I remember when I was in grade school, teachers would provide a paragraph and ask us to summarize the entire paragraph into one or two sentences. That was quite a regular skill practice and what it was actually doing was increasing our ability to synthesize information and identify the main points in order to streamline the verbiage. That could not be done at all if the paragraph were not understood, so that is Step 1 – again, check for understanding. Once that has been ascertained, however, the next steps are as follows: Ask your students…
These kinds of thought-expansion and thought-probing questions begin to show how students are thinking about, around, and through the subject area or topic. This kind of intentional focus on thinking is truly beneficial for students in their overall academic and future professional success.
TIP: Rethink how you expand the thinking of your students.
Coming up next, “How can coding help? Most students don’t understand coding.” Stay tuned...