At times, CPS staffers have crossed the line between business and education, in efforts to reach the roots of business problems that lie in the education system.
Glynis writes the Hillsborough Public Schools’ program on developing higher order thinking skills for students (although this is under-used). She coaches teaching faculties (on a voluntary basis) on how thinking works, and how to develop the skills that their students will need to prosper in the economy they will enter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL9Wu2kWwSY
CPS is willing to share these professional development modules with schools that are interested.
The modules have the following format:
- All can be delivered in an initial one-hour faculty-meeting time slot.
- All have a follow-up competency-based program and workbook, outlining a consolidation process.
- All follow a peer-mentored process that can be done by any two teachers, irrespective of experience.
- All use positive psychology (appreciative inquiry) and encouragement, not criticism, thus building faculty harmony and rapport.
- All have behaviorally-referenced criteria, and three levels of exit standards, for new, moderately experienced or very experienced teachers.
- CPS is more than willing to help mentor schools who wish to use these programs (as schools that have worked with us can testify).
- The programs can be done through Title One funding and for professional development credit.
The modules available include:
1: Building Higher-Order Thinking Skills: Blooms Taxonomy as a key tool for building 21st Century thinking.
Bloom’s Taxonomy is a highly effective and useful tool, by which teachers can structure information and grow student thinking. It is a direct route to better comprehension, retention, higher grades, and better thinkers. In a world where thinking skills are a nation’s primary competitive advantage, too many teachers regard Bloom’s as some theory they learned at college, instead of a simple daily tool that will get them to their goals in a very effective way.
This program shows how teachers can use Bloom’s to plan, deliver and assess successful learning, and specifies exactly what success with this looks like, for teachers who are new to working with the tool, somewhat experienced, or experienced.
The learning phase is followed by a peer-assisted coaching period, that supports teachers as they consolidate the steps to become comfortable with using scaffolded thinking. The guide uses the team-building, and confidence-building technique of appreciative inquiry. It gives clear, concrete descriptions of each level of competency, for use in peer coaching or self-assessment.
2: The Self-Aware Learner: Thinking about learning, and becoming more effective learners.
“It is strange that we expect students to learn, yet seldom teach them anything about learning.” Donald Norman.
This program covers how people learn, and how students learn more effectively when they understand their own learning processes. Analogies, narratives and games are included, that are suitable for students from a young age, up to senior high school.
The specific competencies for teachers are spelled out, together with a post-workshop coaching program. During the coaching period, teachers work with their peers to implement the skills, and to compare their results against the competency examples and exercises.
As with all CPS programs, this includes ways to measure the effectiveness of the techniques, to ensure that student learning results are improved, students understand and take more ownership of their learning, and the school faculty builds a greater sense of teamwork and mutual support during the process.
3: The Thinking-Skills Toolbox 1: Thinking skills for reading comprehension (understanding the structure and meaning of text).
This workshop covers three strategies to create purposeful, active readers, who control their own reading comprehension.
Each strategy uses the power of both individual critical thinking, and group collaborative thinking. As with the Bloom’s module, it has classroom tools, desk tents, etc on cd or in downloadable form.
The competencies for teachers are laid out in measurable detail, along with the coaching plan that is included in all CPS programs. Competencies are differentiated, so that there are goals for those who are new to each strategy, and more challenging objectives for more experienced users of each strategy.
The coaching guides emphasize the use of appreciative inquiry in the peer-coaching process, and show ways of measuring the effectiveness of the strategies.
4: The Thinking-Skills Toolbox 2: Raising grades while building knowledge workers.
The tools of good thinking are both the route to better grades, and the path to a competitive US economy. This program details concrete methods of building these tools into daily classroom activities, through the school years.
“We should be teaching students how to think. Instead, we are teaching them what to think.” Clement and Lochhead.
The activities, aids and criteria for success are detailed by student age and teacher experience, together with a peer-mentored coaching program to consolidate and measure participant progress.
5: Collaborative Thinking: Mobilizing minds to learn and think together.
Active and interactive group learning and thinking processes do two things. They enhance learning and thinking, and also prepare our students to live and work in an ever-more complex and networked world. This module defines key criteria for group thinking processes, and shows how to make sure that these translate into motivated students and higher grades.
This module chooses two collaborative thinking options (with the measurable criteria of competency, by student age and teacher experience) and then suggests other structures and options that will work to the same criteria.
The format is the same as other CPS modules: a learning session, detailed notes, a peer-mentored consolidation period and a competency-based assessment.
6: 21st Century Creative Thinkers: Creativity as a tool of learning.
Thomas Friedman, visionary economist and author of “The World is Flat” and “Hot, Flat and Crowded” looks at the US economy and says “Invent, baby, invent!”
Creativity brings together all the multiple intelligences, learning styles and levels of Blooms. This workshop shows how our teachers, as our most transformational and creative professionals, can use this intentionally to build learning, while also preparing our students for the needs of the new economy.
This program details how to use measurable, criterion-based learning products, with the flexibility of individual interest, level and style, in a context of understanding that all students have the ability to be creative beyond many expectations.
The format is the same as other CPS modules: a learning session, detailed notes, a peer-mentored consolidation period and a competency-based assessment.
