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Ron Finley is not your typical gardener. His garden transformed the lives of the people in his barren community called South Los Angeles. Prior his initiative, for you to get fresh produce, you should brave driving 45 minutes. So to save on gas and beautify his fRont lawn, he planted food. Of course, he got apprehended for that. But 900 signatures got authorities off his back. Los Angeles Green Grounds was an organization inspired by his defiance to grow his own food. Ron is now quite a famous speaker but he remains to be a humble gardener. To read more about Ron Finley visit www.thextraordinary.org

On Saturday PZ Sydney Network hosted Ron Ritchhart and Mark Church for a conversation about their new book, "The Power of Making Thinking Visible". What follows is a summary of some of the key messages from this conversation. You can watch the whole conversation above. For more learning opportunities like this visit the PZ Sydney Network or follow @pzsydnetwork on Twitter.

Earlier this year a group of teachers I work with explored the 'Eight Cultural Forces' identified by Ron Ritchhart of Harvard's Project Zero. In doing so we decided to focus on our use of the term learning instead of the word work. Our goal was to bring our language choices into the spotlight and explore how a more deliberate focus on learning might alter the culture of our classrooms. Two terms later this focus persists and it is worth reflecting on the effect that this has had.

If you are interested in building a classroom culture where thinking is noticed, named and celebrated, there are three books which make essential reading. They provide clear evidence for why teachers should focus their efforts on encouraging and normalising thinking and offer research-backed strategies to support this. The books are the result of ongoing research by Harvard's Project Zero and their lead author Ron Ritchhart.

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