Thinking Prompts

Thinking prompts are any device a teacher puts in front of students to prompt thinking, discussion, and dialogue. They can include (but are not limited to) film clips, case studies, short stories, poems, photographs, words, or metaphors.

• Thinking prompts promote dialogue and turn the students' attention away from the teacher to something else, that everyone can comment on equally.

• Thinking prompts help students make connections between various knowledge, skills, and big ideas they are learning.

• Thinking prompts provide background knowledge, especially those that include visual or auditory content. They can be a window into content in any subject area!

• Thinking prompts engage students. Video clips or photographs engage learners because many people are drawn to visual stimuli. Thinking prompts can also engage learners by presenting something that encourages students to talk about themselves and by creating variety.

• Provocative: The best thinking prompts are so stimulating that after experiencing them people cannot wait to talk about what they've seen or heard.

• Complex: The best thinking prompts can be seen from many different perspectives; indeed, it is their complexity that makes them effective.

• Personally Relevant: A great thinking prompt speaks to use personally, and because it feels like the prompt speaks directly to our individual selves, we are drawn in and compelled to think, respond, and share ideas. Students take good thinking prompts personally, and for that reason, they are more likely to learn important information.

• Positive: Emotions are infectious, and tinking prompts that communicate positive emotions can have a salutary impact on the mood of a community of learners. For this reason, teachers should recognize that everything they do shapes the culture of their learning community.

• Concise: When video clips that are too long are used as thinking prompts, they can lose their power to evoke emotion, conversaion, and thought in an audience. When a thinking prompt is provocative, personally relevant, complex, positive, and concise, you have the makings of an effective thinking prompt. Shorter clips also leave more time for thinking and learning.

1. Intensive-Explicit: When teachers use thinking prompts for intensive-explicit instruction, they use the prompt to ensure that students have a clear and correct understanding of he knowledge, skills, or big ideas they are learning. That is, the teacher wants the students to see what they are learning just as she sees it. When teachers use thinking prompts for intensive-explicit learning, they accomplish something important: They provide helpful anchors for student learning.

2. Constructivist Learning: When teachers use thinking prompts for constructivist reasons, their goal is to push student thinking, to broaden students' perspectives, to provide an opportunity for students to consider an idea from multiple perspectives. There is no right answer when a teacher uses thinking prompts for constructivist learning. The critical thing is to create a dialogue that prompts everyone, including the teacher, to test her or his assumptions. There is no single right answer because each person's personal response is what is desired.

1. Establish respectful norms for all classroom dialogue (respect each response, listen to others before you start talking, wait until the speaker is finished before raising your hand to talk, don't blurt out responses, and so forth). There are no "right" norms. Each class and teacher is unique, but it is important that classroom norms be consistent.

2. Use the right kind, type, and level of question. See Effective Questions for additional information.

3. Listen empathetically to all student responses.

4. Encourage students by frequently offering authentic praise. When students' comments are convoluted or confusing, listen intently to decipher the main idea. Then paraphrase it using simple language and, finally, ask the student if you've heard him or her correctly.

5. Suggest connections between various ideas offered by students.

6. Keep the dialogue session short enough so that all students remain engaged, but long enough to prompt meaningful reflection.