1. Investigating Thinking Strategies
2013-2014

2. Guiding Questions
How do we grow
thinkers?

3. Guiding Questions
What does it take to for students to
engage in challenging intellectual
work that leads to understanding?

4. Guiding Questions
How do the thinking strategies
support readers, writers, speakers
and listeners to the meet the
demands of the new standards?

5. Through Comprehension Strategies
we:
• Become more reflective readers &
thinkers
• Develop a common language of thinking
• Teach deep level comprehension explicitly
• Raise expectations & support for all kids
• Emphasize reading with depth & focus
• Teach the “reader” not just the text
• Build a bank of content area knowledge
From: Comprehension Going Forward, “Comprehension Instruction Grows Up,” Keene,
2011

6. Institute Outcomes . . .
1) Increased knowledge of
metacognitive strategies that
proficient thinkers use to grow
understanding

7. Institute Outcomes . . .
2) Increased knowledge of how
instructional techniques such as
workshop model and gradually
releasing responsibility support
thinking

8. 3 ) Increased knowledge of how
intentional planning helps students
meet rigorous standards such as
CCSS
Institute Outcomes . . .

9. We Started With Research
P. David Pearson, Roehler,
Dole, and Duffy, 1992.
“Developing Expertise in
Reading Comprehension.”
What Research Has To Say
About Reading Instruction.
IRA
Duke, N.K., & P.D. Pearson.
2002. Effective Practices for
Developing Reading
Comprehension.

10. As a Participant….
•
• Engage with research-based thinking
strategies that support understanding of texts
across genres, content areas, and difficulty
• Design learning experiences that integrate
meaningful discourse
• Draft or refine unit plans that incorporate
research-based thinking strategies that
support understanding of texts across genres,
content areas, and difficulty

11. Essential Question
How do we grow thinkers?

12. “Mix and Mingle”
1.Grab a quote, read it over, and mull it
over.
2.Find a partner and share your quote and
thinking.
3.Trade quotes and find a new partner &
repeat.

13. How Do we grow thinkers?
Create a working
explanation… use words,
icons, metaphors, etc.

14. Composing: Work Time
Read and annotate your text
with your thinking… What are
you doing as a reader?
“Leave Tracks in the Snow”

15. Catch & Release
Find a Partner & Share Annotations
What did you notice about yourself
as a reader of this type of text?

16. Reflection
Cheryl’s
Classroom:
• What metacognitive
strategies did you use
to make meaning?
• How does annotating
the text support
understanding?
• How does discussing
your thinking support
understanding?

17. Return by 10:30

18. A film is made up of still images flashed in rapid
succession to simulate movement… Slow down the
film, and the movement and meaning slows and
the film's impact is diminished. Viewers won't learn
as much about the film as if it were shown at
normal speed.
With reading the same thing can happen. When
a person reads word by word, like frame by frame,
they are not reading on the level of ideas. You
need to read on some level that's more
conversational and allows things to coalesce into
ideas themselves.
Doug Evans, Institute of Reading Development

19. What is it that
proficient thinkers do?

20. Surface vs. Deep Structures
Thinking Strategies in Theory, #4

21. Surface
Structure Systems
Provide the reader with visible and
audible information about letters,
sounds, words, and grammatical
structure to identify words and read
fluently:
•Grapho-phonic System: sounds
•Lexical System: sight words
•Syntactic System: form and structure

22. Surface
Structure Systems
What thinkers know and are able to do
when using surface structure systems:
•Use decoding strategies
•Recognize sight words
•Use word analysis strategies (prefixes,
derivations, etc.)
•Skim/scan; reread (“does the word
make sense?”)
•Use text features such as bold, etc

23. Deep Structure Systems

24. Deep Structure Systems
Provide the reader with information about the
meanings of words and longer pieces of text,
the purpose for reading, and prior knowledge
related to the text:
•Semantic System: Vocabulary
•Schematic System: Organizing framework to
Connect new to known
•Pragmatic System: Social construction

25. Deep Structure Systems
What thinkers know and are able
to do when using deep structure
systems
•Apply cognitive thinking
strategies flexibly and fluidly to
develop understanding

26. Cognitive Thinking Strategies
1.Activate, revise and apply schema
(background knowledge)
2.Draw inferences
3.Ask questions
4.Determine importance
5.Synthesize
6.Evoke sensory images
7.Monitor for meaning and employ fix up
strategies when meaning breaks down

27. Proficient thinkers draw on schema
or background knowledge.
We use our
own
background
knowledge to
understand the
text as we read
Pearson, et al 1992., Gordon and
Pearson, 1983; Hansen, 1981.

29. Activating Schema Looks and
Sounds Like:
• This reminds me of…
• How is this like…?
• How can I connect this to
concepts I already know?
The Language of Thinking p.2

30. Proficient thinkers draw inferences
We infer when we use
schema and textual
information to draw
conclusions and form unique
interpretations and when we
make predictions, confirm
them, and test them as we
read. Anderson and Pearson, 1984
Aha!!!

31. Why is this funny?

32. Drawing Inferences Looks and
Sounds Like:
Can I draw a conclusion?
Can I make a prediction?
I’m thinking that…
The Language of Thinking p.2

33. Proficient thinkers ask questions.
We generate questions
BEFORE, DURING, and
AFTER reading which
helps us focus our
attention on important
components of the text.
Andre and Anderson, 1979; Brown and Palincsar, 1985

34. Asking Questions Looks and
Sounds Like:
• I am wondering…
• Why did that happen?
• What is important?
• How will my questions
help me understand?
The Language of Thinking p.2

35. Proficient thinkers determine
importance in text
We identify key ideas or
themes as we read,
distinguish important
from unimportant
information, and support
our ideas with evidence
from the text.
Afflerbach and Johnston, 1984; Baumann, 1986;
Tierney and Cunningham, 1984; Winograd and Bridge,
1986
I
found
it!

36. What is most important?

37. Determining Importance Looks and
Sounds Like:
• What is essential?
• I’ll remember…
• The big ideas are…
The Language of Thinking p.2

38. Proficient thinkers synthesize
information
As we read, we
monitor the overall
meaning, important
concepts and themes.
We are aware of how
these elements fit
together to create
overarching ideas.
Brown and Day, 1983

40. Synthesizing Looks and Sounds
Like:
• First I thought, but now I
am thinking….
• Now I understand…
• Like putting a puzzle
together, the pieces
are…
The Language of Thinking p.2

41. Proficient thinkers use
sensory images and mental models
We use five senses to
draw conclusions, create
unique interpretations of
the text, clarify and
enhance
comprehension, and give
depth and dimension to
the reading.
Keene and Zimmerman, 1996

42. Evoking Sensory Images

43. Tapping into your 5 senses
Imagine the taste,
smell, texture,
color, and sound
of these red
cherries. What
does it make you
think of? turn and
talk

44. Evoking sensory images
Durian

45. Tapping into your 5 senses
Imagine the
taste, smell,
texture, color,
and sound of
durian…turn
and talk

46. DurianRegarded by many people in Southeast Asia as the "king
of fruits", the durian is distinctive for its large size, strong odour,
and formidable thorn-covered husk. The fruit can grow as large
as 30 centimetres (12 in) long and 15 centimetres (6 in) in
diameter, and it typically weighs one to three kilograms (2 to
7 lb). Its shape ranges from oblong to round, the colour of its
husk green to brown, and its flesh pale yellow to red, depending
on the species.
The edible flesh emits a distinctive odour that is strong and
penetrating even when the husk is intact. Some people regard
the durian as pleasantly fragrant; others find the aroma
overpowering and revolting. The smell evokes reactions from
deep appreciation to intense disgust, and has been described
variously as almonds, rotten onions, turpentine, raw sewage.

47. Sensory images: Being there
• How do sensory
images build
understanding
or interfere with
understanding?

48. Creating Sensory Images Looks and
Sounds Like:
• In my mind, I can
see/hear/smell/feel/taste…
• The movie in my head…
• I am experiencing…
The Language of Thinking p.2

49. Proficient thinkers monitor their
comprehension
We know when the
text makes sense,
when it does not, and
what to do when
meaning breaks down.
We have effective and
flexible strategies to
repair confusions and
revise interpretations.
Duffy et al, 1987; Paris, Cross, and Lipson,
1984; Garner, 1987

51. Monitoring for Understanding Looks
and Sounds Like:
• I am confused…
• I understand…
• I don’t get it…
• This makes sense…
The Language of Thinking p.2