thinking in threes: its what strategic thinking is all about! presented by dorit sasson june 30,...

Thinking in Threes: It’s What Strategic

Thinking is All About!Presented by Dorit Sasson

June 30, 2009The New Teacher Resource Center

http://www.newteacherresourcecenter.com

© 2009 Dorit Sasson All Rights Reserved 2

Agenda

Introduction to the Power of 3 What does strategic teaching look

like in a college level classroom? What is the purpose of strategic

instruction? What are some engaging strategic

activities?

June 30, 2009 Copyright 2009 Dorit Sasson All Rights Reserved

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“The Power Of Three” – Three, Three,

Three! Lights! Camera! Action!

All good things come in threes. Norwegian proverb

Ready! Aim! Fire!


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There’s Something Special About the Number “3”!

The number “3” is everywhere.

The number “3” is omnipresent.

The number “3” is ubiquitous.


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Thinking in Threes Is All Around Us

Speech Coaches Military instructors ComediansExperienced teachers also know that people learn better in threes: reading about something, writing about it, and speaking about it.


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Memorable Historical Speeches

Friends, Romans, countrymen… (William Shakespeare)

Government of the people, by the people, for the people… (Abraham Lincoln)

Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last! (Martin Luther King)


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Other Examples Of The Use Of Three

Can you provide other examples of the use of three from your life or teaching experience?


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Strategic Teaching In Threes

How can teachers make learning meaningful in a 3-part way so students will remember?

To do that successfully, we need to first ask a few questions…


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3 Questions Teachers Ask

What’s the best way to ensure students are engaged with their reading?

How can teachers make reading assignments more interesting?

How can students take responsibility for their learning?


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Strategic Teaching Is About…

Fostering “how to think” by using a range of teacher behaviors and methods where teachers interact with students.


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Make Learning Active

In addition to lectures, provide opportunities for students to SEE and DO things with key concepts.

Problem solving, group discussions, prediction guides and short papers are a few ways to employ active learning methods.


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The Purpose Of Strategic Instruction

To bring classroom relevance to our instruction, which helps foster interest and motivation

To guide instruction by focusing on learning strategies that foster thinking skills in relation to the content


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The Strategic Teaching Experience

Students pick up the idea that thinking strategically is a good thing – both useful and fun.

Study strategies are especially important in an introductory class.


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Lesson Planning Helper - 1

Who are my learners?Consider the learners’ abilities

and backgrounds.Consider the students’ prior knowledge and experiences

What kind of material needs to be taught?


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Lesson Planning Helper - 2

What is the critical task? What do I want students to do in terms of goals and outcomes?

What are some strategic teaching and learning strategies they can use right away?


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Teaching strategically is the bridgebetween what students know

andwhat students want/need to know.

Why Teach Strategically?


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The Strategic Connection

Strategic teaching connects the ‘what’ part of teaching with the

‘how.’What = the taskHow = the knowledge, tools and skills needed to do the task.


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What Motivates Learners To Think Strategically?

Discovery

Discovery tasks

Understanding

Questioning

Mastery

Feeling competent

Good grades

Clear expectations


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Questions from Students in a Typical Strategic Lesson…1. What am I actually expected to do

here?2. How does this task resemble or differ

from others I’ve tackled in the past?3. What different ways are there of

interpreting this question?4. What is the significance of the

particular words used?


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Consideration for Choosing Tasks

Choosing tasks based on what students know and their ability is very important for stimulating them in such a way so they have the highest chance of being successful.


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Lesson Planning Helper -3

Bloom’s Taxonomy Knowledge (lowest) Comprehension Application Analysis Synthesis Evaluation (highest)

We need to aim for the highest!


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Where Do You Start?

Begin by taking into consideration what students actually know in terms of: World knowledge What they know about themselves What they know about their skills and abilities


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Strategic Teaching Methods

Strategic Reading and Writing (K-W-L Charts)

Problem Solving


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Engaging Beginnings

Engaging beginnings activate students’ prior knowledge. They make use of what they already know before any new knowledge is presented to them.


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Why Brainstorming and Prediction Exercises?

Teachers need to elicit what students know. Many academic texts assume students have the cultural, social and textual knowledge to understand the “gist” of the text.


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Why Brainstorming and Prediction Exercises?

Teachers can create a classroom of acceptance (no judgment or evaluation is placed)

Teachers are able to appeal to diverse classrooms.


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Engaging Middles

To help students clearly and easily comprehend the content they are reading, stop at key points in the text and have them confirm their predictions during reading activities.


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Useful Questions To Ask While Reading

What are the facts here, as distinct from the opinions?

What is the gist of this reading?


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Satisfying Endings

Two questions to help students more clearly understand what they have just learned from their reading. What did you learn now that you didn’t learn before?What question would you like to ask the writer?


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K-W-L Strategic Reading in Action Summary

K- What do I know about _______________?

W- What do I want to know about_________?

L- What have I learned about__________?


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The “Rule of Three” for Strategic Essay Writing

A good thesis statement includes three “P’s.”

It is a three-Pronged Parallel

Preview of your essay.

Taken from Thinking in Threes, Brian Backman, 2005.


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Strategic Writing In Action

Television has a positive effect because it helps you learn; it gives you information from all over the world; and it allows you to relax.


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Strategic Writing in Action

K – What do I want to know?

W – What more about my topic do I want to know?

L – What information have I learned from doing this task successfully?


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Strategic Instruction Teaches Students How to Participate Work through a problem or piece

of material that illustrates course content.

Engaging students in actual work during the first class session gives them an idea of what your class will be like.


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A Consideration for Illustrating Strategic Thinking Consider a brief presentation of a

core idea or pose a typical problem.Rationale: Problem solving activities provide opportunity for learners to attach meaning to what they learn.


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Problem Solving in Action

Question:Most students in the class think that college students need more sleep than high school students in order to function. Activity:Develop a statement that makes this statement true/false.


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Problem Solving - Thinking in Threes! Stages 1 -2 -3

Stage 1- Prediction

Students predict if the statement is true or false using previous knowledge


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Stage 2- Gathering of Evidence

Based on their reading, students “interview” their peers.


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Stage 3- Evaluation

The students then come up with a logical statement that includes their points.


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Summary

Questions?

Comments?

Do you have topics of interest to you for future presentations?


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The Heart of Strategic Teaching, Learning and Thinking

Give a man a fish, and he is fed for a day. Teach a man how to fish, and he is fed for a lifetime," is at the heart of the thinking about strategic teaching and learning. As a teacher, you must learn "how to fish," and so must your students.


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Thank You!

Thank you for your participation and attention!

Email – Dorit [email protected]@gmail.com

thinking in threes: its what strategic thinking is all about! presented by dorit sasson june 30,...

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