Thank you. this is amazing. I have been really trying to build thinking skills and communication skills by creating daily activities for small groupthink roles. The idea that the individual student must understand their own ways of thinking and others' is how I've been trying to build thinkers, readers and writers. (Grade 2 this year). I am finding that the skill to question and consider is increasingly important to hold on to. I will casually be mentioning causality and metacognition from now, and definitely be throwing more of my research time towards these terms.
Jodie - thanks for sharing. I would love to know how you see this applyiing at grade 2. I think so much in the secondary world that I don't the perspective from elementary teachers.
I’m approaching this through my planning and weekly NCBR rotations (Notice, Connect, Build, Reply) in my Grade 2 classroom. We currently write shared stories in groups of three, using a beginning, middle and end structure and WWWWWH questions (who, what, where, when, why and how). Each student takes on the role of questioner, writer or thinker, depending on the activity, and we rotate roles after each sentence or paragraph.
The aim is to make the thinking visible. Students need to articulate their ideas, ask questions, listen to different perspectives and explain their reasoning. I want them to become comfortable with the processes of planning, considering their own and others’ perspectives, and using these to notice, connect, build and reply. Then the cycle begins again.
Ultimately, I want them to internalise these processes. The group thinking is scaffolding, not the end goal. As students become more confident, I want them to be able to plan, create, present or publish independently because they know which questions to ask themselves to stay on track, develop their ideas and take responsibility for their own learning and finished work.
I see this as something we build through repeated practice across reading, writing and discussion, rather than a skill we simply tell students to use. I’d love to see how this develops as they move through the primary years.
What I can now connect to metacognitive causation is dimension of this process. The group roles and NCBR rotations give students repeated opportunities to practise planning, monitoring and evaluating their thinking with the support of others. Over time, I want them to internalise the questions they are asking one another and begin asking those questions of themselves. The groupthink is scaffolding, not the destination. Ultimately, I want students to be able to plan, create, review and publish independently, with the metacognitive tools to recognise what they are doing, why they are doing it and what they might need to do next. There are so many ways to improve on this, and it always depends on the students who are present what is possible.
Thanks for fleshing this out. You have certainly thought deeply about how to contextualize this for your students. I hope you are also sharing this with others. You have much to add to the conversation.
Thank you. this is amazing. I have been really trying to build thinking skills and communication skills by creating daily activities for small groupthink roles. The idea that the individual student must understand their own ways of thinking and others' is how I've been trying to build thinkers, readers and writers. (Grade 2 this year). I am finding that the skill to question and consider is increasingly important to hold on to. I will casually be mentioning causality and metacognition from now, and definitely be throwing more of my research time towards these terms.
Jodie - thanks for sharing. I would love to know how you see this applyiing at grade 2. I think so much in the secondary world that I don't the perspective from elementary teachers.
I’m approaching this through my planning and weekly NCBR rotations (Notice, Connect, Build, Reply) in my Grade 2 classroom. We currently write shared stories in groups of three, using a beginning, middle and end structure and WWWWWH questions (who, what, where, when, why and how). Each student takes on the role of questioner, writer or thinker, depending on the activity, and we rotate roles after each sentence or paragraph.
The aim is to make the thinking visible. Students need to articulate their ideas, ask questions, listen to different perspectives and explain their reasoning. I want them to become comfortable with the processes of planning, considering their own and others’ perspectives, and using these to notice, connect, build and reply. Then the cycle begins again.
Ultimately, I want them to internalise these processes. The group thinking is scaffolding, not the end goal. As students become more confident, I want them to be able to plan, create, present or publish independently because they know which questions to ask themselves to stay on track, develop their ideas and take responsibility for their own learning and finished work.
I see this as something we build through repeated practice across reading, writing and discussion, rather than a skill we simply tell students to use. I’d love to see how this develops as they move through the primary years.
What I can now connect to metacognitive causation is dimension of this process. The group roles and NCBR rotations give students repeated opportunities to practise planning, monitoring and evaluating their thinking with the support of others. Over time, I want them to internalise the questions they are asking one another and begin asking those questions of themselves. The groupthink is scaffolding, not the destination. Ultimately, I want students to be able to plan, create, review and publish independently, with the metacognitive tools to recognise what they are doing, why they are doing it and what they might need to do next. There are so many ways to improve on this, and it always depends on the students who are present what is possible.
Thanks for fleshing this out. You have certainly thought deeply about how to contextualize this for your students. I hope you are also sharing this with others. You have much to add to the conversation.