Day Three

Routines of Visible Thinking

Routines for Introducing & Exploring: ( ‫)التقديم و االستكشاف‬

 See -Think- Wonder

This routine shows students the importance of observation as the basis before the
thinking stage. It helps students to explore and interpret. It also paves the way for inquiry
and curiosity and pave the way to explore new areas. In other words:
See: Shows attention to detail/ no interpretation
Think: Responses to details/ tentative interpretation
Wonder: Outcomes must be broad and adventurous

Application:
The See- Thin- Wonder routine helps present new ideas or a new unit. It can also end a
lesson or sum it up by reflecting on new ideas and knowledge they can use. It can be used
in math, topics of human rights, and observing art and objects.

The See- Thin- Routine can be used among small or large groups of students. It can also
be use individually to think about a topic or object before sharing ideas in pairs or
collectively. There are vital questions that encourage students to make observations and
interpretations and create the three stems are:
 What do you see?
 What do you think about what you see?
 What does it make you wonder about?

The teacher can always step in by asking further questions to help students generate new
ideas when they feel they have reached the end of the road.
 Zoom In

The routine asks learners to observe a part of an image closely and develop a position.
When presenting new visual information, the learner is asked to look closely again and
then reassess their first judgment in light of the new information. Because learners must
deal with limited information, they know their interpretations must be tentative at best
and might change as new information is presented. Making such unconfirmed hypotheses
enables learners to see that it is okay to change their minds about something. It is
essential to be flexible and open-minded enough to change your mind when new
information is available.
By revealing only portions of the image simultaneously, the routine fosters engagement
with the source material that sees the whole image at once sometimes does not. Learners
must act as detectives to build up meaning both individually and collectively.

Application:
1. Look closely at the small bit of image that is displayed. Ask the following questions:
 What do you see or notice?
 What is your assumption or explanation of what this might be, based on what you
are doing?
2. Uncover more of the image: Ask the following questions:
 What new things do you see?
 How does this change your interpretation?
 Has the new information answered any of your questions?
 Has the new information changed your previous ideas?

3. Repeat the reveal and questioning process until the whole image is revealed. And invite
learners to state any lingering questions they have. Encourage the learners to discuss their
different interpretations and reflect how their thinking has changed with each piece of
additional information.
4. Share the thinking. Discuss the process with learners. Ask them to reflect on how their
interpretations shifted and changed over time. How did seeing more of the image
influence their thinking? What parts were particularly rich in information and had a
dramatic effect? Which were more ambiguous? What would the effect have been if the
reveals had happened in a different order?”

 Headlines

In this routine students will:

o capture the core of an vent, idea, concept or a topic by writing newspaper type
headlines.
o Sum up and reach a tentative conclusion

Application:
This routines works best at the end of a lesson or a topic presented. It can be applied
individually as well as in small groups. Headlines Routine can be applied by:
 The teacher askes students: What headline would the write for the topic that has
been discussed today?
 Students share their headlines and ideas in pairs or small groups
 Students reflect of the best Headlines after discussion

Responses can be written down or recorded. A change in students’ point of views is

normal as they might appreciate their friends work after discussion.
 Routines for Synthesizing & Organising: ( ‫)التوليف و التنظيم‬

 The 4C’s

This routine requires different thinking skill in each stage. It enables the teacher to
evaluate students’ comprehension. The 4C’s Routine helps students to:
o Make connections, ask questions, identify key ideas, and consider the application
after a text-based discussion
o Dig deeper into text and exceed initial impressions.

Application:
The 4 C’s routine can be applied individually or in small groups, primarily professional
reading groups. It is used after reading a text. Students must record the following:
 Connections: What connections can you draw between the text and your real life?
 Challenge: What ideas, assumptions, and positions did you find in the text that
you would like to argue.
 Concepts: What key concepts or ideas do you find essential and worth believing
in?
 Changes: What changes in attitudes, thinking and actions are suggested by the
text?

Teachers can always choose a part of the text to focus on, like a character or an event.
The final discussion can focus on how the structure helped students to develop deeper
understanding.

 Connect- Extend- Challenge

This routine helps students make connections and become active processors of
information. As students get the pieces of information in isolation, they build a
 relationship between them and connect them. Students here are thinking visibly and
fleshing out thoughts and ideas.

Application:
The Connect- Extend- Challenge routine is used after an informative, rich lesson, a whole
unit, novel, play etc. In this routine, students work individually or in small groups to
answer these three questions:
 How are the ideas and information presented connected to what you know and
have studied?
 What new ideas extended or pushed your thinking in new directions?
 What is still challenging or confusing for you? What questions, wonderings, or
puzzles do you have?”

Teachers can always guide students towards forming meaningful connections, rich
extensions and worthwhile challenges.

 I used to think, now I think

This routine is proper in situations when opinions or beliefs have changed, recognising
the cause and effect of that change. The primary purpose is to get students to:
o reflect on the hows and whys of their thinking process
o identify new understandings, opinions and beliefs
o Reflect on cause and effect relationships which develops their reasoning abilities
o Identify and talk about their thoughts in process which strengthens students
metacognitive skills

Application:
I Used to Think, Now I Think routine is used mainly after new information is presented
by the end of a unit for example, as learners get a chance to share and explain the change
in their beliefs and their way of thinking then reflect on why their opinions changed or
 didn’t change. Students can present their work written on a piece of paper or presented to
the class using these two phrases :
 I used to think…….
 Now I think……….

At the end, the I Used to Think.. Now I Think Routine helps teachers to probe thinking
and puh students to explain and share their reflection.

Routines for Digging Deeper into Ideas: ( ‫)التعمق في االفكار‬

 Peeling the Fruit

This routine is considered as a way of planning over time. It is widely used to help
students understand a complex topic over a long period. Peeling the fruit routine opens
the door for the teacher and students to choose the proper routines to apply.

Application:
Peeling the Fruit routine is used with rich and broad topics when students have enough
time to examine and study from different perspectives. It can be used for one single
complex lesson or a unit. One student or a group of students can apply it to maintain a
bird’s eye view of choices and progress of a topic, which leads us to the fact that the
teacher can use this routine too to track progress throughout the course.

To apply this routine, a map is used to track and guide the exploration of the topic. The
teacher can always use a big wall chart or small charts of each group or student. Within a
group, students can make their maps to add ideas or track their progress. It might help if
students:
  Understand the metaphor of Peeling the Fruit ( being familiar with the surface and
exploring underneath).
 Keep on planning and tracking their progress.
 Use the routine to help them develop other routines to carry on or evaluate a step
or the whole plan.
 Mark insights of any of the map elements.

 What Makes you Say?

This routine helps students to build exploration based on their observations and
interpretation. In other words, they always need to justify their answers. What Makes
You Say routine promotes evidential reasoning and encourages students to understand
alternatives and multiple perspectives.

Application:

This routine is used widely for looking at artwork, historical artefacts, or stories and
poems. It can be applied to a small or a large group of students. Using an image to
explore and inspire students at the beginning of a unit successfully implements this
routine. Students will follow a two-step procedure:
 Describe an object or a topic (interpretations).
 Providing evidence as a response to these questions “What do you see? What’s
going on? and What makes you say that?”

 Step Inside

This routine helps students to:

o Provide a structure for perspective talking
 o Show empathy by understanding others’ point of views
o Think about minor characters in an event or issue
o Understand that ones’ perspective determines how he sees and understands things

Application:
Set Inside Routine will be best applied on events, social issues, story, photograph or a
proposed policy for example. To apply this Routine students will:
 Choose a person or an abject that are part of a situation or an event.
 Place themselves within that situation or event then ask themselves these
questions:
What can this person or thing see, observe?
What might this person or thing know, understand or believe?
What might this person or thing care deeply about?
What might this person or thing wonder or question about?

The teacher must make sure that students are really thinking deep and beginning with the
starting point of the character or thing’s perspective rather than an end point which is
obvious. Encouraging students to unexpected perspective is the role of the teacher too.

Fairness Routines: ( ‫)اإلنصاف‬

 Here Now, There Then

This routine encourages students to past perspectives, point of views, and promote a
better understanding of how thinking changes over time and across cultures. Here Now,
There Then Routine helps students to:
 acknowledge that we have strong stances regarding argumentative issues
 understand that our stances are affected by social and historical context
  reveal stereotypical perceptions , ethnocentric and presentist judgment

Application:
Here Now, There Then Routine is better be applied in large groups. The teacher must
identify the topic which is a controversial issue that has changed significantly over time.
These issues show that people have strong stances that are not shared by people from
other cultures, or people in the past. Students then must:
o List present stances, values and judgments about the issue.
o List past stances, values and judgements about the same topic ( travel back in
time).
o Compare the past and present perspectives and answer these questions:
Whay do you think things have changed?
Why didn’t people in the past think the way we do now?
o Close the discussion by stating how we could find out more about the way people
thought back then.
o Finally think of how to narrow the gap between generations.

 Reporter’s Notebook

This routine helps students to recognise ideas and feelings to determine the fairness of the
situation. Students must start by distinguishing facts from thoughts and feelings to clarify
their position and tentative judgment.

Application:
It can be applied after presenting information about a topic, and the teacher observes that:
o Students need to go deeper into the issue.
o Clarify what the topic is about.
o Things are getting convoluted.
 o Disagreements arise.
o Opinions are taken as facts.
o Things are getting messy.

In the beginning, students must imagine that they are news reporters to differentiate
between facts and feelings. They must build their agreements and disagreement without
personal interference and initial understanding of the situation. Students then draw a 4x4
grid with the following headlines :
 Clear ( facts and events/ thought and feelings)
 Need to check ( facts and events/ thoughts and feelings)
 Facts & Events
 Thoughts & Feelings

After a discussion, students can make their judgements based on the information
provided in the grid.

 Tug of War

Students are familiar with this game so they understand the complex forces that tug at
either sides. This routines helps students to:
o Reason carefully about the various factors that are relevant to a dilemma
o Recognize the deeper complexity of situations that might appear black and white

Application:
In a whole class activity a situation where there are two obvious and contrasting ways can
be chosen. It can be applied on school subjects or everyday life issues.
 The teacher has to draw a line on the board where the two ends representing the
opposite sides of the dilemma.
 Students then must choose their sides and justify their choice.
 Students must write as much reasons or tugs as they can to pull the robe to their
side.
  “ What if?” question must be used to clear any misunderstanding of the issue.
 After discussion students will reflect on their sides by providing the right
justification and proves added.
 At the end the teacher can ask students if they are in the same side after the
discussion held.

The collaborative thinking process of the group as a whole is represented thought the
action of the tug of war. Documenting thinking and making it visible on the board in
class facilitates this interaction in order to make the inquiry richer.

Truth Routines: ( ‫)الحقيقة‬

 Hot Spots

This routine helps students shift their attention to spots of the topic that are considered
worthy and need more attention according to their characteristics. Also, it allows students
to question the certainty and importance of an idea which will help them spot new
appealing truth hotspots of any idea in the future. Hot Spot allows students to think more
deeply about the truth of something by examining opportunities.

Application:
Hot Spot routine can introduce a topic, make stock in the middle of a presented topic, or
revise one. This routine must be applied with topics that are familiar to students to have
some certainty.

To apply this routine, students can work in small, large groups or the whole class. They
should follow these steps:

 Identify a topic or a situation.

  Students list their ideas regarding the topic as clearly accurate, clearly false, and
uncertain, starting from the more important ones.
 Place each idea in its suitable continuum position by asking: What makes this idea
this way? According to its certainty and importance. At this stage, students might
spot some mistakes or misunderstandings in thought they provided before. If
students do not correct them by themselves, the teacher must do. Students also
must be open to disagreements and understand that they cannot be all solved at
once.
 In the end, students will choose the thinking hotspots they like to examine and
investigate right away or maybe later.

 Claim- Support- Question

In this routine, students will learn to identify the proper claims and explore strategies for
revealing the truth. By reasoning with evidence, students will be able to develop a
thoughtful interpretation.

Application:
It is best to use claim-support – Question techniques with topics that provoke exploration
and accept the interpretation. To apply this routine, students can work in small or large
groups. They should follow a three-step procedure:

 Provide interpretation or explanation for some aspects of the topic you want to
examine ( make a claim).
 List the things you see, feel, and know that may support your claim.
 List questions that were not explained or new reasons that you came up with
regarding your claim.
In this stage, students must learn to accept others’ opinions and accept them sometimes if
it appears that it is correct. Claim- Support- Question routine will lead to a deeper
understanding of the reasoning process and open doors for suggestions and new ideas. In
 the end, students should reflect on the activity and study the new thought they came up
with.

 Compass points

This routine helps flesh out an idea or proposition and evaluate it. By applying this
routine, students will explore various sides of the proposition before taking a stand or
expressing their final opinion—the routine works by using the four directional points, as
its name indicates.

Application:
To start with, the teacher should record all responses to the topic under study. By
displaying them on the board, students will build on each other’s ideas following the four
main directions. It is usually easier to start with the (E for East ) as it indicates excitement
and positivity:
 E is used to ask, “What excites you about this idea or what is/is the upside(s)?”.
 W is used to ask, “What do you find worrisome about this idea? Or what is the
downside(s)?”.
 N is used to asking, “What else do you need to know or find out about this idea?”.
 S is used to ask, “What is your current stance or opinion on the idea?”

Creativity Routines: ( ‫)اإلبداع‬

 Does it fit? ( A routine for thinking creatively about options)

To reach the right decision, students must learn how to:

o evaluate options, alternatives and choices
 o choose the most effective ones.

This routine is a part of an overall decision-making process. It is applied after students

generate several options and alternatives that might help to reach the most suitable and
practical decision.

Application:
To apply the Does it Fit routine, the students must go through four main stages:
 Fitting options provided to the ideal solution (How well does each option
fit the ideal solution?)
 Suitable options to the most important criteria or attributes from students’
point of view (How well does each option fit the criteria?)
 Suitable options to the realities and constraints of the situation (How well
do each option fits the reality of the situation?)
 Fitting options to students’ personalities by imagining themselves carrying
out the solution. (Which option feels like the best fit for me.?)

 Creative questions? ( A routine for generating and transforming questions)

Coming up with new questions and exploring them is as important as finding the
solution. This routine helps students to practice forming questions, exploring around, and
imagining their creative possibilities. This routine can be used at the beginning of the
lesson to raise curiosity and increase the motivation to inquire about the topic. It can be
used in the middle of the lesson to provoke, expand and deepen students’ thoughts.
Eventually, it can be used at the end of the lesson to show students that learning about
new topics broaden their minds.

Application:
To apply the Creative Questions routine, the teacher can choose an object or topic and
brainstorm a list of questions. Then the teacher should look over the list and transform
some of the questions into questions that challenge students’ imagination using the
following beginnings:
 What would it be like if……?
 How would it be different if….?
 Suppose that……
 What would change if….?
 How would it look differently if……..?

Students at this stage can choose a question to explore by imagining its possibilities to
help you write a story, draw a picture, create a play or a dialogue and invent a scenario.
In the end, students will reflect on their work, answering the following question: What
new creative ideas did you come up with?