The Three Types of Thinking

There are essential differences between descriptive, analytical and reflective thinking. As candidates
prepare their written commentary and analyses, they may need help keeping these differences in
mind. Basic definitions and examples of descriptive, analytical and reflective thinking appear below.

Descriptive Thinking
Descriptive thinking involves a retelling of what happened in a classroom situation. This kind of
thinking is meant to set the scene for assessors. Descriptive thinking is called for when the
prompt uses verbs like state, list or describe, or asks what or which as the opening interrogatory
words. You want to be sure that your candidates descriptions are clear and detailed enough to allow
the assessors to visualize and understand what is being described.
Examples of descriptive thinking:

There are 32 students in my class29 students of various Hispanic backgrounds, and

three Vietnamese students. The class is a sheltered science classall of my students
are speakers of English as a New Language. My students range in age from 13 to 17.
Their academic and developmental abilities also vary widely, from Toms, who is barely
literate in his first language, to Juan, who is above grade level. Many of my students
come from single parent homes and/or homes where drugs or alcohol interfere with the
family structure. Five students have children who stay in the schools nursery during the
day; others have responsibility for siblings.

The video recorded lesson was part of a unit that had the overarching goal of examining
major body systems and their functions, e.g., skeletal system and respiratory system. I
approached this goal through teaching basic first aid, combining TV footage of accident
cases with first-aid equipment borrowed from the local health care facility, and a minilesson on each body system as it related to a particular accident case.

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The Three Types of Thinking (contd)

Analytical Thinking
Analytical thinking deals with reasons, motives and interpretation and is grounded in the concrete
evidence provided by the materials your candidate submits. Analysis is called for when a question in
the written commentary asks how, why, or in what way(s). Analytical writing shows assessors the
thought processes that the candidate used to arrive at the conclusions made about a teaching
situation. Analytical thinking involves interpretation and examination of why the elements or events
described are the way they are.
Examples of analytical thinking:

My students present many challenges and many rich opportunities for learning. I
designed this lesson to be interesting because they could see applications to their lives;
because it employed multimedia componentstelevision, overhead transparencies,
handouts and brochures; and because they could actively learn through teamwork and
hands-on assignments. I tried to design out-of-class work, such as teaching a family
member about what was learned in class and reporting back, to be nonessential to the
next days lesson, so that I did not lose those students who, for various reasons, did
not do the homework. Homework provided opportunities for enrichment or application,
but did not hold back students who cared for siblings and had less time for academic
activities in the evenings. These supports did not make the class easier. In fact many
students still did poorly despite my efforts to engage them. However, this approach to
learning seemed to raise class interest in learning, as evidenced through a high level of
participation by a majority of students. I could see in their written work that a large
number of the students were able to learn most of the information presented, and I
experienced fewer classroom management problems than other teachers who have this
group of students.

I believe it is important to expose my students to both classical literature written by

predominantly White, European authors, and also to literature written by people who
share my students racial backgrounds. I seek to make all texts accessible to my students
by having them make connections between the characters in the books and their own
daily life experiences.

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The Three Types of Thinking (contd)

Reflective Thinking
Reflective thinking is a thought process that occurs after a teaching situation. This is the thinking
that allows candidates to make decisions about how they would approach similar situations in the
future. Although reflective thought may occur in many places, the Reflection section of the
written commentary is where candidates must show assessors how and what they learned from their
teaching experiences to inform and improve their practice in the future.
Examples of reflective thinking:

In looking back at this unit on body systems and first aid, I would have liked to build in
more pre-testing, to better assess students prior knowledge. I would also have liked to
bring in a bilingual speaker from the local healthcare facility, who had a positive
relationship with the local Hispanic or Vietnamese community groups. I did not try this
initially, since I was unsure of how well-behaved the students would be. I think I would
need to discuss guidelines with them for having speakers, and we would all need to agree
on a code of behavior, much as we did for the classroom in general (at the beginning of
the year). Overall, the lesson was successful, and I tried to apply a similar approach to all
of my units in this class.

If I were to teach this lesson again, I would do it earlier in the year, as I found it really
helped some of my weaker students to revisit number sense and place value. I also would
include a more formal evaluation to assess all students, rather than just listening to their
answers in class. A couple of the students are quite quiet, and I did not get to hear much
from them. Overall, I feel that I met my goals and that my students mathematical
understanding was strengthened.

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