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English Language Teaching Global Blog

Let’s make our thinking visible!

by authors Patrizia Caroti, Sarah Howell and Lisa Kester-Dodgson

While much discourse relating to teaching in the 21st century revolves around content,
programmes, methods and approaches etc. there appears to be a gap in how teachers
can equip students with the skills they need to deepen their understanding of the world
around them as lifelong learners.

Thinking dispositions

Learning is the outcome of thinking, and as such gaining insights into the ways students think is
crucial for teachers, allowing them to alter students’ thinking dispositions. Thinking dispositions
(Ritchhart et al, 2011) are the habits of mind that develop:

1. Observing closely and describing;

2. Building explanations and interpretations;
3. Reasoning with evidence;
4. Making connections;
5. Considering different viewpoints and perspectives;
6. Capturing the heart and forming conclusions;
7. Wondering and asking questions;
8. Uncovering complexity and going below the surface of things.

But how do we know what kind of thinking is taking place and how can we be sure that all our
students are developing these thinking skills? What insights do we have into how our students are
thinking and learning?

These questions stimulated our curiosity to experiment with Visible Thinking Routines (VTRs) in
our EFL classrooms and take up the 21st century challenge: “Build a culture of thinking” in our
learning community.

“Every committed educator wants better learning and more

thoughtful students. Visible Thinking is a way of helping to
achieve that without a separate ‘thinking skills’ course or fixed
lessons.”

Visible Thinking http://www.visiblethinkingpz.org

But what are Visible Thinking Routines (VTRs)?

Visible Thinking Routines were developed by Project Zero, an educational research group at
Harvard Graduate School of Education. The routines consist of a few short steps which scaffold
and guide students’ thinking. They awaken curiosity and encourage students to dig deeper, taking
their thinking to a more sophisticated level (Ritchhart et al, 2011).

We can demonstrate the potential of VTRs by illustrating our mini-research project carried out with
two classes of 13-year-old students, in a state secondary school in Italy. The average English
competency level of the students was A2 (CEFR) with 3 hours a week of EFL instruction using a
mainstream textbook. The routines were chosen according to the thinking dispositions we were
aiming to develop, the content being presented in the textbook, and how suitable we felt the
routines would be in the given teaching context.
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English Language Teaching Global Blog

We focused on three different thinking dispositions linked to three VTRs.

Thinking Dispositions Visible Thinking Routines

Capturing the heart Headlines

Making connections Connect-Extend-Challenge

Wondering and asking questions See-Think-Wonder

Headlines

A routine for capturing essence.

Materials:

An article about fundraising and charity concerts.

Process:

 Topic-specific vocabulary had been pre-

taught. The students had been working on
making deductions, expressing
agreement/disagreement, and probability.

 They worked individually on the texts,

highlighting key phrases to help them create
their headlines, and then shared their ideas
on the poster.

 They shared their thinking in small groups,

read the other headlines, and made
comparisons.

Reflections:

The Headlines routine encouraged students to think more deeply about the content and develop
their ability to synthesise. Through sharing their thoughts they developed meaningful conversations
around the content of the poster.
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English Language Teaching Global Blog

See-Think-Wonder (STW)

A routine for exploring visuals and related texts.

Materials:

A photograph of a polluted river.

Process:

 Topic-specific vocabulary had been pre-taught.

The See-Think-Wonder routine raises students’
curiosity about the topic with visual stimuli.

 First (see) they described what they could see,

then (think) they expressed their thoughts about
the image, and finally (wonder) they were
encouraged to express what else they would like
to know about the topic.

 The students were given question stems to help

them articulate their thoughts. Although they
spoke in a mix of L1 and English, they wrote their
responses in English.

Reflections:

This routine helped the students analyse a visual, and use elements within it to generate their own
ideas related to the topic. We found this routine particularly inclusive, as listening to each other’s
ideas and opinions encouraged all group members to speak up and share.

Connect-Extend-Challenge (CEC)

A routine for connecting new ideas to prior knowledge.

Materials:

A photo, audio, and some text about the environment and

recycling.

Process:

 Topic-specific vocabulary and expressions had

been pre-taught.

 The students made observations about the

photograph and the dialogue by applying the (now
familiar) STW routine before using the new CEC
routine.

 Using the reading text, first they made connections

(connect) to what they already knew about
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English Language Teaching Global Blog

recycling, then they discussed what new information they had gained and how this had
extended their knowledge (extend), and finally (challenge) what still puzzled them. The
students worked in groups and then a plenary session was held to present their thinking
and their “challenges”.

Reflections:

The EFL classroom is often a difficult place for students to express their ideas and their knowledge
about a given topic. The CEC routine helped the students tap into their prior knowledge and relate
it to new content and encouraged them to go beyond the surface level of the topic.

Thoughts…

A significant consideration which arose while

reflecting with students is the importance of
feeling comfortable and confident without the
threat of evaluation; their thinking is not
assessed in this approach! This concept needs
to be highlighted at the outset of any Visual
Thinking Routine and made clear that it is not
just another worksheet to fill in with the right
answer, but rather that it’s their thinking process
that matters.

Visual Thinking Routines need to be used

regularly and systematically across the board so
that students develop good thinking dispositions
and habits which in turn have a positive
interdisciplinary impact over time.

How could VTRs make a difference to your teaching?

Authors:

Patrizia Caroti is a teacher and ELT author with 30 years’ experience of teaching English in Italian
Secondary Schools.

Sarah M Howell is an OUP author and teacher trainer. She has extensive experience of teaching
EFL at both primary and secondary levels.

Lisa Kester-Dodgson is an OUP author with a rich background in primary and secondary
education.
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English Language Teaching Global Blog

References (recommended reading list!)

Majida “Mohammed Yousef” Dajani. (2016). Using Thinking Routines as a Pedagogy for Teaching
English as a Second Language in Palestine. Journal of Educational Research and Practice,
Volume 6, Issue 1, Pages 1–18. Walden University, LLC, Minneapolis, MN.

Krechevsky, M., Mardell, B., Rivard, M., Wilson, D., (2013). Visible Learners: Promoting Reggio
Inspired Approaches in all Schools. John Wiley and Sons, Inc, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.

Ritchhart, R., Church, M., Morrison, K., & Perkins, D. (2011). Making Thinking Visible: How to
Promote Engagement, Understanding, and Independence for All Learners. John Wiley and Sons,
Inc, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.

“Thinking Palette.” Artful Thinking. Project Zero. Harvard Graduate School of Education. Feb.
2017. http://pzartfulthinking.org/?page_id=2

Ritchhart, Ron., Perkins, David., & Tishman, Shari. “Visible Thinking.” Harvard Graduate School of
Education. Feb, 2017. http://www.pz.harvard.edu/projects/visiblethinking

Salmon, K, Angela. “Making Thinking Visible Through Action Research.” Early Childhood
Education. The official journal of the Early Childhood Education Council of the Alberta Teachers’
Association. Volume 39, Number 1. 2010.
https://www.academia.edu/4841813/Making_Thinking_Visible_Through_Ac

Arcenas, Claire. “Bridging our Thinking.” Visible thinking across subject matters. 13 Feb 2015.
https://clairearcenas.wordpress.com/

Ritchhart, Ron. “Cultures of Thinking.” Think! From the Middle. Rochester Community Schools.
March 2017. http://www.rcsthinkfromthemiddle.com/culturesofthinking.html

Jacobson, Gareth. “Team Teaching – an all or nothing phenomenon.” I think therefore… 16th Nov.
2016. https://makingthinkingvisible.wordpress.com/

“Research.” Visible Thinking for the child to be and the adult to see.
http://visiblethinking.ltd.uk/research/

This is a post from the OUP blog:

https://oupeltglobalblog.com/tag/sarah-howell/