eprimer - thinking groups— teaching students to “think around the box™”

Thinking Groups—

Teaching Students to

“Think Around the Box™”

Preparing the next generation for a lifetime of learning™

http://www.alexterego.com/

Thinking Groups—Teaching Students to

“Think Around the Box™”

Question: How in this time of the narrowing of the curriculum, the stifling of innovation, the homogenization of talent, and the tyranny of low expectations can we reverse the trend in education practices and create team-oriented learning, critical and innovative thinking, problem solving, and the leveraging of diversity? Answer: The multiplier effect of best practices!

Copyright 2006

Alex Terego www.AlexTerego.com

Chief Editor: Leslie Rowe of www.GreatWords.net

http://www.alexterego.com/

http://www.greatwords.net/

ePrimer™ Thinking Groups—Teaching Students to “Think Around the Box™” © 2006 www.AlexTerego.com

Table of Contents

1: Introduction: Thinking is Learning ..........................................................1

2: Building a Cognitive Child .......................................................................5

3: Cooperative Learning ..............................................................................8

4: Thinking Groups .....................................................................................11

5: The Essay Principles .............................................................................15

6: The Process of Essay Writing ................................................................17

7: More About Thinking Groups .................................................................20

8: The Thinking Group Contract ................................................................23

9: The Thinking Group in Action ................................................................26

10: Warm-Up Exercises..............................................................................31

11: Sample Exercises ................................................................................34

The List Method—Example 1 .........................................................34

The Spider Diagram Method—Example 2 ......................................39

The Spider Diagram Method—Example 3 ......................................43

The Contextual Thinking Method—Example 4 ..............................47

The List Method—Example 5 .........................................................51

The Graphic Method—Example 6 ..................................................54

ePrimer™ Thinking Groups—Teaching Students to “Think Around the Box™” www.AlexTerego.com 1

1: Introduction: Thinking is

Learning

Thinking matters. In today’s world thinking in groups matters more

lease note well. When teaching a small group it is important to first consider whether you are A) teaching a lesson plan that focuses on the transmission of

objective facts or content, which your students must learn, or B) whether you are teaching a lesson plan that encourages your students to form an opinion about a given topic. These are two very different objectives and require two different teaching styles.

They have been called the closed and open-ended styles of teaching. Closed-ended teaching mostly relies on a yes/no or true/false response to questions about facts. Open-ended teaching on the other hand asks children to address issues that have no true or false answers, and to respond in the form of opinions or points of view expressed in a thesis statement, essay, presentation, or even a poster.

Teaching by telling or learning to make meaning

In the first case—the teaching of objective facts or truths—your teaching style is likely to be what teachers call “stand and deliver,” or what educational writers call a didactic or lecture style. I call it teaching by telling. In the second case—getting your students to come to a conclusion of their own, on their own, about any topic or prompt—your students are learning to make meaning; this kind of teaching is called Socratic or maieutic teaching..

When teaching by telling, your students are more passive and you are more active. When teaching them to make meaning, the teacher is more passive and the students more active. For more on this please refer to ePrimer™, A Guide to Lesson Planning—A Framework for Learning.

This ePrimer™ is devoted to the latter method—teaching students to make meaning—where two or more students under the direction and guidance of a teacher are addressing a subjective issue. Again, by subjective I mean an open-ended topic, prompt, or question to which there is no right or wrong answer. Their answers, expressed in the form of an opinion, are not demonstrably right or wrong. For example, if they are asked to address the issue that “The love of money is the root of all evil,” they probably cannot prove their opinion on the matter one way or another.

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Instead what we want from them is a well argued, well thought out opinion on the subject expressed in an authentic voice in an essay

Thinking groups

This ePrimer™ introduces maieutic learning conducted within an small organized group I call thinking groups. The purpose of thinking groups is to get students to think in group setting about the big ideas, in a disciplined manner, by following a set of procedures that will show the group how to address any issue that is more abstract and subjective. And please, make note that the vast majority of the decisions that your students will make in life are of an abstract or subjective nature. Most of what we do, or are asked to do, or what we discuss in life is not provable and so is fraught with uncertainty. Consequently, it helps at the outset to remind your students to memorize this quote.

This quote, which sums up the underlying syllabus philosophy at Harvard Business School, and which should also underlie teaching small groups, provokes further questions in my mind:

Are today’s students encouraged to ask better questions in order to improve or change the way they think?

Should they change the way they think?

Are they encouraged to think, or are they just being told what the right answers are?

These might not be the most vital questions facing our nation; however, they are questions that need to be addressed if our children are to learn, and a civilized and competitive society is to be preserved.

As I said, the premise for this ePrimer™ is Socratic or maieutic Inquiry, a process by which children learn to think (cognition) by teaching themselves, and others, using their natural capacities for thinking, collaborating and learning.

Thinking is learning

Thinking (cognition) matters, and thinking about thinking (metacognition) matters even more. Moreover, thinking is learning.

Before explaining how to teach small groups, let me begin with this fact. Being awake and being conscious are two very different states of mind.

“Change the way you think by asking better questions.”

William Sahlman, Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies Harvard Business School


If we as a modern, technologically and socially advanced society are satisfied if our students are merely awake, then we will not educate them and we will fail them. A major role of society—through both family and school—is to make students consciously aware of themselves, their abilities, and their place in the world.

Students can only be helped to reach this awareness if all of their many faculties, all seven of their intelligences (see the ePrimer™, Educating the Whole Child through their Multiple Intelligences—Sensory Literacy), and full potential are deployed. And merely being awake is not enough to accomplish this task. To learn, they must be conscious—fully aware of themselves and their surroundings. I think all parents and educators will agree that any school, classroom, parent, or a teacher alone cannot make a student fully conscious. Only the student can will this to happen. And, in order to do this, they must want to. My question is this: are we helping them to want to? If you as a parent or educator feel that you can do more to help your students to will themselves into a learning—cognitive and metacognitive—state, then read on.

When students are subjected to a constant bombardment of facts and figures, skills, and statistics, they are not fulfilling their natural abilities to think and to explore the intellectual realm. Children are naturally curious and as Dorothy Parker observed, “The cure for boredom is curiosity; and so far there is no cure for curiosity.” Thank goodness curiosity cannot be cured; in fact, it must be nurtured at every possible turn. By teaching only factual content, we leave little room for natural curiosity. By teaching them how to form opinions, we give them an outlet for their curiosity.

Summary

Decide: are you teaching the group to discover something for themselves or an accepted fact? Then change your style accordingly.

Getting students to make meaning about subjective issues teaches them to think.

Teaching them facts, by teaching them by telling, teaches them to memorize.

A complete education demands both skills. However most of the decisions students make will not be made on concrete or factual information but on subjective, personal taste.

Learning to become a cognitive person means learning to ask better questions.

Children can memorize when they are awake: however, to be cognitive human beings they need to be fully conscious. To be fully conscious they need to be challenged.


Challenging children means getting them to utilize all of their powers—not just the ability to learn by reading, writing, and doing logical operations. They have many more ways to be cognitive. Help them exploit them

At the end of the day, only your student can will all this to happen. You can encourage, coach, teach, argue, challenge, and set examples; but if they do not will learning to happen, then it will not happen.


2: Building a Cognitive

Child

Can thinking be taught? No, but it can be coached.

eaching in small groups takes special advantage of the fact that as humans, we are uniquely gifted with the ability to stand outside of ourselves and reflect on who we

are: Socrates knew this. Most would argue that along with this gift comes a responsibility to use it. It is simply wrong for individuals not to think for themselves.

Can children’s natural abilities to think (cognition) and think about thinking (metacognition) be improved? I believe, as do many more eminently qualified people than me, that the answer is an unqualified yes. And teaching in groups helps enormously.

How infants think and learn

A few facts on child development history help us understand this process of cognition. (For more on this, see the ePrimer™, Understanding the Mind and the Brain—Educational Psychology.)

The eminent Swiss educational theorist Jean Piaget observed in the 1920s and 1930s that in our earliest days, we learn to think in a rather elemental, sensory manner by observing, imitating, and then correcting our efforts by trial and error. No one tries to explain baby’s or toddler’s mistakes to them, since they lack the ability to reason by using words at this stage. Instead, family and friends just patiently demonstrate the skill repeatedly, until toddlers and babies miraculously intuit their way to mastering the intellectual and motor skills involved in walking, speaking, feeding, pattern recognition and dressing themselves.

This is certainly instinctive learning, but at some level, our babies and toddlers must be thinking their way through, in some rudimentary fashion, by looking at options and solving problems. It is not surprising therefore, that it is said that the key to humanity and survival is anticipation and preparation.

Anyone who has watched in awe as a baby goes from lying down helpless, to crawling, to walking upright and communicating in the first year or so of its life cannot ascribe these feats of anticipation and preparation to anything other than an innate cognitive ability. In other words, infants think. They just do not think about thinking yet. If they did, they would not be narcissistic and believe themselves to be not only the center of the universe, but also master of it.

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Becoming self-reflective: metacognition

The gift of thinking about thinking—of becoming self-reflective—and thinking logically, metaphorically, and in abstract terms comes much later; and it is at first a terrible letdown. The sad realization by a child entering the “muddle school years” that they are not, in fact, the center of things, but simply a part of a larger whole, arrives along with the dawning of metacognition. Consequently, our greatest gift—the knowledge that we are not just sentient but self-reflective—is accompanied by a huge disappointment

Historically and tragically, however, rather than telling our children that this gift of metacognition is to be nurtured, society has turned to regimentation, discipline, and the discouragement of individuality.

Knowing how to think about thinking—metacognition—leads us to think about ourselves and our place in the world; what better gift? It will prompt your students to ask questions such as “Why did I do that?” “What could I have done better?” and “What help or knowledge do I need?”

The answers to these and other self-reflective questions set us on a new plane. This is where real learning begins. By age 12, our children—our future—begin to think in abstract and complex terms. Reasoning and hypothesizing—using what ifs—become second nature and anyone who is thinking in such advanced ways needs to be challenged as well as trained.

A guaranteed antidote for the middle school year’s disillusionment—and a life skill to boot—is to bolster children’s self-image by asking them for—and valuing—their contributions to team efforts. As such, I highly recommend the thinking groups described in this ePrimer™.

Summary

We can stand outside ourselves and others, and we can reflect on what we and others are thinking.

Thinking about what we are doing, and thinking about what we are thinking, and thinking about what others think is something we are born to do, but with training, we can improve.

These skills—cognition and metacognition—are life skills with immense value.

Middle school age children find these gifts disturbing and need help accommodating and applying them.

Children are by nature self-reflective. They simply need to learn how to question and how to handle abstract thought.


One of the very best ways to teach thinking skills is to have children learn in a participative environment, where social skills, leadership skills, and group learning skills will all be sharpened.


3: Cooperative Learning

Engaging students through organized groups

s I have said, those major discoveries which children entering middle school make about themselves should not be met with only rote and regimented approaches to

their education. A great deal of the required content for SATs and other required examinations demands a certain amount of teaching by telling and examination of the retention of facts. Solely relying on this approach, however, betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of the needs of your students.

My long experience as student, teacher, businessman, observer, thinker, parent, grandparent, and educational writer has convinced me that a curriculum misalignment occurs in our children’s middle schools years and persists all the way to the college undergraduate level.

Nurturing a cooperative spirit

A visitor from Mars might conclude from the behavior of a self-centered pre-school child that he or she has never belonged to a group. The reality is that the child actually leads a group and as the leader, he or she gets whatever he or she wants. However, even the only child of indulgent, loving parents actually participates in the group effort called “raising baby.” If the parents know best, they will reward cooperative behavior more than selfish behavior. This variable response is desirable because we are all part of a species that thrives on collaborative, cooperative behavior. Baby will do better if this cooperative spirit is nurtured. If baby is given whatever baby or toddler wants whenever she wants it, baby or toddler will become isolated from the larger group and in the end, the adolescent—and the group—will suffer.

The methods of Socrates

“Two heads are better than one.” So goes the old adage. The modern term for this is the “group mind,” the idea being that a group of individuals learn better because the sum is greater than its parts. In The Paideia Proposal: An Educational Manifesto (1982), philosopher and educational theorist Mortimer Adler advocated group activities based on the methods of Socrates he coined the word maieutic from the Greek word for midwife.. This ePrimer™ is a step-by-step guide on how to conduct a Socratic seminar.

Businesses regularly use self-directed groups to brainstorm for new ideas or to solve problems. It is an idea that works and has worked for 2,300 years.

At this point, let me be clear. I am not advocating that the content-based teach-by-telling lecture be abandoned. In fact, I think that such lectures still should comprise the majority of any curriculum; because your student must pass state and federal tests to

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advance and the tests are based on content standards. The problem is, that this the only mandate. The government tests do not require thought—just recollection. They do not mandate making meaning.

There is a place for the lecture and teacher-led question-and-answer sessions; but even in these sessions, these techniques should not be passive experiences. The students must be engaged. A teacher’s answer to a question or a student’s answer to a teacher’s question should never indicate the end of the discourse. Answers should generate further questions.

Thinking groups

As a society, we should not aim only for giving our students the “fluency of facts,” advocated by the Bush era secretary of education, but also for teaching our students to think for themselves. I am convinced by the personal, empirical evidence I have gathered from many classrooms—and business meetings where middle school behavior is still observable—that there is a need to incorporate what I call “thinking groups,” into all classrooms. The ePrimer™ devotes considerable attention to thinking groups.

William Glasser, an internationally recognized psychiatrist, said that “We learn 10 percent of what we read; 20 percent of what we hear; 30 percent of what we see; 50 percent of what we both hear and see; 70 percent of what we discuss with others; 80 percent of what we experience personally and 90 percent of what we teach someone else.”

His ratios may be a little extreme, but his thesis is correct, because in order to teach someone something, you first need to research the topic by reading, listening, and talking about the subject. In my opinion, you also need to take another major step that Glasser does not mention, and that is writing about it. If we remember 90 percent of what we teach others, then we should be given every opportunity to teach others as the best way to learn. When a self-directed group of students comes together to brainstorm an idea, each person learns by what he or she contributes about the idea. Also, the group experience allows each participant to learn through the contributions of others.

Summary

Just as children discover that they are cognitive and metacognitive beings, able to think in metaphors and abstractions, we force-feed them facts.

Children are not born with the ability to work cooperatively in groups. But it is this skill that can help them think and learn more than just isolated, individual work.

Groups work in all spheres of human endeavor such as the military or business.


We learn best by teaching others what we find out. An organized group dynamic fosters this more than any other setting.


4: Thinking Groups

Self-directed learning through mutual inquiry

roups of students operating as self-directed thinking groups are based on the two-thousand-year-old Socratic dialogue method.

The basic premise of these groups or circles is that a collaborative effort, guided by a teacher but primarily self-directed, will lead to a greater understanding of the idea or prompt or topic under discussion. It does not matter whether the idea up for discussion is literature, art, science, history, geography, or any other subject matter, the concept works across the curriculum. It also does not matter all that much if conclusions are reached, because the topic under discussion is a means to an end, not an end in itself. The end is the teaching of thinking and the making of meaning as an explicit skill, and the means is to help students think their way to a point of view on any topic.

Students teach themselves meaning by participating in a mutual inquiry—guided by the educator—to come to an understanding of the subject matter. After all, our modern word “education” comes from the Latin verb educare, which means to “draw out” or to “lead out,” not to “put in.” As Socrates said: “Education is the kindling of a flame; not the filling of a vessel.”

A non-competitive quest

One of the key benefits of thinking groups is that the quest for understanding, undertaken by a group, is not competitive. It is not a debate with winners and losers. In fact, the effort of participating and collaborating will create skilled listeners, promote higher-order thinking skills, act as a team-building exercise, teach respect for others, and teach tolerance for divergent opinions. Probably the most important benefit of these groupthinks, however, is that they hone the participants’ skills in critical thinking as a way to solve problems and make meaning.

It would appear that humans are the only species able to listen, and possibly adapt, to another’s point of view. We can be persuaded of something by an appeal to our reason, as opposed to a threat from tooth or claw, gun or torture.

Interpersonal intelligence

Furthermore, before adopting the other’s point of view, we have the ability to imagine ourselves actually believing in that point of view. Thinking groups take advantage of this empathetic attribute. Professor Howard Gardner in his landmark work Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences (1983) refers to this skill as our interpersonal

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intelligence. This skill is one of two personal intelligences we all possess; the other is our intrapersonal intelligence, which is another way of saying thinking about thinking.

Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences postulates that there are at least seven ways to learn and teach. The ePrimer™, Educating the Whole Child through their Multiple Intelligences—Sensory Literacy, explores this idea in depth.

Here is a brief summary of the multiple intelligences that all of us have in some degree. It is just a question of the proportions.

Visual/spatial intelligence

In addition to using our interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences, we acquire and process information and express ourselves in visual/spatial ways. Some of us have outstanding depth perception and can find our way around more easily than others. People who have this intelligence in abundance can see relationships in three-dimensional space: they also have an active imagination.

Verbal/linguistic intelligence

Some of us have an intelligence that is dominant in the verbal/linguistic areas. This means that we can understand the meaning of words quite well; we can use words well to learn, explain, teach, or even sell. People who have this as their dominant intelligence have better than average recall and memory.

In the interpersonal intelligence already discussed, people can discern intentions in others; they can sympathize and empathize, and find working in groups more congenial. Intrapersonal skills translate into higher-order logical and critical thinking skills.

Logical/mathematical intelligence

Those gifted with logical/mathematical intelligence are more comfortable with abstract ideas and patterns, scientific reasoning, and inductive and deductive reasoning. These people are better at discerning relationships and connections among objects and ideas.

In his book, Gardner identifies two more intelligences. The first is musical/rhythmic intelligence, with an associated sensitivity to sound and tone. The second is body/kinesthetic intelligence, with a heightened sensitivity to movement.

Thinking group participants are all likely to be strong in one or more of these intelligences, and I describe them only for your information. The educator will no doubt be watching the thinking groups operate, and this kind of information about the different ways in which we all learn may help in guiding the thinking group.

I like to think of the process explained in my book “Essay Writing for High School Students,” being a little like the famous “thought experiments” that Albert Einstein conducted, and which resulted in his breakthrough discoveries about the nature of our world.


Building imaginary models

When members of a thinking group discuss a topic with the purpose of coming to a conclusion or point of view on a prompt, topic, or question, they have to build imaginary models of possible outcomes in their minds. They cannot build physical experiments; they have to rely on their imagination and intelligence.

Einstein could not build a microscope powerful enough to investigate the nature of sub-atomic particles. Neither could he build a spaceship fast enough to ride alongside a beam of light. Nonetheless, that was what he would have to accomplish to find his answers. Einstein knew that he would never solve the problems that obsessed him unless he looked inside an atom or rode a beam of light. So, he surmised them, imagined them, or modeled them—inside his head. Using no equipment other than his mind, Einstein set out to understand what direct observation of these phenomena would tell him. He asked questions of himself about what it would be like to live inside an atom or ride a beam of light at 186,000 miles per second. He answered those questions and many more using only his imagination.

The essay: testing the thoughts

One way for an educator to test the outcome of the thought experiments that are thinking groups is the essay. The answers to a question, such as the one about the love of money being the root of all evil, are subjective opinions. They are a question of personal taste, not demonstrable proofs.

The best form of expression for an opinion is an essay. In an essay, the writer has to lay out her thought process and defend it. The essay endures forever, making it more likely that the writer will not be as careless with the written words as they she might be with spoken words.

Writing an essay is a lot like Einstein’s thought experiments. When writing an essay, there is no complicated machinery to design and build inside our minds. We simply need to use that most complex of organisms—our human brain—to imagine, suppose, and deduce. One of the functions that the brain performs best is conjecture—thinking what something might be like. That is just what is required in order to develop, or discover, a point of view and to disclose it in the form of an essay. The purpose of the following pages is to show one way in which students can be encouraged to think their way to a thesis—just as Einstein did. Essays are the best way to test the outcome of a thinking group.

Summary

By addressing an open-ended issue—e.g. “Is effort more important than ability?”—participants in a thinking group must focus on discovery and innovation in order for opinion creation and meaning making to happen.


Thinking groups are not debates with winners and losers; they are a group problem-solving endeavor.

Participation in a thinking group will promote not just thinking skills but will also develop listening and team participation skills as well as tolerance and respect.

All of our multiple intelligences must be brought to bear on the issue presented to the thinking group.

Participants in thinking groups are conducting thought experiments in which their imagination concocts probable—and improbable—ideas. Participants consider ideas carefully before committing them to paper as essays for others to see.


5: The Essay Principles

A journey of self discovery

here are six basic essay principles.

1) 19th century British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli neatly encapsulated the first and paramount principle of writing an essay when he said, “If you wish to

become acquainted with a subject, write . . . about it.” A poster bearing these words should hang in the classroom.

2) The second principle is an extension of the first and states that the true subject of an essay is the writer, not the topic being written about. This statement also is a candidate for a classroom poster.

3) Principles one and two inevitably lead to the third principle, which simply states that if the true subject matter of an essay is the author, then writing essays must be the best way to discover oneself.

4) The fourth principle maintains that it is possible to learn to think one’s way to the discovery of a personal point of view using disciplined, logical, and structured methods.

5) The fifth principle is that it is possible to learn to disclose, or share, that point of view through clear, concise writing.

6) The sixth principle is practice, practice, practice.

SAT essay preparation

The thinking group described in this ePrimer™ is primarily a group activity. Clearly, students who are writing an essay during their SAT or ACT assessment examination will not have the advantage of working with a group of fellow students. Nor will they have dictionaries or other reference materials. Nevertheless, the thinking group and its techniques, if practiced often enough in a group setting, will “wear a path” through the nervous system of the student. This pathway of the discovery and disclosure process will become second nature, and the student will be better prepared for the SAT or ACT assessment essay.

If you have ever watched as a group of small children are introduced to, let’s say, the tennis serve, they begin by doing it over and over again in unison, following along as the coach demonstrates the correct technique before eventually doing it themselves.

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This kind of learning eventually carries over into the tennis match—played alone without the coach—and the pathways that endless practices have worn into the child’s central nervous system take over as muscle memory.

A journey of self discovery

These same principles are the foundation of the thinking group method. The difference is that practicing these skills will lead to a method for the discovery of a writer’s true voice, and the ability to disclose, or share that authentic voice, which is the essence of any essay.

In other words, practicing the methods learned in thinking groups will lead to a journey of self-discovery. Practicing the methods and techniques explained in this ePrimer™ volume and in my book Essay Writing for High School Students will give reading, thinking, and writing a purpose: self-discovery.

Essay writing is not only the best way to disclose one’s point of view; it is a way to discover, cultivate, and refine beliefs about all sorts of issues, large and small. This training and refining of the mind and personality through writing is just as important as—and can be readily compared to—physical exercise for the body.

Writing is the best way to refine all received knowledge into a personal philosophy that makes sense; first to the writer and then to others. Properly executed, writing essays can be compared to looking into a mirror:: what is seen—or should be seen— in both the mirror and the writing is an honest reflection of who the writer really is.

Summary

Writing about anything is a good way to discover yourself.

An instinctive response to a question may be right, but a disciplined approach to a question has a better chance of being the right one—especially if it is written down and presented for examination.

Clear writing is easier when you have an authentic topic to write about.

Practice may not make perfect; but it certainly helps improve any student’s work.

Writing is like looking in a mirror and discovering who you really are.


6: The Process of Essay

Writing

Thinking, writing, and understanding

s I have said, essay writing is best understood as a way of further understanding oneself, by studying the subject matter of a prompt or question, and analyzing

one’s relationship to that subject matter.

The first challenge faced by students when confronted with the subject matter suggested by an essay prompt or question is to resist the temptation to begin writing before fully understanding if—and how or why—they agree or disagree with the prompt.

For example, when confronted by the prompt “The love of money is the root of all evil,” students need to first to figure out—that is, discover—how they feel about this issue before disclosing their point of view.

How can they do that? The answer, of course, is that they must think. In this case, they must think about the proposition to do with money and, by inference, evil and society. Students only learn when they think their way through the process. Of course, thinking requires effort and a plan.

The purpose of this ePrimer™ is to provide parent educators with a vehicle for helping their students learn and practice this method as a group activity in the classroom. This ePrimer™ and Essay Writing for High School Students help students think by showing them a step-by-step method for attacking any problem.

Let’s start by stating the obvious. Nothing worthwhile is achieved without effort. It seems to me that one learns very little even from scientific programs on TV, because nothing is required of the viewer except passivity. By contrast, students must engage and wrestle with the problem posed in a prompt or essay topic.

Teachers will need to constantly remind their students that the rewards of this effort are immense—nothing less than a formation of one’s beliefs through thought and comprehension.

Asking questions to encourage thinking

So to begin: it is self-evident that all of us—students included—have some prior knowledge that is relevant to the issue, prompt, or question under consideration. The questions the teacher should encourage their students to ask are:

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1. How can I form a whole view shaped and synthesized from old information and new?

2. How can I acquire new information?

3. How can I reflect on this newly acquired knowledge?

In Chapters 2 and 4 of Essay Writing for High School Students, I describe a method of thinking in disciplined and structured ways on topics such as money, evil, and the impact of evil on society. This method, which I call Thinking Around the Box™, first helps students recover information they had—and perhaps did not realize—then helps them add to that knowledge, and finally, helps them blend the two to synthesize a cogent, whole, authentic viewpoint.

Writing to gain understanding

“You cannot write about something you do not understand.” (Project CRISS, www.projectcriss.com) Lack of understanding, I believe, is at the heart of problems faced by all of us, not just students. Thinking about a subject and then writing about it, as I will continually emphasize, is a way of understanding oneself. For most of us, this understanding is a work in progress.

Many people—I include myself—tend to begin by reading once we realize that new knowledge is required, and this is understandable. However, thinking about writing first helps a person understand what it is that they need to know (discover) in order to develop a point of view on a given topic. If reading is to help one analyze and discuss a topic or prompt, one needs to know why one is reading.

Writing is often cited as the best way to understand something. If a writer can explain something to his or her own satisfaction, then presumably that writer will be able to explain it well to someone else. However, simply telling students that “The best way to understand something is to write about it,” is a little bit like saying “Be creative,” “Be more imaginative,” or “Be more original.” The expression on their faces is likely to tell the story: “I don’t know how. Tell me how and then I will try.” How many times have we all heard that from students?

Thinking: the path to imagination and creativity

It is important to remember that the path to creativity, originality, and imagination begins with organization, and organization begins with thinking.

Of course, thinking is most frequently done alone, since most of us cannot stop thinking even if we try. Thinking, however, can also be done socially in group settings. Businesses do this very successfully. Their goal is to generate ideas or solutions that will benefit their organization as a whole. In the case of students, the purpose of thinking in groups, in structured ways, is to practice generating and harnessing ideas with the goal of attaining an authentic point of view.


Group thinking is not—it must be emphasized—natural human behavior and must, therefore, be learned and governed. Natural competition and egos can get in the way of group thinking, particularly among adolescents. As any parent, coach, or teacher knows, when groups of young people get together, they normally are not engaged in cooperatively thinking through a problem or an issue. It is more likely that they are either competing, arguing or agreeing. Consequently, rules need to be adopted for these thinking groups, as I call them.

Summary

To form an opinion a student needs to blend knowledge they already have with new knowledge. They need to know how to acquire new knowledge. They need to be able to reflect on and analyze this blend of old and new to come up with a defensible and explainable opinion.

Pausing to reflect on a prompt or topic will let a student know what they do not yet know, and where and how this knowledge can be accessed.

Organized group-thinks are a good place to begin.


7: More About Thinking

Groups

The network effect of multiple connections

hinking groups are a wonderful way to practice getting student’s ideas out on the table, the blackboard, the whiteboard, or the computer for that matter. These

“group-thinks” are great practice for students who will ultimately have to think through issues by talking only to themselves and getting their ideas out on paper.

Talking to oneself is usually frowned upon as socially inept conduct or a sign of something even worse. However, think about this for a moment. We alone in this world have the gift of visualizing, or modeling, all sides of a problem, issue, or idea by using one side of our brain to ask the other “What if?” and debating the answers to such questions inside our head. So what if this conversation is verbalized? The right brain and the left brain effectively operate as two separate entities in these conversations. This is a huge advantage and should be pointed out by parents and educators to their students.

The benefits of debate within structure

The benefits of debate and thinking increase dramatically when students look at all sides of an issue in a structured environment of, let’s say, six students—all of whom can hold a debate inside their own heads as well as with fellow members of the thinking group. Think of it this way: each of the six students has the ability to discuss things not only with himself or herself, but also with the five other members of their thinking group. In other words, each participant has seven two-entity communication possibilities, interactions, or connections. That means that in a thinking group of six members, there are 42 unique connections. Jane talks to herself (both right brain to left brain and left brain to right brain) and to five other thinking group members, who also are talking inside their own heads and to others, and so on.

“Talking to and with others enhances individual comprehension . . . by pooling our collective knowledge, we emerge from discussion more enlightened about a subject.” (Project CRISS, www.projectcriss.com).

But why does it work? It’s the network effect of all those two-entity interactions. If there were only three students in the thinking group, the network effect would be composed of a mere 12 possible two-entity interactions. If there are ten students in a thinking group, then the network effect would be 110, but at this point issues of control come into play.

T


I have conducted dozens of these thinking groups and in my experience, six or seven students make a good-size grouping, provided there are rules clearly spelled out to which all participants agree by signing a contract (more on that later). The teacher can then step out of the role of instructor and leave the thinking group to govern, teach, and inform itself.

The magnitude of multiple connections

To illustrate the magnitude of the network effect generated by thinking groups, I have provided a chart and a graph on the next pages. As you can see from the data presented in these two formats, as more participants join the thinking group, a geometric progression takes place. With the addition of each new member, the actual number of new connections added increases. The more possible connections there are, the more the contributions to the thinking group increase and the more the potential for idea generation increases. This is why companies and the military use this method for idea generation and problem solving.

Here are two ways—a listing and a graph—of showing the dramatic effect membership size has on a thinking group:

Number of participants

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Number of connections

2 6 12 20 30 42 56 72 90 110


Diagram A – Network Effect Graph


8: The Thinking Group

Contract

A safe, targeted process

arlier, I mentioned the advisability of having the students sign a contract that governs the conduct of the thinking group. The contract does not bear any

weight—either civilly or criminally—in case the students are worried. However, it is a long-held belief in all countries governed by laws and not man, that once people affix their signatures to an agreement, they feel bound by its rules and conditions. That is one reason to have this contract.

An added benefit to having a contract is that it can be part of a civics discussion on the issue of contracts and the law. When your students grow up, contracts will sadly be a large part of their lives. All the better to start the dialog when they are still young.

This thinking group contract has three purposes, listed in order of importance:

1. To make sure that each participant in the thinking group is both safe from ridicule and taken seriously; since an important rule of the group is that there are only ideas—no bad ideas. If they feel safe from ridicule the participants will feel free to put forward any ideas, which can then be accepted or discarded by the group not on the basis of its source, but after a thorough discussion of its merits conducted under a set of rules they all understand and sign off on.

2. To ensure everyone in the thinking group stays on target, or on mission, as they say in the commercial, diplomatic, and military worlds.

3. To expedite the process and facilitate optimal learning within the thinking group.

The contract is displayed on the following page.

E


The Contract

In consideration for my desire to participate in a thinking group organized and sponsored by parent educator ____________________ (hereinafter referred to as the “thinking group”) and, in reliance on the execution of a like contract by each other participant in the thinking group, the undersigned enters into this contract. In doing so, I understand that parent educator ___________________ has committed to each participant in the thinking group to do the following:

1. To teach us a method of thinking about an issue or topic in a way that encourages the development of a point of view on any given issue;

2. To help us in this task by organizing a thinking group in which participants collectively come to a

resolution on a given topic; and,

3. To help us learn to write a thoughtful and well-argued essay on the topic. I. PARTICIPANT’S WARRANTIES Based on the foregoing, I agree to abide by the following thinking group rules of conduct:

1. All ideas generated by me during a meeting of the thinking group will be private and known only to me until I declare them part of the group’s work product. At this time, said ideas will become open for discussion.

2. I promise to do my best to keep the focus of the group of which I am a member, on the work at hand and not to participate in any side discussions that are irrelevant to the purposes of the thinking group.

3. I agree to listen to all members of the group respectfully and carefully and I further promise to only judge or criticize their ideas—not their character, personality, mode of dress, or any idiosyncrasies. This way, I and all other members of the thinking group will feel safe from scorn, embarrassment, and ridicule and the work of the group will be greatly enhanced.

4. I promise to let each person who is speaking finish his or her thoughts. I further promise unconditionally to allow them to withdraw their idea if, on completion, they feel it did not add any value to the discussion.

5. I promise to let one member of the thinking group repeat each speaker’s thoughts (once completed) without interruption, thereby solidifying their idea in all members’ minds.

6. I promise that only after the idea has been proposed and repeated will I challenge it. I will only challenge the idea, not the person suggesting it. I will do this because I agree that, during a thinking group’s deliberations, there are no bad ideas—just ideas.

7. I agree that, if I am in possession of facts or examples that support an idea that the group is discussing, I will volunteer this supporting evidence.

8. I agree that, if I am in possession of facts or evidence to disprove an idea, I will volunteer them, knowing that they may become valuable evidence in an essay, since stating something as a fact and then disproving it is an excellent way to prove a point.

9. I promise to help make sure that all participants in the thinking group participate by encouraging the least confident members to speak up.


10. I promise to do my best to make sure that all meetings of the group begin and end on time.

11. I promise that I will make every effort to reach a consensus during the discussions of the thinking group. If a consensus is not reached, I agree that the majority rules. This way, all members support the final product.

12. I promise to keep an open mind and to make an effort to see the other person’s point of view.

13. I promise to politely confront other members of the thinking group who do not abide by either the spirit or the letter of these rules.

14. I promise that I will be willing to constructively criticize the group’s performance.

15. Since all members will take turns being the group leader, I promise that I will support any member of the group in their role as group leader with a positive, cooperative attitude toward solving the problem assigned.

16. I agree that the main goal of my participation in a thinking group is to learn the process of self-discovery through writing, so I may then embark on a lifetime of learning.

Participant’s Signature _____________________________________ Date _______________ Parent educator’s Signature __________________________________ Date _______________

(Based partly on Carr and Harris, 1993, and Project Criss 1985, drafted by Dave Bustard of Williams, Parker, Harrison, Dietz and Getsen, Sarasota, Florida.)


9: The Thinking Group in

Action

“What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.” Doctor Samuel Johnson

Flow And Process

hen all the participants have carefully read, discussed, and signed their thinking group contracts, it is time to get organized and begin the process.

Depending on the number of students involved, several thinking groups can be formed. The ideal number of students in a group is a matter for debate. The maturity of the group, their level of cooperativeness, and the educator’s intuition should be the guideposts. Two is the minimum, of course, and ten are too many. The network effect of two participants is limited to six connections, whereas ten participants with 110 connections may defeat the purpose of a thinking group, unless these students are unusually disciplined. A group of six participants yields a network effect of 42 and offers an excellent nexus of creativity and control. Again, two students operating under the above guidelines and observing the following procedural rules can benefit enormously.

Once the groups are decided upon, the group selects a leader. Explain to students that the leadership will rotate, with every member taking a turn. Make sure each group has at least one dictionary and a thesaurus or an internet connection.

Next, introduce the topic to be analyzed and written about. Some examples follow in this ePrimer™, and 100 others can be found in Chapter 12 of my book Essay Writing for High School Students. You will want to consider the level of difficulty of a topic, of course, but please know that I have found that students as young as nine do not shy away from philosophical or contentious issues.

Discussion topics

I have led discussions with middle and high school students on the following topics with excellent results. You as the parent educator know your students best. You may want to have them examine and explore simpler topics, or you might want them to delve into more complex issues.

The purpose of the law is not to punish transgressors, but to give us all hope. Discuss.

W


President Woodrow Wilson said in 1920 that democratic nations are less likely to go to war than autocracies. Has history borne him out?

Is knowledge power?

The internet—is it a force for good?

What makes society work?

The group’s work begins: step-by-step

Now the independent work of the thinking group based on the methods described in Essay Writing for High School Students, begins. Here is a step-by-step process:

1. After the teacher writes the topic to be discussed on a whiteboard, the group leader reads the topic, or prompt, aloud to the group. Each of the other members of the group, in turn, reads the topic aloud. Reading a topic aloud several times seems redundant but it has a purpose. It trains students to carefully read and focus on a topic automatically. Such focused attention is the best defense against the age-old problem of misunderstanding the topic by scanning it too rapidly and then responding to the wrong topic.

2. Now, the thinking group members begin to silently free write their ideas and continue to do so until the group free writing of ideas—in silence—is complete. Members should record these ideas privately at first. Sharing the first thoughts that come into one’s head without some deliberation or consideration is inadvisable in a group—even one that is under contract not to snicker.

Make sure that the participants understand that instinct is a powerful gift, and should be recorded not just at this time but also throughout the exercise.

3. Now the group decides if the topic under consideration best lends itself to the contextual thinking method of analysis, a spider diagram, or a simple list. A contextual thinking diagram is one where the student writes the word to be analyzed in the middle of a page and then works up the hierarchy by asking and answering the question, “What is this word itself a part of?” Then the student breaks the word down into it constituent parts. See the example, “Does the study of geography matter?” in Diagram G. The spider diagram is similar. The student writes the word in the middle of a page and then simply draws spider legs out from it as they ask and answer questions about the word. Lists are simply words written down in categories. The final example of a thinking group in action shows how lists can be used to analyze a prompt. You will see more on these methods later in the sample exercise section. Also, See Chapter 11 in Essay Writing for High School Students.

4. Next, members of the group consult the available web sites, dictionaries and a thesaurus for definitions and synonyms of important words in the topic. The


group leader or a volunteer writes down the definitions and equivalent or related words on the whiteboard or any available writing surface.

5. The group leader now asks a member to turn the topic into questions—if the topic lends itself to this questioning method. For example, when considering President Wilson’s observation about democracy and war, a member simply asks the group, “Are democratic nations less likely to go to war than others?” This should prompt someone to ask, “Does history since President Wilson’s time enforce his argument, or not?” If the topic under consideration is the one about the law and whether its purpose is to punish or to give hope, then someone will probably ask—under the parent teacher’s guidance—“Does the law give us all hope, or not?” If the topic is already a question, the leader asks a member to ask it in a different way. For example, “Does power, in fact, equal knowledge?”

6. Next, the group leader reminds the group to ask and answer the most important questions: the who, what, why, where, and when questions about the main words or ideas in the topic or prompt. For example, “Who does the internet affect?” What is the internet?” “Why is the internet important?” “Where does the internet have its greatest effect?” “When did the internet come into being and why, and where is it going and why, and how and what will its impact be in the future?” “Overall is it a good or a bad invention?”

Human nature being what it is, this questioning will spontaneously provoke many thoughts. These thoughts, whether they are random ideas, examples, anecdotes, facts, intuitions, imaginings, musings, feelings, stirrings, or conjectures MUST be recorded—in free writing—by the participants. These spontaneous thoughts are crucial to the discovery process.

7. The leader reminds the circle to personalize the issue by always thinking how the issue under consideration affects them, their family, or their nation. The leader also asks the thinking group to provide concrete examples that support their ideas whenever appropriate.

8. Now is the time to share. The group leader asks the other members to begin sharing their ideas in an orderly manner, reminding the group to observe the rule that at this stage there are no bad ideas—just ideas.

9. The leader or a volunteer writes each idea on a separate note or file card, reads the idea aloud, and affixes the note to a surface. (A tabletop, a whiteboard, or a blackboard will do.)

10. The group leader now leads the discussion and the sorting of notes into categories. Equally important, the group evaluates whether or not there are any gaps in their collective knowledge about the topic. If gaps are identified, the leader takes steps to fill the gaps or reminds the members to avoid the gaps in their essays.


11. When the group leader decides that there has been enough discussion and enough ideas collected, the thinking group prepares the thesis statement, which is a written point of view. All the participants must agree upon the thesis statement, whether unanimously or by majority rule.

12. Again, by consensus or majority rule, the thinking group decides what type of essay they will write: persuasive, informative, or narrative. (See Chapter 5, Essay Writing for High School Students.) The group leader records this information.

13. All the members of the thinking group now go their separate ways to write their version of the essay. (See Chapters 3 and 6, Essay Writing for High School Students.) Individual members decide which techniques to use, establish a tone for their essay, and choose a way to introduce the topic. (See Chapter 5, Essay Writing for High School Students.)

14. The group reconvenes to read and discuss members’ efforts, operating under the rules of conduct laid down in the contract.

15. The members of the group separate again to edit and polish their essays (Chapters 6 and 7, Essay Writing for High School Students) in response to the group discussion, and then reconvene and review the final efforts.

16. The thinking group reviews its performance, and members offer any suggestions for improving participation or procedures.

17. Leadership of the group passes to the next individual and the teacher assigns the next topic. (Return to Step 1.)

Summary

All members take turns carefully reading the prompt aloud.

Free write as ideas occur. Do not pay attention to spelling etc. Just get the idea on paper.

Instinct has been called reason in a hurry. It is a valid human ability and should be used.

Begin thinking whether the spider diagram, context diagram, or list is best for this topic.

Define the major words in the prompt and look up synonyms.

Turn the topic into a question.


Group leader asks and gets answer to as many who, what, why, where and when questions as possible.

Personalize the issue: frame it in a family and national context. How does it affect me?

Share ideas. There are no bad ideas at this stage—just ideas.

Sort the ideas and thoughts into categories. Look for gaps in the group’s knowledge.

Prepare a thesis statement that everyone buys into. For example “Knowledge is power because we believe that a)……….b)……...and c) are true.”

Decide on what kind of essay to write to defend the thesis statement.

Reconvene and discuss each other’s essays.


10: Warm-Up Exercises

Jump-starting the brain

ne idea I have used with good results is to get a thinking group started with a series of warm-up exercises. A swimmer or runner does not spring from the

starting blocks without first warming up their muscles. Warm-up exercises for the thinking group get students’ brains ready for the task that they will face when a topic is submitted to them for analysis.

Here is how I have conducted these warm ups. To begin the routine, one member opens a dictionary at a random page, closes his or her eyes, and jabs at the page. Three or four words will be in range of their finger. The member calls out these words and another member writes them on a whiteboard or a notepad. The group votes quickly on which word to examine and the exercise is underway.

It is important to stress to the participants that the object of this warm up exercise is not to develop an essay, but to get the thinking group, well, thinking. Note that the same rules of the contract apply: mutual respect; active listening; criticizing the idea not the person; letting people finish their ideas; keeping an open mind; and, above all, helping the shy and reticent. Never be scornful of another member. (This would work well as a poster.)

This is an actual example of a session I conducted with a group pf eight 11th grade boys and girls. I asked a student to open a dictionary and, with eyes closed, point to a place on the page. The closest word was philharmonic.

This is what followed. We looked at the definition and the root of the word in an American Heritage Dictionary. We discovered that the word has two meanings: “pertaining to a symphony orchestra” and “music loving.” The root of the word is a combination of two Greek words: one for “loving” (philos) and one for “harmony.” We then looked for synonyms and began writing ideas suggested by the word and its meaning. Within ten minutes we had the following spider diagram built after quickly asking some who, what, why, where and when questions.

O


Diagram B—Spider Diagram: Brainstorm “Philharmonic”

Root

Harmonikos

(harmony)

Philos

(loving)

Philharmonic Meanings

Devoted to music

Symphony Orchestra

Composers

Baroque

Classical

Romantic

Modern

Place

Fans

Percussion Wind Brass String

Performers

Musicians

Opera

Choral

Instruments

Root

Harmonikos

(harmony)

Philos

(loving)

Root

Harmonikos

(harmony)

Philos

(loving)


Devoted to music

Symphony Orchestra


Devoted to music

Symphony Orchestra

Composers

Baroque

Classical

Romantic

Modern

Composers

Baroque

Classical

Romantic

Modern

Place

Fans

Place

Fans

Percussion Wind Brass StringPercussion Wind Brass String

Performers

Musicians

Opera

Choral

Instruments

Performers

Musicians

Opera

Choral

Instruments


Next, another student set the dictionary on its spine and allowed it to fall open. This time I closed my eyes and stabbed at the page. The nearest word was redoubt. I have read a great deal of military history and was vaguely aware of this word; it means “a temporary, earthwork rampart behind which soldiers take refuge.” It comes from a Latin word which means to “withdraw to a concealed place.”

This word struck me as one that would respond to contextual thinking. It did not disappoint. Very rapidly, we had built a diagram, aided by a dictionary and a thesaurus. See the following, Diagram C.

Diagram C—Spider Diagram: Brainstorm “Redoubt”

Another idea I have tried is as follows. First, the parent educator or a student randomly selects a word and gives it to two or more thinking groups. (We once taped a newspaper to a wall and threw a suction-cup dart at it, to be totally random in our selection.) Each of the competing teams must come up with a diagram. The parent educator then adjudicates a process that can be made somewhat objective by awarding marks for the process as well as the final product. The game can be fun, particularly when a time limit of about 10 to 15 minutes is set.

Redoubt (Latin—

withdraw to a

concealed place

Barbed wire Armor Castle Moat Electronic

Fortifications

Defense Attack

Military Strategies

Earthwork

Rampart

Soldiers Under Attack

•Entrenchment

•Bunker

•Foxhole

•Trench

•Stronghold

•Fortress

•Breastwork

•Palisade

•Barrier

•Barricade

•Battlement

•Bastion

Synonyms/Near Synonyms

Redoubt (Latin—

withdraw to a

concealed place

Barbed wire Armor Castle Moat Electronic

Fortifications

Defense Attack

Military Strategies

Earthwork

Rampart

Soldiers Under Attack

•Entrenchment

•Bunker

•Foxhole

•Trench

•Stronghold

•Fortress

•Breastwork

•Palisade

•Barrier

•Barricade

•Battlement

•Bastion


•Entrenchment

•Bunker

•Foxhole

•Trench

•Stronghold

•Fortress

•Breastwork

•Palisade

•Barrier

•Barricade

•Battlement

•Bastion



11: Sample Exercises

The following sample exercises show group discussion results using the list method, the spider diagram method, the contextual thinking method, and a diagrammatic example called the graphic method.

The List Method—Example 1

Prompt to be addressed: “We all need heroes.”

1. The group leader reads the prompt aloud. Each of the other members, in turn, reads the prompt aloud.

2. All participants begin free writing ideas, hunches, thoughts, conjectures, and examples privately as soon as they see the prompt and continue to do so as the discussion progresses. Project CRISS advises using a form to record ideas. The form is divided into two columns. On the CRISS form, one column is headed “Opinion;” the other “Proof.” I prefer recording them as ideas and support for ideas. A sample completed form and a blank form follow this exercise. Feel free to make copies for your own use.

3. The group decides whether to use contextual thinking, a spider diagram, or a list. The key issue in deciding which to use is the complexity of the issue under discussion. The parent educator, in the early stages of the adoption of this program, will probably have to facilitate a discussion of which method to use. Practice will give students their own way to choose. The list method seems to be the easiest way to attack this straightforward issue.

4. Group members look for definitions and related words and synonyms. This is a blend of several dictionary offerings: a hero is “in mythology, a man of divine ancestry who is brave, strong, ingenious, and favored by the Gods; a man who risks and sacrifices his life for noble purposes,” and “a man or woman who is celebrated for special achievements in a particular field of endeavor.” One thesaurus used word equivalents like “stalwart,” “gallant,” “brave,” “mettle,” “demigod,” and “paladin.” The group leader writes the definitions and related words or synonyms where all members can see them during the discussion.

5. The group leader asks a member to turn the prompt into a question: “Do we all need heroes?”

6. The group leader reminds the group to ask the who, what, why, where, and when questions. For example:


Who were, or are, the brave, strong, self-sacrificing, noble women and men who qualify as heroes? There are two types: ancient or mythical heroes and more modern historic figures.

What were they? What was, or is, their purpose or role? The mythical figures served as lessons for us all. They were parables that sought to teach us lessons of good and evil. They were instruments of change, and perhaps control, for ancient people. By winning the hand of the princess, embarking on a quest, or completing impossible tasks such as slaying dragons, they became metaphors (parables, fables, legends) that illustrated lessons or drew conclusions for society about behavior.

Why are they important? They point the way. In ancient times, before people could read or write, their cultural awareness came from stories, and the stories usually transmitted moral lessons. Why did cultures that had no knowledge of one another or contact develop startlingly similar stories and messages? Heroes in our modern civilized times, similarly, are agents of change for the better.

Where did they live? They lived everywhere. All cultures had Gods, demons, and stories of courage and nobility. Throughout the world—in Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Europe—there are remarkably similar stories and characters who teach nearly identical lessons or themes through their exploits. The heroes just have different names.

When did they live? They have always been with us.

7. The leader reminds the group to personalize the issue—do I have heroes and why?—and provide examples if they can. Here are some examples one group that I worked with came up with in a matter of minutes: King Arthur, Hercules, Columbus, Einstein, Marie Curie, Susan B. Anthony, Churchill, Gandhi, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and the common man or woman, soldier, ploughman, or mother. Here are some other thoughts that surfaced as the students talked: do we need anti-heroes such as Stalin, Mao, Saddam Hussein, and Hitler in modern times, or Attila the Hun and Ivan the Terrible in ancient times to teach us by their bad examples? A hero can be a celebrity, but can a celebrity qualify as a hero? They often do, but should they?

8. After the leader reminds the circle to follow the rules of the contract, members begin to share their ideas in an orderly manner.

9. A volunteer records the ideas, writing each on a separate note or file card, reads the idea to the circle, and affixes the note to a surface for all members to see.

10. The group leader leads the discussion and sorting of notes into categories.


11. The thinking group prepares a thesis statement, for example, this is the one my group decided upon: I believe in heroes. I believe they still exist and always will. The thesis must be accepted by consensus or majority rule.

12. Again, by consensus or majority rule, the thinking group decides what type of essay they will write—informative or persuasive. This one is likely to be persuasive.

13. All the members of the thinking group now go their separate ways to write their version of the essay. Individual members decide which techniques to use, establish a tone for their essay, and choose a way to introduce the topic. For more on this see “Essay Writing for High School Students.”


15. The members of the group separate again to edit and polish their essays in response to the group discussion and then reconvene and review the final efforts.


17. Leadership passes to the next person; the parent educator teacher assigns a new topic.

Here is an example of a list created during this thinking group.


Completed Idea/Support Form

Topic: We all need heroes.

Idea Support for Idea

Definitions Mythological, divine, special

Word equivalents Stalwart, gallant, brave

Who? Ancient and modern, idealistic, brave, self-

sacrificing men and women, legendary and

real

What? Instrument of change, example to us, all of

virtue, parables and metaphors

Why? Role models, they point the way, teach moral

lessons

Where? All cultures, same messages

When? Always

Examples

King Arthur, Hercules, Columbus, Einstein,

Marie

Curie, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King,

Jr.

What do heroes mean to

me, Our choices of heroes help us and define us.

my family, my country?

Other ideas

Do we need anti-heroes such as Hitler,

Stalin, and Saddam?

All of this effort on behalf of the thinking group participants is part of the discovery phase of the thinking group’s mission. Through this process, they have discovered an authentic point of view on an issue. A thesis statement should be the outcome e.g. “Heroes have played an important part in all cultures because they set an example of righteous behavior and so keep the tradition alive.”

The essay writing exercise follows making the list: this is the disclosure phase. The style, type, and tone of the essay will vary, but what will be apparent to a reader is that thought went into the establishment of an authentic voice, expressed as an well-argued, well-defended opinion.


Idea/Support Form

Topic:

Idea: Support for Idea:


The Spider Diagram Method—Example 2

Prompt to be addressed: “Why do we all play games?”

1. The group leader reads the prompt aloud. Each of the other group members, in turn, reads the prompt aloud.

2. All participants begin free writing ideas, hunches, thoughts, conjectures, and examples privately as soon as they see the prompt and continue to do so as the discussion progresses.

3. The group decides whether to use contextual thinking, a spider diagram, or a list. The key issue in deciding which to use is the complexity of the issue under discussion. This topic, for example, lends itself to the spider diagram method. There are many cases such as this one when the meaning of a prompt turns on more than one key word in the prompt. In this case, two diagrams are needed: one for the word play and one for the word games.

4. Making sure that they all have Idea/Support Forms ready, the group members look for definitions, related words, and synonyms. As I have sometimes said, more than one word is important (or dominant) in an essay prompt and both need to be analyzed. This is one of those occasions. This time, the participants look at the two words that are important in this question. They note that one word—games—is a noun and the other—to play—a verb. The word play, when looked up in the dictionary, suggests other words: gambling, acting, musical instruments, electronic devices, and competition. The word “games” also evokes many other words and ideas when referenced. For example, there are many types of games including board games, electronic games, puzzles, games that are mostly mental, and games that are mostly physical. A look at a thesaurus suggests rivalry, competition, and encounters as alternatives to games. The encyclopedia discusses games as unproductive diversions, amusement, pastime, and, of course, exercise. The group leader writes the definitions and related words or synonyms where all members can see them during the discussion.

5. The group leader asks a member to turn the prompt into a question, for example, “Do we all have a need to play games?” Members write down their ideas in response.

6. The group leader reminds the group to ask and answer the who, what, why, where, and when questions. For example:

Who plays games? Children, most adults, most mammals, and young birds play games. Reptiles appear not to.


What games are played? They include board games, print-media games such as crossword puzzles, electronic games, sporting contests.

Why do we play games? We play games out of boredom, as a peaceful way to release our competitive urges, and sometimes just for intellectual curiosity and fun.

Where do we play games? We play games everywhere—no exceptions. This tells us something about our primal need to engage in such activity.

When do we play games? We play games during all our waking hours.

7. The group leader reminds the thinking group as always to personalize the issue by asking, “How important are games to me, my family, my nation, and the world?” The group leader also reminds members to provide examples if they can. Here are some other thoughts that surfaced in one session I conducted on this prompt. For example, one well-informed participant brought up the issue of anthropomorphism (attributing human feelings to something not in fact human). This prompted another member to wonder if kittens, puppies, and foals really play. When we see seals, dolphins, or whales obviously enjoying their mastery of the sea, we ask why the exuberance; why are they playing? The only reasonable answer seems to be because they can enjoy themselves. Another pointed out that at the other end of the scale, 2,000 years ago, the Romans called their gladiatorial fights to the death and the setting of lions on defenseless Christians “games.”

8. Members begin to share their ideas in an orderly manner, after the leader reminds them to follow the rules of the contract.


10. The group leader leads the discussion and sorting of notes into categories. Examples of possible spider diagrams follow the outline of the steps taken for this exercise.

11. The thinking group prepares a thesis statement, for example this one that a group I monitored wrote, “A cursory look at how people occupy their time leads inevitably to the observation that games have been with us a long time and so must fulfill some basic human need.”

12. Members of the thinking group now decide what type of essay they will write—informative or persuasive. This one is likely to be informative.

13. All the members of the thinking group now go their separate ways to write their version of the essay. Individual members decide which techniques to use, establish a tone for their essay, and choose a way to introduce the topic.


14. The thinking group reconvenes to read and discuss members’ efforts, operating under the rules of conduct laid down in the contract.

15. The members of the circle separate again to edit and polish their essays in response to the group’s discussion and then reconvene and review the final efforts.

16. The thinking group reviews its performance, and members offer any constructive suggestions for improving participation or procedures.

17. Leadership passes to the next person; the teacher assigns a new topic.

Again, the output—the end result—is expected to be a thesis statement expressing the group’s conclusion. “Based on observable facts, there seems to be some need in most species for an outlet for a sense of fun and competition.”

Diagrams D and E display two different spider diagrams created during this thinking group: one for the word play and one for the word games.

Diagram D—Spider Diagram: “Play”

Play

Against

others

Against

oneself

Gamble/

Risk

Compete

(contests)

Electronic

Music

Act

Instruments

Play

Against

others

Against

oneself

Gamble/

Risk

Compete

(contests)

Electronic

Music

Act

Instruments


Diagram E—Spider Diagram: “Games”

TV

Games

Satisfy

curiosityAmuse

oneself

Mostly

physical

Purposes

Video

Mostly

mental

Puzzles

Entertain

oneself

Reward

oneselfFulfill

oneself

Occupy

time

Pursue

Rivalry

Internet

Board

Individual

Non-contact

Team

Contact

TV

Games

Satisfy

curiosityAmuse

oneself

Mostly

physical

Purposes

Video

Mostly

mental

Puzzles

Entertain

oneself

Reward

oneselfFulfill

oneself

Occupy

time

Pursue

Rivalry

Internet

Board

Individual

Non-contact

Team

Contact


The Spider Diagram Method—Example 3

Prompt to be addressed: “Why are symbols so important to us?”


2. All participants begin free writing ideas, hunches, thoughts, conjectures, and examples privately as soon as they see the prompt and continue to do so as the discussion progresses; preferably using Idea/Support Forms.

3. The group decides whether to use contextual thinking, a spider diagram, or a list. This topic probably lends itself to a single spider diagram.

4. Since there is really only one dominant word in this prompt—the word symbol—group members look for definitions and related words for the word symbol. One simple definition is “Something that represents something else.” For example, a material object may represent something immaterial. The ideas of zero or infinity are abstract and need symbolic, written equivalents, which act as shorthand that everyone understands. The same applies to objects that are invisible. Written symbols represent an operation or action, a quantity, or a notation (as in music). Symbols in math include those for plus, minus, multiply, equal to, nearly equal to, right angle, and square root. There are stop signs and other traffic signs on a road as well as danger signs that we all recognize—fire, deer crossing, skull and crossbones, slippery surface, and so on. A thesaurus provides other words that mean the same or almost the same as symbol: sign, representation, impression, emblem, badge, indication, and totem. The group leader writes the definitions and related words or synonyms where all members can see them during the discussion.

5. Since the prompt is already in the form of a question, the group leader asks a member to turn the prompt into another question, for example, “Are symbols important to everyone?”

6. The group leader reminds the group to ask the who, what, why, where, and when questions. For example:

Who might be a symbol? It is usual to refer to the head of certain institutions as a living symbol—the Dalai Lama, the Queen of England, or the Pope. There are also people who study the science of symbols; they are called semioticians or semioticists (not Symbolists as they are described in the DaVinci Code).

What is a symbol? Having looked at the definitions and equivalent words, there appear to be five different types of symbols: musical notation, letters, numbers, emblems, and examples. An emblem tells us about rank and authority—a


sergeant’s stripes or a judge’s robes—so a person becomes an emblem. If we say Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, or Nelson Mandela, we are probably using this name as a symbol of dignity as much as we are referring to the person. These people have become icons—legendary symbols—and the mention of their names evokes feelings.

Why do we need symbols? Shorthand seems to be a big part of the answer. The symbol for percentage (%) speaks volumes. Without it, we would have to explain its meaning each and every time we wanted to use it by saying or writing “A fraction or ratio with 100 fixed and understood as the denominator, formed by multiplying a decimal equivalent by 100.” It is much easier to say “percent” or to write its symbolic equivalent, “%.” A symbol seems necessary in this case and in most cases where we wish to communicate in the least cumbersome manner. The best examples of this kind of shorthand are speech and writing. Writing is symbolic speech. Speech is the symbolic equivalent of ideas and thoughts.

Why use symbols? We use them to help us understand one another and the world we live in.

Where are symbols used? They are used everywhere, because life would be intolerable without them. From road signs to computer icons to wedding bands, they help us communicate and understand. In fact, more and more are cropping up as science progresses. On the crime shows, the initials DNA no longer have to be explained—they have entered our lexicon, which itself is a collection of symbols that facilitate interaction.

When do we use symbols? We use them whenever we wish to shorten the distance between receiving and comprehending the meaning of another person’s message or a message from our world.

7. The group leader reminds the other participants to personalize the issue by asking questions and provide examples if they can. “Are symbols important to me? Do they affect my life and the lives of my family members, friends, and countrymen and if so, how?” For example, a person who folds her arms and scowls when we approach is wordlessly, or symbolically, telling us something. A skull and crossbones at the entrance to a ski run—or a toxic waste site—could not send a clearer message about what a person who enters is risking.

8. Members begin to share their ideas in an orderly manner; the leader reminds the circle to follow the rules of the contract.


10. The group leader leads the discussion and sorting of notes into categories. An example of a possible spider diagram follows the steps for this exercise.


11. The thinking group prepares a thesis statement, for example, “Symbols are humanity’s shorthand; living without them would make life too complex and impeded our progress.”

12. Members of the thinking group decide what type of essay they will write—informative or persuasive. This one is likely to be informative.

13. All the members of the thinking group now go their separate ways to write their version of the essay based on the agreed thesis statement. Individual members decide which techniques to use, establish a tone for their essay, and choose a way to introduce the topic.


15. The members of the group separate again to edit and polish their essays in response to the circle discussion and then reconvene and review the final efforts.



The following page displays a spider diagram created during this thinking group.

Once again, the group must generate a thesis statement on the subject of symbols. “Without the shorthand that symbolic representations afford us, we would be so bogged down with definitions that progress would be impossible.”


Diagram F—Spider Diagram: “Symbol”

Symbol

(shorthand)

Codes

Inclusive

(understood

by many)

Exclusive

(understood

by a few)

Cipher Gestures

Dress

Body language

Words

Emblems

Badges

Music

Numbers

Symbol

(shorthand)

Codes

Inclusive

(understood

by many)

Exclusive

(understood

by a few)

Cipher Gestures

Dress

Body language

Words

Emblems

Badges

Music

Numbers


The Contextual Thinking Method—Example 4

Prompt to be addressed: “Does the study of geography matter?”


2. All participants begin free writing ideas, hunches, thoughts, conjectures, and examples privately as soon as they see the prompt, and continue to do so as the discussion progresses.

3. The circle decides whether to use contextual thinking, a spider diagram, or a list. This subject matter indicated by the word geography is very comprehensive, and as such lends itself to contextual thinking.

4. Group members now look for definitions and related words for geography. They discover that the word geography comes from two Greek words that together mean “knowledge of Earth.” Further use of an encyclopedia tells the group that geography includes not only a study of Earth’s features, structures, and its place in space, but also the study of the distribution of all life forms: human, animal, and vegetable. The study of cultural geography, including the effects of human activity on Earth and the effects of Earth on humans, is also a part of geography. The structures and processes studied include all topographic features such as mountains, valleys, and landmasses, as well as hydrodynamics (the effects of water movement) and climate. In other words, geography is divided into three parts: physical geography, biological geography, and cultural geography. The group leader summarizes the definition and related information where all members can see them during the discussion.

5. The group leader asks a member to turn the prompt into another question, for example, “Why does the study of geography matter?”

6. The group leader reminds the group to ask—and answer—the who, what, why, where, and when questions. For example:

Who is affected by geography? All of us are affected.

What is geography? It includes a study of Earth’s physical structures, life forms, and place in space.

Why is geography important? Human history was shaped by our ancestors’ responses to their physical environment, and our future as a species will be shaped by our responses to our habitat.


Where is geography important? It is important in every aspect of our lives—political, economic, and lifestyle.

When is geography important? There is not a time when it is not a vital part of life and there has never been a time when it has been irrelevant.

7. The leader reminds the members to personalize the issue and provide examples if they can. “Is geography important to me, my family members, my country, and humanity, and if so how?” Here are some examples students wrote down in a thinking group I conducted. The places in which our ancestors lived were enormously important in their lives because, at that time, their ability to have an impact on their environment was negligible. So, the height of their settlement above sea level, its proximity to water, and its distance from the equator all had profound results. Skin color and physical attributes changed as a result of environment. Pale northerners with a bulky frame evolved in reaction to short summers. People in the Kalahari Desert of Southwest Africa evolved a method of storing water in their tissue; the Inuit of the Arctic evolved a way of storing fat in theirs. If the animals that our forebears hunted were slow, then our need to develop speedy legs was limited. Today’s human diversity is a result of geography. Today, however, humans are beginning to modify our planet in a big way, rather than other way around.

8. Members begin to share their ideas in an orderly manner; the leader reminds the circle to follow the rules of the contract.


10. The group leader leads the discussion and sorting of notes into categories. An example of a possible contextual thinking diagram follows the steps for this exercise.

11. The thinking group prepares a thesis statement, for example, this one produced by a group pf eighth graders I worked with: “Geography is not just an academic subject; it is crucial to the reality of life.”

12. Members of the thinking group decide what type of essay they will write—informative or persuasive. This one is likely to be persuasive.

13. All the members of the thinking group now go their separate ways to write their version of the essay. Individual members decide which techniques to use, establish a tone for their essay, and choose a way to introduce the topic.

14. The thinking group reconvenes to read and discuss members’ efforts, operating under the rules of conduct laid down in the contract.


15. The members of the group separate again to edit and polish their essays in response to their discussion—and the thesis statement they have all agreed upon—and then reconvene and review the final efforts.



This is the thesis statement that a thinking group of 16 and 17 year olds I led came up with. “Being ignorant of, and not understanding, the world we live in has been a major cause of the ecological catastrophe we are facing.”

The following diagram displays the contextual thinking diagram resulting from the word geography.


Diagram G—Contextual Thinking Diagram: “Geography”

Knowledge

Academic

Discipline

Math Language Geography History Physics Chemistry

Physical

Geography

Cultural

Geography

Biological

Geography

Life FormsAnthropology

Demographics &

Migrations

Political

Geographics

Earth Affects

Humans

Humans Affect

Earth

Earth’s Surface ClimatologyThe Earth

In space

Weathering

Oceanography

Volcanology

Mountains

Glacial

Action

Dry Erosion

Coastal

Action

Rivers

Knowledge

Academic

Discipline

Math Language Geography History Physics Chemistry

Physical

Geography

Cultural

Geography

Biological

Geography

Life FormsAnthropology

Demographics &

Migrations

Political

Geographics

Earth Affects

Humans

Humans Affect

Earth

Earth’s Surface ClimatologyThe Earth

In space

Weathering

Oceanography

Volcanology

Mountains

Glacial

Action

Dry Erosion

Coastal

Action

Rivers


The List Method—Example 5

Prompt to be addressed; Shoes!

hat’s right, shoes. Younger children gathered in groups find it fun and fascinating to take a word such as hats or shoes or birds or feathers or schools or friends or TV or

gardens and really explore the word under the rubrics I have outlined. I have done this many times and heartily recommend it.

So here we go with the word shoes. All the steps are more or less the same as previously discussed, but instead of using a diagramming method such as contextual thinking or spider diagrams, use a simple list.

The purpose for this exercise is to get the children thinking, and to have them pursue a disciplined, step-by-step approach or investigation so that they can express a well-founded opinion on a subject—any subject.

I have modified the steps to make it simpler for a group of younger students. This example is taken from a session I conducted with a group of boys and girls ages 9-12.

1. A group member announces the word to be examined; in this case shoes. At this age, it is advisable for the parent educator to assume the role of group leader. You might feel differently depending on the maturity and experience of your group. I do recommend reading and discussing the thinking group contract as a preliminary, however.

2. Ask the group to look at definitions and synonyms and begin free writing ideas as they do. The group discovers and writes on the white board, “Shoes are a durable covering for the human foot made from rubber, leather, textiles, plastic and even wood. Shoes have a semi-rigid sole and extend no higher than the ankle. If they extend higher, they are considered boots.” Synonyms include footwear and garments for the feet.

3. The leader asks a question about shoes. In my group, I asked, “Are shoes important to humans?” Scribble, scribble as they free wrote ideas.

4. I encouraged them to ask the who, what, why, where and when questions about shoes and to answer them in private before sharing their answers. I also pointed out that they could ask more than one question beginning with who, what, why, where and when.

5. I asked them to personalize the issue of shoes and ask themselves how and why shoes are important. I saw them write questions with answers such as “Without shoes my dad could not work. He is a fireman.” “Without shoes I could not do ballet.” “Shoes make it

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easier to play baseball.” “My mom just loves shoes. I once asker her why and she said they make my feet look pretty.”

6. Now it was time to begin making a list. The main point of the list is to identify from all the scribbled notes what are the main categories and what are the subsets of these categories.

We took a break and I wrote down most of the words I had collected from their free writing on a whiteboard.

Who wears shoes? Everybody except some people in Africa. Businesspersons. Soldiers. Sports people. Workers.

What are shoes for? Protection. Walking. Running. Skiing. Tennis. I added style, improved mobility, and improved ability.

What kinds of shoes do we wear? Boots, lace-up, sandals, clogs, dance shoes, sneakers, moccasins, climbing shoe, high heel pumps, snow shoes, golf shoes, cycling shoes, equestrian boots, hiking boots, cowboy boots, industrial boots, loafers, and basketball shoes. Scuba fins.

Why do we wear shoes? Fashion. As a uniform. Protection. One student wrote as medicine. I changed this to orthopedic and made a note to have a student look up the definition.

Where do we wear shoes? One student wrote where do we not wear shoes? And answered by writing the words bed, pool, or around the house.

When did we first begin wearing shoes? One child answered moccasins made of grasses 14,000 years ago in Arizona in response to a Google search. I asked the group why shoes were invented and a discussion ensued about the need to walk over hot, hard surfaces to find food and shelter.

When do we wear shoes? Most of the children wrote a variation of always except in bed or the pool. I clarified this by writing when we need help for our feet or when we want to look better than nature made us.

Middle school age children are comfortable with metaphors, so I looked up some common metaphors regarding shoes and wrote them down under the heading, “Shoes as a representation of the total person.” Here they are: “What do your shoes say about you?” “Put yourself in someone else’s shoes.” “Walk a mile in someone else’s shoes before judging them.” “Filling someone else’s shoes.”


After reviewing and organizing our notes, here is their organized list:

Purposes: Protection. Fashion. Improve ability. As a symbol.

Uses: Sports (running, hitting, throwing, catching, climbing, lifting; not water sports except scuba and skiing). Work. Military. Dancing (ballet, tap, and ballroom.)

History: Invented at least 14,000 years ago Originally made from reeds and leather. Now a big business.

Now came time to put all of this research, thinking, and discussion into a sentence, which best described the collective opinion of the thinking group. This is what they came to agreement on, after a very spirited discussion. I challenged them, made suggestions, and moderated arguments; the outcome was theirs, however. I am not saying it was a right or wrong thesis. The importance of it was that it was theirs; and they came by it amicably and with intellectual rigor despite their youth.

“Shoes have been as important to men and women as any other discovery, because if we had not been able to walk comfortably we might not have been able to explore other places.”

Who knew that a discussion of the origins and uses of shoes could stir such passions? With this method, as Socrates knew, however, any word, phrase, or prompt can, should, and will stir vigorous debate—and hence cognitive behavior, which should be any parent educator’s goal.

I later challenged this group to do the same with belt buckles as they had done with shoes, and they rose equally to that challenge. Independently they began to discuss which items of clothing came first and why.

Another example of this kind of approach—this time using the word hats—is described in chapter 11 of my book Essay Wring for High School Students. I did this as a challenge with a large group of high school students who could not believe that one could explore a topic such as hats in such a way that an essay of 350 words would be simple to construct. They found out to their amazement that it could.


The Graphic Method—Example 6

Prompt to be addressed: Biography.

here is one other diagrammatic method I have developed that can serve an individual as well as a group, and can be used when time is of the essence and

thoughts need to be organized quickly.

Of course, its purpose is the same as the other methods: to examine a subject in a disciplined way so that a thesis—an opinion or point of view—can be developed in preparation for writing about the subject.

Like the other methods this one also relies on definitions, synonyms, the who, what, why, where, and when questions and personalization. I call it the graphic method.

1. Take a large piece of blank paper and write the word to be diagrammed graphically in the middle with a large oval around it. Let’s say the word to be diagrammed is biography.

2. Now, after defining the word biography and writing the definition under the word, inside the circle, begin to break down—deconstruct—the word. Write its constituent parts beneath the word; again inside the circle.

3. Next, draw five lines from the perimeter of the central circle to the edges of the paper. These should be drawn in such a way as to divide the paper into six roughly equal parts.

4. Label these sections as follows:

The What section—top left.

The Who section—top middle.

The Where section—top right.

The When section—bottom right.

The Why section—bottom left.

5. Ask and answer as many who, what, where, why and when questions as possible.

6. Now read your answers and prioritize them.

7. Write each prioritized answer into the appropriate section.

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The student will now have created a graphically organized map of their thoughts on a subject and will be better able to decide on an opinion on the subject.

As an example, here is how I asked and answered the questions for myself regarding the word biography.

Definition—An account of a life written by another.

Constituent parts: Personal life. Public life. Achievements. Narrative. Psychological profile.

Do I see a need to study biography? There are people in history I would like to get to know.

Who writes them? Historians (e.g. Suetonius, Boswell and Strachey.) Admirers. Detractors.

Who reads them? History buffs. Admirers. Detractors.

What sources do biographers use? Contemporary records, newspapers, diaries, public speeches. Interviews with those who knew subject. Letters from detractors and admirers.

What is the purpose? Biographer may have an agenda. Set historical record straight.

Why do people read and write biographies? Read for pleasure. Read as aid to study of history. Write for professional reasons. Write for pleasure.

Where did biography start? The Bible and other Middle Eastern writings are partly biographical

When did biography first appear? 3300 BC on temple walls in Egypt.

When did it become popular? 18th and 19th centuries.

Why is biography valuable? Historical evidence is a predictor of the future.

Why are we so fascinated by biographies of the famous and influential? It’s human nature to be interested in human nature.

Why are biographies important? The lives of important players show us their times.

Once again, the desired outcome of an examination of a word or a prompt is a thesis statement such as this one written by a group of seniors. “History is largely about people. They make history happen. To understand any period in time it therefore helps to understand the make-up of it major players, their influences, and their roles. It also helps to understand the biographer and his agenda.”

See Diagram H on the following page.

ePrimer™ Thinking Groups—Teaching Students to “Think Around the Box™” © 2006 www.AlexTerego.com 56

Diagram H – The Graphic Method

Biography

An account of a lif e wr it t e n by anot he r

Psychological prof ile Pe rsonal lif e Public lif e Achie ve me nt s Nar r at ive

WHAT Section WHO Section WHERE Section

WHY Section WHEN Section

Source s—

ne wspape rs,

diar ie s, spe e che s,

le t t e r s

To pr aise subje ct

To cr it icize

To se t re cor d

st r aight

Hist or ians

(no age nda)

Admire rs

(age nda)

De t ract or s

(age nda)

Ancie nt t ime s

• Egypt

• Babylonia

• Gre e ce

• Holy Land

Te mple s

Clay t able t s

Hist ory pre dict s

t he f ut ur e

Humans love t o

r e ad about

ot he r pe ople

An account of

a pe rson

illuminat e s

t he ir t ime s

3330 BC – Egypt

1300 BC - Me sopot amia

18t h Ce nt ur y Europe

Boswe ll’s Lif e of J ohnson

20 t h & 21st Ce nt ury

e xplosion of

ce le br it y bios

Biography



Biography



WHAT Section WHO Section WHERE Section

WHY Section WHEN Section

Source s—

ne wspape rs,

diar ie s, spe e che s,

le t t e r s

To pr aise subje ct

To cr it icize

To se t re cor d

st r aight

Hist or ians

(no age nda)

Admire rs

(age nda)

De t ract or s

(age nda)

Ancie nt t ime s

• Egypt

• Babylonia

• Gre e ce

• Holy Land

Te mple s

Clay t able t s

Hist ory pre dict s

t he f ut ur e

Humans love t o

r e ad about

ot he r pe ople

An account of

a pe rson

illuminat e s

t he ir t ime s

3330 BC – Egypt

1300 BC - Me sopot amia

18t h Ce nt ur y Europe

Boswe ll’s Lif e of J ohnson

20 t h & 21st Ce nt ury

e xplosion of

ce le br it y bios


Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you. Tell a friend.

Alex

eprimer - thinking groups— teaching students to “think around the box™”

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