READING RESPONSE: THINKING ROUTINES

Thinking Routines for Digging Deeper

ITE 322

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

Kaluhikāuahemakanamaikalani Kaʻapana
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In Ritchhart’s ​Making Thinking Visible​, he discusses strategies of integrating thinking

routines into the classroom. It was interesting to read about how thinking should be implemented

in the classroom. When we think of routines in the classrooms, morning and recess routines

come to my mind. The students learn to be accustomed to what they need to do when they enter

the class in the morning and after recess. This might consist of entering the class, putting away

lunch bags, grabbing lunch tags, returning homework, etc. Eventually, this becomes automatic

for the students. As there are many different classroom routines that the students are familiar

with, the way students think and try to understand topics should be among these routines.

Thinking about their learning and synthesizing their learning should be an automatic response.

This was interesting because I agree that this is how student thinking should be, but many times

their learning of something stops at an assignment or a test. We should be trying to get the

students to gain a deeper understanding of the topic to make the task worthwhile. To do this, as

teachers, we need to identify the learning goals of our students and give them the right tools to

meet these goals. He describes these routines as follows. First, we must introduce and explore

new ideas in the beginning of the unit. This allows the students to develop an interest in the

content, in order to begin inquiring about the content. Next, we must teach them how to organize

and synthesize the information. These tools should take their thinking beyond exploring the

information, so they begin to make sense of what they are learning. Finally, we must develop

routines that allow the students to think deeper and consider complex ideas.

One of the routines that Ritchhart introduces for “introducing and exploring ideas” is

chalk talk. Chalk talk allows the students to express their ideas, questions, or problems with the

presented topic, through responding by writing their ideas. The topic is presented on a chart
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paper, with different aspects of the topics on different charts.The students walk around and look

at the responses of their classmates. This allows them to make connections and think about ideas

that they may not have considered. When teaching social studies, this allows a safe space for our

students to discuss social issues. They may respond with anonymity and express thoughts and

concerns that they may have on a complex social studies topic, such as the issue of TMT. If I

were to do a chalk talk on TMT, I might give the following prompts: why should TMT be built

on Mauna Kea? Should TMT be built somewhere else and why? Why might people argue

against TMT being built? How do you feel about TMT being built on Mauna kea? This allows a

safe space to discuss their thoughts and concerns, but it also allows students to hear different

perspectives and opinions. When students utilize this, I could gather their background knowledge

on the topic. I could also gather their viewpoints on the topic and concerns that they may have. I

could also analyze their ability to make connections from their ideas to the ideas of others’. This

selection made me wonder if my students may have difficulty writing their thoughts on complex

issues. It made me think that I may have to work on building a safe space to talk about these

issues. It also made me wonder if this would be beneficial for my students in the long run, in

making them open-minded to these complex social issues. I see a value in the direct application

of this routine. I think this routine will allow students to really engage with the content. I think it

will also prepare them to face these issues when they leave my classroom. I hope it would teach

them that they are entitled to their own thoughts and opinions, but never forget to respect the

opinions of others.

One of the routines introduced for “synthesizing and organizing ideas” is CSI (color,

symbol, and image). In this routine, the students think about ideas and concepts that they are
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learning, then they choose a color, symbol, and image that captures the essence of the idea. The

students must have a justification behind their choices, which shows thought and an

understanding of the presented content. This can be integrated into social studies because the

students are able to make connections, which is an inquiry skill. This thinking routine also allows

the students to express their ideas non-verbally in a metaphorical way. From this thinking

routine, I can gather how my students are thinking about the content. It also gives me an idea of

their comprehension. They must first understand what is being taught, in order to be able to

create an artistic piece that captures the idea. One thing that I was wondering about this thinking

routine, is if I should introduce the idea of the meaning of colors to my students. The chapter

mentioned that the students should be able to have an explanation of the color they chose, but I

am not sure if I should introduce some examples of what some colors might mean to me and

why. I think this thinking routine has value because it teaches students how to make connections

to what they are learning. They will also see that there are different ways of expressing your

learning and ideas of the content, rather than writing essays or journal entries.

The final chapter of thinking routines, talks about digging deeper into ideas. One routine

that was mentioned is the “what makes you say that?” routine. This routine forces students to cite

evidence and think about their reasoning behind their ideas and thoughts. When reading about

this thinking routine, it seems like something that the students should already be doing, but I

think this is something that is really difficult for my students to do. I think it is something that I,

as the teacher, need to build with them to get them into the thinking routine of reasoning. This is

integrated into social studies because when you learn about history or civics, you typically have a

thought or feeling towards what you are learning. In life, you should be able to articulate the
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reasoning behind these thoughts. For example, in the face of social injustices, you should be able

to reason and cite evidence, as to what makes that a social injustice. From this thinking routine, I

can gather the depth of understanding that my student has on the content. It shows me that, not

only have they learned the content, but they are able to connect to what they are learning enough

to have an opinion and be able to back that opinion. This selection makes me wonder what I can

do to build up this thinking routine in my classroom. How do I get my students to the point

where they are able to state “what makes them say that?” I see a value in the direct application of

this, beyond the classroom. I think this is an important thinking routine to be able to apply to life.

We are always going to be faced with issues or social injustices, and we need to be able to reason

why it may or may not be a social injustice.

After these readings, I have a deeper understanding of thinking routines. It is not enough

to expect students to be able to think for themselves and show this in an essay. These thinking

routines are something that need to be built up in a classroom over time. As teachers, there are

certain tools that we need to give the students to be able to implement, in order to explore,

synthesize, and dig deeper into the ideas presented to them. I also think that these tools have

value to the students after they leave my classroom. In the world we live in, it is important to be

able to synthesize how a concept or idea affects you. I think it is also important to understand

that not everyone will have the same thoughts on an issue, they may not see it as an issue at all.

This is especially relevant to native Hawaiian students. What we see as an issue, may seem

completely harmless to people of different backgrounds. It is an essential skill to know how to

think about these issues and understand that not everyone will agree, but you should be able to
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explain your reasoning. Overall, I found these readings very valuable and I hope to implement

this into my social studies unit plan when I do more revisions.

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Works Cited

Ritchhart, Ron, Mark Church and Karin Morrison. ​Making Thinking Visible​. Jossey-Bass, 2011