Teaching is a forever evolving process. As time goes by, we see more student-centered, engaging, and collaborative learning practices emerge. The typical lecture, review, quiz/test format has been proven ineffective and, quite frankly, our students deserve more. Making Thinking Visible, or MTV, transforms the learning experience to one that is both beneficial to the learner and the educator.
How MTV has Influenced Me as an Educator
- Engaged Students– Providing students with instruction that is not only interesting but also thought-provoking and interactive is key to engagement. MTV encourages students to be active in the learning process. Opportunities to collaborate are apparent and frequent. Learning is dynamic and yet structured. As I transition to more MTV activities, I have noticed my class want to participate and are less afraid to “be wrong”.
- Transitioning to a Facitator Role– Stepping back and taking a facilator role has empowered my students to think more critically and learn from one another. I see my students taking more abstractly and surprise me each day. I live for those “aha” or an “I never thought of it that way” moments when I hear a new perspective from a student’s point of view. MTV makes learning happen for the students and the teacher. Learning is happening from all aspects.
- Deep Learning– MTV has challenged my students to dig deeper and think beyond the surface level. My students are growing in being able to explain their thinking instead of the typical “because I got the right answer” or “I just know”. Listening to or reading their explanations helps me an educator be able to sharpen their understanding and stretch their thinking even further with effective questioning.
MTV in Action : +1 Routine Strategy
Strategy: +1 Routine
Purpose: To identify important ideas worth remembering
Process:
After reading a text, watching a video, listening to a lecture, or being presented new information, students engage in the following process.
- In 2-3 minutes, student list details and facts that they can recall independently.
- Learners pass their papers to the right. Students take 2-3 minutes to read the list and add one new thing to the list. This process is repeated at least 2 more times.
- The paper is returned to the original owner. Learners will read the additions and add important ideas that they acquired from reading others’ ideas.
Implementing MTV’s +1 Strategy
This week, I implemented the MTV stragegy +1 with my students. We have been learning about balanced and unbalanced forces. To summarize our learning, my students viewed a video on forces. In “The Power of Making Thinking Visible”, it states that this strategy should be done after the learning instead of during so the focus is on gaining and retreiving information rather than simply writing down information (Ritchhart & Mark, 2020).
Instead of having them take notes during the video, we tried the +1 strategy. After the video, my students wrote down everything they recalled about force. They then shared their papers with 3 of their peers. Then, they recorded ideas that they did not have on their list. Lastly, in small groups, my students discussed the facts they listed and consolidated their lists onto chart paper, placing a check by repeated ideas. Together as a class, we talked about the lists and sythesized the information in a whole group discussion.
Successes: Overall, the process was a simple, yet powerful strategy. I feel as though my students recalled more information than they would have if they simply took notes or answered video questions as they watched the video. My students enjoyed the activity and are looking forward to doing it again.
Challenges: As anticipated, my challenge was with my ESL students. However, I feel like anticipating this challenge and preparing for it was helpful. To provide them with opportunities to participate, I was prepared with the spanish version of the video as well as visuals of balanced and unbalanced forces. The verbal and written aspects of the activity was a challenge, but they were allowed to provide pictures of their thinking as a alternative which proved to be helpful. We also utilized their Spanish speaking peers as interpreters when necessary.
Until next time….. Overall, I was happy with the outcome and look forward to expanding this lessson and connecting it to other MTV ideas.
+1 strategy and TCE Threshold Concepts
Curriculum is co-constructed.
MTV not only helps us know what our students, but also how they know it. Observing their conversations and seeing their thoughts on paper lead to intellectual conversations between their peers and as a whole class. This strategy allowed us to dig deeper and move from the standard recall to make connections and identify the key takeaways from the concept. Students were able to build on the concept and gain deep undderstanding. This method will help my students recall the information long term and connect future concepts to their learning.
Both teachers and students have empowerment/agency
MTV allowed students to take the main role in their learning. The +1 strategy empowered my students to recall and sythesize information which sparked curiosity and further questions. The strategy also empowered me as a facilator to intentional and purposefully design questions and preplan for possible situations. This strategy allowed me to collect insight on my students’ understanding and shape future lessons to extend their learning.
Like +1 and want to learn more thinking routines? Check out the many MTV strategies in this blog for examples of way to enhance your classroom.
https://pz.harvard.edu/thinking-routines
Interested more in Thinking Routines and MTV? Check out this blog:
https://web.seesaw.me/blog-archive/2023/5/24/the-power-of-making-thinking-visible-with-ron-ritchhart
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Ritchhart, R. and Church, M. (2020). The power of making thinking visible: Practices to engage and empower all learners. Hoboken, NJ: Jossey-Bass. ISBN: 9781119626046
I absolutely love the +1 routine idea you have for your lesson. What a great way for students to work together & assess their own learning. I also appreciate that you started your blog post plainly saying that our students deserve more than a traditional classroom format.
Thank you. I strive to be an educator that I would want to teach my own kids. I am truly a believer in doing what is best for the students.
I loved reading about the +1 strategy you used for your students. It was great that your students could talk through what they were learning. More specifically, this strategy allowed them to visualize that they were not alone in how they thought about force. This helps foster connections with students through an academic setting. It is powerful that you were already prepared and thinking about altering this lesson to allow your ESL students to participate in the activity! Great job! I hope you are able to use this in future lessons as well!
I definitely plan to use this strategy again. Having ESL students in my class (3 of them emergent level) has definitely kept me on my toes this year. I want each of my students to have a great learning experience despite language barriers. It is so interesting to see what they come up with and their growth each day.
I loved reading this post about MTV. I think you hit the nail on the head with your comment in the beginning about how education is evolving. As a newer teacher in a building with amazing veteran teachers who are very willing to try new things it is just interesting to watch the evolution happen. While they are willing they want to see someone else try it first. The teachers I work with do amazing work but it has been so interesting watching them all work to evolve with education. It is easier said than done, they have been teaching for most of their lives and are great educators challenged with new techniques. This being said I appreciate your explanation of how the +1 strategy went in your room this week. I am planning to use it Wednesday (after my students have a 4-day weekend) as our opener to reengage with the material we left off with Friday. Reading about your struggles has helped me prepare. Thank you for sharing!
Awesome! I am glad that you plan to use this strategy and this blog was helpful to you. Evolving can definitely be challenging but the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. This is my 14th year but I strive each year to find the best way to reach my students. I have learned so much from my students by keeping things fresh and creative. Keep giving your students opportunities to shine. You will be surprised with what they come up with.