Coming back to work after maternity leave has been a daunting, challenging experience. I was so adamant that I would be writing all the time on my blog, connect with the wide world that is out there and building my professional network. Yep that didnt happen!
Now as I start to reflect on the term, I am looking forward to focusing my teaching around building cultures of thinking in the classroom.
This has always been at the forefront of my teaching and I am lucky to be working at a place that values thinking. The curriculum framework that has been adopted at the college is Harvard University's Teaching for Understanding (TfU) model. The TfU framework is a guide that can help keep the focus of educational practice on developing students understanding. Add to this Harvard's Visible Thinking routines, and the inquiry and deep level of thinking that is adopted by students is eye-opening.
As I continue to think about how to engage students and make them think deeply about concepts and questions, I have recently turned to reading Ron Ritchhart's work on developing cultures of thinking. (www.ronritchhart.com) As one of Harvard's leading educators, I felt it was timely to dig deeper myself into developing cultures of thinking - not just in my classroom, but as a whole school culture.
I look forward to discussing with you more how my reading has transferred into to the classroom and reflecting on how it has developed my students' thinking further.
I promise it wont be as long between writes in future!
- Mel
Now as I start to reflect on the term, I am looking forward to focusing my teaching around building cultures of thinking in the classroom.
This has always been at the forefront of my teaching and I am lucky to be working at a place that values thinking. The curriculum framework that has been adopted at the college is Harvard University's Teaching for Understanding (TfU) model. The TfU framework is a guide that can help keep the focus of educational practice on developing students understanding. Add to this Harvard's Visible Thinking routines, and the inquiry and deep level of thinking that is adopted by students is eye-opening.
As I continue to think about how to engage students and make them think deeply about concepts and questions, I have recently turned to reading Ron Ritchhart's work on developing cultures of thinking. (www.ronritchhart.com) As one of Harvard's leading educators, I felt it was timely to dig deeper myself into developing cultures of thinking - not just in my classroom, but as a whole school culture.
I look forward to discussing with you more how my reading has transferred into to the classroom and reflecting on how it has developed my students' thinking further.
I promise it wont be as long between writes in future!
- Mel