“One of the reasons I find the routines so effective is that they help the students to find their own voices and to value and respect the voices of others.”
We define cultures of thinking as “places where a group's collective as well as individual thinking is valued, visible, and actively promoted as part of the regular, day-to-day experience of all group members.”
Explanation:
- place – it is not only classroom
- group – it where thinking is happening, collaboration is the stuff of growth. We want to harness (spriahnuť) the power of the group to advance general thinking while recognizing the contributions and growth of each individual
- Support visibility have been presented, such as questioning, listening, documenting, and using thinking routines.
- As part of the regular, day-to-day experience :
This part of the definition of a culture of thinking echoes Vygotsky's (1978) idea that “children grow into the intellectual life around them” (p. 88). If we want to promote a culture of thinking, we must surround students with thinking, not as a one-off activity that we engage in on special occasions but in the day-in, day-out, ordinariness of the classroom. A darker side to Vygotsky's quote is offered by Robert L. Fried (2005) in his book The Game of School, in which he both recognizes and criticizes the fact that too often and in too many places students don't so much learn as they learn to play the game of school. Often this is a game that requires mastering techniques for committing ideas to short-term memory but very little real thinking. These sentiments are a recurring theme in the aptly titled 2010 documentary Race to Nowhere, directed by Vicki Abeles and Jessica Congdon, in which the voices of students from across the United States who feel they are working for grades and not learning at their schools are chronicled. If we want to reverse this situation and develop students as thinkers and learners, then the expectations for thinking must be present on a daily basis.
- of all group members
Too often thinking has been seen as the exclusive domain of gifted or advanced students. When thinking becomes part of the daily practice of the classroom and teachers show an interest in and respect for students' thinking, then students who had not previously been seen as academically strong begin to shine.