As social workers incorporate thinking routines in their student contact time, students will be challenged think deeper and differently, show their thinking (visual thinking), and actively participate in their contact time with support staff on a much deeper and more meaningful level.
The goal of this course is to give social workers an opportunity to continue their discussion and learning related to Cultures of Thinking. We will review the philosophy and foundation of Cultures of Thinking, continue to explore and participate in Thinking Routines, and discuss how to use these routines in working with students individually, in small groups, or when doing whole classroom lessons in another teacher’s classroom. Participants will come away with an understanding of why CoT continues to be vital to the future socio-emotional and academic success of our students and the challenges of helping many of our students with special needs to think deeper and be able to visually explain their thinking.
We will review 6 CoT routines and experience 4 more CoT routines. Participants will generate a list of thinking routines that apply to small groups or working with individuals and then determine under what circumstances these routines would be appropriate. Finally, social workers will have an opportunity to practice these routines with students and then debrief with other colleagues to determine successes and challenges. Social workers have many unique needs as they are the sole social worker in their school. By exploring and experiencing these thinking routines together, participants will feel supported by their peers to risk trying something new with their students. In addition, social workers have specific IEP goals that they need to address with their students. Through this course, these staff members will also learn how to integrate thinking routines into their curriculum to best meet these IEP goals.
