Ron Ritchhart

¿Cómo pueden las aulas convertirse en lugares de estímulo intelectual, donde se evidencie el aprendizaje pero no a través de los resultados de pruebas escritas sino en el desarrollo de estudiantes que puedan pensar, planear, crear, cuestionarse y comprometerse de manera autónoma? Hacer visible el pensamiento ofrece a los educadores propuestas basadas en la investigación con la intención de crear este tipo de culturas de pensamiento. Un libro innovador que aclara los misterios del pensamiento y su conexión con la comprensión y el compromiso de los estudiantes. Invita al lector a involucrarse en diversos ambientes de aprendizaje y ver cómo el pensamiento se puede hacer visible en todos los niveles y en todas las disciplinas escolares. Para ello, desarrolla lo que los investigadores del Proyecto Cero de la Universidad de Harvard han llamado "rutinas de pensamiento"; procesos que al ponerse en práctica permiten que el pensamiento de los estudiantes se haga visible a medida que expresan sus ideas, debaten y reflexionan en torno a ellas. "Las ideas de Hacer visible el pensamiento son de gran importancia para la educación –afirma David Perkins en el prólogo de este libro–. Son ideas que proponen que se externalicen los procesos de pensamiento para que los estudiantes puedan tener un mayor dominio sobre ellos. Para este fin, los autores ponen en primer plano una variedad de ideas, incluyendo muchas estrategias específicas y un enfoque general para fomentar una cultura de aprendizaje en el aula que sea positiva, atrayente y pensante. […] Aquí nos muestran la sabiduría de su experiencia.… (altro)

If you haven’t read this, are you even teaching?

Among the many, many books I’ve read on teaching and pedagogy (it’s kind of my job), rarely have I encountered a “must read” text like this one. While I’m fairly certain that no book ever published qualifies as THE quintessential how-to-teach manual that every educator at every grade level in every discipline absolutely positively has to read, this one comes pretty darn close.

First, the authors of this book understand that there is no such thing as “good teaching” without “true learning.” To understand what constitutes effective teaching, they argue, it’s necessary to focus on learners. In one typically succinct and insightful statement, they argue, “coverage is the ultimate delusion of those who place the act of teaching (or presenting) above the act of learning” (p. 242). The authors also advocate supporting students through metacognition and reflection. Only by helping students understand and proactively practice specific thinking “routines” can teachers ensure that students are learning how to learn. Although the word “heuristic” never appears within these pages, that’s precisely what these thinking routines are—a variety of habits of mind and transferrable techniques that will assist students in the study of, well, just about anything. Each of the twenty-one thinking routines the authors discussed is essentially a variation of—as they readily admit—the essential question “What makes you say that?”

Most importantly, the authors explain—in clear, accessible language—the theory that informs their routines and describe practical ways for promoting the various routines. They also devote the final two chapters explaining the forces that affect a teacher’s ability to create the culture of thinking that characterizes successful constructivist classrooms: expectations, opportunities, time, modeling, language, environment, interactions, and routines. Bear in mind, the routines are not simply one-shot strategies to experiment with. They are templates that can help teachers create a metacognitive classroom culture that values the thinking and reasoning process.

This book makes me want to be a better teacher—and for that reason alone, I strongly urge every educator, trainer, manager, coach (and anyone else who helps others learn) to read this book. It will transform your teaching.… (altro)

Schools aren't always exactly centers of intellectualism. My own high school was pretty anti-intellectual, truth be told. Ron Ritcheart's "Intellectual Character" is an attempt to foster a true love of learning. The whole concept of "intellectual character" is an interesting one and he defines it more as a set of practiced dispositions and habits of mind in tune with the life of the mind. As such, it is not a mere list of skills or "core knowledge". Intellectual character becomes a way of approaching knowledge. This stands in direct contradistinction to the way many schools currently educate the young.

The book is largely a series of six interconnected case studies that examines ways to engage student's intellectual character. The text ranges from the very theoretical to some very practical advice such as tips on setting the stage for inquiry on the very first day of class. There are suggestions for curriculum development to decorating your classroom and so on. All of this sounds fairly pedestrian, but in fact there are some great suggestions here.

I cannot say that "Intellectual Character" is a great read but it is an important read for educators who worry that we're underselling our kids with a mediocre pedagogy that fills them with facts and sterile "skills". All of this is a tough road and there will be skeptics. None of this is really contained within a measurable series of metrics, but giving students intellectual purpose and direction seems more important to me.… (altro)

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.… (altro)