*Please note that there are THREE SESSION CHOICES in this series. Participants may choose ANY ONE OR ALL THREE sessions.*

Building Thinking Classrooms Introduction

This introduction workshop is appropriate for all teachers, whether or not they have read Building Thinking Classrooms already. Teachers will experience a Thinking Classroom from the perspective of a student, dig into the teacher moves that help facilitate an effective Thinking Classroom, and become familiar with the research behind Building Thinking Classrooms. 

Problem solving is an effective way for students to learn to think mathematically and to acquire deep knowledge and understanding of the mathematics they are learning.  Simply problematizing the mathematics curriculum, however, does not help constitute the practice that teachers want or students need.  Equally, infusion of problem-based learning into the mathematics curriculum does not help with the transformations we want to see in our classrooms.  What we need are a set of tools that, along with good problems, can build thinking classrooms.

In this day of professional learning, we look at a series of such tools, emerging from research, that can help to build an environment conducive to problem-based learning. We will unpack the research behind Thinking Classrooms which demonstrates that a problem-based learning environment and culture can quickly be established, even in classrooms where students resist change.

Topics covered in the workshop:

• Tasks & how we deliver them
• Collaborative Groups
• Vertical Non-Permanent Surfaces
• Defronting
• Addressing questions
• Hints and extensions
• Homework
• Student Autonomy
• Consolidation
• Notes

Please note, this learning opportunity will not include lunch or refreshments.  

Building Thinking Classrooms - Intermediate

This is an intermediate level session, for participants that have already participated in Building Thinking Classrooms.  This session will dive deeper into the high impact practices that allow us to interface the Thinking Classrooms with teaching curriculum content. The practices discussed will intertwine with, and make extensive references to, Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics (Grades K-12): 14 Teaching Practices for Enhancing Learning.

The intermediate workshop is appropriate for teachers who have attended the introduction workshop and those who have been implementing Building Thinking Classrooms and are ready to push their practice. This session will dive deeper into the high impact practices that allow us to interface the Thinking Classrooms with teaching curriculum content. Teachers will experience a Thinking Classroom from the perspective of a student, dig into the teacher moves that help facilitate an effective Thinking Classroom, and become familiar with the research behind Building Thinking Classrooms. 

These topics will be covered in the workshop:

• Tasks and How we Deliver Them
• Collaborative Groups
• Vertical Non-Permanent Surfaces
• Defronting
• Addressing Questions
• Hints and Extensions
• Homework
• Student Autonomy
• Consolidation
• Notes

Please note, this learning opportunity will not include lunch or refreshments. 

Assessment in The Thinking Classroom

It is recommended that teachers have been implementing BTC for some time and/or have attended an Introduction workshop prior to the assessment workshop.

 This assessment workshop is designed for teachers who have been implementing Thinking Classrooms practices and are ready to delve into assessment. In addition to the assessment practices laid out in Building Thinking Classrooms, participants will revisit and explore advanced teacher moves relevant to the other practices explored in the Introduction (and Intermediate) workshop(s).  This session will explore assessment practices that have been shown to radically shape students' behaviours in the thinking classroom, a type of formative assessment that is done by students for students and has been shown to drastically increase student performance on summative assessment, and several contemporary grading practices including outcomes-based assessment and triangulation of data. The main focus of this session is to learn how to do this practically, efficiently, and effectively.

These topics will be covered in the assessment workshop:

• Student Autonomy
• Evaluate what you value
• Formative assessment
• Summative assessment

Please note, this learning opportunity will not include lunch or refreshments.