How can schools foster a culture of thinking?

Test scores and measures of achievement tell you where a student is at, but they don’t tell you where that student could end up.
- Dr Dr Carol Dweck, Psychologist and Stanford Professor

In a society that tends to measure success on results and scores, rather than on the development of characteristics that are often far more important to our students’ lives beyond school, what makes a ‘good teacher’? And perhaps equally as important, what characteristics do we think a ‘good student’ has? 

In this special episode of Illumine, Principal of Brisbane Girls Grammar School, Ms Jacinda Euler and internationally renowned educator and researcher, Dr Ron Ritchhart, discuss how when schools prioritise thinking as a discipline rather than achieving, academic excellence is a natural by-product. 

Chapters

• 1:00 Why is an approach such as Cultures of Thinking so important for 21st century classrooms?
• 2:55 Can you describe the fundamentals of this approach to classroom practice and student learning?
• 5:12 What are the mindsets that underpin a teacher’s or a leader’s ability to develop a culture of thinking?
• 8:45 What are some of the small, and nuanced changes that you have witnessed in classrooms over the years, and how these have added up to something much bigger—a culture of thinking?
• 11:54 Why is the visibility of thinking is so important to establishing a culture of thinking?
• 14:35 Can you describe how visible thinking looks and comes to life in the classroom?
• 17:18 Do you have a favourite thinking routine that you think works well with groups of students or groups of teachers?
• 19:38 Can you describe for us what ‘Professional Noticing’ is, and why can it be so beneficial for teachers?
• 22:45 Is a Culture of Thinking and all that goes with it congruent in a world were ‘data’ for want of a better descriptor has become dominant and ever present, especially in the political sphere?
• 26:22 What drives your sense of purpose and how can educators find theirs?