My favorite part of my job as an instructional coach at Stilwell is seeing the innovative instructional practices of my colleagues. One example of this is Thinking Prompts. While at a training with Jim Knight (The University of Kansas and The Kansas Coaching Project), I heard him talk about “Thinking Prompts” as an instructional strategy. Others probably have different names for these activities (Bell Work, Hooks, Anticipatory Sets, etc.), but here, I’ll refer to them by Knight’s label.
Thinking prompts are “any device a teacher puts in front of students to prompt thinking, discussion, and dialogue.” As I listened to Knight describe different types of prompts, my mind connected my colleagues’ work I have observed over the past few weeks:
- Video clips - Walk by Ben Stein’s class during its first five minutes, and you’ll see him teaching current events. His daily video clips engage students in thinking about social studies in their lives. Laws, history, politics, wars, and social issues dominate the beginning of every period. Kids are immediately engaged and primed to study Stein’s curriculum.
- Cases or short stories - Recently, Katie Ernst found a unique way to explicitly teach an implicit skill: inferencing. “Minute Mysteries” interfaced with google forms and clickers give her students a quick opportunity to study and practice one of the most crucial reading strategies. Instead of teaching reading one way, Katie uses multiple methods and devices to engage students.
- Cartoons - Right under my nose, Tammy Zenti showed an engaging thinking prompt through using comics to also demonstrate inference. Through illustration and humor, Tammy showed kids how they inference without even knowing it. Luckily, I share a classroom with her, and I was able to borrow her comics for my same lesson that day!
- Songs - As an instructional coach, I have learned so much just by walking through the halls. One day, I heard music coming from Ruth Henderson’s room. As a colleague of several years, it doesn’t surprise me to see Ruth employing higher order thinking in her students, but I hadn’t yet seen her use songs. The hilarious youtube clip was perfectly suited for her learning target.
- Quotations - Leslie Nedved shows 180 quotations that directly relate to her daily lessons. Students copy the quotes into their planners, and have a reference (sometimes historical; sometimes pop culture) to start the day. This is one of the many reasons students cite Mrs. Nedved as their favorite and most inspirational teachers.
- Poems - Another teacher who uses every school day to expose students to different thinking is Cameron Gale at Valley. Gale gives his students 180 days of culture through his use of daily poetry. In one year, his students have been exposed to more poetry than most people are in a lifetime. The poets, emotions, and beauty his students experience is undoubtedly part of the success his students feel.
When searching for Thinking Prompts, Knight recommends spending no more than 2 minutes searching. Anything longer takes away critical planning time that teachers need. So, type your topic, theme, or idea into google and briefly peruse the videos, images, and links to see if there’s something that catches your eye. Knight provides a checklist for what makes an effective thinking prompt:
☑Provocative: People cannot wait to talk about it.
☑Complex: There are many different ways to interpret it.
☑Personally Relevant: It speaks directly to individuals.
☑Positive: It fosters learner-friendly emotions.
☑Concise: It’s not too long to view or experience.
Knight recommends 30 seconds for viewing time, but I think up to 3 minutes is appropriate if combined with a series of effective questions to foster discussion - more to come on this.
I know so many other teachers at Stilwell and all WDM schools are practicing Thinking Prompts, but maybe under a different title. Use the comments section below to give a “shout out” to others using Thinking Prompts that I’ve missed here. I’ve appreciated seeing the above examples, and I would welcome the opportunity to see others and/or help incorporate them into your class!
