Over the summer, I was working on some
multiplication with my son. Cole is a very competitive young man
whether it is with baseball in the backyard, a game of cards, or on his math
facts. At times this competitiveness can be a good thing; however,
sometimes it creates issues for Cole. While giving an answer to math
problem, he incorrectly answered the problem. He quickly tried to
"change" his answer once he discovered his answer was wrong.
After this, he was very worried whether he was wrong or right since he
"changed" his answer.
I explained that his initial thinking was wrong,
but that by making this mistake, he learned from it. This was not good
enough for a 6-year-old child focused solely on "being right."
Even at a young age, Cole was focused on the correct answer...that is
what mattered to him.
At CW, we have seen this in many of our students!
Often times, students are so preoccupied with "being right."
They want to tell you that 2+2=4 because that is the "right"
answer. They were conditioned to raise their hand first to give the
"right" answer. Sometimes, we would see students even give up
because the "right" answer did not come quick enough.
We believe there is a better way at CW. We
are now entering our 3rd year in creating a culture of thinking. At CW, we focus on
teaching for understanding, rather than for the sake of memorizing and
repeating, so that knowledge can be applied to scenarios outside of the
classroom. We expect students to dive deeper into their thinking of specific
concepts. Our teachers model strategies to promote deep thinking, as well as
share their own thinking with their students.
By
utilizing thinking strategies in our instruction, we have discovered students
are able to go beyond the knowledge level and push for application, analysis,
synthesis, and evaluation in their thinking. Moving beyond simply asking
students to recall information; we have successfully found there are more
opportunities for deep thinking to occur along with intellectual engagement
permitting students to clarify their thinking.
As both
a Principal and a Dad, I will continue to push our students and my
own children to become thinkers...celebrating the growth of their thinking
along the way!
