These questions encourage meta-cognition: Thinking About Thinking. Never ever let students leave
class without reflecting in some small way on how learning makes them feel, WHY they are learning
what they are. Why? Why does it count?
3. Show dynamic and evocative pictures BEFORE speaking. Let students figure out what the picture
means using simple but effective Thinking Routines like 10x2, See/Think/Wonder, and Claim/
Support/Question. Make sure they write their ideas and share their ideas verbally with the classroom
creating that valuable link between writing and speaking. Start as many lessons as you can with
Thinking Routines because they honor students’ imaginative power and fuse them with writing and
verbal skills. Have them role play as “cultural anthropologists” and “history detectives” instead of
providing the content ready-made. Making Thinking Routine by making it a game!
4. Get hands on – Every single activity,
every single lesson should have a handson, tactile/kinesthetic component. Rene
Descartes said “I think therefore I am”
but it’s really “I think, move, feel and love
therefore I am.” Use differentiated
instruction by giving students multiple
pathways to the I CAN – a tableau (an
often dismissed yet highly effective and
misunderstood drama game), entrance
tickets, multi-sensory stations, card
games, writing a poem about the
subject, creating a visual model using
blocks or whatever material is available.
5. Use Twitter – Collect a tweet or a “Headline” on student comments, thoughts and art