From The Principal
Have you noticed your students telling you how they have made "connections"?
Have they asked you, "What makes you say that"?
When talking casually, do they make a point to tell you if they agree or disagree and then share their thinking?
Those are thinking moves that we use often at our school. As part of creating a Culture of Thinking and Language & Literacy, we bring student thinking to the forefront and teach our students to value thinking and be mindful of thinking.
When we mention "connections", we are asking students to connect learning and understanding to something that they already know or understand.
When we ask "What makes you say that?" students have the opportunity to share their thinking and back it with evidence, while listeners have the opportunity to consider the speaker's viewpoints and perspectives. This provides deeper discussions and understanding. Using the phrase "What makes you say that?" is preferred over asking "Why?" because "What makes you say that?" conveys a curiosity, interest, and value of someone's thinking rather than questioning or challenging someone's thinking.
Using sentence stems like "I agree" or "I disagree" and then sharing one's thinking helps to develop specific structures in oral language and helps with discussion skills.
Using the same language at home will demonstrate the teamwork we hope to have with our families. As a staff, we believe in the culture of learning we have established and believe in developing the academic, social, and emotional growth of our students.
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me or your child's teacher! We love to share what we are doing!
With gratitude,
Mary Beth Merlo