Discover why and how schools must become places where thinking is valued, visible, and actively promoted As educators, parents, and citizens, we must settle for nothing less than environments that bring out the best in people, take learning to the next level, allow for great discoveries, and propel both the individual and the group forward into a lifetime of learning. This is something all teachers want and all students deserve. In Creating Cultures of Thinking: The 8 Forces We Must Master to Truly Transform Our Schools, Ron Ritchhart, author of Making Thinking Visible, explains how creating a culture of thinking is more important to learning than any particular curriculum and he outlines how any school or teacher can accomplish this by leveraging 8 cultural forces: expectations, language, time, modeling, opportunities, routines, interactions, and environment. With the techniques and rich classroom vignettes throughout this book, Ritchhart shows that creating a culture of thinking is not about just adhering to a particular set of practices or a general expectation that people should be involved in thinking. A culture of thinking produces the feelings, energy, and even joy that can propel learning forward and motivate us to do what at times can be hard and challenging mental work.

Table of Contents:
List of Figures ix Acknowledgments xi About the Author xiii Introduction Demystifying Group and Organizational Culture 1 A New Standard for Education 5 The Forces that Shape Culture 6 Tools for Transformation 10 One The Purpose and Promise of Schools 13 Thinking Differently about Outcomes 16 Teaching as Enculturation 19 Culture as the Enactment of a Story 20 Enacting Our New Story, Realizing Our Vision 34 Uncovering the Story of Your School or Classroom 35 Two Expectations: Recognizing How Our Beliefs Shape Our Behavior 37 Focusing Students on the Learning vs. the Work 43 Teaching for Understanding vs. Knowledge 47 Encouraging Deep vs. Surface Learning Strategies 50 Encouraging Independence vs. Dependence 54 Developing a Growth vs. a Fixed Mindset 55 Exploring and Developing Expectations 59 Three Language: Appreciating Its Subtle Yet Profound Power 61 The Language of Thinking 68 The Language of Community 71 The Language of Identity 74 The Language of Initiative 75 The Language of Mindfulness 78 The Language of Praise and Feedback 81 The Language of Listening 82 Leveraging Language 84 Becoming Proficient Users of the Languages of the Classroom 85 Four Time: Learning to Be Its Master Rather Than Its Victim 87 Recognizing Time as a Statement of Your Values 96 Learning to Prioritize and Always Prioritizing Learning 98 Giving Thinking Time 102 Investing Time to Make Time 105 Managing Energy, Not Time 107 It’s Time to Rethink Time 110 Getting a Better Perspective on Time 112 Five Modeling: Seeing Ourselves through Our Students’ Eyes 115 Dispositional Apprenticeship: Being a Role Model of Learning and Thinking 125 Cognitive Apprenticeship: Making Our Thinking Visible 129 Gradual Release of Responsibility: Modeling for Independence 132 Interactive Modeling: Learning from Examples, Practice, and Reflection 135 Learning from Models 136 Modeling for the Development of Thinking, Learning, and Independence 138 Six Opportunities: Crafting the Vehicles for Learning 141 Constructing Character: Using Mathematics to Understand Othello’s Iago 144 VoiceThread: Using Storytelling to Understand Migration 150 Music 2 Save Music 154 Categorizing, Recognizing, and Realizing Learning Opportunities 159 Analyzing and Creating Opportunities for Learning 169 Seven Routines: Supporting and Scaffolding Learning and Thinking 171 A Routine Is More Than an Activity 177 Using Claim-Support-Question to Delve Into Number Theory in Fifth Grade 179 More Than a Game: Differentiating Mathematics in Second Grade 185 Making CSQ Fly in Secondary Mathematics 188 Tools, Structures, and Patterns: Establishing Routines in the Classroom 190 Making Thinking Routine in Our Classrooms 196 Eight Interactions: Forging Relationships That Empower Learners 199 New Roles for Students: Empowering Disenfranchised Learners 204 Beyond Sit and Get: Teaching Students to Build on One Another’s Ideas 212 Building Culture through Affect and Actions 218 Shaping Interactions through Roles 220 Asking “Good” Questions 221 Creating New Patterns of Discourse 223 Promoting Interactions That Support Thinking and Learning 225 Nine Environment: Using Space to Support Learning and Thinking 227 New Learning in an Old Container 231 Curating a Classroom 234 Designing for Thinking 242 Creating Environments to Enhance Learning and Build Culture: Four Fronts 247 Creating Environments That Bring Out the Best in Learners 259 Ten Moving toward Transformation 261 A Close Look at Substantive Change 263 Supporting Change on a Large Scale 267 Building a Vision across a School District 276 Learning Together for the Long Haul 281 Creating Opportunities 287 Building the Capacity of Teachers to Teach One Another 293 Using Inquiry-Action Projects to Go Deeper 298 Sameness and Difference in the Journey to a Culture of Thinking 303 Appendix A My Reflections on the Learning Activities in This Class 307 Appendix B Ladder of Feedback 309 Appendix c Success Analysis Protocol 311 Appendix D Looking At Students’ Thinking (LAST) Protocol 313 Appendix E Six Key Principles of the Cultures of Thinking Project 315 Appendix F Laying the Foundation for a Culture of Thinking 317 Appendix G Leading a Culture of Thinking at My School 319 Appendix H The Development of a Culture of Thinking in My Classroom 323 Appendix I Assessment Ladder 327 References 329 Subject Index 351 Name Index 361