A highly practical guide and motivational read, Reflections on Classroom Thinking Strategies will help every teacher and educator feel more confident in weaving thinking tools into everyday learning to create their thinking classroom.
Written by educational consultant and author Eric Frangenheim, Reflections has sold 35,000 copies and remains a trusted and inspiring resource for teachers from Prep to University.
This resource is designed to create more successful classroom climates in which all students are empowered to be better thinkers and to ‘own the learning’, and where teachers teach less and feel less pressure. Hence, the major premise of this book is that:
The best learning takes place when the teacher is quiet. But this depends on
• offering a clear question/activity;
• supplying an appropriate thinking tool; and
• providing a clear time frame.
Everything in this book was forged and tested in the classroom. It is a book about teaching, by teachers, for teachers. It is designed to encourage passion for teaching with an eye on that important ingredient called FUN!
Reflections shares Eric’s knowledge and experience honed over 45 years teaching and consulting in classrooms in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Teachers will experience Eric’s favourite thinking tools, with step-by-step guides to apply these tools to any classroom, no matter the subject, year level or student proficiency.
Eric’s Thinking Skills Framework is at the heart of his work, as he believes effective teachers have an explicit plan and purpose, thus enabling their students to be proactive, independent and vibrant thinkers. Eric shows teachers how to embrace this Thinking Skills Framework and make it the core of their lessons to simply lesson planning and assessment design. Teachers will also learn how to teach their students the Framework to understand the structure of thinking (from foundation to higher-order thinking) so they know when, how and why to tackle a task using more than 40 appropriate thinking tools.
The four major parts of this book deal with:
• Beliefs about the thinking classroom
• Strategies/tools for Analysis and Evaluation
• Strategies/tools for Creative Thinking
• Strategies/tools for Cooperative Thinking.
This book also includes a large range of posters to create your thinking classroom.
Enjoy it!
