A proven program for enhancing students' thinking and comprehension abilities Visible Thinking is a research-based approach to teaching thinking, begun at Harvard's Project Zero, that develops students' thinking dispositions, while at the same time deepening their understanding of the topics they study. Rather than a set of fixed lessons, Visible Thinking is a varied collection of practices, including thinking routines?small sets of questions or a short sequence of steps?as well as the documentation of student thinking. Using this process thinking becomes visible as the students' different viewpoints are expressed, documented, discussed and reflected upon. Helps direct student thinking and structure classroom discussion Can be applied with students at all grade levels and in all content areas Includes easy-to-implement classroom strategies The book also comes with a DVD of video clips featuring Visible Thinking in practice in different classrooms.

The long-awaited follow-up to Making Thinking Visible, provides new thinking routines, original research, and unique global case studies Visible Thinking—a research-based approach developed at Harvard’s Project Zero – prompts and promotes students’ thinking. This approach has been shown to positively impact student engagement, learning, and development as thinkers. Visible Thinking involves using thinking routines, documentation, and effective questioning and listening techniques to enhance learning and collaboration in any learning environment. The Power of Making Thinking Visible explains how educators can effectively use thinking routines and other tools to engage and empower students as learners and transform classrooms into places of deep learning. Building on the success of the bestselling Making Thinking Visible, this highly-anticipated new book expands the work of the original by providing 18 new thinking routines based on new research and work with teachers and students around the world. Original content explains how to use thinking routines to maximum effect in the classroom, engage students exploration of big ideas, link thinking routines to formative assessment, and more. Providing new research, new global case studies, and new practices, this book: Focuses on the power that thinking routines can bring to learning Provides practical insights on using thinking routines to facilitate student engagement Highlights the most effective techniques for using thinking routines in the classroom Identifies the skillsets and mindsets needed to truly make thinking visible Features actionable classroom strategies that can be applied across grade levels and content areas Written by researchers from Harvard’s Project Zero, The Power of Making Thinking Visible: Using Routines to Engage and Empower Learners is an indispensable resource for K-12 educators and curriculum designers, higher education instructional designers and educators, and professional learning course developers.

Discover why and how schools must become places where thinking is valued, visible, and actively promoted As educators, parents, and citizens, we must settle for nothing less than environments that bring out the best in people, take learning to the next level, allow for great discoveries, and propel both the individual and the group forward into a lifetime of learning. This is something all teachers want and all students deserve. In Creating Cultures of Thinking: The 8 Forces We Must Master to Truly Transform Our Schools, Ron Ritchhart, author of Making Thinking Visible, explains how creating a culture of thinking is more important to learning than any particular curriculum and he outlines how any school or teacher can accomplish this by leveraging 8 cultural forces: expectations, language, time, modeling, opportunities, routines, interactions, and environment. With the techniques and rich classroom vignettes throughout this book, Ritchhart shows that creating a culture of thinking is not about just adhering to a particular set of practices or a general expectation that people should be involved in thinking. A culture of thinking produces the feelings, energy, and even joy that can propel learning forward and motivate us to do what at times can be hard and challenging mental work.

2014 Outstanding Academic Title, Choice "What’s going on in this picture?" With this one question and a carefully chosen work of art, teachers can start their students down a path toward deeper learning and other skills now encouraged by the Common Core State Standards. The Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) teaching method has been successfully implemented in schools, districts, and cultural institutions nationwide, including bilingual schools in California, West Orange Public Schools in New Jersey, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. It provides for open-ended yet highly structured discussions of visual art, and significantly increases students’ critical thinking, language, and literacy skills along the way. Philip Yenawine, former education director of New York’s Museum of Modern Art and cocreator of the VTS curriculum, writes engagingly about his years of experience with elementary school students in the classroom. He reveals how VTS was developed and demonstrates how teachers are using art—as well as poems, primary documents, and other visual artifacts—to increase a variety of skills, including writing, listening, and speaking, across a range of subjects. The book shows how VTS can be easily and effectively integrated into elementary classroom lessons in just ten hours of a school year to create learner-centered environments where students at all levels are involved in rich, absorbing discussions.

"This book is a crucial tool for meeting NCTM mathematical content and process standards. Through the useful problems and strategies presented within, teachers will definitely know how well their students will comprehend. If comprehension is an issue in your class, this book is a must have!" —Therese Gessler Rodammer, Math Coach Thomas W. Dixon Elementary School, Staunton, VA Seeing is believing with this interactive approach to math instruction Do you ever wish your students could read each other′s thoughts? Now they can—and so can you! Veteran mathematics educators Ted Hull, Don Balka, and Ruth Harbin Miles explain why making students′ thought processes visible is the key to effective mathematics instruction. Their newest book contains numerous grade-specific sample problems and instructional strategies for teaching essential concepts such as number sense, fractions, and estimation. Among the many benefits of visible thinking are: Interactive student-to-student learning Increased class participation Development of metacognitive thinking and problem-solving skills Helpful features include vignettes, relevant word problems, classroom scenarios, sample problems, lesson adaptations, and easy-to-follow examples of each strategy in action. The authors also explain how students can demonstrate their thinking using calculators and online tools. The final chapter outlines steps math leaders can take to implement visible thinking and maximize mathematics comprehension for all students.

What does it really mean to be intelligent? Ron Ritchhart presents a new and powerful view of intelligence that moves beyond ability to focus on cognitive dispositions such as curiosity, skepticism, and open mindedness. Arguing persuasively for this new conception of intelligence, the author uses vivid classroom vignettes to explore the foundations of intellectual character and describe how teachers can enculturate productive patterns of thinking in their students. Intellectual Character presents illustrative, inspiring stories of exemplary teachers to help show how intellectual traits and thinking dispositions can be developed and cultivated in students to promote successful learning. This vital book provides a model of authentic and powerful teaching and offers practical strategies for creating classroom environments that support thinking.

Seeing is believing with this interactive approach to math instruction Do you ever wish your students could read each other’s thoughts? Now they can—and so can you! This newest book by veteran mathematics educators provides instructional strategies for maximizing students’ mathematics comprehension by integrating visual thinking into the classroom. Included are numerous grade-specific sample problems for teaching essential concepts such as number sense, fractions, and estimation. Among the many benefits of visible thinking are: Interactive student-to-student learning Increased class participation Development of metacognitive thinking and problem-solving skills