# Building Thinking Classrooms with Peter Liljedahl https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99SQ7KyfEF0 Translation: es [00:00] I know Laura told you the story about how we met. Sé que Laura te contó la historia de cómo nos conocimos. [00:04] I think I should tell you from my perspective how we met. Creo que debería contarte desde mi perspectiva cómo nos conocimos. [00:09] Um so we emerged on the US scene almost at the same time. Um, así que surgimos en la escena estadounidense casi al mismo tiempo. [00:15] So I was an academic in Canada and but I was spending most of my time in classrooms. Así que era académico en Canadá, pero pasaba la mayor parte de mi tiempo en las aulas. [00:22] And I was well known in Canada and then the book comes out and I spend a lot of time in the U I started going to conferences in the US. Y era muy conocido en Canadá y luego sale el libro y paso mucho tiempo en los EE. UU., comencé a ir a conferencias en los EE. UU. [00:29] And it was I think the same year that in Nova Met started coming to conferences in the US. Y creo que fue el mismo año que en Nova Met comenzaron a venir a conferencias en los EE. UU. [00:35] And uh there was always two. Y eh, siempre había dos. [00:39] Every conference I went to there was two people from in Nova Met. En cada conferencia a la que iba, había dos personas de Nova Met. [00:41] Always together, never the same two. Siempre juntos, nunca los mismos dos. [00:48] And and it was so it was hard to keep track because it was two different people and then one the same and then one new and then it was always changing. Y era tan difícil de seguir porque eran dos personas diferentes y luego una la misma y luego una nueva y luego siempre estaba cambiando. [00:57] But I think one of the things that attracted Pero creo que una de las cosas que atrajo [01:00] us to each other was that we had similar views on math education and they were different views from what was prevalent in the US at the time. nosotros entre nosotros fue que teníamos puntos de vista similares sobre la educación matemática y eran puntos de vista diferentes de lo que prevalecía en los EE. UU. en ese momento. [01:11] So that there was this focus on thinking whereas in the US the big focus is on performance. Así que había este enfoque en el pensamiento, mientras que en los EE. UU. el gran enfoque está en el rendimiento. [01:18] Right? ¿Verdad? [01:18] There was a focus on learning and these are important things to bring community together. Había un enfoque en el aprendizaje y estas son cosas importantes para unir a la comunidad. [01:24] And I think this is why we found so much synergy in each other and we've been we've been orbiting each other ever since. Y creo que por eso encontramos tanta sinergia el uno en el otro y hemos estado girando el uno alrededor del otro desde entonces. [01:30] Let's just say that. Digamos eso. [01:33] All right. Muy bien. [01:35] Um I am going to give you an introduction to BTC, building thinking classrooms. Um, voy a darles una introducción a BTC, construyendo aulas de pensamiento. [01:42] And I recognize that there's people in the room who probably have have read the book and so on but there is details here that are important. Y reconozco que hay personas en la sala que probablemente han leído el libro y demás, pero aquí hay detalles que son importantes. [01:54] Um and I think that no matter where you are in your journey on building thinking classrooms you will learn something today. Um, y creo que no importa en qué punto de su viaje en la construcción de aulas de pensamiento se encuentren, aprenderán algo hoy. [02:03] Um the other reason is it's going to make my workshop make a lot more sense. Una razón más es que hará que mi taller tenga mucho más sentido. [02:09] All right. Muy bien. [02:14] So back to my history. Así que volvamos a mi historia. [02:14] So I was a high school math teacher. Fui profesor de matemáticas en secundaria. [02:17] I taught in the Vancouver school district, West Coast of Canada and I taught from grade 8 to grade 12. Enseñé en el distrito escolar de Vancouver, Costa Oeste de Canadá, y enseñé de octavo a duodécimo grado. [02:24] So 13-year-olds to 18-year-olds. Es decir, de 13 a 18 años. [02:27] And I didn't just teach math. Y no solo enseñé matemáticas. [02:29] I taught physics and English composition as well. También enseñé física y composición en inglés. [02:32] But I taught all math all the way from early algebra all the way up to calculus. Pero enseñé todas las matemáticas, desde álgebra elemental hasta cálculo. [02:39] And then I did a master's degree at the university and in Canada this is very common. Y luego hice una maestría en la universidad y en Canadá esto es muy común. [02:44] You do a master's degree at the same time as you are teaching. Haces una maestría al mismo tiempo que enseñas. [02:49] So the courses are in the evening and on weekends and in the summer. Así que los cursos son por la tarde, los fines de semana y en verano. [02:53] And um it was great. Y fue genial. [02:55] It was a great program. Fue un gran programa. [02:57] And then I got recruited into a PhD program and I thought okay this Y luego me reclutaron para un programa de doctorado y pensé, está bien, esto [03:02] the madness has to stop. La locura tiene que parar. [03:04] Because it was a lot of work. Porque fue mucho trabajo. [03:07] So I I stepped out of the classroom to become a full-time doctoral student always with the intention of going back to the classroom. Así que dejé el aula para convertirme en estudiante de doctorado a tiempo completo, siempre con la intención de volver al aula. [03:16] I love being a classroom teacher and I think it was during my PhD that I really realized just how much I love being in the classroom. Me encanta ser profesor de aula y creo que fue durante mi doctorado cuando realmente me di cuenta de cuánto me encanta estar en el aula. [03:23] It is there it's dynamic, it's never the same. Está ahí, es dinámico, nunca es lo mismo. [03:28] There is so much achievement that can be accomplished within an hour with students. Hay tantos logros que se pueden conseguir en una hora con los estudiantes. [03:34] And I love that space. Y me encanta ese espacio. [03:36] And and I was doing my PhD and I was not in the classroom and I wanted to get back into the classroom. Y estaba haciendo mi doctorado y no estaba en el aula y quería volver al aula. [03:43] And but I wanted to go in and observe classrooms. Y pero quería entrar y observar aulas. [03:46] I wanted to observe student student in their natural habitat. Quería observar a los estudiantes en su hábitat natural. [03:54] Um I wanted to see what was really going on in classrooms and I know if you're a classroom teacher you're like yeah, I do that every day. Um, quería ver qué estaba pasando realmente en las aulas y sé que si eres un profesor de aula, dices, sí, hago eso todos los días. [04:02] Well yes, but I also was aware that there's that what I see students doing is heavily predicated on what they're letting me see them do. Bueno sí, pero también era consciente de que hay que lo que veo que hacen los estudiantes está fuertemente condicionado por lo que me dejan ver que hacen. [04:15] That there is a hidden agenda. Que hay una agenda oculta. [04:18] That there's a facade that they're hiding behind. Que hay una fachada detrás de la que se esconden. [04:20] That there are things going on in classrooms that me as a teacher was not aware of. Que están sucediendo cosas en las aulas de las que yo, como profesor, no era consciente. [04:23] And I wanted to get behind that. Y yo quería ir más allá de eso. [04:25] I wanted to get behind the curtain to see what was really going on for students in classrooms. Quería ir detrás de la cortina para ver lo que realmente estaba sucediendo para los estudiantes en las aulas. [04:30] I wanted to be a fly on the wall is what we say. Quería ser una mosca en la pared, como decimos. [04:36] Well it turns out teachers don't like flies on walls because when I would reach out to teachers and ask them if I can come in and observe they said no. Bueno, resulta que a los profesores no les gustan las moscas en las paredes porque cuando me ponía en contacto con los profesores y les preguntaba si podía entrar a observar, decían que no. [04:43] And they said no very fast. Y decían que no muy rápido. [04:46] Sometimes I was still writing the email and they would say no. A veces todavía estaba escribiendo el correo electrónico y ellos decían que no. [04:49] Um Eh [04:51] so I decided I was going to resort to flattery. así que decidí recurrir a la adulación. [04:54] So I reached out to my network of colleagues and friends and I asked them to recommend to me teachers that they had heard good. Así que me puse en contacto con mi red de colegas y amigos y les pedí que me recomendaran profesores de los que habían oído hablar bien. [05:00] So they sent me these email addresses Así que me enviaron estas direcciones de correo electrónico [05:04] and then I would read email those teachers and I would say so so-and-so says you're a good teacher. Y luego leía correos electrónicos a esos maestros y decía, fulano dice que eres un buen maestro. [05:09] Can I come and spend a day in your classroom? ¿Puedo ir y pasar un día en tu aula? [05:11] And when you send an email like that they almost always say yes. Y cuando envías un correo electrónico así, casi siempre dicen que sí. [05:16] So I would go into these classrooms and when I was in those classrooms I would ask those teachers to recommend to me teachers that they had heard were good. Así que iba a estas aulas y cuando estaba en esas aulas, les pedía a esos maestros que me recomendaran maestros de los que habían oído que eran buenos. [05:25] And so it was that I was able to visit 40 different classrooms in 40 different schools. Y así fue que pude visitar 40 aulas diferentes en 40 escuelas diferentes. [05:33] And because I was following this thread of good teacher I saw a lot of diversity. Y como seguía este hilo de buenos maestros, vi mucha diversidad. [05:36] Sometimes I was in primary classrooms, so very young children. A veces estaba en aulas de primaria, con niños muy pequeños. [05:41] Sometimes I was in secondary classrooms. A veces estaba en aulas de secundaria. [05:44] Sometimes I was in inner city schools. A veces estaba en escuelas del centro de la ciudad. [05:48] Sometimes in urban schools, rural schools. A veces en escuelas urbanas, escuelas rurales. [05:50] I was in private schools and public schools. Estuve en escuelas privadas y públicas. [05:52] I was in French schools and English schools because we have two languages in Canada. Estuve en escuelas francesas y escuelas inglesas porque tenemos dos idiomas en Canadá. [05:58] And it didn't matter where So I saw a lot of diversity, a lot of different classrooms. Y no importaba dónde. Así que vi mucha diversidad, muchas aulas diferentes. [06:03] But it didn't matter where I went I saw Pero no importaba a dónde fuera, vi [06:06] The same thing everywhere I went. Lo mismo en todas partes a donde fui. [06:17] I saw students not thinking. Vi a estudiantes que no pensaban. [06:21] And this is a problem. Y este es un problema. [06:23] Because if students are not thinking Porque si los estudiantes no están pensando [06:26] they're not learning. Period. Full stop. no están aprendiendo. Punto. Fin. [06:29] This is a fact that we have known from psychology for 50 years. Este es un hecho que conocemos de la psicología desde hace 50 años. [06:30] Students need to be thinking in order to be learning Los estudiantes necesitan estar pensando para poder aprender [06:35] and I was seeing a lot of not thinking. y yo estaba viendo mucha falta de pensamiento. [06:39] At least that was my sense. Al menos esa fue mi impresión. [06:42] I had a sense that the students weren't thinking. Tuve la impresión de que los estudiantes no estaban pensando. [06:44] So I wanted to figure out if this was actually true. Así que quería averiguar si esto era realmente cierto. [06:47] Could I document this in some way? ¿Podría documentar esto de alguna manera? [06:50] So I turned this into a research project where I I went back into other into some of these classrooms. Así que convertí esto en un proyecto de investigación en el que volví a otras, a algunas de estas aulas. [06:57] I went back into about 15 of these classrooms and I spent months observing the students even closer. Volví a unas 15 de estas aulas y pasé meses observando a los estudiantes aún más de cerca. [07:02] And that first 40 classrooms I saw a lot of Y en esas primeras 40 aulas vi mucho [07:07] different things but now I wanted to understand two things. cosas diferentes pero ahora quería entender dos cosas. [07:09] One, is it in fact true that students are not thinking? Una, ¿es cierto de hecho que los estudiantes no están pensando? [07:16] All right? That was my sense but could I document it in some way? Está bien? Esa fue mi impresión pero ¿podría documentarlo de alguna manera? [07:22] And question number two, if it is true that they're not thinking then what are they doing? Y la pregunta número dos, si es cierto que no están pensando, ¿entonces qué están haciendo? [07:29] Because they have to be doing something. Porque tienen que estar haciendo algo. [07:32] So I spent months in these classrooms watching students, listening to students, talking to students, getting behind this facade, trying to understand what the lived experience of students were. Así que pasé meses en estas aulas observando a los estudiantes, escuchando a los estudiantes, hablando con los estudiantes, yendo detrás de esta fachada, tratando de entender cuál era la experiencia vivida de los estudiantes. [07:47] And after all these months the data revealed itself that in fact I was correct. Y después de todos estos meses los datos se revelaron a sí mismos que de hecho yo estaba en lo correcto. [07:53] My sense had been correct. Mi impresión había sido correcta. [07:56] That 80% of the students were doing no thinking whatsoever. Que el 80% de los estudiantes no estaban pensando en absoluto. [08:01] Well okay, that's not entirely true. Bueno, está bien, eso no es del todo cierto. [08:03] Of course they were thinking a little bit in some ways. Por supuesto que estaban pensando un poco en algunos aspectos. [08:05] Right? They were thinking ¿Verdad? Estaban pensando [08:07] enough to bring their materials to class sometimes. suficiente para traer sus materiales a clase a veces. [08:10] And they were continuing to breathe. Y seguían respirando. [08:13] So there was some thinking going on but not the kind of thinking we know students need to do in order to be continue to be successful in math. Así que hubo algo de pensamiento, pero no el tipo de pensamiento que sabemos que los estudiantes necesitan hacer para continuar teniendo éxito en matemáticas. [08:22] All right? ¿De acuerdo? [08:23] Um in the one of the ways we can position this is they were doing reproductive work rather than productive work. Um de una de las maneras en que podemos posicionar esto es que estaban haciendo trabajo reproductivo en lugar de trabajo productivo. [08:33] Um 20% were thinking. Um el 20% estaba pensando. [08:38] But then again only for 20% of the time. Pero de nuevo, solo durante el 20% del tiempo. [08:41] Now this is not to say that the students wouldn't think for longer but but that's all the time the teacher was giving them. Ahora, esto no quiere decir que los estudiantes no pensarían por más tiempo, pero pero ese es todo el tiempo que el maestro les estaba dando. [08:50] Right? ¿Correcto? [08:50] Now I want to be clear here. Ahora quiero ser claro aquí. [08:53] These students were not idle. Estos estudiantes no estaban inactivos. [08:53] They were busy. Estaban ocupados. [08:57] The teachers were keeping them busy. Los maestros los mantenían ocupados. [08:58] There was a lot of writing notes, worksheets. Había muchas notas escritas, hojas de trabajo. [09:00] There was some collaboration but a a lot and a lot of homework. Hubo algo de colaboración pero mucho y mucho deber. [09:06] Right? ¿Correcto? [09:06] They were the students were kept Ellos estaban los estudiantes fueron mantenidos [09:08] busy during the lesson but the stuff they were being kept busy with was not requiring them to think. ocupados durante la lección pero las cosas con las que se les mantenía ocupados no requerían que pensaran. [09:17] So that answered question number one. Así que eso respondió a la primera pregunta. [09:19] 80% of students were not thinking. El 80% de los estudiantes no estaban pensando. [09:21] So question number two, then what are they doing? Entonces, la segunda pregunta, ¿qué están haciendo? [09:25] Cuz they got to be doing something. Porque tienen que estar haciendo algo. [09:27] Well it turned out that some of them were slacking. Bueno, resultó que algunos de ellos estaban holgazaneando. [09:32] Okay? ¿De acuerdo? [09:32] So just off task. Así que simplemente fuera de tarea. [09:34] Visibly off task. Visiblemente fuera de tarea. [09:34] Playing on their phone, talking to their friend, looking out the window. Jugando en su teléfono, hablando con su amigo, mirando por la ventana. [09:40] Okay? ¿De acuerdo? [09:40] Slacking. Holgazaneando. [09:42] Some were stalling. Algunos estaban perdiendo el tiempo. [09:44] Can I go to the bathroom? ¿Puedo ir al baño? [09:46] I need to get something I got to get a drink of water. Necesito conseguir algo, tengo que tomar un trago de agua. [09:50] I have to sharpen my pencil. Tengo que sacarle punta a mi lápiz. [09:53] Okay? ¿De acuerdo? [09:53] Does that sound familiar? ¿Te suena familiar? [09:55] Yes. Sí. [09:56] Okay? ¿De acuerdo? [09:56] So what is the difference between stalling and slacking? Entonces, ¿cuál es la diferencia entre perder el tiempo y holgazanear? [10:01] Because you have to understand this. Porque tienes que entender esto. [10:02] Going to the bathroom is an off-task behavior. Ir al baño es un comportamiento fuera de tarea. [10:06] The difference is the psychological position of how the student wants to be La diferencia es la posición psicológica de cómo el estudiante quiere estar [10:10] positioned inside of your mind. posicionado dentro de tu mente. [10:13] Slackers don't care what you think of them. A los holgazanes no les importa lo que pienses de ellos. [10:17] They don't care that you see them being off-task. No les importa que los veas fuera de tarea. [10:19] Stallers care. A los que se demoran les importa. [10:22] They care a lot. Les importa mucho. [10:25] So, rather than just be off-task, they hide behind a facade of legitimate off-task behavior. Así que, en lugar de simplemente estar fuera de tarea, se esconden detrás de una fachada de comportamiento legítimo fuera de tarea. [10:33] Going to the bathroom is an off-task behavior, but it's legitimate. Ir al baño es un comportamiento fuera de tarea, pero es legítimo. [10:37] Okay? ¿De acuerdo? [10:38] Then we had the fakers. Luego tuvimos a los farsantes. [10:41] Okay? ¿De acuerdo? [10:41] Fakers, like stallers, care a lot what you think of them. Los farsantes, al igual que los que se demoran, les importa mucho lo que pienses de ellos. [10:47] But rather than hide behind a facade of legitimate off-task behavior, they hide behind a facade of on-task behavior. Pero en lugar de esconderse detrás de una fachada de comportamiento legítimo fuera de tarea, se esconden detrás de una fachada de comportamiento en tarea. [10:52] But it is just a facade. Pero es solo una fachada. [10:54] And there are two types of fakers. Y hay dos tipos de farsantes. [10:57] There's the over-actor. Está el sobreactuado. [10:59] So, they're the ones who are like Entonces, son los que son como [11:06] And you can spot these. Y puedes detectar a estos. [11:07] As a teacher, you will see these. Como profesor, verás a estos. [11:09] But there's a more subtle category. Pero hay una categoría más sutil. [11:11] I was standing behind a Estaba parado detrás de un [11:12] Girl. She was sixth grade, so I'm 12 years old. Niña. Ella estaba en sexto grado, así que tengo 12 años. [11:16] And she's she's working away in her notebook. Y ella está trabajando en su cuaderno. [11:22] I'm standing behind. There's nothing coming out of her pencil. Estoy detrás. No sale nada de su lápiz. [11:26] She's just pretending to write. Ella solo está fingiendo escribir. [11:28] She even picked up her eraser. Incluso cogió su goma de borrar. [11:34] Right? And the Academy Award goes to Bethany in sixth grade. ¿Verdad? Y el Premio de la Academia es para Bethany en sexto grado. [11:36] There's no way the teacher's going to see that. No hay forma de que la profesora vea eso. [11:39] I saw it because I was behind Bethany, but the teacher who was in front was seeing the facade. Lo vi porque estaba detrás de Bethany, pero la profesora que estaba delante veía la fachada. [11:47] And like I said, fakers, like stallers, care what you think of them. Y como dije, los farsantes, como los que se demoran, se preocupan por lo que piensas de ellos. [11:52] Now, slackers, stallers, fakers make up about 30% of the students in my data set, 20% who were thinking, at least 50%. Ahora, los holgazanes, los que se demoran, los farsantes constituyen alrededor del 30% de los estudiantes en mi conjunto de datos, el 20% que estaban pensando, al menos el 50%. [12:02] So, what were the other 50% of the group students doing? Entonces, ¿qué estaban haciendo el otro 50% de los estudiantes del grupo? [12:07] They were doing something that we call came to call mimicking. Estaban haciendo algo que llamamos, llegamos a llamar imitación. [12:13] So, what is mimicking? ¿Entonces, qué es imitar? [12:15] Mimicking is let me show you how to do it, and now you just do it. Imitar es déjame mostrarte cómo hacerlo, y ahora tú solo hazlo. [12:19] Okay? ¿De acuerdo? [12:20] This sort of reproductive work. Este tipo de trabajo reproductivo. [12:22] Okay? ¿De acuerdo? [12:24] What we have to understand about mimicking is mimicking is not a thinking behavior. Lo que tenemos que entender sobre imitar es que imitar no es un comportamiento de pensamiento. [12:31] In fact, it's not even a learning behavior. De hecho, ni siquiera es un comportamiento de aprendizaje. [12:33] Mimicking is a production behavior or a reproduction behavior. Imitar es un comportamiento de producción o un comportamiento de reproducción. [12:38] Mimicking is what students do to reproduce the work that you want in exchange for praise, gold stars, and grades. Imitar es lo que los estudiantes hacen para reproducir el trabajo que quieres a cambio de elogios, estrellas doradas y calificaciones. [12:47] It is something that they're doing as an um it's as an exchange. Es algo que están haciendo como un um como un intercambio. [12:51] They do the work for you, you give them grades. Ellos hacen el trabajo por ti, tú les das calificaciones. [12:57] Right? ¿Correcto? [12:58] So, it's very transactional. Entonces, es muy transaccional. [13:01] And there are two problems with mimicking. Y hay dos problemas con imitar. [13:03] Number one, it's so effective in the short term. Número uno, es muy efectivo a corto plazo. [13:09] In the short term, if I mimic now, I will be able to produce work now. A corto plazo, si imito ahora, podré producir trabajo ahora. [13:16] If I mimic tonight, I will be able to produce work now. Si imito esta noche, podré producir trabajo ahora. [13:19] And because of that, because it's so effective in the short term, it's highly appealing and highly addictive to students. Y debido a eso, porque es tan efectivo a corto plazo, es muy atractivo y muy adictivo para los estudiantes. [13:26] And once they start being rewarded for their mimicking, it's very difficult to convince them that this is the wrong path. Y una vez que comienzan a ser recompensados por su imitación, es muy difícil convencerlos de que este es el camino equivocado. [13:35] So, that's problem number one. Entonces, ese es el problema número uno. [13:35] Problem number two, as effective as it is in the short term, it is 100% ineffective in the long term. El problema número dos, por muy efectivo que sea a corto plazo, es 100% ineficaz a largo plazo. [13:45] And what I mean by that is 100% of students who mimic will eventually start to struggle at their inability to remain effective through mimicking. Y lo que quiero decir con eso es que el 100% de los estudiantes que imitan eventualmente comenzarán a tener dificultades por su incapacidad para seguir siendo efectivos a través de la imitación. [14:01] It is it is a truth for every student. Es es una verdad para cada estudiante. [14:03] And the reason for this is when they first start mimicking, they're being rewarded with success and they're being successful. Y la razón de esto es que cuando comienzan a imitar, son recompensados con el éxito y están teniendo éxito. [14:10] They're being more successful than the curriculum demands of them. Están teniendo más éxito del que exige el currículo. [14:15] But because mimicking is not a learning Pero como la imitación no es un aprendizaje [14:18] behavior, they kind of stay constant. el comportamiento, tienden a permanecer constantes. [14:21] They acquire new things to mimic, Adquieren cosas nuevas para imitar, [14:24] but they at the same time they lose pero al mismo tiempo pierden [14:26] things that they had previously cosas que habían adquirido previamente. [14:28] acquired. Adquirido. [14:28] And they just kind of stay constant and they just pick up new things to mimic. Y simplemente tienden a permanecer constantes y simplemente recogen cosas nuevas para imitar. [14:33] And when they start out, they're more productive than curriculum demands. Y cuando empiezan, son más productivos de lo que exige el currículo. [14:38] But with time, mimicers stay constant, whereas the curriculum becomes more and more demanding. Pero con el tiempo, los imitadores se mantienen constantes, mientras que el currículo se vuelve cada vez más exigente. [14:45] And eventually the demands of curriculum exceeds the students' ability to remain effective through mimicking. Y eventualmente las demandas del currículo superan la capacidad de los estudiantes para seguir siendo efectivos a través de la imitación. [14:53] And when that happens, the students don't go from a high mark to just below, Y cuando eso sucede, los estudiantes no pasan de una marca alta a un poco menos, [14:58] they go from a high mark to a low mark. pasan de una marca alta a una marca baja. [15:00] And all of a sudden you have a parent sitting there going, "I don't know what happened. Y de repente tienes a un padre sentado allí diciendo: "No sé qué pasó. [15:03] They used to be so good at math." Solían ser tan buenos en matemáticas." [15:06] And you as a teacher going, "No, they weren't. Y tú como profesor diciendo: "No, no lo eran. [15:09] They were good at mimicking. Eran buenos imitando. [15:11] And that has run out now." Y eso se ha agotado ahora." [15:13] And the number one place this runs out is when students first encounter algebra. Y el primer lugar donde esto se agota es cuando los estudiantes se encuentran por primera vez con el álgebra. [15:20] You see, the number of things that they have to mimic in primary school are relatively small. Verás, el número de cosas que tienen que imitar en la escuela primaria es relativamente pequeño. [15:23] But by the time they get up into secondary school or into the more abstract mathematics, the amount of things to mimic multiplies exponentially. Pero para cuando llegan a la escuela secundaria o a las matemáticas más abstractas, la cantidad de cosas a imitar se multiplica exponencialmente. [15:33] Like it's just it just becomes so big that the students can no longer remain productive through mimicking. Como que se vuelve tan grande que los estudiantes ya no pueden seguir siendo productivos imitando. [15:39] And that's what we were seeing here. Y eso es lo que estábamos viendo aquí. [15:40] Now, this data is 20 years old. Ahora, estos datos tienen 20 años. [15:44] But last year this study was recreated in Australia. Pero el año pasado este estudio se recreó en Australia. [15:49] And they got the exact same data. Y obtuvieron exactamente los mismos datos. [15:53] Exactly the same. Exactamente lo mismo. [15:56] So, either that means that things have not changed or that Australia is 20 years behind Canada. Entonces, o eso significa que las cosas no han cambiado o que Australia está 20 años detrás de Canadá. [16:03] I'm not sure, but either way it's not good. No estoy segura, pero de cualquier manera no es bueno. [16:05] But the data was so pervasive. Pero los datos eran tan generalizados. [16:08] All right, I know this is a bit of a downer. Está bien, sé que esto es un poco deprimente. [16:09] So, let's go up again. Entonces, volvamos a subir. [16:14] What else did I see in my journey? ¿Qué más vi en mi viaje? [16:16] I saw very good teachers. Vi muy buenos profesores. [16:19] Remember I had asked to be referred to Recuerda que había pedido que me refirieran a [16:21] Good teachers? ¿Buenos profesores? [16:23] I was given good teachers. Me dieron buenos profesores. [16:27] These were hard-working, dedicated professionals. Estos eran profesionales trabajadores y dedicados. [16:30] They knew their content, they knew their kids, they cared that the kids got through the content. Conocían su materia, conocían a sus alumnos, les importaba que los alumnos superaran la materia. [16:37] They were well-respected within their buildings. Eran muy respetados dentro de sus edificios. [16:40] Their peers respected them, the administration respected them, the parents wanted their children to be in those classrooms, the kids wanted to be in those classrooms. Sus colegas los respetaban, la administración los respetaba, los padres querían que sus hijos estuvieran en esas aulas, los niños querían estar en esas aulas. [16:51] These were highly respected people, hard-working, dedicated professionals. Estas eran personas muy respetadas, profesionales trabajadores y dedicados. [16:57] And yet every one of them said something to the effect of: Y sin embargo, todos ellos dijeron algo en el sentido de: [17:01] "This is not why I became a teacher. "Esto no es por lo que me hice profesor. [17:04] I became a teacher because I wanted students to understand. Me hice profesor porque quería que los alumnos entendieran. [17:07] I wanted them to see connections. Quería que vieran conexiones. [17:09] Some of them even said I want them to see the beauty. Algunos de ellos incluso dijeron que querían que vieran la belleza. [17:14] But what it feels like I'm doing instead is it feels like I'm cutting content into small bite-size pieces and pre-chewing it before feeding it to Pero lo que siento que estoy haciendo en cambio es que siento que estoy cortando el contenido en pequeños trozos y masticándolo antes de dárselo a [17:23] my students. mis estudiantes. [17:24] This is not where I why I became a teacher. Este no es el lugar por el que me convertí en profesor. [17:28] And I think this is where I learned perhaps my most important lesson on this journey. Y creo que aquí es donde aprendí quizás mi lección más importante en este viaje. [17:33] You see, I've always maintained, and I still maintain, that students are a product of their teachers. Verás, siempre he sostenido, y sigo sosteniendo, que los estudiantes son un producto de sus profesores. [17:40] But the opposite is equally true. Pero lo contrario es igualmente cierto. [17:42] Teachers are a product of their students. Los profesores son un producto de sus estudiantes. [17:45] Because who we are as teachers is dictated by who our students are as learners. Porque quiénes somos como profesores está dictado por quiénes son nuestros estudiantes como aprendices. [17:51] And what these teachers were saying was, "Because my students are not thinking, it has changed the kind of teacher I am and that I want to be. Y lo que estos profesores decían era: "Como mis estudiantes no están pensando, ha cambiado el tipo de profesor que soy y que quiero ser. [17:58] I'm not the teacher I want to be." No soy el profesor que quiero ser." [18:03] That's what these teachers were telling me. Eso es lo que estos profesores me estaban diciendo. [18:06] The other thing I noticed on this journey is everywhere I went classrooms look more alike than they look different. Otra cosa que noté en este viaje es que dondequiera que fui, las aulas se parecían más entre sí que diferentes. [18:12] Right? ¿Verdad? [18:13] Of course there's differences. Por supuesto que hay diferencias. [18:16] There's there's different, but there's so much similarity. Hay, hay diferencias, pero hay mucha similitud. [18:19] I've been in classrooms on five different continents, and I've never been in a classroom and asked myself, He estado en aulas en cinco continentes diferentes, y nunca he estado en un aula y me he preguntado, [18:24] Hmm, I wonder if this is a classroom. Hmm, me pregunto si esto es un aula. [18:27] Right? ¿Verdad? [18:28] Classrooms look more alike than they look different. Las aulas se parecen más de lo que son diferentes. [18:30] And what happens in classrooms looks more alike than it looks different. Y lo que sucede en las aulas se parece más de lo que es diferente. [18:37] Um it happened multiple times in my in my journey that I would walk into a classroom and I'd be like, "Hold on, I've been in this classroom." Um sucedió varias veces en mi en mi viaje que entraba a un aula y decía: "Espera, he estado en esta aula." [18:48] Flip through my digital photos, yep, there it is. Reviso mis fotos digitales, sí, ahí está. [18:49] Look at my logbook, nope. Miro mi libro de registro, no. [18:52] Different building. Edificio diferente. [18:54] Different city. Ciudad diferente. [18:56] Right? ¿Verdad? [18:58] Classrooms look more alike than they look different. Las aulas se parecen más de lo que son diferentes. [18:58] And what happens in classrooms looks more alike than it looks different. Y lo que sucede en las aulas se parece más de lo que es diferente. [19:04] I picked 40 as my number of classrooms to visit because I was hoping to see a huge variety of teaching practices. Elegí 40 como mi número de aulas a visitar porque esperaba ver una gran variedad de prácticas de enseñanza. [19:11] I didn't. No lo hice. [19:13] I saw the same thing over and over and over again. Vi lo mismo una y otra y otra vez. [19:19] The lecture, the Q&A, maybe some demonstration, and a lot of La conferencia, las preguntas y respuestas, quizás alguna demostración, y mucho [19:26] individual student students working individually doing seat work. Estudiantes individuales trabajando individualmente haciendo trabajo en sus asientos. [19:31] And here's what's ironic. Y aquí está lo irónico. [19:34] The fact that classrooms look alike and the fact that what happens in classrooms looks alike has been true for a very long time. El hecho de que las aulas se parezcan y el hecho de que lo que sucede en las aulas se parezca ha sido cierto durante mucho tiempo. [19:50] So, uh public education has existed for about 170 years. Así que, eh, la educación pública ha existido durante unos 170 años. [20:03] It started at the end of the first Industrial Revolution when the the Western world realized that if they wanted to remain economic powers, they had to educate their citizens. Comenzó al final de la primera Revolución Industrial cuando el mundo occidental se dio cuenta de que si querían seguir siendo potencias económicas, tenían que educar a sus ciudadanos. [20:15] And so within a 30-year span, we saw a public education pop up all over the world. Y así, en un lapso de 30 años, vimos surgir la educación pública en todo el mundo. [20:23] And at the dawn of public education, Y al amanecer de la educación pública, [20:26] there were a set of routines that were [20:28] laid down that are still with us today. [20:32] Routines such as [20:35] I do. [20:37] We do. [20:41] You do. [20:43] What's changed? [20:45] 170 years later, [20:48] yes, we've gone from blackboards to [20:51] green boards to white boards to smart [20:52] boards, and the chair's not always [20:54] attached to the desk anymore. [20:56] But like really, what has changed? [20:59] I was doing [21:01] I was doing a school visit 2 years ago. [21:04] I in a high school. I had a free pass. I [21:06] could go to any classroom I wanted. [21:08] I went to over 70 classrooms in 2 days, [21:11] all subjects. [21:13] And in 70% of the classrooms I was in, [21:16] this is what I saw. [21:18] I do, we do, you do. [21:21] You want to know where mimicking comes [21:22] from? [21:24] This is where mimicking comes from. [21:27] All right? [21:29] Um [21:35] I learned something else in my journey [21:38] that was really interesting. [21:40] So, I would work with teachers in their [21:42] classrooms, and I would ask them, "So, [21:45] what do you think about mimicking?" [21:48] And they'd be like, [21:50] >> [snorts] [21:51] >> "Not a fan." [21:52] "Maybe a little bit at the beginning, a [21:54] little fake it till you make it, but [21:56] overall, I do not want my students to [21:59] mimic." [22:01] And I would I would work with these [22:02] teachers, and I would work with teachers [22:04] who would say like, "I do not want my [22:06] students to mimic." And then I would [22:08] interview all of their students. [22:10] And their students would say, "He [22:12] definitely wants us to mimic." [22:15] How is that possible? [22:18] Well, it turns out, here's something [22:20] shocking for you. [22:22] Students don't listen to what we say. [22:26] I know, shocking. [22:29] 20 years of research, that was one of [22:30] the big results. [22:32] Stude Yeah, you knew you knew that on [22:34] day one. [22:36] >> [clears throat] [22:37] >> Students don't listen to what we say. [22:39] They listen to what we [22:41] do. [22:43] And if what we do is I do, we do, you [22:46] do, what they hear is that we want them [22:49] to mimic. [22:50] And it doesn't matter what your personal [22:52] beliefs are on that. That is what [22:54] they're hearing. [22:57] Now, to be clear, these are not the [22:59] free-flowing thoughts of some individual [23:01] teacher who just is struck with an [23:03] epiphany and realizes, "This is how I'm [23:05] going to teach." [23:07] This is These are not [23:09] individual teacher norms. These are [23:12] institutional norms. [23:15] This has infused itself into the very [23:17] fabric of what education is. [23:20] All right? And in many ways, they're [23:23] non-negotiable in the sense that we [23:25] don't feel that we have control over [23:27] this because at least where I'm from, [23:29] this is what's expected in the schools, [23:31] this is what's expected by my peers, my [23:33] administration, by the kids, by the [23:35] parents, sometimes by the state exams, [23:39] by teacher evaluation. [23:42] These are non-negotiable. It feels like [23:45] I don't have a choice. This is what's [23:47] expected of me. [23:51] And I started to realize that if [23:53] everywhere I went, students were not [23:55] thinking, and everywhere I went, there [23:58] were these pervasive institutionally [24:00] normative structures, could these be [24:02] connected? And if they are connected, it [24:05] means that the only way to get students [24:07] to think [24:09] is to start breaking down these norms. [24:12] And that became my research. And for the [24:14] next 15 years, I worked with over 400 [24:16] teachers. [24:18] Our mandate was simple. [24:20] Break norms and see if we can increase [24:22] student thinking. Can we get more [24:24] students thinking? Can we get them [24:25] thinking for longer? [24:28] And I got to tell you, the first 6 [24:30] months of this was crazy fun. [24:32] We tried anything and everything. [24:35] We were throwing whatever we could come [24:37] up with at the wall to see what would [24:39] stick. [24:40] And here's the frightening thing. [24:43] Everything stuck. [24:46] It didn't matter what we tried, as long [24:49] as we were breaking norms, [24:52] we were increasing the amount of [24:53] thinking students were doing. [24:55] And that revealed two things. First of [24:57] all, this conjecture was correct. [25:00] That the norms were the things that were [25:03] causing the problems. Because when we [25:05] broke those, we could increase student [25:06] thinking. [25:08] The second thing it revealed was we [25:10] weren't so much teaching students to [25:12] think. [25:13] We were liberating them to think. [25:16] They already had it in them. [25:18] We just had to get the norms out of the [25:20] way. [25:22] Anyway, like I said, the first 6 months [25:24] was crazy fun. [25:26] Um and then I woke up one morning and I [25:28] realized I'd lost all control of the [25:29] data. [25:31] Yes, we were having these massive [25:33] impacts on student thinking, but we were [25:35] trying four or five things at a time, [25:37] which meant that I lost the ability to [25:39] link [25:41] any one teacher practice any one student [25:43] behavior. [25:45] So, I reorganized the research into 14 [25:48] core practices. [25:51] So, these are the core routines that [25:53] every teacher does. [25:56] All right? We all do this. If you're a [25:59] classroom teacher, you all do this. [26:01] Right? We all use tasks. We all use [26:03] collaborative groups to some extent. [26:05] Right? [26:07] We answer questions. We do notes and [26:09] homework and summative and formative [26:12] assessment. We all do these things. [26:16] And by and large, [26:18] we do these in a way that kind of [26:20] conforms to institutionally normative [26:22] structures. And I'm By we, I don't mean [26:24] we in this room. I mean we as a [26:26] profession. [26:29] Now, it's been stated that these [26:31] routines, these 14 routines, account for [26:33] between anywhere between 90 and 95% of [26:36] what a teacher does on a day-by-day [26:37] basis. [26:39] These became my variables. [26:41] And what I was looking for were the [26:43] optimal practices for thinking. [26:47] Is there a way to enact each of these in [26:50] a way that maximizes student thinking? [26:55] That gets more students thinking, gets [26:57] them thinking for longer. [26:59] These became my variables. That was my [27:01] goal. [27:02] And I'm going to share these with you in [27:04] in a moment. But before I do, [27:06] I just want to say something about the [27:07] institutionally normative practices. [27:11] Not once did one of those come out on [27:14] top. Not once. [27:16] Not once did one of those teaching [27:19] practices that are so ensconced within [27:21] our educational system come out as [27:23] number one. And in fact, in almost every [27:26] single circumstance, not only did it [27:28] come out as not number one, it came out [27:31] last. [27:32] Dead last of everything we tried. [27:37] And to understand why that is, we got to [27:38] go back to the dawn of public education. [27:41] At the dawn of public education, the [27:44] goals for education were simple. [27:46] Conformity [27:48] and compliance. [27:50] We were making factory workers. [27:53] We needed them to conform and comply. [27:54] This was the goals of public education [27:56] 170 years ago. [28:00] Our goals have changed since then. [28:03] We talk about 21st century [28:06] the 21st century learning skills or [28:08] thinking skills. We talk about critical [28:10] and creative thinking. We talk about [28:11] equity. [28:13] We have different goals in education [28:16] now. There's no way we can achieve those [28:18] goals [28:19] using practices that were forged in a [28:23] crucible of conformity and compliance. [28:24] We need new practices. And that's what [28:26] we found, new practices. [28:28] So, there they are. [28:30] They're not going to mean much there on [28:31] a slide, but I am going to talk about [28:34] the first four. [28:37] So, we're going to get into those. [28:40] So, let's start. [28:43] The first thing I realized was that if [28:45] we wanted students to think, we needed [28:48] to give them something to think about. [28:52] And that comes in the form of a task. [28:54] And when I first realized that, I [28:56] thought, "Oh, this is going to be so [28:58] hard. It's so hard to find good tasks [29:01] that get students to think." Turns out [29:02] it wasn't. We found them everywhere. [29:04] They're like pebbles on a beach. [29:05] Interesting word problems, interesting [29:08] visualization problems, interesting [29:10] counting problems. [29:13] Do you see the word kayak written there? [29:17] Yeah, of course you do. [29:20] Top to bottom, left to right. [29:22] But kayak is a palindrome, [29:25] which means that we can read it [29:27] backwards. [29:29] What if I start here [29:32] and I go out to the Y, I go to the Y, [29:35] and then I go down like this? [29:38] That also spells the word kayak. [29:42] What if I start here and go down this [29:44] way? [29:45] That also spells the word kayak. [29:47] How many different ways How many [29:49] different paths are there here that [29:51] spell the word kayak? [29:54] We can't get the kids to stop thinking [29:55] about this. [29:57] They'll grind and grind and grind on [29:58] this and then they come back on Monday [30:00] and they're like, I was I was thinking [30:02] about kayak on the weekend and I think [30:04] there's eight new kayaks that we didn't [30:06] count on Friday. [30:08] We couldn't get them to stop thinking [30:10] about this. [30:11] And when we started to find these tasks [30:14] that were so effective at getting [30:15] students to think, we realized three [30:18] things about them. [30:20] Number one, [30:21] they all had a low floor. [30:25] So, what does this mean? A low floor [30:27] means that everybody can start. [30:31] This is really important. We need [30:34] everybody to be able to start. [30:38] So, my metaphor for because that creates [30:41] access, that creates equity, right? My [30:44] metaphor for this is [30:46] when we launch a task or a lesson, we [30:50] want to back the train up [30:53] into the station far enough for all my [30:56] students to get on the train. [30:59] And then, [31:01] we leave the station. [31:03] Now, my job is just to keep all my [31:04] students on the train. [31:06] Which is a lot easier than pulling out [31:08] of the station with two kids in the [31:10] snack bar and three in the bathroom and [31:12] four on the wrong platform. [31:14] Cuz now I got 21 kids on the train, I [31:16] got nine back at the station causing all [31:18] sorts of problems. I want to get [31:20] everybody on the train, which means I [31:22] have to back up far enough that they can [31:25] all access it. [31:27] Now, this is really important. [31:30] And And I do this all the time when I'm [31:32] in classrooms. [31:34] I do about 120 lessons a year [31:37] in in in classrooms, all ages. [31:40] And [31:42] and I'm always backing up. [31:45] So, I did a lesson a few weeks ago [31:49] and we were [31:51] simplifying rational expressions. If you [31:54] know, you know. [31:55] This was a grade 11 topic, so 16 [31:58] 17-year-olds. I backed the train up [32:02] to fourth grade. [32:04] So, 9-year-olds. I had to back up that [32:07] [music] far [32:08] to cover to review some content that [32:10] allowed us to get all the way [32:12] into the lesson. [32:14] But, this is a bullet train. [32:16] It's going to go fast. It's going to go [32:18] far [32:19] if we get everybody on the train. I'll [32:21] show I'll I'll show you a video of that [32:24] minute. [32:25] So, number one, it had to have a low [32:27] ceiling. Number two, it had to have [32:30] a low floor. It had to have a high [32:32] ceiling. [32:33] What does a high ceiling mean? It means [32:35] that even though everybody can start, [32:37] everybody will meet challenge [32:40] there somewhere. Everybody can start [32:42] counting kayaks. [32:44] You're going to meet challenge if you [32:46] try to figure out how many there are. [32:48] Everybody, doesn't matter who you are, [32:50] you're going to meet challenge. And this [32:52] is important because it's when students [32:54] are challenged [32:56] that the learning happens. [32:59] Right? This is where productive struggle [33:00] happens. [33:02] So, productive struggle [33:04] is is something that's really important. [33:07] Now, there's isn't really a great word [33:10] for that in Europe. So, I talk about [33:13] frustration. [33:14] And there's two types of frustration. [33:17] Okay? Our students are going to get [33:18] frustrated. It's okay. When we challenge [33:20] them, they will get frustrated. But, [33:22] there are two types of frustration. [33:24] There is this is stupid. Math sucks. I [33:28] suck. [33:29] There's that kind of frustration and [33:31] then there's the frustration of ooh, [33:36] this is hard. [33:40] Let's go. [33:42] Okay? There's that type of frustration. [33:44] So, I characterize these frustrations [33:46] differently. The first type is hopeless [33:50] frustration. [33:52] And the second type is hopeful [33:54] frustration. [33:56] Right? [33:57] We want students to be hopefully [33:59] frustrated. [34:01] That's where the learning happens. [34:03] But, [34:05] we learned something about that. [34:07] You cannot have students be hopefully [34:09] frustrated if they don't have early [34:11] success. [34:12] So, [34:13] they need to have success, success, [34:15] success. [34:17] And here comes the challenge. [34:19] And then they will go into hopeful [34:21] frustration. [34:22] If they meet challenge immediately [34:24] without any success, they're more likely [34:27] to go into a hopeless frustration. [34:30] And this was really important. This is [34:32] why we needed a low floor that builds [34:34] the early success for everybody [34:36] and then the high ceiling. Number three, [34:39] it had to be novel. It had to be [34:41] something the students had never seen [34:42] before. Because thinking is what we do [34:45] when we don't know what to do. [34:48] If we know what to do, we just do it. [34:52] Right? We need to get them to think. So, [34:54] it had to be something that was novel, [34:56] unique. [34:57] So, those three things were common. [34:59] There was a fourth thing that was [35:00] common. [35:01] And the fourth thing was this. Every [35:03] time we found a great task that got the [35:05] students to think, it almost always [35:09] had nothing to do with the curriculum. [35:12] And this is a problem. [35:14] Cuz we have stuff we got to get through. [35:18] And we kept finding these great tasks [35:20] that had nothing to do with the [35:21] curriculum. [35:22] But, then I started to wonder, well, can [35:24] we take these ideas, these ideas of low [35:26] floor, high ceiling, novelty and bring [35:29] it into curriculum? And it turns out you [35:31] can. [35:32] Because it turns out that asking [35:34] students what's bigger, 3/5 or 4/7, is [35:38] an amazing thinking task [35:40] until we show them how to do it. [35:43] Then it's a mimicking task. [35:45] Asking students to factor a quadratic is [35:48] an amazing thinking task [35:50] until we show them how to do it. Then [35:52] it's a mimicking task. [35:54] Asking students to solve a two-step [35:56] algebra equation is a great thinking [35:58] task until we show them how to do it. [36:02] We are drowning in curricular thinking [36:05] tasks. They're everywhere. Our resources [36:08] are dripping with them. The problem is [36:10] that we suck the thinking out of them by [36:13] showing the kids how to do it. [36:16] And I'll I'll come back to this in a [36:18] bit. [36:19] One of the things that we learned, [36:21] however, [36:22] is that these tasks turned out to be [36:24] really important. [36:26] Because these tasks is how we build a [36:28] culture of thinking. [36:30] And we need to do three to five of these [36:32] to get the students up and running. But, [36:35] then we spend the rest of the year doing [36:37] curriculum. [36:39] Regardless of what it is, if we have a [36:42] thinking classroom, we can get them to [36:44] think about this. [36:46] And they are voracious consumers. They [36:49] will devour content. When I teach a [36:52] lesson, uh we normally cover between two [36:55] and three days worth of content in one [36:57] lesson. [36:58] Because when the students are thinking, [37:00] anything is possible. When they're not [37:02] thinking, everything is difficult. [37:05] They take a long time, they don't really [37:07] learn it, and they don't remember it. [37:09] But, when they're thinking, anything is [37:11] possible. [37:12] So, we got to go slow to go fast. [37:16] Now we've given students something to [37:18] think about, we have to give them [37:19] someone to think with. [37:22] And that comes in the form of a [37:24] collaborative group. [37:26] Now, [37:27] there are two main ways that teachers [37:30] tend to group students. [37:32] The first one is called strategic [37:34] grouping. [37:36] Strategic grouping is where the teacher [37:39] has a goal and then they will make their [37:41] groups of students in a way to satisfy [37:43] that goal. So, maybe I want to [37:44] differentiate today. So, I'm going to [37:46] make [37:47] ability groupings. [37:49] Right? So, this group's going to work on [37:51] these tasks and this group's going to [37:52] work on these tasks and this group, [37:54] they're working with me. [37:56] Right? So, ability groups. Maybe my goal [37:59] is to increase productivity. So, I'll [38:01] make mixed ability groups. [38:03] Maybe my goal is just to have peace and [38:05] quiet. [38:06] So, I'm going to keep certain students [38:07] apart. [38:09] So, whatever the goal is, this teacher [38:11] will make the groups according to that [38:13] goal. This is called strategic grouping. [38:16] And at least in North America, this is a [38:18] primary grouping method that we see in [38:20] primary school. [38:22] The second grouping method is [38:26] work with who you want. [38:28] This is called self-selected groupings. [38:31] Okay? And this is what we tend to see at [38:33] high school and secondary school. [38:36] Well, it turns out that both strategic [38:39] grouping and self-selected grouping [38:40] absolutely sucks [38:43] at getting students to think. [38:45] And ironically for the exact same [38:47] reason. [38:50] We did a massive study where we asked [38:52] students one question. [38:54] The question was this. If you knew If [38:57] you know you're going to work in groups [38:58] to solve a problem today, what is the [39:01] likelihood that you will offer an idea? [39:06] That's it. What is the likelihood that [39:08] you will offer an idea? [39:15] And 80% of students said that they were [39:17] unlikely or highly unlikely to offer an [39:20] idea. And it turned out it didn't matter [39:22] if they were in strategic groups or [39:24] self-selected groups. It was the same. [39:27] 80% said that they're not offering an [39:29] idea. [39:30] Why? Cuz they already know their role [39:32] that day. And for 80% of students, their [39:34] role is not to lead. It's not to think. [39:40] 80%. [39:42] If students are going into groups [39:44] predisposed to not offering an idea, [39:46] we're losing before we even start. [39:50] So, [39:51] what is the alternative? [39:54] In self-selected groups, the students [39:56] have the control. [39:57] In strategic grouping, the teacher has [39:59] the control. [40:01] So, what's the alternative? Well, it [40:03] turns out that the alternative is [40:05] random. [40:07] That we will make random groups. Nobody [40:09] has control. [40:11] But, it has to be visibly random. The [40:12] students have to see the randomness, and [40:14] it has to be frequent, about once every [40:16] lesson. [40:20] And that's what we tried, and we ran [40:21] that for 3 weeks. [40:24] After 3 weeks, we ran the same study. [40:27] Same question. [40:29] If you knew you're going to work in [40:30] groups today to solve a problem, what is [40:32] the likelihood that you would offer an [40:34] idea? [40:35] This is the baseline data. [40:37] 80% said unlikely or highly unlikely. [40:41] After 3 weeks of random groups, [40:47] 100% [40:51] said that they were likely or highly [40:53] likely to offer an idea. [40:55] 100% [40:57] Why? Cuz they don't know their role yet [41:00] that day. [41:02] This [41:03] is transformative. [41:05] This is probably the most important [41:07] thing we can do in a classroom. It's to [41:08] start using random groups. It completely [41:11] changes the culture of the room. [41:16] Students enter those groups ready to [41:18] think because they don't know what their [41:20] role will be. [41:22] Now, we learned some other things in [41:25] this setting. We learned that groups of [41:26] three were optimal. [41:28] When we had groups of three, we heard [41:30] three voices. [41:32] When we had groups of four, [41:34] we heard three voices. [41:37] When we had groups of five, we heard two [41:40] voices [41:41] on task, [41:43] two voices off task, [41:45] and one voice just disappeared. [41:49] It had to be groups of three. [41:52] Now, for very, very young children, so [41:55] younger than 7 years old, we found that [41:58] groups of two were optimal. [42:01] And this is because they're still [42:02] learning that sort of social dynamic of [42:05] collaboration. [42:07] But, we But, even in even in these [42:09] classes, these groups of three were [42:11] optimal, but we had to start with groups [42:13] of two. [42:15] We also learned [42:17] that diversity was an asset. [42:20] And I know that that is hard to believe. [42:24] Our classrooms are so diverse now. We [42:26] have low achievers, high achievers. We [42:28] have students on the autism spectrum, [42:30] undiagnosed ADHD. We have language [42:32] learners. Our classrooms are a sock [42:35] drawer. [42:37] Right? There's so much diversity. [42:39] And it's hard to function in that class [42:43] as a teacher [42:44] when we leave the students working [42:46] individually. The minute we started [42:48] creating random groups, we started to [42:50] see that diversity was an asset. [42:53] And I live this experience every time [42:55] I'm in a classroom. [42:57] Almost every single time I'm in a [42:59] classroom, a teacher will come up to me [43:00] and say, [43:02] "That group's going to be really strong. [43:04] It's got some of my strongest students [43:06] in it." [43:07] I'm like, "Okay. [43:09] We'll see." [43:11] It's never true. [43:13] Ever. [43:14] Every time a teacher has said that, that [43:16] group is outperformed by seemingly less [43:19] capable, more diverse group of students. [43:21] Diverse students Diverse groups, they [43:24] ask each other better questions. They [43:25] have more empathy for each other. It's [43:27] amazing to watch. [43:29] Diversity is an asset. [43:33] The best lessons I teach now are in [43:34] diverse classrooms. [43:36] The worst ones, I was at a private [43:38] school earlier in the week, [43:40] and they have like really highly [43:43] tracked students. [43:45] And the worst lesson of the week was the [43:47] class that was like the honors pre-IB [43:50] AP, [43:52] you know, accelerated group, where it [43:54] was That was the group that [43:56] underperformed. [43:58] It's the diversity that was making [44:00] things work here, which is good because [44:02] in Canada, we have a ton of it. [44:04] I hear you do, too. [44:07] All right. So, now we're giving students [44:09] something to think about and somewhere [44:10] to do that, or somewhere to think with. [44:12] Now, we have to give them somewhere to [44:13] do that thinking. And I don't think [44:15] anybody's surprised [44:17] that the optimal workspace was vertical [44:19] whiteboards. [44:21] Getting the students up [44:23] and working at a vertical whiteboard was [44:26] the game changer. And this is probably [44:28] the most visibly different practice that [44:31] Building Thinking Classrooms brings [44:32] forward, [44:33] but I want to remind you, it's just one [44:35] out of 14. [44:37] But, this made a huge difference. [44:40] Getting the students on the vertical [44:43] whiteboard, except it didn't have to be [44:46] a whiteboard. [44:47] It just had to be vertical and erasable. [44:50] So, a window works. [44:52] The side of a file cabinet works. [44:55] A picnic table covered, stapled to a [44:57] bulletin board, works. [44:59] Cellophane works. [45:01] You know, the stuff, the clear plastic [45:03] that you make gift baskets out of? That [45:05] works. [45:07] Anything worked as long as it was [45:08] vertical and erasable. [45:12] Why erasable? [45:14] Because it turns out that risk is a [45:16] barrier to thinking. When students feel [45:18] at risk, they don't feel safe to think. [45:22] We did comparative studies where we [45:23] would have one group of students working [45:25] on a vertical whiteboard right next to a [45:27] group of students working on vertical [45:28] paper. [45:30] 5 minutes into the activity, the [45:32] whiteboard group, the board is covered. [45:35] The paper group, nothing. [45:39] It's got to be perfect before we put it [45:40] on paper. [45:42] It doesn't have to be perfect to put it [45:44] on a whiteboard. [45:45] So, they risk There's no risk. They just [45:47] try it cuz they can always erase it. [45:50] The irony is they don't erase it, [45:52] but [45:53] they get they free feel free to start. [45:58] Right? But, why vertical? [46:01] Because I know some of you are thinking, [46:02] "Yeah, that's okay. I can get some [46:04] students up at the boards. I can have [46:05] the others at the tables." Nope. Made a [46:07] huge difference. [46:09] It had to be vertical. [46:11] Why? What was it about vertical? [46:14] Well, [46:16] when it's vertical, [46:18] the work is oriented the same to [46:20] everybody. [46:21] We're all looking at it this way. When [46:23] it's on a table, [46:25] someone's looking at it sideways, [46:27] someone's looking at it upside down. [46:29] It's oriented towards one person. [46:32] And that actually creates a [46:33] psychological barrier because when it's [46:36] oriented to one person, that's the [46:38] person who owns it. [46:40] When it's oriented the same, everybody [46:42] owns it. It changes the dynamic. [46:45] When it's vertical, [46:48] they can see each other's work. The [46:51] smartest person in the room is the room. [46:54] There is brilliance in the classroom. [46:56] The problem is that students are [46:58] hoarding their knowledge. They're [47:00] keeping it to themselves. [47:02] We need to get it visible, and then [47:04] everyone can share in this knowledge. [47:06] So, when it's vertical, they can see [47:08] each other's work. [47:09] When it's vertical, I'm a better [47:11] teacher. [47:13] I don't have to wait for that quiz on [47:14] Friday to see which of my students [47:16] understand it. I can see it right now. [47:20] And I can take action right now. [47:23] I can intervene. [47:25] And these are all good reasons, but they [47:27] were all eclipsed by one powerful piece [47:30] of data. [47:31] Took over 2 years to get at this data, [47:33] but it turns out [47:36] that it's not that standing is so good. [47:39] It's that sitting is so bad. [47:43] And I don't mean like sitting is the new [47:45] smoking bad. [47:46] It turned out [47:48] that when people when students are [47:50] sitting, [47:51] they feel anonymous. [47:54] And the further they sit from the [47:56] teacher, the more anonymous they feel. [48:01] And when students feel anonymous, [48:03] they disengage. [48:06] They disengage. [48:09] And this is both conscious and [48:11] subconscious. [48:13] What standing up did was it took away [48:15] their anonymity. [48:16] They didn't feel anonymous. They didn't [48:18] disengage. [48:20] We got to get them vertical. [48:23] Now, we sum all this up with when your [48:26] bum is numb, your brain is dumb. [48:29] You're probably feeling that right now. [48:31] All right. [48:33] Last one we're going to talk about is [48:34] this. [48:36] So, [48:39] when we first start Building Thinking [48:40] Classrooms, it's like taking taking the [48:44] pressure off. [48:46] Because so much of of normative [48:49] classrooms is about maintaining control. [48:53] Right? We have the students in their [48:55] desks. We're controlling what they're [48:56] talk about. We're controlling who they [48:58] sit with. We're controlling everything. [49:00] And all of a sudden, I'm going to give [49:01] you a problem that I've not shown you [49:03] how to do. I'm going to put you in [49:03] random groups. I'm going to send you to [49:05] the whiteboards. [49:06] All that control comes off. [49:08] And the students don't always react well [49:11] to that. [49:13] In fact, our working theory is this. The [49:16] I can always tell if I go into a [49:17] classroom and I'm doing Thinking [49:19] Classrooms for the very first time with [49:21] students, [49:22] how crazy they are is proportional to [49:26] how much control the teacher has. [49:29] So, the more control the teacher has, [49:31] when they release that control, the kids [49:32] just explode. [49:35] It takes about a minutes of running [49:36] around and acting crazy and then you can [49:39] settle them down, but [49:41] but there's this release of control. [49:43] We're giving over control to the [49:45] students. [49:46] Students don't always seize that [49:48] opportunity [49:49] in positive ways. [49:51] We need to shape how they're going to [49:53] make use of this. [49:55] And that's [49:56] number 12. [49:58] Chapter 12 in the book. It's about [50:01] creating expectations, [50:03] rubrics around how you're going to [50:05] behave with each other. [50:08] And this is what the research was 5 [50:10] years ago, [50:11] but we have streamlined it to this. [50:16] It's called a single indicator rubric [50:18] and it's the first one we focus on is [50:20] the difference between collaboration and [50:22] turn taking. [50:24] So, turn taking is where the students [50:26] work one at a time. [50:28] Collaboration is when they work [50:30] together. [50:32] Do you see the difference? [50:33] How many of your students do you think [50:35] believe turn taking is collaborating? [50:40] In Canada and the US, it's all of them. [50:43] But they're not collaborating. We got to [50:45] get them collaborating. [50:47] Random groups offers a lot of [50:49] possibility, but it also offers a lot of [50:52] problems. And the way we [50:55] cut those problems off is we make sure [50:57] that the focus is on collaboration, not [50:59] turn taking, that there's shared [51:01] expectation and norms within the rooms, [51:03] that the students are going to work well [51:04] together. [51:06] I've been using this for the last this [51:09] stream down one, this this single arrow. [51:12] I've been using it since September in [51:13] classrooms. I've used it in about [51:16] 65 classrooms this year so far. It works [51:19] every time. It radically transforms the [51:22] way kids behave. [51:23] And I think the reason it does is that [51:26] we tell kids that we want them to [51:28] collaborate. [51:29] They don't know what that means. [51:32] They think it means turn taking. [51:34] And [51:37] we rarely teach kids how to behave. We [51:39] tell them what not to do when they step [51:42] out of line, but we don't tell them how [51:43] to behave. [51:45] What we do here is Well, you're going to [51:46] see this in the workshops. I don't need [51:47] to get into all the details, but you're [51:49] going to get to live this experience. [51:50] This is a game changer. [51:52] So, we put all these together. [51:56] There's all 14 practices, but then the [51:59] next question is, where do we start? [52:04] Because if something as small as random [52:06] groups can make a big difference, where [52:07] we start makes a big difference. That [52:09] was another 2 years of research, and [52:11] this research has just been updated. [52:14] It turns out that we can't just [52:17] willy-nilly just pick any one of these [52:19] and start. Practice number five, stop [52:23] answering their questions. [52:25] If you go into school tomorrow and the [52:26] only thing you do is stop answering [52:28] questions, [52:30] you're going to have a bad day. [52:33] It's not the place to start. [52:35] So, this was another 2 years of [52:36] research, lots of professional [52:38] development, teachers being given [52:39] different practices to try. [52:42] And what emerged was this. [52:45] The idea is these it turns out that [52:48] these 14 practices break into four [52:50] toolkits. [52:51] And the idea is we start in the first [52:54] toolkit. And the first toolkit are these [52:57] four practices. [52:59] Thinking tasks, random groups, vertical [53:01] whiteboards, and that single indicator [53:04] arrow. [53:06] This is where we start. Now, there are [53:07] four things we know about this this [53:09] toolkit. [53:11] Number one, we have to do all four of [53:13] them together. [53:14] There is no slow start here. We do all [53:16] four together. And the reason for this [53:20] is that [53:21] s- [53:22] students [snorts] [53:24] it has to do with systems theory, but [53:25] the the reason is this. [53:27] When you make small changes, the [53:29] students don't change their behavior. [53:32] In order for us as teachers to enact [53:35] something new in our classroom, we need [53:37] the students to come along. So, when I [53:39] make a change in my teaching, the [53:41] students have to respond with a change [53:43] in their behavior. Well, when we make [53:45] small changes, the students don't change [53:47] their behavior. [53:49] So, we have to make a big change. That's [53:51] why we do all four together. Number one [53:53] Number two, [53:54] we have to start with non-curricular [53:56] tasks. I told you that earlier. We have [53:58] to start with something that is fun, [54:01] something that is easy for them to get [54:03] involved with, something that has a low [54:04] floor, high ceiling. These [54:06] non-curricular tasks are [54:11] uh it's easier to get everybody on the [54:13] train cuz there's a lower prerequisite [54:16] threshold. [54:18] Number three, we actually have to start [54:20] with three to five non-curricular tasks. [54:23] We have because students don't learn a [54:24] pattern of behavior from one experience. [54:27] They need to have multiple experiences [54:29] in a row. [54:31] You're going to get the time back, I [54:32] promise you. [54:34] And number four, we got to get out of [54:35] toolkit number one. [54:37] We should only be spending 1 to 2 weeks [54:39] in this toolkit, and then we got to move [54:41] on. Is it going to be perfect? No, [54:43] but you're going to keep working on it, [54:45] but we got to get into the next toolkit. [54:47] Here there's five practices. You do them [54:48] one at a time. The order doesn't matter. [54:51] This is about fine-tuning those [54:53] practices within the classroom. [54:55] Again, 2 to 3 weeks in here. Toolkit [54:58] three, [54:59] this is the most important toolkit. This [55:01] is where we turn the thinking into [55:03] learning. [55:05] This is how we close the lesson. [55:07] And toolkit number four, this is [55:08] assessment. Not because And it comes [55:10] last not because assessment isn't [55:12] important, but because assessment should [55:14] reflect [55:16] your practice. And up until now, your [55:18] practice is changing. [55:20] And when we put all this together, it's [55:22] called a building thinking classroom [55:24] framework. [55:27] And uh there's a book. [55:31] It comes in both English and Spanish. [55:34] All right. [55:35] And 21 other languages. Um [55:39] and when we put it all together, it [55:41] looks like [55:42] this. [55:45] Now, this is a video from a thinking [55:47] classroom in Canada. [55:49] Uh before we start, I just have to [55:52] explain a few things. These are These [55:53] are 10th graders. [55:56] So, 15, 16-year-olds. Okay? [55:59] Uh this is not their first day doing [56:02] thinking classrooms. They've been doing [56:03] it for 6 weeks. [56:05] This is their sixth week. It's a [56:07] Wednesday, in case you care. [56:09] Um that is me [56:12] with my hand on the board. [56:14] Um the last thing I'll say before I [56:15] press play is there's going to be a [56:17] bunch of people in the video who look [56:18] like they're off task. [56:21] Those are teachers. [56:23] All right. So, there's teachers in the [56:25] room. [56:26] Teacher, teacher, teacher, teacher, [56:28] teacher, teacher, teacher, teacher, [56:29] teacher, teacher, teacher, teacher, [56:31] teacher. [56:31] That's not very many teachers. 2 weeks [56:34] ago, I did two lessons. [56:37] We had 50 teachers in the classroom. [56:42] It was squishy in there. [56:45] But so, there you go. So, this is This [56:48] is what a thinking classroom looks like. [56:53] We teach really fast in Canada. [56:59] But you can see the engagement, [57:01] the interaction within groups, between [57:03] groups, even at the time lapse. You can [57:06] see how engaged the kids are, how hard [57:08] they're working. [57:11] So, a few things about that video. [57:14] That was 75 minutes [57:17] that those kids worked at the [57:18] whiteboards. 75 minutes. [57:21] Right? [57:23] Um this school has no bells, which means [57:26] at the 75-minute mark, I have to tell [57:27] them it's time to go. [57:29] You need to go. [57:32] Go. [57:36] Not going. Not going. Not going. [57:40] Going. [57:42] Is this normal teenage behavior? [57:45] Work for 75 minutes non-stop and then [57:47] not leave when it's time to go? No, but [57:50] this is what we see in thinking [57:51] classrooms all the time. They will work [57:54] hard [57:56] the entire time, and then they don't [57:58] want to leave. They want to keep working [57:59] or they want to they stay in the room. [58:04] Now, a few things that So, So, what were [58:06] they working on that was so engaging? It [58:09] must have been one of those like kayak [58:10] problems, one of those like really low [58:13] floor, high ceiling [58:15] non-curricular fun tasks. Nope. [58:19] They were factoring quadratics. [58:22] If If you know, you know. Like, do you [58:24] know what I mean by fact- I don't know [58:26] how the translator is going to handle [58:27] that. [58:29] For those of you don't who don't know [58:31] factoring quadratics, in Canada that's a [58:32] 10th grade topic. It is students' [58:35] favorite topic. [58:37] They ask for it every day. [58:39] They cheer when we do it. [58:42] No, it's not. [58:44] Factoring quadratics is like to high [58:46] school students, secondary students, [58:47] what fractions is to elementary [58:49] students. They don't like it. It's hard. [58:51] It's frustrating. When are we ever going [58:52] to use this? [58:54] In this lesson, this group of students [58:57] covered 4 days worth of content in one [59:00] lesson. [59:01] They figured out all of factoring [59:03] quadratics. We never taught them how to [59:05] do it. [clears throat] [59:06] They figured it out by thinking. [59:09] All we did was feed them a stream of [59:11] questions. [59:13] That's what's possible in a thinking [59:15] classroom. Now, this is not the honors [59:18] group or the accelerated group. This is [59:20] not an international or private school. [59:22] This is a small farming community about [59:25] 300 km from a major city. [59:28] There are only 80 10th grade students in [59:31] this school, and this is a random [59:33] collection of a third of them. [59:35] This is about 26 kids. [59:38] There are low achievers, high achievers, [59:40] there's students on the autism spectrum, [59:42] there is an undiagnosed ADHD student in [59:46] there. There are two refugees from the [59:48] Ukraine in there that just got there the [59:51] week before. [59:53] It's a sock drawer. [59:54] And yet this diverse group of students [59:57] tore through content and learned it and [01:00:00] retained it. [01:00:02] That's what happens in a thinking [01:00:04] classroom. [01:00:05] Remember the baseline data? [01:00:07] 20% of students were thinking for 20% of [01:00:09] the time. [01:00:10] In this group, [01:00:12] 93% of students were thinking the entire [01:00:15] time. [01:00:18] There's going to be more learning that [01:00:19] happens [01:00:21] when students spend more time thinking. [01:00:25] I want to thank you for your attention. [01:00:27] Um [01:00:27] if you want more resources, [01:00:30] so this is a QR to the PowerPoint over [01:00:33] here. [01:00:34] You're going to have to give your email [01:00:36] address. It'll send you a link. [01:00:38] Um there's a website, [01:00:40] but I want to draw your attention to the [01:00:42] social media. [01:00:43] So Instagram and Facebook, Building [01:00:46] Thinking Classrooms, [01:00:48] those accounts we're putting out new [01:00:49] content every day. [01:00:52] Every day. [01:00:53] We're pumping out the the the [01:00:55] information about Building Thinking [01:00:57] Classrooms. [01:00:58] But Facebook also has these Building [01:01:01] Thinking Classroom Facebook groups. [01:01:03] There's over 50 of them. [01:01:05] The main one has 80,000 teachers in it [01:01:08] from all over the world. But there are [01:01:10] ones that are very specific to different [01:01:13] grades and different languages. I think [01:01:16] there's a Spanish group, but I don't [01:01:18] think they're on Facebook. They're on [01:01:22] Telegram. They're on Telegram. I don't [01:01:24] have that information, [01:01:26] but I'm sure you can find it. [01:01:28] All right, I just want to thank you for [01:01:30] your attention. I hope you enjoy the [01:01:31] rest of the day and I look forward to [01:01:32] seeing you in the workshop. Thank you. [01:01:34] >> [applause]