Visible Thinking: Using Thinking Routines Effectively to Cultivate Dispositions and Support Learning (VT)

Learn how to integrate the tools of “visible thinking” to deepen learning in any setting.

Overview

We all become more effective as learners when we become aware of our learning processes and learn to manage how we think and learn. Visible Thinking, a research-based approach developed by Project Zero and used across subjects and settings worldwide, has two goals: to deepen content learning and to cultivate students’ thinking skills and thinking dispositions.

This course explores three themes at the heart of Visible Thinking: thinking routines, thinking dispositions, and documentation of student thinking. Participants will explore relevant research, learn to integrate Visible Thinking into their curriculum and assessment, and try out practices with peers and in their own classrooms.

Course Details

This online course was originally developed by Project Zero’s Ron Ritchhart and, in 2015, reorganized and revised by Shari Tishman & Jessica Ross. With support from HGSE faculty member Tina Blythe, in 2021, Mark Church, a long time researcher on Visible Thinking (VT), collaborator with Ron Ritchhart, and co-author of Making Thinking Visible (2011) and The Power of Making Thinking Visible (2020) developed the Graduate Credit course and revised the Professional Development Credit course. Tina and Mark will instruct the Graduate Credit course and Mark will instruct the Professional Development Credit course. The course begins with a one-week orientation, during which you will explore the online platform and get to know fellow members of the learning community. Six two-week content sessions follow, each with an average time commitment of approximately 2.5 hours per week, including a synchronous team meeting once during the two week session. For the Graduate Credit Course, participants can expect to spend 4-5 hours each week to cover additional readings and work toward their final project. In each session, educators will:

• Learn new ideas
• Review and reflect on key ideas from the previous session
• Plan for trying and/or fully implementing course ideas in the classroom
• Work on a project or curriculum unit
• Reflect and share feedback with a coach and peers

Course participation is team-based, which promotes a deeper and richer learning experience and will help you sustain your use of core Project Zero ideas after the course concludes. Team members will collaborate on most of the assignments, including the development of a project. Teams meet face-to-face or virtually once every two weeks, so all team members will need to commit to a regular common meeting time throughout the term.

Although the sessions are structured and coach-facilitated, all the online interactions in the course are asynchronous. You and your team members can decide when to work on the course materials as long as you submit the assignment(s) on or before the due dates.

Online Course Schedule

Please review the course schedule to ensure that you and your team will be able to participate fully in the course, taking into account your local holidays and vacations. The average time commitment is about three to four hours per week.

September 2021 Term Schedule
Session 1: Monday, September 20
Session 2: Monday, September 27
Session 3: Monday, October 11
Session 4: Monday, October 25
Session 5: Monday, November 8
Session 6: Monday, November 22
Session 7: Monday, December 6
Course closes: Sunday, December 19

February 2022 Term Schedule
Session 1: Monday, February 14
Session 2: Monday, February 21
Session 3: Monday, March 7
Session 4: Monday, March 21
Session 5: Monday, April 4
Session 6: Monday, April 18
Session 7: Monday, May 2
Course closes: Sunday, May 15

Objectives

• Learn about thinking dispositions and ways to help students develop them
• Understand how thinking routines encourage deep thinking and learning
• Explore the relationship between thinking routines and the documentation of student thinking
• Explore how collegial study groups can enrich our understanding of student thinking
• Identify thinking dispositions and thinking routines you will incorporate into your practice

Who Should Participate

• Teachers, Teacher Leaders, and School Leaders
• Museum Educators and educators working in informal learning environments
• Pre-K to Adult Learning

PZO courses require teams to meet regularly throughout the course and to complete assignments collaboratively. Team members must be able to try out course ideas with students/learners in classrooms, either virtually or face-to-face, or other direct learning environments with students. While the learning design encourages teams to meet locally, in person, once every two weeks to engage in group-based activities, these team meetings can occur virtually.

• Teams can be comprised of district or school staff, including classroom teachers, instructional leaders, teacher leaders, and administrators
• We recommend team members have similar roles and work in the same school or district, if possible
• We also recommend that teams have at least one group of students with whom they can try out tools throughout the course

Due to the above recommendations, enrollment in the PZ online courses has historically been open only to teams whose members come from the same school or organization. While preference will continue to be given to teams of colleagues from the same school building or organization, we also now accept applications from:

• teams comprising individuals from the same district or organization but not the same building or working group;
• educators who form teams across districts or organizations; and,
• individuals who have not formed a team.

People applying individually, if accepted into the course, will be placed on a “virtual team” that includes two to three other educators who have also applied individually and who come from the same or proximal time zones.

Course Textbook

The following textbook is required for participants in this course, and is not included in the course tuition. The textbook is available for purchase on Amazon or through the publisher Jossey-Bass — in both paper and digital format.

• Making Thinking Visible: How to Promote Engagement, Understanding, and Independence for All Learners by Ron Ritchhart et al. (Jossey-Bass, 2011)

English Language Proficiency Requirements

English language proficiency is a requirement for application to and successful participation in this online course. All participants are expected to have fluency in English, including a basic knowledge of education terminology, in order to effectively engage with the content, complete assignments, and interact with other members of the learning community.

Fees and Policies

The comprehensive tuition includes all instructional materials and refreshments. Participants receive a certificate of participation and a letter confirming clock hours of instruction. Payment or a purchase order must be received within 30 days of program acceptance, or upon receipt of the invoice if acceptance is within 30 days prior to the start of the program. Click here for more information on payment.

Please click here for more information on our on-campus and online refund and withdrawal policies.

The Harvard Graduate School of Education reserves the right to change faculty or cancel programs at its discretion. In the unlikely event of program changes, the school is not responsible for non-refundable travel arrangements or other planning expenses incurred.

Project Zero Classroom Scholarship

With generous support from the Saul Zaentz Charitable Foundation and many individual donations honoring Project Zero’s (PZ) 50th anniversary, Project Zero is able to offer a limited number of professional learning scholarships to support a range of schools, districts, and organizations as well as a diverse group of educators to reduce the tuition cost of some of PZ’s programming. In particular, these scholarships aim to support teams of educators working in under-resourced contexts and/or with historically marginalized students.

For more information about scholarship eligibility and application process please visit the Scholarship Opportunities section of the Project Zero Portfolio page.