms Click here to read....about how thinking routines are being used. "I'm planning on carrying the thinking routines with me to high school. They help me understand what I read or learn." |
PZ Thinking Routines from Sue Borchardt on Vimeo. ![]()
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Routines for Introducing & Exploring Ideas
Used to uncover students' prior knowledge and make connections to new understanding with the use of a metaphor
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Silent discussion on paper that invites all students to be active members of the learning process
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Identifies current understanding, promotes curiosity, and allows for exploration of unknown questions
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Routines for Synthesizing & Organizing Ideas
Identifying key ideas and committing them to memory
Highlights one's understanding of a topic in a nonlinear way
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Text-based discussion that identifies key concepts in the text
Used to summarize the theme of a lesson, text, image, or topic
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Connects new ideas with prior knowledge and raises awarness of puzzles or questions
A self-reflection tool to examine how one's thinking has changed or shifted over time
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Capture the core of an idea with the use of visual connections
Equal participation in a conversation that ensure everyone contributes
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"I think the visual thinking routines are more helpful in expanding students' knowledge rather than worksheets. I know they made me have a deeper understanding of the subject." |
Routines for Digging Deeper Into Ideas |
Thoughtful interpretations with evidence and reasoning
A routine to explore complex components of an incident, text, or photograph.
Text-based routine to identify what was important or meaningful
A routine for exploring tensions of truth
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Identification of perspectives around an issue or problem
Used to develop understanding of a complex topic
Used to explore different viewpoints and perspectives
Identifying and building both sides of an argument or tension/dilemma
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A routine for structuring analysis of creative works
A routine for creating thought-provoking questions
A routine for clarifying claims and seeking sources
A question that teachers can weave into discussion to push students to give evidence for their assertions
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A routine to engage learners to construct meaning
Used to identify possible errors in reasoning, over-reaching by authors, or areas that need to be questioned
A routine for considering viewpoints of truth
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