Mindful Learning: A Book for Educators by Julie Boyd

Mindful Learning 2010

Mindful Learning Purposeful Teaching

A Julie Boyd and Associates Manual Based on original material first developed in 1996 Published 2001 Revised 2004 Revised 2009 ÂŠ Julie Boyd PO Box 66 Hastings Point, NSW 2489 Phone/Fax 02-66764217 Email: info@julieboyd.com.au URL: www.julieboyd.com.au ISBN: 1-876153-01-6 The material contained in this manual is COPYRIGHT It may not be reproduced, stored, transmitted, adapted, or copied in any form electronic or otherwise, without prior written permission. Published simultaneously in Australia, New Zealand, United States of America and Japan

Mindful Learning 2010

Children can learn Almost anything if they are Dancing Tasting Touching Hearing Seeing and feeling Information Jean Houston The Possible Human

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CONTENTS Mindful Learning Introduction Section One: The Learning Environment Section Two: Creating Constructivist Curriculum Section Three: Making Learning Skills and Processes Explicit Section Four: Using Graphic Organisers Section Five: Telling Story Section Six: Improving Our Questioning Skills Scetion Seven: Reflecting on Experience Section Eight: Using Mindful Assessments Closing Footnotes Further Reading

Mindful Learning 2010

"I dunno", Arthur said. "I forget what I was taught. I only remember what I've learnt." Patrick Wright

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ISSUES CREATING EDUCATIONAL CHANGE The following issues have driven education for the past three decades and continue to do so. As teachers we need to carefully consider how we are preparing our students and the contribution we are making to a growing society and culture. 1. Changing World 2. Changing Work 3. Resiliency/Prevention 4. Intelligence/ Body and Brainbased/Constructivist and Developmental Learning 5. Results/Outcomes-Oriented Learning 6. Systems Thinking 7. Expanded Learning Environments and Schoolwork-Higher Learning 8. Communication 9. Technology 10. Environmental Consciousness 11. Useful Assessments and Accountability 12. Increased urbanisation

Mindful Learning 2010

To enable this, Mindful Teaching requires that we consider and align each of the elements of an effective learning experience.

Learning Environment Social/Emotional Intellectual Physical Technological Pedagogy/Learning Strategies Activities, Content, Processes, Dispositions, Curriculum Concepts Knowledge Skills Attitudes Use Assessment Rigour Clarity Relevance Appropriateness Worthy of time spent Evidence

Mindful Learning 2010

Teaching means facilitating student learning. In order to achieve this effectively we need to be understand how to develop learner mindful practice. While we acknowledge the importance of technology in contemporary learning, becoming mindful requires a degree of introspection that comes from knowing ones own mode and style of learning. This book is designed to focus more on introspective learning.We can improve mindful learning in the following eight ways by: 1. Creating a Supportive, Challenging Learning Environment; 2. Using Teaching Strategies which match the Environment 3. Using a Curriculum that Encourages Mindfulness; 4. Making Explicit Processes and Skills Used; 5. Using Cognitive Organisers 6.

Creating Story;

7. Improving Questioning Skills; 8. Processing and Reflecting on Learning Experiences; and 8. Using Assessments that Encourage Mindfulness. This book gives practical suggestions in each of these critical areas.

Mindful Learning 2010

Learning, remembering, understanding, and other manifestations of thought--such as reasoning, problem-solving, and creative and critical thinking--are not separate mental facilities or skills, but reflections of a constantly driving imagination. Everyone can think. The deployment and effectiveness of thought on particular occasions depends on three critical considerations: the thinker's broad understanding of whatever matters are being thought about, disposition to think about those matters, and authority to do so. Learning to think is less a matter of instruction than of experience and opportunity. Frank Smith, To Think

Mindful Learning 2010

Introduction Students are always learning and thinking. They come to school or any learning experience knowing how to think- but not always able to process their thoughts into response-able actions. The skilful facilitator of learning helps students refine and expand their thoughts and actions--to be mindful. Mindfulness takes into account the student's inclination to search, to inquire. It considers the student's abilities to be aware, to perceive and conceive. The effective teacher helps the learner to understand, to make sense and make use of their learning. This is mindful learning. In the past, educators have been concerned only about students' thinking skills, which is only one part of mindfulness. Over the years, educators have used the term "thinking" to include: A. Types of Thinking: metacognition (thinking about one's thinking), creative, critical, and reflective thinking and processing; B. Thinking Processes: such as concept formation, comprehension, problem-solving, inquiry, composing, convergent and divergent reasoning, oral discourse, etc.; C. Thinking Skills: focusing skills, informationgathering skills,organizing skills, analyzing skills, evaluating skills, etc.; and D. Content-Area Procedural and Conceptual Knowledge: procedural--how to read a map, how to fill out a ballot; conceptual--sense of place, democracy.

Mindful Learning 2010

It is good to rub and polish our brains against and with that of others. Montaigne

Mindful Learning 2010

This book incorporates all of these, and moves beyond them, to encourage the educator to develop their own and their studentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mindfulness. This involves not only refining thinking, but also building meaning, and using learning for one's own benefit and the benefit of others. Contemplation and deliberation directly relates to one's emotions, feelings and values, not just his/her intellect. Thinking does not just cause our feelings; feelings also colour our thinking. They direct and guide our mindfulness and learning. Thinking and learning are also social activities. Not only are we influenced by the way people expect us to behave and think, but we also formulate much of our knowing through dialogue with others. We often don't know we know something, until we are assisted through coaching or self reflection to hear ourselves say it and use it in an interaction with others. Therefore, it is essential, in desiring to developing mindfulness, that the teacher creates a supportive, challenging environment where students work, dialogue, construct meaning and use their knowledge with others. If there is only an emphasis on the skills and processes of learning is that it becomes easy to see students from a deficit perspective.

Mindful Learning 2010

Our children can begin to experience fulfilment as soon as we choose to create environments permitting them to do so. Bob Samples, Open Mind, Whole Mind

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In developing mindful learning we need to ask ourselves as teacher:



Does the learner have an openness and interest in what they are learning?



Does the learner perceive and conceive in an in-depth way?



Does the learner understand and use what they are learning to benefit themselves and others?



Does the learner reflect and learn from their experiences and the experiences of others?

This book is not about teaching students to think; it is about facilitating mindful learning through creating experiences and opportunities for students to refine their thinking, create meaning, use their knowledge, and find the intrinsic value of learning.

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Children Learn What They Live If a child lives with criticism, he learns to condemn If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight If a child lives with ridicule, he learns to be shy If a child lives with shame, he learns to feel guilty If a child lives with tolerance, he learns to be patient If a child lives with encouragement, he learns confidence If a child lives with praise, he learns to appreciate If a child lives with fairness, he learns justice If a child lives with security, he learns to have faith If a child lives with approval, he learns to like himself If a child lives with acceptance and friendship, he learns to find joy in the world. Dorothy Law Nolte

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Section One: The Learning Environment Facilitating mindful learning is more a matter of creating a supportive, yet challenging learning environment than it is of lesson planning and teaching thinking. School and classroom environments that are conducive to taking risks, encouraging questions, learning from making mistakes, constructing ideas, discovering through projects and dialogue with others, and extending students' conception of themselves are key to developing learner mindfulness. Educators must believe that students learn when they are immersed in an environment that promotes and encourages imagination, perception, connection and reflection.

COMPONENTS OF AN EFFECTIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT 1. Physical Environment 2. Social/Psychological Environment 3. Intellectual Environment 4. Technological Environment Each of these elements needs to be co-ordinated and aligned within the classroom

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Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. Yeats

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The reasons why interactions in class need to be managed is self evident from the table below which shows the number of potential relationships which exist with each sized group. The larger the group, the exponential number of relationships that have to be managed. Keep it small for more interaction and less classroom management issues.

People

Relationships

190

435

100

4950

1000

499,500

ÂŠ Julie Boyd 1995

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The first criteria for a mindful learning environment is that students are exposed to challenging, mindful thinkers. Students must see teachers practicing mindfulness. The primary way we learn is through role modelling. Students must have access to resources in and beyond the school walls that model mindfulness, challenge their thinking and assist the development of their own understanding of the issue or topic. Students need to be exposed to many points of view or aspects of an idea or topic they are studying. This helps them learn to interpret data, to learn discernment and to construct their own meaning. Students must approach an idea or use facts in many different contexts in order to refine their knowing and use their ideas. These are curriculum-related issues that will be dealt with more completely in the next section of this book. The second criteria for mindful learning is that students must be interested in what they are learning. None of us can think effectively about anything we find boring, purposeless or not worthwhile. As the saying goes, "the mind is like a parachute, it only works when it is open". Interest, alone, does not guarantee that we reason efficiently; however, it does create a condition where relevant thought is more likely to occur. A critical factor in mindfulness is the desire and intent to learn.

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Teaching for Thinking: Teachers and administrators respond to students' ideas in such a way as to maintain a school and classroom climate that creates trust, allows risk-taking, and is experimental, creative, and positive. This requires listening to students' and each others' ideas, remaining nonjudgmental and having rich data sources. All model the behaviours and attitudes of thinking.

Art Costa, Developing Minds

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The third criteria of a learning environment is respect. There must be respect for the learner, for the learning process, and for what is being taught. When teachers respect the feelings and thoughts of the learners, then, a partnership can develop. When teachers and students think together, then, they can co-create together. When educators understand that the learning process is not linear, it is developmental and spiral ("two steps forward and one back") then they can respect the learning pace and styles of individuals. When facilitators of learning understand that all learning is social (even when we learn from books, we learn with the authors or characters in the book and must make the book's ideas active in our own lives), then, they will encourage students to dialogue, inquire, and use their knowledge. When teachers show enthusiasm and passion for what they are teaching and are able to make the content relevant to their students, then the students will ignite from that spark their own discovery and intrinsic motivation to learn. The fourth criteria for a mindful learning environment in the school and classroom is one that provides comfort and order. A warm, positive, joyful affect in the environment, physical comfort, an order to the routines and behaviour with rules and norms, procedures for handling interruptions, and interested involvement and dialogue are all elements of the structure of comfort and order that can free up students to feel safe, to be creative and learn.

Mindful Learning 2010

Schools should be places where people demonstrate the things they value...We could stop thinking of educational institutions as places where only those judged most fit survive, and start to think of them as communities of mutual respect; as sanctuaries from the pressures and inequalities of the world outside, not a proving ground for discrimination, segragation and unfairness. The social organization of education could be reformed, from a hierarchical supervisory structure to one of cooperative support and advocacy.

Frank Smith, To Think

Mindful Learning 2010

Tasks and expectations are clear and adequate resources are available to facilitate student learning. The fifth criteria for a mindful learning environment is support with challenge. One must feel free to question, take risks, make mistakes, be encouraged to try, be given feedback, and be encouraged to contribute their ideas to the greater good (to contribute beyond themselves). All learners need autonomy (to see their uniqueness and to be given choice), belonging (relevance, fitting in) and to feel competent (capable, growing) and to value learning. What we call the "ABCs" of Discipline. When these conditions are met there is a supportive environment. However, change does not occur just through support, people also need challenge. They need to stretch, to go beyond where they currently are (to start where they are and move on). Learning is enhanced by challenge; yet, inhibited by threat. Brain researchers call this a state of "relaxed alertness"; we need supportive challenge. The effective learning environment provides the appropriate balance of support and challenge for each student in the classroom and school.

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Too often we give children answers to remember rather than problems to solve. Roger Lewin

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Mindful learning environments are settings in which:



Students are exposed to challenging, mindful thinkers;



Students are interested in their study and work;



Students are respected, as is the learning content and process;



Students and teacher have created a culture of comfort and order that facilitates both safety and creativity;



Students are both supported and challenged.

Mindful Learning 2010

The mere formulation of a problem is often far more essential than its solution, which may be merely a matter of mathematical or experimental skill. To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle requires creative imagination and marks real advances in science. Albert Einstein

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Section Two: Pedagogy and Teaching Strategies which match the Environment It is the task of every teacher to continuously expand their repertoire of teaching and learning strategies in order to have a wide range with which they can make situational decisions. For example this Pedagogy developed as the result of an international review provides a set of benchmark questions which provide a review. Is the work you are doing with your students: Rigorous Relevant Resourceful Responsive Relational Reflective

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Purposeful Teaching for Mindful Learning involves

Higher Order Thinking

Depth of Knowledge

Connection to RealWorld

Substantive Conversation

Social Support for Achievement

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Generic Teaching Strategies Lecture Jigsaw Visuals Listening Diagramming Graphic Organizers Think-Pair-Share 4 Corners Round Robin Brainstorming Turn to a Partner Learning Stations Learning Contracts Concept Maps Video/Photos/Books Websites/blogs Computers/Technology Sustained Silent Reading Games Story Telling Experimentation Literature Circles Book Talks Oral Presentations Research Outlining Highlighting Graphing Simulations Retelling Classifying

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Literacy Strategies Activating prior knowledge Think turn and talk Making connections Predicting Visualising Summarising Connecting points Practicing Inferring Judging Reflecting Think aloud Identifying key info Cause and effect Hypothesizing teaching Paraphrasing Interactive, shared, guided,

Conferencing Editing Brainstorming Text knowledge Word splash Recount Progression Self questioning Evaluating Self correcting Retell Id evidence Problem solving Reciprocal Modelling

Mindful Learning 2010

Maths Strategies Problem solving Games Simulations Guess and check Look for patterns Make a chart Look at the back of the book Draw a picture Workbackwards Immersion Physical movt Journals Reflection Toolbox Scaffolding Share time Baselines Irresistable challenge Relevance, Assessment as learning Multimedia Role learning Data gatherer, proof of social issues Disaggregation Role play 10 second clock

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Section Two: Creating Constructivist Curriculum Recent developments in brain research enable us to know and appreciate that:



students must construct meaning in order to acquire, use



and retain their knowledge;



the brain seeks connections and patterns;



the search for meaning is innate and that learning is intrinsically motivating;



learning involves the total physiology and all the senses;



the brain processes in a whole-partwhole sequence;



learning involves both conscious and unconscious processes;



learning requires both focused attention and peripheral perception;



learning requires active interaction and processing.

Mindful Learning 2010

The most realistic and educationally beneficial way to learn to think within a discipline is to cope with the problems within that discipline. Jerome Bruner

Mindful Learning 2010

Brain research has taught us much about how to develop curriculum for mindful learning. Learning needs to have personal meaning to the students. Students need to be actively engaged in the beginning, not just in the middle or end of a unit theme or concept. Learning is best facilitated in a whole-part-whole sequence. It starts with seeing the whole, meaningful picture, such as the whole story, the whole song, whole game, or seeing the real-world application of ideas they will be studying. This gives them a context in which to make meaning, when that whole is later broken down into parts. During and at the end of the unit, students need to come back to a whole, generalized application of the ideas they were studying. Through the processes of discovery, experiencing and using ideas, dialoguing and constructing projects, providing services or performing their learning, students can conceptualize, generalize, and transfer their understanding. For all of this to occur, the curriculum now needs to be organized by concepts and relationships examined in and used in a variety of contexts. The curriculum should not be fragmented, but connected to students' world, to their prior learning, to other ideas within the discipline and across disciplines.

Mindful Learning 2010

Remember jigsaw puzzles. They are much easier when you can see the whole picture first Gordon Dryden and Jeanette Voss

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In order to be mindful in learning, as well as mindful of learning, we no longer desire a curriculum of answers; we want a curriculum of questions, which engages the students in one or more of the following: Mindful Curriculum Processes 1. Inquiry: a specific question whose answer DESCRIBES how things are or are likely to become; this involves research, discovery and application of ideas; 2. Issue: a specific question whose answer is a VALUE JUDGMENT about what SHOULD be the case; students dialogue, research and make a case and take a stand on their beliefs about an issue; 3. Problem: a specific question whose answer is a COURSE OF ACTION; students plan, decide and develop a recommended plan of action on the topic; 4. Project: results in a PRODUCT--models/replicas, posters; students research, plan, create and construct an original product; 5. Community Service: taking ACTION on their learning; providing a needed service to utilize their learning for the benefit of others; 6. Performance of Most Worth: EXHIBITING understanding, skills, attitudes in a performance that combines written, oral, recital, critical review with an audience beyond the teacher.1 ÂŠ Julie Boyd

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Have You Ever Thought Of This? All the literature that has ever been written in the modern English language consists of patterns of only 26 letters. All the paintings ever made are patterns of only three primary colours All the music ever written consists of patterns of no more than 12 notes All the arithmetic expressions we know consist of only 10 symbols And for the vast computations of digital computers Everything is made up of only two components Thus, whenever we speak of something as â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;newâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; we are really talking about original patterns of already existing components. Don Fabun Three Roads To Awareness

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Indigenous Pedagogy

Spiritual Environmental Mythic Visionary Artistic Affective Communal

By addressing the curriculum through active engagement of the sort listed above, the student is continually and completely immersed in mindful learning, using the types of thinking, the thinking processes and thinking skills listed above. Indigenous and native peoples all over the world involve the students in a learning process that is similar to the "mindful learning processes" listed above.

Mindful Learning 2010

The ecology of indigenous learning follows a cycle of involving students first through asking questions. Asking comes from the head. The aboriginal teacher or elder, secondly, encourages the student to seek. Seeking comes from the heart and soul, one desires to know and is emotionally as well as intellectual engaged. Next, the student is asked to make. Making involves the studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; hands and body. The student is involved through actually constructing something that encompasses the concepts and uses the facts they are learning. Once the student makes, they have evidence of their learning. They own their learning. After appreciating what they are able to do, the native student is then asked to share and give-away that product or learning for the benefit of others. It is in the sharing that authentic learning is crystalized, because here the learner sees how their learning can benefit and contribute to others and the wider community. This, then, is cause for celebration. By celebrating learning, one gains the value of continually learning. Celebration is a way of expressing the joy, intrinsic motivation and satisfaction that comes with learning. This whole cycle involves mindful participation at each stage and in its entirety models holistic, mindful practice. It would be good for all teachers to consider this cycle of learning as they develop their instructional units.

Mindful Learning 2010

Ecology of Indigenous Learning Wheel

Currently, all the international, national and state/province curriculum frameworks for the subject area disciplines are advocating that we teach conceptual understanding and use of ideas.

Mindful Learning 2010

This means that reasoning and mindful practices are now inherent in what we teach. Now, in our information-rich, ever-changing society, it is essential that students develop an understanding of how and when to use facts and that they see the relationships of facts to the whole. For instance, reading is not merely decoding words, not just isolated skills. It is the understanding of sentences, ideas in a text; it is comprehension of the whole as well as the parts. However, it is, yet, another level of understanding for students to be able to use those ideas in their own lives, which develops the mindful aspects of learning. Curricular frameworks urge us to teach for conceptual understanding. A concept is a universal, timeless idea, an abstraction that pulls together many facts. Concepts help to organize facts and make sense of them, like the concepts of democracy or honesty or revolution. When the learner makes sense of ideas and sees the relationships of ideas to each other, to the real-world and to their lives, this is mindful learning. Curricular frameworks are also urging us to help students develop healthy dispositions and attitudes to learning. For instance, it is not only important to learn how to read; it is important for students to identify themselves as readers and to enjoy reading and to see themselves as life-long readers. This is mindful learning.

Mindful Learning 2010

In all curricular areas, students:  use prior knowledge,  relate ideas to their experiences,  interpret and integrate ideas,  critique and evaluate ideas,  look for assumptions,  compare and contrast,  identify key ideas,  organize information,  infer and conclude, classify and categorize,  predict and hypothesize,  summarize,  problem-solve,  conduct investigations,  imagine and create,  design and plan,  question and reflect.

The educator only needs to organize the learning experiences to allow for these processes and skills to be used. A brief, incomplete look at some of the subject areas may provide examples of mindful skills and processes that are embedded within the subject areas and across the entire curriculum.

Mindful Learning 2010

Reading: Reading is an interactive process where the reader interacts with the author and the material for meaning to occur. Educators can help students tap into prior knowledge they have about the topic they are reading, through questions, diagrams and visuals, through groupwork, brainstorming or any number of strategies that help students to think about what they already know and what they discover in their reading. Reading is a constructive process. Meaning does not lie on the page; it is constructed by the reader. Therefore, students are always making inferences and drawing conclusions. Reading is also a strategic process, because we use different strategies for different reading purposes. Educators can help students to think about their thinking when they read and to be aware of the strategies they are employing to make meaning.

Writing: Writing is a form of genuine communication, not a set of pre-scripted skills. The non-linear writing process that involves prewriting, pre-composing, writing, sharing, revising, editing, and evaluating utilizes mindful skills and processes at each of the steps. The thinking/learning skills and processes at each of the steps in the writing process can be highlighted and brought to the students' awareness. In addition, writing itself develops the students' abilities to make meaning and to be mindful of their and the audiences understanding.

Mindful Learning 2010

Mathematics: Maths units need to begin with concrete hands-on, real-life ideas for the topic being learned. Students need to use manipulatives, build and make models, measure, and problem-solve in order to understand concepts, like "area or place value". Mathematics needs to link both procedural (understanding why a rule works, not just how to get it to work) and conceptual knowledge, like "place value or area". Mathematics also encourages reasoning through using a problem-solving framework and by encouraging metacognition (mindfulness about one's own thinking and learning).

Social Sciences: The areas of geography, economics, political science, anthropology, sociology, psychology, history and civics are are all about human interaction and are full of opportunities to engage students in meaningful activity. Social scientists are always constructing knowledge, interpreting facts, creating ideas and developing generalizations for explaining how the human side of our world works. Social sciences focus not just on knowledge about concepts in each of the areas, but also on developing student citizenship and responsive action concerning societal issues. Aesthetics and the Arts: Since all information goes to our brain through sensory channels--tactile, olfactory,visual, kinesthetic, and auditory senses-aesthetics is vital to mindful learning. Aesthetics is a sensitisation to the artistic aspects of the environment and the qualities of experience that evoke feelings in people.

Mindful Learning 2010

In order to develop this sensitivity and understanding of sensory things, one needs to question-what, how, why, what if? One needs to observe, perceive, investigate, imagine, create. Again, mindfulness is inherent in all areas of aesthetics and the arts. Science: Science has the twin goals of teaching concepts from science and the process of scientific inquiry. The science curriculum encourages exploration, hands-on manipulation, and thinking about a wide range of phenomena. Students learn concepts and inquiry skills by practicing them and discussing what they observe and what they infer and deduce from their observations and practice. Science helps students to problem-solve, look for evidence, observe, classify, compare and contrast, relate data, predict, communicate, interpret, imagine and many other thinking/learning skills. What is key in developing mindfulness is that experiences must be debriefed so students come to an understanding of the concepts, explanations and cognitive processes they were using throughout the scientific inquiry. Since there is now a natural connection between the curriculum and mindful learning, we simply need to focus our teaching on conceptual understanding and the processes of learning, not primarily on the retention of facts. Thinking and cognitive processes need to be used within and across specific content contexts, not primarily taught as a separate skill or topic.

Mindful Learning 2010

They are inherent in what we teach. Teachers need to spend their planning time, not adding another element to the curriculum, but determining the concepts they need to address in the areas they teach and involving the students in inquiry and the use of ideas at the beginning and throughout the unit. Let us not fragment the teaching of thinking skills (as we have fragmented teaching into subject areas) by removing them from the contexts in which they are useful. They need to be embedded in everything we do.

Mindful Learning 2010

Critical thinking is NOT a single skill; it is a generic term, both a process and an ability, based on sound, personal judgment, allied with problem-solving, and composed of attitudes, knowledge and skills. Jerome Bruner

Mindful Learning 2010

Section 3: Making Explicit Skills and Processes It is helpful for learners to be able to identify the processes and skills they use when studying, doing an activity, working with others or solving problems. This enables the students to expand their repertoire of learning strategies and develop helpful skills and attitudes for lifelong learning. No matter which approach a teacher or school uses, it is important that students are able to identify the strategies, skills or processes they used to acquire and integrate knowledge, to extend their knowledge, to use it productively and to develop positive attitudes about learning. In this way, the student is mindful that s/he knows how to learn.

Mindful Learning 2010

Over 80% of the population prefers to process information visually--not just talk or hear it. Visual templates often uncover unconscious patterns and deep preferences; they help individuals and groups see more of the whole picture and all of the data.

Suzanne Bailey, Visual Dialogue

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Selected Approaches to Teaching Thinking

Researcher/Writer

Type of Thinking

Art Costa

Behaviours of Intelligence

Edward de Bono

Perception

Reuven Feurstein

Mental Operations

Robin Fogarty, Jay McTighe

Graphic Organizers

Howard Gardener

Multiple Intelligences

Matthew Lipman

Philosophy for Children, Inquiry

Robert Marzano, Jay McTighe

Dimensions of Learning

Sidney Parnes

Creative Problem-Solving

Richard Paul, Robert Ennis

Critical Thinking

David Perkins

Creative Thinking

Stanley Pogrow

Higher Order Thinking Skills

Howard Barrows

Problem-based Learning

Frank Smith

Learning and Intelligence

Arthur Whimbey

Problem-Solving

ÂŠJulie Boyd

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If you are choosing an approach to enable meaning making as students are engaged in learning, you need to consider the following criteria for your thinking/learning-based program.  

It needs to be researched and based on a theory of cognitive processing;



It needs to be socio-culturally appropriate;



It needs to assist students in understanding their own mental processing, their knowledge acquisition and use;



It needs to address both the motivational and intellectual needs of students and teachers;



It needs to be sensitive to individual differences;



It needs to be transferable to the students in a variety of contexts;



It needs to provide links to and be useable in the real world.

A thinking/learning program is much more than a set of catchy, challenging activities. It is more than a set of skills. It needs to work to facilitate the student's mindfulness about learning.

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Robert Marzano's Dimensions of Learning1 program outlines the following five dimensions of thinking and learning: 1. Positive Attitudes and Perceptions about Learning; This dimension addresses the learning climate and one's attitudes about learning itself and about specific learning tasks. 2. Thinking involved in Acquiring and Integrating Knowledge; Learners must construct meaning about both conceptual (declarative) knowledge, such as patterns in number relationships, time and space, and they must construct meaning in procedural knowledge, such as setting up an experiment, editing an essay, etc. 3. Thinking involved in Extending and Refining Knowledge; This dimension involves the learner in comparing, classifying, inducing and deducing, analysizing, constructing support; abstracting, looking at a variety of perspectives. 4. Thinking involved in Using Knowledge Meaningfully; Decision-making, investigation, inquiry, problem-solving and invention are key components of this dimension. 5. Developing and Using Productive Habits of Mind; Habits of mind, such as perseverance in learning, being sensitive to feedback, seeking and checking for accuracy and precision, viewing situations in unconventional ways, and avoiding impulsivity are all habits of mind.

1Marzano, R., McTighe, J., and D. Pickering. (1993) Dimensions of Learning. Alexandria, VA.: ASCD.

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Art Costa's Behaviours of Intelligence2 looks at the following areas of thinking/learning: Level I: The Discrete Skills of Thinking; This involves the input of data, by gathering data through the senses and being alert to issues, problems and being fascinated by the environment or issue, and it also involves the elaborating of data, by comparing/contrasting, analyzing/synthesizing, classifying/categorizing, inducing/deducing, and by perceiving relationships. Discrete skills for the output of data are inferring, hypothesizing and predicting, concluding and generalizing and evaluating. Level II: Strategies for Thinking This involves linking skills to the strategies of problemsolving, critical thinking, decision-making, strategic reasoning, and logic. Level III: Creative Thinking These are the behaviours of novelty, imagination and insight. We use them to create new thought patterns, unique products, and innovative solutions to problems. They include creativity, fluency, metaphorical thinking, intuition, model making, and imagery. Level IV: The Cognitive Spirit The thinking person must have willingness, disposition, inclination and commitment to learn. This is demonstrated by being open-minded, withholding judgment, being honest, seeking to become more informed, dealing with ambiguity, striving for precision and clarity, being willing to change, taking a stand and being sensitive to feelings of others, etc.

2Costa, A. (1985) "The Behaviors of Intelligence", in Developing Minds: A Resource Book for Teaching Thinking, edited by Art Costa, Alexandria, VA: ASCD

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Robin Fogarty and Jim Bellanca's Blueprints for Thinking3 advocates the 'cluster curriculum" approach to thinking skills, which involves both critical and creative thinking.

3Bellanca, J. and R. Fogarty. . Blueprints for Thinking in the Cooperative Classroom. Skylight Publishing

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Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats4 program involves:

White Hat:

objective facts and figures; discussion, argument, consensus

Red Hat:

emotional viewpoint; feelings, values, choices

Black Hat:

negative aspects of the question; past and future substance, risks

Yellow Hat:

positive thinking, optimistic view and hopes; reasons and logical support

Green Hat:

creativity and new ideas; alternatives; lateral thinking, movement instead of judgment

Blue Hat:

organization of the thinking process, control;focusing, designing, and monitoring.

4de Bono, E. Six Thinking Hats. London, England: Penguin Press.

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When using any of these approaches to thinking/learning, the teacher needs to engage students in meaningful, substantive experiences where the students are regularly using these processes and skills. The educator, then, can label when specific skills are used, or they might help the learner to label the skills by questioning or by displaying a chart with the skills listed and asking students what, when and how they used the skills or processes. Just as social skills need to be taught concurrently as academic skills in cooperative lessons, thinking/learning skills can be taught and processed in rich curriculum lessons. It may be helpful to explicitly teach some thinking/learning processes, such as classifying or predicting, by doing activities specifically for that purpose. However, in order to move to mindful learning, the student will need to regularly use these skills and processes in a meaningful context within the on-going academic curriculum.

Learning is also an amalgam of senses which develop as intelligences, and then manifest themselves as preferred modes and styles of learning. The following page simply provides a taste of how this comes together.

Mindful Learning 2010

INTELLIGENCES Symbolic Abstract Visual Spatial Kinaesthetic Auditory Synergic Personal Imaginative Natural

MODES OF LEARNING Auditory Visual Symbolic Abstract /Cerebral/Mindful Kinaesthetic/ActionTouch/Sense Synergic Imagination SENSES Sight Hearing Touch Taste Smell Balance/Movement Vestibular(repetitious) Temperature

Pain Idetic Imagery Magnetic infra-red Ultraviolet Ionic Pheromonic Proximal

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These intelligences, senses and modes of learning, combined with brain and body maturation will manifest as preferred MODES OF LEARNING Spatial Aural Visual Gestural Which require access to the following in order to develop MULTILITERACIES Print Music Voice and language Photos, Graphics & Images Video & Animation Sound Effects Body language, movement and gestures Constructions and design in space Multimodal communication

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Section 4: Using Cognitive Organisers

Cognitive maps/organisers, are visual tools to help learners organize and process information in meaningful ways. Since thinking is "invisible talk", cognitive organizers make reasoning visible, so one can see what and how students are processing information and formulating ideas. They provide linkages and connections of ideas and pieces of information. They develop student's organisational skills. They help students relate information to previous learning. Because they are both visually appealing and a challenge to thinking, they stimulate student interest.

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Release the naive imagery of your child and use it for working material Sylvia Ashton-Warner

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The chart below illustrates various forms of graphic displays of information5. Students and teachers will find that they will also develop their own forms once they become accustomed to thinking visually.

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Different visual representations model, use and develop different thinking capabilities. They can be used in all curriculum areas and enable learners to construct, consolidate, facilitate, revise and assess their learning. Cognitive visual representation helps the brain to organize and process several pieces of information at once, and it helps the brain to make the pattern links that are so crucial to retained learning.

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Section 5: Telling Story Story is one of the most ancient and most enduring ways to learn. Through the use of story, the brain makes patterned connections. However, story is even more powerful because it also evokes all of the senses and the total physiology of the learner. The brain is a story-seeking, story-creating instrument. Stories are a way of perceiving, conceiving and of creating; they are the way the imagination works. The key elements of story are purpose (the aims and intentions of author and reader, story-meaning and its relationship to self-meaning) and order (interlinked connection). Stories provide a context for recalling the past, contemplating the present and anticipating the future. They engage learner curiosity, stimulate the imagination, introduce new ideas and open up new possibilities. When engaging in a story, students predict, recall, retell, recreate, question, innovate, empathize, and create.

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Our species thinks in metaphors and learns through stories. Mary Catherine Bateson Peripheral Vision

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One way of encouraging mindfulness through story is to use metaphor. Metaphor describes relationships between two unlike objects, ideas or situations. For example, "life is a roller coaster, full of ups and downs" is a metaphor. Similes, also use metaphorical thinking by comparing two ideas, objects or situations. Similes, however, use the words "like or as" as describers making a direct link between the two ideas. "Life is like a roller coaster, full of ups and downs" is a simile. Similes are often more readily grasped and understood by young children than are metaphors. Analogies are comparisons of situations, objects or ideas, where they have one or more aspects, but not all aspects, that are similar. For example, Aussie rules football is like American gridiron in that they both involve kicking for goals. Analogies often relate something that is unfamiliar with something that is more familiar. Metaphors, similes and analogies are all short story forms that can twist the learners thinking to a new revelation or dimension. They can be used to clarify, link ideas and to persuade others. Most often, they paint vivid pictures in the learners mind that involve the learner in the context of the story or illustration. The right metaphor or story is much more powerful than the words and storyline; it develops a relationship of meaning between the learner and the context.

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Metaphors are what thought is all about. We use metaphor, consciously or unconsciously, all the time, so it is a matter of mental hygiene to take responsibility for these metaphors, to look at them carefully, to see how meanings slide from one to the other. Any metaphor is double-sided... offering both new insight and new confusion. The solution is to take responsibility for the choice of metaphors, to savour them and ponder their suggestions, above all to live with many and take no one metaphor as absolute. A metaphor goes on generating ideas and questions, so that a metaphorical approach to the world is endlessly fertile and involves constant learning. A good metaphor continues to instruct. Peripheral Visions: Learning Along the Way Mary Catherine Bateson

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What is critical to learning is developing appropriate metaphors, because they do colour how the learner sees the situation and then influences his/her corresponding actions. For instance, if a educator sees the classroom as a workplace and the students are seen as workers, the solution for off-task behaviour may be seen as increased rewards for completed work. However, if the classroom is seen as a "learning community" where students play an active role in constructing knowledge, the solution for off-task behaviour may, instead, be increasing student's curiosity about the task or diagnosing points of misconception and guiding students toward greater understanding. Our metaphors create, but also colour our thinking and actions.

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'Remember only this one thing,' said Badger. 'The stories people tell have a way of taking care of them. If stories come to you, care for them. And learn to give them away when they are needed. Sometimes a person needs a story more than food to stay alive. That is why we put these stories in each other's memory. This is how people care for themselves.' Barry Lopez, Crow and Weasel

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Educators can use books, literature, poetry, art, and/or movement, in any subject area, to help students construct meaning, to go deeply into the content area and to apply learning to themselves. Kieran Egan's6 approach to curriculum integration involves all of the students becoming characters in the story/topic one is learning. Classrooms themselves can be redecorated to represent the setting of the story/topic the learners are studying. Students become immersed in the story. Educators can also tell their own stories to illustrate their own deep knowing and application of ideas and to elicit student passion for the concepts taught. Most importantly, in order to have students own ideas and understandings themselves, educators must encourage students to tell their own stories and to develop their own metaphors. Students need to use their own stories to gain lasting connections. This is mindful learning.

6Egan, K. (1988). Teaching as Story-Telling: An Alternative Approach to Teaching and Curriculum. New York: Routledge.

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Effective Story-telling 1. Plan your content concepts first, without regard to stories. In this way, the content and learning objectives are clear. 2. Ask yourself "What stories in your life, others, books support these learning outcomes? What metaphors could paint a picture? How could students develop or use their own metaphors or stories to illustrate the points?" 3. Use personal anecdotes, not private ones; private and off-colour stories create distance and discomfort. 4. Research books, movies, literature, poems, artwork that relate to your topic; start a filing system of material. 5. Plan lead-ins and closings to your story, so that it connects the content and the students to the learning outcomes. 6. Involve the audience in a participative way in the story. 7. Use stories, illustrations that have a mix of cultures, application situations, that use strong, intelligent role models. 8. Credit the source of your story. ÂŠ Julie Boyd

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Stories are how all indigenous and folk cultures taught the young about their culture, their values and key beliefs. Story-telling, itself, is indigenous, native to us as learners and multiculturally appropriate throughout the world. Story-telling is a powerful way to engage all learners to think through and apply ideas to their own lives. Stories personalize ideas for the learner. They open windows to intuitive understanding of the learner. They tap resources of the unconscious mind by shifting thinking and by activating emotions and feelings. Story helps the learner shift from a state of confusion or distress to one of positive problemsolving or understanding. In short, the best teachers are great story-tellers.

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Millions saw the apple fall but Newton was the one who asked why Bernard M Baruch

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Section 6: Improving Our Questioning Skills To learn best, we need to develop a question-asking attitude to study. We need to learn to ask challenging questions of ourselves and others. This approach to learning, as opposed to soaking everything up like a sponge, requires active participation. The student and teacher needs to be an active seeker of ideas. We acquire and refine this ability by asking questions and reflecting on findings. We inquire and look at things from various points of view and in various contexts. We use all types of reasoning--metacognition (being mindful about one's own thinking), critical, creative, and reflective thinking and processing---through inquiry and learning to ask good questions. Questioning skills and strategies will be considered from the following perspectives: (a) teaching students to ask and research good questions, to develop their question-asking attitudes, and (b) improving our own questioning skills that involve learners in quality mindful learning, thus, to develop our own question-asking attitude and approach. Teachers and students need to develop skills and use effective, mindful practices for both asking questions and for responding to questions.

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Some see things as they are and asked why. I dream of things that never were and ask why not. George Bernard Shaw

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Asking Questions: When asking questions, the first criteria is asking them. It is still the case that most teachers do not ask many quality questions of students. It is strongly suggested that you invite a colleague into your classroom for15 minutes per day so the colleague can record all of the questions you ask in that time frame. First to simply determine, if you are asking questions. How many questions are you asking? What proportion of your comments are questions as opposed to statements? Who is doing most of the talking during that time period of recording data? Who are you asking questions of...same people, same part of room, boys and girls? What is the timing of your questions? It is also generally the case that students do not ask many questions. Student questions are usually about procedural questions or are seeking clarity on an assignment. Ask that same colleague to record student questions to see if they are asking them and what type of questions they are. Are the students' questions demonstrating quality mindful involvement and depth of understanding?

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Secondly, determine if the questions one asks are open questions. Open questions encourage many different and deeper responses than closed questions. Students will often give more personal, reasoned responses to open questions. Closed questions, on the other hand, encourage short answer or one correct answer responses. Closed questions are used for simple recall of information.

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A closed question example is "What is the population of Australia?", while a more open question is "How has the population of Australia fluctuated over time?" Open questions begin with "where, what, when, why, how" and ask learners to describe and retell or recreate their understanding. When educators put a chart like this on the wall, they can refer to it throughout the day and learn to ask quality questions that encourage mindfulness. In addition, by displaying open questions, students soon learn how to ask open questions of each other and it becomes a growing part of both the teacher's and students' repertoire. Thirdly, review how you direct questions to students. A variety of methods will keep students involved and mindful. A fourth consideration in improving oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s questioning skills is developing the ability to ask higher order thinking questions.

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Directions of Questions Direction

Purpose

Example

Overhead: (to the whole group)

To open discussion To introduce new idea To give everyone a chance to comment.

How shall we begin? What should we do next? What else is important here?

Direct: (to a specific person or group)

To call one person for special information To involve someone who has not been active

Jim, what do you suggest?

Relay: (refer question to another)

To encourage others to participate To call on someone who can give another perspective Encourage other students to call on other students

John, what would you add to Liam's answer? Pete has been working on this, what would you add? Julie, would you please ask someone else to respond?

Boomerang: (back to the question asker)

To enable asker to see that they already know an answer To help the asker further think through or clarify a response

Maria, what are the ideas you already have about this? Joel, what prompted your question? Jim, your question shows you've thought about this, what do you think?

StudentDeveloped Questions

To involve students in their learning To develop inquiry skills To encourage students to go deeper in their understanding

What do you know and want to know about explorers? What are the key questions scientists currently have about this issue? What questions could you make up about this topic that you could give to others to further consider?

Mary, what do you think?

ÂŠ Julie Boyd

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Students, as well as teachers, can learn to be aware of the direction of their questions and can seek out others as resources to their learning. A fourth consideration in improving one's questioning skills is developing the ability to ask higher order thinking questions. The following chart illustrates several researchers approaches to questioning. The "questioning for a range of thinking" is adapted from Benjamin Bloom's taxonomy; generic questioning from Hilda Taba7. The "Cognitive Taxonomy Circle"8 is also helpful to educators in planning curriculum and developing mindful approaches to learning based on Bloom's Taxonomy of Questioning.

8Ziff, B. "Bloom's Taxonomy-the Cognitive Domain", Victoria Ministry of Education

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Do you hear students in your school or classroom using these terms and asking higher order thinking questions of you and each other? Sometimes having key reasoning skills or vocabulary terms posted in the room encourages students to use them. They will also follow your modelling of higher order thinking questions and of your mindful reflection on learning. A fifth consideration in educator's questioning is the clarity of the question and the intention of the educator for the student to formulate their own learning. Although many of the questions in the following example are open-ended and even higher order thinking questions, the learning facilitator did not encourage students' deep thinking or students' drawing their own conclusions. Educators often ask questions that are: Common Questioning Errors

"Dead end": it goes nowhere; eg. "Does anyone remember Mendel's Law? Does everyone understand how to do this? Rephrase: What does Mendal's law tell us?

"Run-on": too many questions at once; eg. What about Thomas Keneally?..Where is he writing this?.. What motivated him?...What else has he written? Rephrase: Ask one question at a time, or summarize. Back up your points with evidence.

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"Programmed Answer": looking for a set answer or leading the student on to come up with the right answer in the teacher's head; eg. Look at this shrub and tell me, what observations can you make? Do you see that dead stem? Are they damaged from insect feeding? Rephrase: List all your observations of this shrub and write some inferences about causes of what you see.

"Put-down Question": putting down the students or not allowing for questions from students; eg., That was one explanation, what's a more obvious one? OK, we have discussed this yesterday and again today. Any more questions. Rephrase: We have examined this concept and it is a difficult one; some of you may be a little shaky and may have further questions about it. What questions do you have?

"Fuzzy Question": not being clear or explicit; eg., do you understand the idea behind this? Anybody care to explain about it in different words? Rephrase: What is the principle behind ...(specific content)? ÂŠ Julie Boyd

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A sixth consideration for improving educator's question is providing time for mindful reflection. One of the key issues here is allowing wait time for students to formulate their responses to questions that are asked. Research by Rowe9, and others over the years, has shown that by providing 5 seconds wait time after asking a question there is increased: 

length of student responses,

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number of unsolicited responses,

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student confidence,

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student to student interaction,

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contribution of the "slower" students,

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speculative thinking and also more reasoned responses that provide evidence of students' reasons, and



number of student questions.

Besides incorporating wait time into your practice, also allow time at the end and during lessons that are specifically devoted to student question time. Use small groups and cooperative learning so students talk, question, and think together.

9Rowe, NM. "Wait-time and Reward as Instructional Variables: Their Influence on Language, Logic, and Fate Control: Part One--Wait Time", Journal of Research on Science Teaching 11

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Periodically, pause during lessons to let students reflect and ask questions or to reflect on questions you ask them. Make sure, however, that each question you ask has a purpose and is not fill in or busywork for the learner. Encourage questions from students that are not clarification or procedural questions, but are a result of their inquiry, pondering ideas, and reflecting on their learning. Another consideration for improving one's asking of questions is to probe student reasoning. Ask followup questions of the speaker. Ask students to defend their positions against other points of view. Ask students to "unpack their thinking" by describing how they arrived at their ideas. Ask them to "think aloud" and to generate their own "self-talk" about their reasoning and processes of learning. Self-talk is useful in having learners talk themselves through a task and in self-questioning their plans, processes and conclusions.

Self-Talk 1. Model self-talk as you work with students. 2. Challenge students to analyze, compare, solve problems and defend their thinking. 3. Ask unconventional questions to jolt their thinking. 4. Provide students with question starters, such as "What about? I wonder...? What did I do next and Why? Could...? 5. Ask students to analyze why the teacher did what they did. 6. Use cooperative strategies and constructive controversy so the students have to explain their thinking to others. 7. Provide opportunities for written and oral practice.

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You are asking me questions and I hear you. I answer that I cannot answer, you must find out for yourself. Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

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Strategies For Questioning In Aboriginal Pedagogy 

Avoid personal questions



Be explicit about the purpose of the question

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Direct questions to the entire class or to small group rather than the individual

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Use small group questioning or one-to-one work to reduce ‘shaming’

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Allow students time to respond to questions

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Ask broad, open questions, ‘tell me about...’



Rather than specific, closed questions, ‘In what year...?’

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Use peer questioning and feedback to elicit, monitor and assess student knowledge

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A final word of caution when addressing teacher questioning skills. The educator's approach to questions must be culturally appropriate. Most indigenous cultures throughout the world, including the Aboriginal culture, respect the individual's privacy and have controlled systems for who speaks to whom, when. Therefore, direct questions, especially those beginning with "why" are regarded as rude and an invasion of privacy. Aboriginal students are likely to ignore the question or give a deliberately vague answer. Non-aboriginal teachers may interpret this as defiant and uncooperative or the student's ignorance. That is not the case. In Aboriginal communities, the way to elicit information is to observe and then, indirectly inquire by sharing something about the observation. When asking a question of a student, be explicit about why you are asking the question, explain your thinking and purpose to the student. As an example, a teacher asking a student "Why are you late?", will elicit a vague, "I don't know" response. However, the teacher saying, "We couldn't start without you. Do you need to get your books?" could get a response from an Aboriginal student, such as "Yes, and my other teacher wanted to see me about my work".

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In addition, Aboriginal culture encourages the taking of time and not responding quickly. Therefore, students will not respond readily to questions; give them time; again, they are not "slow" intellectually, only in cultural practice. Also, Aboriginal people think it is crazy to ask a question to which you already know the answer. Elders, the adults, should know, so why would they ask? Therefore, the educator must make sure they are not asking many question that seek recall of information, or at the knowledge and comprehension level of Bloom's Taxonomy. This is generally good educational practice anyway, and quite a challenge. I once had a mentor who gave me some of my best teaching advice, when he said "Never ask a question to which you already know the answer". In this way, one can relate to the student's thinking. The educator indicates his/her sincere interest in knowing from the student and this allows for codiscovery and co-creation of meaning together. In some circumstances, Aboriginal students may simply give the teacher the answer they want to hear, even if they do not agree with it, because it is more important to maintain cooperative social relations. In Aboriginal culture, there is also no use of "either-or" questions. Therefore, it is inappropriate to rely too heavily on questioning as a way of stimulating mindfulness and understanding. Instead, Aboriginal people learn by doing, by observing, by imitating role models, in cooperative groupings, through an oral orientation to teaching and learning, and through respect of their Aboriginality and its culture.

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To summarize the key ideas presented related to asking questions:

1. Ask them; 2. Use open questions; 3. Consider the directions of your questions; 4. Use higher order thinking questions; 5. Avoid common questioning errors by examining your clarity and intention to facilitate mindful learning; 6. Allow time for mindful reflection; 7. Probe students reasoning; 8. Use culturally appropriate questioning practices.

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Responding to Questions: For teachers, responding to questions is a true art which must exhibit finesse. Since your purpose is to facilitate mindful learning in the student, it is important that you do not fall into the trap of responding to all questions you are asked. You may want to use the "relay" approach described in the chart on "Directions of Questions", so rather than you sharing you ideas, you are involving other students and resources in the question. You may also wish to "boomerang or reverse" the question back to the question-asker, because often they have ideas themselves that actually prompted the question in the first place. This encourages the question-asker to think for him/herself, to get at the true intent behind the question, or to reinforce that they already have ideas and answers. Another strategy is to "hear the wishes" behind the question. Often the question-asker has a purpose, idea or wish and the question is a roundabout way to get at the true issue. Hear the wishes behind the question; it will get to the point faster and it encourages the student to take responsibility for their own learning, because a wish is a goal statement in disguise. If the questioner asks a broad, general question, ask them for more specificity and concrete examples.

Mindful Learning 2010

This helps the student clarify their thinking, be precise, and examine the contextual issues related to their question. These are all mindful practices. Paraphrasing a student's question will help the student clarify their thinking about what they were asking and it will often lead them to their own understanding of the issue. They can come up with their own answers to their own question. Turn the student's question into an opportunity for problem-solving and inquiry. Rather than answering their question, encourage the student, group or class to find out the answer themselves. Above all, listen to student's questions. Not only does this encourage them to ask more questions, it also gives you valuable information about their mindfulness in learning. Students also need feedback on the quality of their questions and on their learning. Encouragement, rather than praise, is key. Praise can be insincere and it develops in the learner a propensity to do something for the teacher, rather than for their own learning and growth. Remember your role is to facilitate student's mindful learning, therefore, keep the responsibility for learning with the students. One needs to use a repertoire of facilitating skills, like those encouraged in this section on questioning skills.

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When students are responding to questions, encourage them to search for more than one answer or one perspective or point of view. Encourage depth of inquiry and understanding rather than breadth. Encourage their checking for accuracy, using precision in their work and the doing of their best work. Developing these "habits of mind" are essential life-long skills. Another mentor to me, once said, "It is a poor assignment if the smartest kid finishes first". He said, "That student has the talent and the interest; they should be going deeper and deeper!" It was an eye-opener to me. How many of us reward the first one done? How many students gain status with their peers because they were the first ones finished? Even when students move from individual work to cooperative group work, they often want to be the first to finish. Instead, have them work on the project from another perspective, or make up questions on the topic for another group to tackle. Label and honour persistence, thoroughness, and depth. To summarize, the key points concerning responding to questions: 1. Relay questions to others for their consideration; 2. Reverse the question back to the question-asker; 3. Hear the wishes behind the question; 4. Ask for specificity and concrete examples; 5. Paraphrase the question, so the questioner hears it again; 6. Turn the question into an inquiry or problem 7. Listen carefully and respectfully to the question-asker; 8. Provide feedback and encourage questions and many possible answers; 9. Encourage clarity, precision, persistence, thoroughness and depth of responses.

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As facilitators of learning, we create the culture for student engagement and depth of learning. Are we modelling and encouraging mindful learning, rather than practice of isolated skills or memorization of facts and bits of information? Are we encouraging the seeking of meaning and of the use of quality habits of mind? Moreover, are we furthering deep, mindful learning through our own questioning practices?

As educators, we must understand that the amount and quality of learning that our students achieve is directly proportional to the quality of our asking and responding to questions.

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Section 7: Processing and Reflecting on Experiences Providing supportive, yet challenging learning environments with rich substantive curriculum is not enough! We must help students understand and make sense of their learning through mindful reflection. Students need to take time to process and reflect on their learning both during and at the completion of their experiences. Research has shown that students learn and retain 50-70% more, if they debrief or process the learning in a lesson.10 Metacognition (being mindful of one's own thinking and processes of learning) is evident in the debriefing process as students are asked what they learned, why they learned it, and how they learned it. By reflecting on the academic goals and social goals of the learning experience, the student integrates and synthesizes the learning. Students can usually remember what they did; however, they do not always retain what they learned or why and how they learned it, unless they go back to review and rethink these issues.

10 Yager, S., Johnson, R. and D. Johnson. "Oral Discussion, Group-to-Individual Transfer and Achievement in Cooperative Learning Groups", Journal of Educational Psychology 77: 60-66, 1985; and same authors with B. Snider, "The Impact of Group Processing on Achievement in Cooperative Learning Groups", Journal of Social Psychology,

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You don't learn from your experience. You learn from processing your experience. John Dewey

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Academic and social knowledge, attitudes and skills are demonstrated all of the time in our classrooms. It is helpful to turn these demonstrations into real learning through both covert and overt mindful reflection. Academic learning upon which students could reflect includes:                

conceptual and procedural knowledge of content; understanding of the relationship of ideas within and across the discipline(s) experienced; academic skill development; academic processes of learning used; ability to apply and act on the academic learning; academic attitudes, dispositions to the content or experience; academic growth. social learning upon which students could reflect include: appropriate use of social skills; contribution to the group process; contribution to the group product; understanding of group dynamics; ability to act and apply the social learning; demonstration of habits of mind; social growth.

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The mind once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions. Oliver Wendell Holmes

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One can encourage meta-cognitive reflective practices when working with students one-to-one, with small groups, or with the whole class. If individuals or small groups complete their work before others, the teacher should move to them and ask them questions to facilitate their mindful review. There may also be regular classroom procedures where students write in learning logs or journals, or make charts, concept maps or graphic organizers to process their learning. When processing with the whole class, the teacher still needs to maintain his/her facilitator role. Therefore, the educator needs to continue to ask questions and keep the responsibility for determining the "what, why and how they did what they did and what is the resultant learning" with the students. Often, teachers will use whole class processing time to give feedback to groups and individuals. This is not recommended; it takes the responsibility for learning away from the students. The whole processing time needs to extend the use of the students' thinking/learning strategies and extend their actual learning through mindful questioning and thoughtful reflection. It is most beneficial when an individual or group has the opportunity to use this time to learn from other groups. This means the teacher needs to be an "orchestra conductor" bridging the experiences of one group to another. This is accomplished through skillful questioning and using a variety of processing methods.

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Reflecting and Processing Possibilities 1."Think-write-pair-share", where student pair up and share their learnings and then the partner shares in a group of four what their partner learned. 2. Students make riddles, poems, stories, bumper stickers, T-shirts, collages, songs, skits about what they learned. 3. Students illustrate using no words their learning. 4. Students summarize their learning in five key words. 5. "Jigsaw" to form new groups with members teaching each other 6. Groups present their products to another group. 7. Students write a summary of learning-social and academic-and make a newsletter of groups or individuals comments. 8. Students write in journals, learning logs, diaries about one's learning and growth. 9. Students fill out feedback sheets, rating scales, checklists, surveys, questionnaires about their learning. 10. Students use hand gestures (eg. thumbs up and down), coloured paper codes, or movement to indicate responses to learning. 11. Students use graphic organizers, charts, graphs, concept maps to visually represent their learning. 12. Make thought/feeling cards (thought on one side/feelings on the other), now and future wheels (learnings now and what that means for future), PMIs (plus, minus, interesting) or other devices to summarize learning. 13. Students answer unfinished sentences ("I discovered...I found out...) or open questions in writing or orally. 14. "Four Corners": Students move to a corner of the room that best represents their learning. 15. "Line Ups": Students make a physical continuum to represent their learning and to dialogue with others about their learning. 16. "Numbered Heads Together": Each person has a number. When that number is called they stand and answer questions, representing their group. 17. "Round Robin": Each person in turn answers questions from teacher or class 18. Students use puppets, roleplay or dramatize problems and learnings. 19. Students make self-contracts to move to next step with their learning. 20. Students write a "ticket-out-the-door" or "news headline" to summarize learning. 21. Video or audio tape and replay to discuss learning. 22, Students write a story about themselves as though they were someone else or write a letter to someone other than the teacher to tell about their learning. 23. Students develop a performance of most worth that exhibits their learning. 24. Students perform a community service for another class, the school, the community that demonstrates their learning. 25. Students make an invention or replica of something that represents their learning and they label how the learning concepts, skills and attitudes are applied in the product. ÂŠ Julie Boyd

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Reflection on learning gives students the opportunity to make their learning coherent. It also provides the opportunity to put learning into the student's own language, which gives them control and ownership of the learning. Engaging in regular reflective practice, the learner both reaffirms and reshapes his/her knowledge. It is only in retrospect--stopping action and reflecting--that one can comprehend the unique patterns of our own thoughts, attitudes and actions. Mindful learning is dependent upon learner reflection and mindful reflection requires mindful learners.

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We need to assess reasoning, not recall..Assessments should include challenging tasks without obvious answers. They should be embedded in a real-life context, unlike tests of isolated skills. Of prime importance is the need to collect information on how students approach a problem. Jay McTighe

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Section 8: Using Mindful Assessments There is a revolution happening in the field of educational assessment. There are three forces driving the change: 1. the need to assess a broad range of academic, social and other non-academic competencies, such as those listed in Section 7: Reflection and Processing; 2. the need for assessment practices themselves to further enhance effective teaching and learning; and 3. the need for record-keeping and reporting systems to provide accurate and useful information concerning students' understanding, mastery and use of their knowledge, skills and attitudes. When students are given the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding and to mindfully apply knowledge, skills and attitudes in a variety of contexts, these assessments are referred to as performance assessments. Assessments of student performance occur over time and they result in a tangible product or observable performance.

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It has long been demonstrated that teachers can predict with greater accuracy and in a fraction of the time, the future achievements of their pupils. The Making of Intelligence : Ken Richardson

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The mindful components of curriculum listed in Section Two: Constructivist Curriculum (inquiry, issues, problems, products, community service, performances of most worth) are examples of performance assessments. These assessment formats encourage self-evaluation and revision, require judgment and reveal degrees of proficiency based on pre-determined criteria and standards. Data on student performance and learning can be gathered and analysed through any combination of the following methods: It is not the purpose of this book to thoroughly discuss the critical elements and techniques associated with performance assessment. Instead, it is our purpose to encourage the reader to develop and use a variety of performance assessments because these assessments can measure student thinking and reasoning, and because the assessments, themselves, further development of student mindfulness. Students who are continually reflecting in their journals and then going back to look at patterns, connections and growth in their thinking and understanding are being mindful. When students develop a product or performance that integrates all of the major concepts of their unit of study, they are being mindful.

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Methods of Assessment 1. Observation Narrative scripting Checklists Rating Scales Critical Incident Recording Ancedotal Records 2. Interviewing and Conferencing Pre, During, and Post Interviews Structured or Informal Students and Others (parents, peers, etc.) 3. Portfolios or Archives, with analysis Best Work, Collections, or In-Process Drafts, edits and final versions 4. Writing and Work Samples Journals Learning Logs Case Studies Periodic Reports Specific Types of Writing and Examples of Work 5. Audio or Video Tapes, with analysis 6. Performances/Demonstrations/Exhibitions Projects and Investigations Products and Models Replicas and Inventions Lab Activity Simulations and Role Play Audio and VideoTapes-student produced Panels and Structured Discussions 7. Written Tests Essay Selected Response Surveys and Questionnaires ÂŠ Julie Boyd

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Consider the difference generated in student thinking and learning between taking a true-false, multiple choice test on the solar system or making a model replica of the solar system that uses scientific notation, shows appropriate scale and relationship of planets, and includes oral and written presentation formats. Performance assessments are more rigorous. Performance assessments are embedded in the curriculum. One does not stop learning and studying to take a test, with questions not related to a meaningful context. Instead, the assessment, itself, provides moments of mindful learning. When using any of the methods of assessment, teachers and students must set clear criteria and standards for the demonstration and application of knowledge, attitude and skills. Many educators have students use journals or develop portfolios; however, there is no reflection or evaluation of the work. There are no standards set for how to evaluate one's portfolio or growth over time. In the past, this has also been true of thinking, reasoning and social competencies. There was no set criteria to assess development and use; therefore, they have not been assessed. Most countries and states have developed clear performance standards in the academic content areas; however, they have been lax in assisting with attitudinal and life-long learning standards. The Dimensions of Learning program mentioned in Section Three: Explict Thinking/Learning Skills, provides suggestions for these standards. They are outlined in their publication, Assessing Student Outcomes: Performance Assessment Using the Dimensions of Learning Model,

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Lifelong Learning Standards 1. Complex Thinking Standards: -effectively uses a variety of complex reasoning strategies; -effectively translates issues and situations into manageable tasks that have a clear purpose; -rubrics are suggested for a variety of thinking skills and processes. 2. Information Processing Standards: -effectively uses a variety of information gathering techniques and information resources; -effectively interprets and synthesizes information; -accurately assesses the value of information; -recognizes where and how projects would benefit from additional information. 3. Effective Communication Standards: -expresses ideas clearly; -effectively communicates with diverse audiences; -effectively communicates for a variety of purposes; -creates quality products. -rubrics are suggested for a variety of products and modes of communication. 4. Collaboration/Cooperation Standards: -works toward the achievement of group goals; -effectively uses interpersonal skills; -contributes to group maintenance; -effectively performs a variety of roles. 5. Habits of Mind Standards: -is aware of own thinking; -makes effective plans; -is aware of and uses necessary resources; -is sensitive to feedback; -evaluates the effectiveness of own actions; -is accurate and seeks accuracy; -is clear and seeks clarity; -is open-minded; -restrains impulsivity; -takes a position when the situation warrants it; -is sensitive to the feeling and knowledge of others; -engages intensely in tasks even when answers or solutions are not immediately apparent; -pushes the limits of own knowledge and ability; -generates, trusts, and maintains own standards of evaluation; -generates new ways of viewing a situation outside the boundaries of standard conventions.

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Performance assessment is not just about using a variety of assessments; it is being clear about what students should know and be able to do. It is also critical that students are clear about these standards and criteria before they engage in their work. With performance-based learning and assessment, there are no secrets from the students; they are involved in every step of the process. When students understand the expected criteria, they work toward those standards. Students also need to be involved in setting criteria for their performances and products. They can determine what makes an effective oral presentation or illustrated computer program or portfolio entry. The primary goal of assessment needs to be selfassessment. Opportunities for self-review and reflection are no longer an extra or an enrichment activity for the more able students, it is a necessary component of constructing meaning and mindfulness of all learners. Students need to be effectively involved in reviewing their work, in identifying their strengths and in determining areas that need support and attention. Students can be involved in assessment by:

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Student Involvement in Assessment -Students brainstorm and assist in determining assessment goals and criteria; -Students choose assessment methods to use that demonstrate and apply their learning; -Students process and reflect on their learning from lessons; -Student observers document other's performance; -Students use criteria and rubrics to assess their own or other's performances or products; -Students choose work to go into their portfolios and assess that work and their growth over time; -Others (teacher, other students, parents) interview and conference with students about their work and learning; -Students keep records and charts of their learning achievements; -Students write self assessments through feedback sheets, checklists and rating scales, graphic representation, reflecting on journals or learning logs, listing all they know about subject; written reports; -Students write sample test items and develop their own performance assessment tasks; -Students write their own report cards; -Students conduct student-parent-teacher conferences. (c)Julie Boyd

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In order for these assessment processes to be most productive and to move beyond the superficial, it is important to keep the following guidelines in mind:

Until we realize that the student is the best evaluator of his or her own learning, we will never know what our students really know or are able to do. Linda Rief, Self-Evaluation; Making It Matter

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Guidelines for Self-Evaluation Success 1. Help Students See the Value: Students need to experience and discover the positive impact of self-assessment on their learning and sense of self. 2. Start small and simply: Self-review is a learning process; first, evaluate materials and activities; peer edit; determine together learning criteria for specific tasks; develop a vocabulary about mindful learning; set learning goals; use learning logs and journals; share and discuss ideas and answers with others; process and reflect learning experiences. Expose them to a variety of techniques and opportunities to practice and refine their self-assessment. 3. Make it On-going and Embedded: Self-evaluation needs to be a natural and habitual component of day-to-day practice. 4. Do it and make it Doable and Useful: Help students link their review to personal goal-setting; help the self-reflective process go somewhere, make it necessary and make it matter. 5. Clarify Criteria: Help students articulate and clarify the criteria they apply when assessing. Assist them to enlarge their ways of judging their learning and the vocabulary they use to discuss it. 6. Focus on Strengths: Make it constructive, affirming and confidence-building. Students get better and better and learn more each year, they do not get dumber, so focus on strengths. 7. Integrate Self-Assessment with Teacher and Peer Assessments: Use a variety of assessors to determine a more complete and accurate picture. Keep the process lively, not tedious. 8. Give Self-Assessment Status: It should be a major factor that guides future instruction and it should be valued not only by the student, but also by the system and by the parents. Student-parent-teacher conferences assist with this, so does taking time to routinely share and celebrate learning. ÂŠ Julie Boyd

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The capacity for informed, constructive, and accurate self-review is fundamental to learning. Although teachers will always be responsible for evaluation in classrooms, a key part of that responsibility involves teaching students how to assess themselves. The goal is to develop students who are confident they can rely on their own judgments, rather than be dependent on others and to develop students who can take responsibility for their own learning and know how to learn---mindfully. Assessment is an on-going process of collecting and analyzing information about learning and performance. When students perform their learning, they are using mindful practices and demonstrating a variety of thinking and learning processes and skills. When students are the analysers of information, they become lifelong, committed, mindful learners.

It is assessment that distinguishes between teaching and learning.

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Closing Mindful learning is a combination of humility and risk. One must approach the learning process with humility, openness, curiosity, and interest. Zen practice calls this "with beginner's eyes". Looking for what one can discover and determining new ways of perceiving, conceiving and analyzing information is mindful practice. Mindful learning also means risking. It involves dealing with illdefined problems and real-life issues through engaging in dialogue, inquiry, debate, solutionfinding, product development, performing and using one's understanding. It involves constant feedback, review, rehearsal, revision, vulnerability to critique, and the setting of goals and moving forward. It involves using and developing all of one's senses; it means learning with the head, heart/soul, hands, and body. One who is engaged in mindful learning sustains their work and study over time and across many obstacles. It involves developing habits of mind, such as persistence and perseverance. Mindful learning requires creativity, new approaches and conceptualization of ideas, as well as new uses of ideas for the solving of real issues that benefits self and others. Mindful learning requires respect for oneself as a credible interpreter of valuable information and as a credible assessor of what they are learning and able to do as a result of their learning.

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We encourage mindful practice and learning through expanding our own abilities to: 1. Create a Supportive, Challenging Learning Environment; 2. Use a Constructivist Curriculum that Encourages Mindfulness; 3. Make Explicit the Thinking/Learning Processes and Skills Used; 4. Use Cognitive Organizers; 5. Tell Story; 6. Improve our Questioning Skills; 7. Process and Reflect on Learning Experiences; and 8. Use Mindful Assessments. The thinking and learning power of children is enormous. We have in our classrooms the individuals and the creative capacities to change the world. Our best hope is to provide the environments and the opportunities---the supportive challenges--where everyone can mindfully learn. Mindful learning can best be summarized in this statement from two seven-year-old girls. Wouldn't you like one of your students to define learning in this way?

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Learning If you want to learn, you have to use your hands and your brain and you need to concentrate. You need other people to help you---to tell you things that they know and to listen to things that you know. The way you know that you know something is to go someplace deep inside your body to find that feeling---the one that tells you that you know. That's what learning is.

From a conversation with two seven-year-old students

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Tell a child WHAT to think, and you make him a slave to your knowledge, Teach a child HOW to think, and make all knowledge his slave. Henry A. Taitt

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