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Prompts main image The best prompts are the ones that spark a personal connection between the writer and their ideas. Provided here are some generic writing prompts to get you started, but you will also find some tips on how to write your own prompts. These self-written prompts will offer better starting blocks for your students than the generic prompts because they spring from the immediacy of their lives. Another source for writing prompts is Blowing Away the State Writing Assessment by Jane Bell Keister. Narrative 1. It is 20 years from now. Your name has just been called and you are about to receive an award. Tell the story of how you came to be so successful and win this award. (Gr. 6-12) 2. Rewrite a fairy tale from a different point of view. For instance, * The Three Pigs as the wolf would tell it * Hansel & Gretel as the witch would tell it OR, use any example you like. (Gr. 5-8) 3. Write a story based on one of the following: * Where is it? * Breaking loose * If I had my way ... * Suddenly, in the headlights ... * That noise! * Don't even remind me * The biggest nuisance * Annoying! * At last! (Gr. 5-12) 4. Think of your best or worst day in school. Tell the story of what happened. (Gr. 4 & up) 5. Write a story based on ONE of the following * Little brothers (or sisters) * Older sisters (or brothers) * A narrow escape * My first memory * I'd like to go back * You won't believe it, but ... (Gr. 4 & up) 6. Think of a friend you have, in or out of school. Tell one story that comes to mind when you think of this friend. (All grades) 7. Think of an event you will want to remember when you are old. Tell about what happened in a way that's so clear that if you read this story again when you are eighty, every detail will come flooding back as if it happened y

Prompts main image The best prompts are the ones that spark a personal connection between the writer and their ideas. Provided here are some generic writing prompts to get you started, but you will also find some tips on how to write your own prompts. These self-written prompts will offer better starting blocks for your students than the generic prompts because they spring from the immediacy of their lives. Another source for writing prompts is Blowing Away the State Writing Assessment by Jane Bell Keister. Narrative 1. It is 20 years from now. Your name has just been called and you are about to receive an award. Tell the story of how you came to be so successful and win this award. (Gr. 6-12) 2. Rewrite a fairy tale from a different point of view. For instance, * The Three Pigs as the wolf would tell it * Hansel & Gretel as the witch would tell it OR, use any example you like. (Gr. 5-8) 3. Write a story based on one of the following: * Where is it? * Breaking loose * If I had my way ... * Suddenly, in the headlights ... * That noise! * Don't even remind me * The biggest nuisance * Annoying! * At last! (Gr. 5-12) 4. Think of your best or worst day in school. Tell the story of what happened. (Gr. 4 & up) 5. Write a story based on ONE of the following * Little brothers (or sisters) * Older sisters (or brothers) * A narrow escape * My first memory * I'd like to go back * You won't believe it, but ... (Gr. 4 & up) 6. Think of a friend you have, in or out of school. Tell one story that comes to mind when you think of this friend. (All grades) 7. Think of an event you will want to remember when you are old. Tell about what happened in a way that's so clear that if you read this story again when you are eighty, every detail will come flooding back as if it happened y

Despite this being a 'thinking' conference, despite us all being advocates for structured and scaffolded models of thinking, not one group had applied any thinking routines, utilised a collaborative planning protocol or talked about applying an inquiry model or design thinking cycle. It wasn't that we didn't know about them. It wasn't that we don't know how to use them. It wasn't that we don't value them. We had all the knowledge we could desire on the how to and the why of a broad set of thinking tools and anyone of these would have enhanced the process, but we did not use any of them. Why was this the case and what does this reveal about our teaching of these methods to our students?

Critical thinking is a difficult concept to define in clear, objective terms. This can make it a challenging objective for teachers to implement and assess. The aim of this resource is to provide teachers with some tools to help clarify and communicate what critical thinking is and how it might be implemented as a teaching method.  This resource includes materials that can help teachers to engage their classes in critical thinking. The materials have been written with year 9 and year 10 students in mind, yet can easily be differentiated for students in years 8 and 11. The critical thinking introduction addresses what critical thinking is, where is applies in the curriculum and how to teach it. The teachers guide provides an overview of this resource in relation to the accompanying PowerPoint presentation.

What should our goal for student thinking be? How do we scaffold student thinking in ways that are meaningful while developing autonomy and encouraging students to think effectively when we are not there? What would success with thinking strategies look like? These were the challenging questions that Mark Church presented to teachers at the most recent 'Cultures of Thinking Teach Meet' hosted by Masada College.

"Critical thinking is a skill that we can teach to our students through exercise and practice. It is particularly a skill that contains a plethora of other skills inside it. Critical thinking in its basic definition refers"  to a diverse range of intellectual skills and activities concerned with evaluating information as well as evaluating our thought in a disciplined way ". All of our students think in a way or another but the question  is , do they really think critically ? are they able to evaluate the information they come across ? are they capable of going beyond the surface thinking layer ? Can they make connections between what they learn and the outer world? Can they question the status quo of their knowledge ?"

SCAMPER is a strategy that can be used to assist students to generate new or alternative ideas. It is a tool to support creative, divergent thinking. SCAMPER is an acronym for: substitute, combine, adapt, modify/magnify/minify, put to other uses, eliminate, reverse/rearrange. What is its purpose? SCAMPER is a thinking tool that helps students to ask questions about a concept, text, or idea that require them to think beyond the obvious. It can help develop critical thinking skills and creativity and is a useful cooperative learning tool and a great stimulus for role play. In this post from Litemind, Lucciano " ....... presents a complete SCAMPER primer, along with two free creativity-boosting resources: a downloadable reference mind map and an online tool that generates random questions to get you out of a rut whenever you need." In this very comprehensive post Luciano note only explains the terminology associated with SCAMPER but also lists suggested questions as well as "Trigger Words".

SCAMPER is an acronym for another of those interesting thinking tools used to spark creative approaches to a situation or problem. It is a checklist designed to force one to think about and look at things in different ways. This post is interesting because of the visual approach that the author takes to Substituting, Combining, Adapting, Modifying or magnifying, Purposing, Eliminating or Reverse/rearranging.

If we believe that all learning is a consequence of thinking, then we should consider what types of thinking our learners are likely to benefit from at each phase of their inquiry. This is where the Understanding Map, developed by Ritchhart, Church & Morrison offers useful guidance. By contemplating the demands of each phase of our chosen inquiry model, we can plan for how we might scaffold thinking moves which will enhance our learners' learning.

Buy Negative Google Reviews Assuming you are looking to buy negative Google reviews in an effort to improve your business's online reputation, there are a few things you should keep in mind. First and foremost, it is important to remember that when you buy negative Google reviews, you are essentially paying someone to lie about your business. As such, it is important to be very careful about who you purchase these reviews from. There are a lot of scam artists out there who will take your money and then either never deliver the promised reviews or deliver reviews that are so obviously fake that they do little to help your business. When looking for a company to buy negative Google reviews from, be sure to do your research. Read online reviews of the company you are considering using and look for any red flags. You should also make sure that the company offers a money-back guarantee in case you are not satisfied with the reviews they provide. Another thing to keep in mind when buying negative Google reviews is that you need to be realistic about the number of positive reviews your business has. If your business has a ton of positive reviews, then a few negative reviews are not going to have a huge impact on your overall rating. However, if your business has very few positive reviews, then even a few negative reviews can have a significant impact. As such, it is important to only purchase a few negative reviews if your business has a relatively good online reputation. If your business has a poor online reputation, you may want to purchase more negative reviews in an effort to offset the positive reviews. At the end of the day, buying negative Google reviews is a bit of a gamble. There is no guarantee that the reviews you purchase will be realistic or helpful. However, if you do your research and purchase from a reputable company, you should be able to get some negative reviews that will improve your business's online reputation. The world of online revie

Buy Negative Google Reviews Assuming you are looking to buy negative Google reviews in an effort to improve your business's online reputation, there are a few things you should keep in mind. First and foremost, it is important to remember that when you buy negative Google reviews, you are essentially paying someone to lie about your business. As such, it is important to be very careful about who you purchase these reviews from. There are a lot of scam artists out there who will take your money and then either never deliver the promised reviews or deliver reviews that are so obviously fake that they do little to help your business. When looking for a company to buy negative Google reviews from, be sure to do your research. Read online reviews of the company you are considering using and look for any red flags. You should also make sure that the company offers a money-back guarantee in case you are not satisfied with the reviews they provide. Another thing to keep in mind when buying negative Google reviews is that you need to be realistic about the number of positive reviews your business has. If your business has a ton of positive reviews, then a few negative reviews are not going to have a huge impact on your overall rating. However, if your business has very few positive reviews, then even a few negative reviews can have a significant impact. As such, it is important to only purchase a few negative reviews if your business has a relatively good online reputation. If your business has a poor online reputation, you may want to purchase more negative reviews in an effort to offset the positive reviews. At the end of the day, buying negative Google reviews is a bit of a gamble. There is no guarantee that the reviews you purchase will be realistic or helpful. However, if you do your research and purchase from a reputable company, you should be able to get some negative reviews that will improve your business's online reputation. The world of online revie

Buy Negative Google Reviews Assuming you are looking to buy negative Google reviews in an effort to improve your business's online reputation, there are a few things you should keep in mind. First and foremost, it is important to remember that when you buy negative Google reviews, you are essentially paying someone to lie about your business. As such, it is important to be very careful about who you purchase these reviews from. There are a lot of scam artists out there who will take your money and then either never deliver the promised reviews or deliver reviews that are so obviously fake that they do little to help your business. When looking for a company to buy negative Google reviews from, be sure to do your research. Read online reviews of the company you are considering using and look for any red flags. You should also make sure that the company offers a money-back guarantee in case you are not satisfied with the reviews they provide. Another thing to keep in mind when buying negative Google reviews is that you need to be realistic about the number of positive reviews your business has. If your business has a ton of positive reviews, then a few negative reviews are not going to have a huge impact on your overall rating. However, if your business has very few positive reviews, then even a few negative reviews can have a significant impact. As such, it is important to only purchase a few negative reviews if your business has a relatively good online reputation. If your business has a poor online reputation, you may want to purchase more negative reviews in an effort to offset the positive reviews. At the end of the day, buying negative Google reviews is a bit of a gamble. There is no guarantee that the reviews you purchase will be realistic or helpful. However, if you do your research and purchase from a reputable company, you should be able to get some negative reviews that will improve your business's online reputation. The world of online revie

"What Makes a Great Teacher? Image credit: Veronika Lukasova Also in our Special Report: National: "How America Can Rise Again" Is the nation in terminal decline? Not necessarily. But securing the future will require fixing a system that has become a joke. Video: "One Nation, On Edge" James Fallows talks to Atlantic editor James Bennet about a uniquely American tradition-cycles of despair followed by triumphant rebirths. Interactive Graphic: "The State of the Union Is ..." ... thrifty, overextended, admired, twitchy, filthy, and clean: the nation in numbers. By Rachael Brown Chart: "The Happiness Index" Times were tough in 2009. But according to a cool Facebook app, people were happier. By Justin Miller On August 25, 2008, two little boys walked into public elementary schools in Southeast Washington, D.C. Both boys were African American fifth-graders. The previous spring, both had tested below grade level in math. One walked into Kimball Elementary School and climbed the stairs to Mr. William Taylor's math classroom, a tidy, powder-blue space in which neither the clocks nor most of the electrical outlets worked. The other walked into a very similar classroom a mile away at Plummer Elementary School. In both schools, more than 80 percent of the children received free or reduced-price lunches. At night, all the children went home to the same urban ecosystem, a zip code in which almost a quarter of the families lived below the poverty line and a police district in which somebody was murdered every week or so. Video: Four teachers in Four different classrooms demonstrate methods that work (Courtesy of Teach for America's video archive, available in February at teachingasleadership.org) At the end of the school year, both little boys took the same standardized test given at all D.C. public schools-not a perfect test of their learning, to be sure, but a relatively objective one (and, it's worth noting, not a very hard one). After a year in Mr. Taylo

I DON'T think I am a very good teacher, but I try. Some of my students think I am but I don't trust their small experience. Some adults think I am but they've never been in my classes. Frankly, I'm not absolutely sure what a good teacher is. The descriptors are vague anyway: ''has empathy'', ''knows the subject'', ''inspires'' - the more you think about such things the faster they turn to quicksand.

"Creative and Critical Thinking Skills are more important than ever. Here is the place for parents, teachers, and home schoolers to find fun, easy-to-implement ideas to get kids thinking in new ways"

At the heart of mathematics are a set of connected thinking dispositions. The mathematician uses these dispositions as the cognitive tools of their trade. While the traditional imagining of mathematics might be all about the accurate application of well-rehearsed algorithms and processes, in the real world of mathematics, it is all about the thinking. As we consider what our students need from their mathematical education, we should not overlook the importance of these dispositions. 

A good place to start in our efforts to shift the impact that our language choices have is with a focus on the language of thinking. If we believe that all learning is a consequence of thinking, it is natural to select language moves that encourage this from our learners.

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.

"Great literature is essential to learning in any classroom, but in a 21st Century learning environment, texts become a centerpiece for classroom discussion, critical thinking and deeper understanding. And as you adapt to the new school year (and the new Common Core standards), the literature in your classroom can become an essential component to your students' success"

Andrew Churches post re:  a project out of Harvard University. The essence of this project is a series of routines or perhaps "mantras" for thinking. They are simple and to the point. While more suited to Middle school students they are good, apt and appropriate. Some of the truth and understanding routines will definitely have a place in senior classes.

So what is Computational Thinking? Well it is a collection of diverse skills to do with problem solving that result from studying the nature of computation. It includes some obviously important skills that most subjects help develop, like creativity, ability to explain and team work. It also consists of some very specific problem solving skills such as the ability to think logically, algorithmically and recursively. Computer Science is unique in the way it brings all these diverse skills together.

Fortunately there are a number of free tools that do these things and they are available for use on any technology platform as they require nothing more than access to the internet. Recently Eric Sheninger used a set of these tools to give his audience at the Hawker Brownlow Conference on Thinking and Learning in Melbourne a voice.

Links to the apps used in the activities published an eBook titled Hot Apps 4 HOTS: A Guide to Using Free Apps to Support Higher Order Thinking Skills by Lisa Johnson and Yolanda Barker. The book includes nine step-by-step activities that focus on each level of Bloom's taxonomy and includes loads of links to further resources.