SIMON BROOKS EDUCATION

10 Habits of Practice in the thinking-centred classroom

Nov 15, 2018
3 min

10 Habits of Practice in the thinking-centred classroom

Building a rich culture of thinking in our classrooms and schools is a long, complex, thrilling and challenging process (Ritchhart, 2015). Like children themselves, a culture of thinking needs constant care and attention if it is to flourish. Something interesting for us all to think about is not so much what we do as teachers in a culture of thinking, but how we are. What do we look and sound like as teachers who characteristically attend to children’s thinking? What entr

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New Thinking Routine: 8 to 1

Apr 5, 2017
2 min

New Thinking Routine: 8 to 1

Introducing 8 to 1: a new thinking routine for capturing the heart of the matter being studied in service of deeper understanding and cognitive engagement. This routine encourages students to distil the essence of the content being studied, whether it's understanding the functionality of topographic maps in Geography, solving equations with the distributive property in Mathematics, exploring the Weimar Republic in History . . . anything really! Here's how the routine works: 1

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Big Rock Number 2: Reasoning with Evidence

Dec 8, 2016
4 min

Big Rock Number 2: Reasoning with Evidence

Why might highly effective teachers in a culture of thinking make Reasoning with Evidence a BIG ROCK in their schools and classrooms? This Blog entry is part three of an eight-part series exploring 7 Big Rocks for Educators keen to build a culture of thinking in their classrooms. When I reflect on 2016, one of the most thrilling lessons I’ve observed was a Year 10 Science class on Mendelian inheritance and Punnett squares taught by a wonderful Science teacher called Jenny Ste

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New Thinking Routine: What happens next?

Oct 28, 2016
2 min

New Thinking Routine: What happens next?

What type of thinking do you make routine in your classroom? Teachers interested in building a culture of thinking ensure that they create multiple opportunities for students to engage a variety of high-leverage thinking moves in service of developing understanding and engagement. One of these thinking moves is PREDICTION. Some years ago, I decided to create a prediction-centred thinking routine to use in my own classroom as an English teacher. The routine is called ‘What ha

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Routines in a Culture of Thinking

Aug 4, 2016
1 min

Routines in a Culture of Thinking

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE PODCAST What are thinking routines? How are they different to activities? What's the difference between management, instructional and thinking routines? And how might the use of thinking routines support the growth of a culture of thinking? Cultures of Thinking is an educational framework arising from the work of Dr. Ron Ritchhart and colleagues at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. For many years, I have enjoyed a close affiliation with th

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Opportunities in a Culture of Thinking

Aug 2, 2016
1 min

Opportunities in a Culture of Thinking

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE PODCAST How might the replacement of low-level tasks with purposeful thinking opportunities be the single most productive and low-cost way of bumping up learning in schools? What would it be like if there were no more worksheets to keep children busy? How do great teachers create powerful learning opportunities, rich in thinking, and in service of developing deep, lasting understanding? Cultures of Thinking is an educational framework arising from

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Modelling in a Culture of Thinking

Jul 28, 2016
1 min

Modelling in a Culture of Thinking

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE PODCAST As teachers, how do we model who we are as thinkers and learners? What is the difference between a dispositional and a cognitive apprenticeship? And what impact might this have on helping students grow as critical and creative thinkers? Cultures of Thinking is an educational framework arising from the work of Dr. Ron Ritchhart and colleagues at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. For many years, I have enjoyed a close affiliation wit

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Time in a Culture of Thinking

Jul 28, 2016
1 min

Time in a Culture of Thinking

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE PODCAST Most teachers feel that there just isn't enough time in the school day. This pressure makes it hard for some teachers to allow time for thinking, but making time for students to think actually facilitates faster coverage of the curriculum, since students develop more lasting understanding of content and become more engaged in their learning. How might we become the master of time rather than its victim? Cultures of Thinking is an education

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Brighton Rock

Jul 25, 2016
3 min

Brighton Rock

So – what’s the link between teaching and learning, Brighton Rock, and critical and creative thinking . . . ? Like most young boys growing up in South London in the 1980s, I loved school holiday time . . . the opportunity to escape the big smoke for a week and head off to far-flung and exotic locations . . . like Hastings, Eastbourne and Bognor Regis (you’ll need a working knowledge of English culture and geography to be on top of the irony there). Often, the annual family pi

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Language in a Culture of Thinking

Jun 20, 2016
1 min

Language in a Culture of Thinking

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE PODCAST In 1978, educator Lev Vygotsky explored the idea that children make sense of the world around them not only through their eyes but also through their speech. In other words, 'it is not just seeing but acting that becomes informed by words.' As educators, how might the LANGUAGE we use help children develop the disposition to be critical and creative thinkers? Cultures of Thinking is an educational framework arising from the work of Dr. Ron

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Creating a Culture of Thinking in the Mathematics classroom

Jun 20, 2016
3 min

Creating a Culture of Thinking in the Mathematics classroom

What’s 38.5% of 120kg? Does that sound tricky? One of the wonderful benefits of being an educational consultant is the opportunity to work alongside and learn from hundreds of outstanding educators from around the world. Recently, I spent some time with one such teacher in Sydney Australia by the name of Rojier Eliah, who attended my ‘Thinking for Learning’ workshop. As a Maths and Music teacher, Rojier is fascinated by the pedagogy and practice associated with building a cu

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Expectations in a Culture of Thinking

Jun 19, 2016
1 min

Expectations in a Culture of Thinking

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE PODCAST How do our EXPECTATIONS for children, rather than expectations of them, help shape a culture of thinking in our classrooms and schools? Cultures of Thinking is an educational framework arising from the work of Dr. Ron Ritchhart and colleagues at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. For many years, I have enjoyed a close affiliation with this team, and now work with educators around the world interested in building cultures of thinking

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Cultures of Thinking Podcast with Simon Brooks

May 16, 2016
1 min

Cultures of Thinking Podcast with Simon Brooks

Why build a culture of thinking in classrooms and schools? As educators, how might we lead lasting change? And how might schools make the move from one-off PD towards longer-term professional learning experiences? Check out my answers to these and other questions in this brand new interview with Colin Klupiec, from The Learning Capacity Podcast. Just click on these words in the image below: '59: Simon Brooks on implementing...' #CultureofThinking #Time #Language #Interaction

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The 95% Dilemma

May 11, 2016
3 min

The 95% Dilemma

It’s ‘appraisal’ time at your school. Appraisal. It’s just a word . . . but a word with the power to send tremors of horror down the collective spines of teachers everywhere. “It’s time for me to be appraised, again.” You wait . . . and you wait . . . and you wait . . . and then, the inevitable happens – a member of the Senior Management team sends an email. You feel compelled to reply. And that’s it. The date is set. The time and the place is confirmed. The die is cast

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Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher

Apr 7, 2016
4 min

Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher

Something interesting is happening in classrooms across Australia. Teachers are apologising for knowing things. I’ve seen it happen in a number of lessons of late. It goes something like this: “OK students, settle down, settle down . . . thank you . . . now, I’m going to talk at you for about 10 minutes, sorry about that, and then afterwards you can get on with a learning activity I’ve prepared for you. OK?” It seems that some teachers are feeling the need to position the pa

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What makes you say that?

Apr 3, 2016
4 min

What makes you say that?

In 1986 Matthew Broderick starred in the now-iconic American comedy film – anyone, anyone – ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’, in which actor Ben Stein delivers his infamous lecture about the – anyone, anyone – the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act, and – anyone – bored or excited . . . ? – bored students rigid in his attempt to teach them economics. Take a look at this clip and remind yourself of Ben Stein’s inspired parody of ineffective teaching. Perhaps the most interesting thing about th

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