NOTES FROM
The Thoughtful ClassroomTHE THOUGHTFUL CLASSROOM BLOG
Let’s Make it Stick – A Commitment to Deeper Learning
Almost exactly two years ago, I was packing my bag and getting ready to go to Los Angeles. Jay McTighe and I had a large pre-conference session at the 2020 ASCD Annual Conference and also a special session on our new book that had recently launched, Teaching for...
Stepping Back to Move Forward: How to Ensure Deep Learning in Challenging Times
Do you know the feeling of being stuck in the mud? Wheels spinning, can’t get any traction, unable to move forward . . .The reason I ask is because I recently had a conversation with an educator who shared that this is how she’s been feeling all year long. And she’s...
Learning Loss: Are We Defining the Problem Correctly?
By Harvey F. Silver and Jay McTigheLet’s stop trying to “make up the distance” by teaching more content faster and instead use this opportunity to lay strong foundations that will propel our future efforts. How we define a problem has a lot to do with the solutions we...
3 Strategies for Promoting Deep Learning Virtually
ASCD EXPRESS | December 10, 2020 (Volume 16, Issue 7) | By Matthew J. Perini, Harvey F. Silver, and Jay McTigheLearning is learning, whether it occurs in a classroom, at a library, or within a virtual environment. But regardless of the venue, learning can vary...
Why Teaching for Deeper Learning Matters Now More Than Ever
Who can say with any degree of confidence what school will look like for the remainder of this school year—or in the future? Clearly, the pandemic has forced educators to rethink their education programs, and it has made uncertainty and anxiety lead characters in the...
Why Aren’t Students Learning Deeply and What Can We Do About It?
All educators want their students to learn well and deeply. Yet, as Jal Mehta and Sarah Fine’s In Search of Deeper Learning (2019) makes clear, deep learning is rare in our schools—even when researchers are actively searching for it and even in schools that express a...
Teaching for Deeper Learning: A Study in Simplicity, Elegance, & Practicality
Have you seen me? If you haven’t and are an ASCD member, then you will soon. (And if you are not an ASCD member, you should really consider joining.) We are all very excited about this new book from Jay McTighe and Harvey Silver: Teaching for Deeper Learning: Tools to...
It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year . . . for a New Book
As a publishing company, it’s always the most wonderful time of the year for us whenever we have the opportunity to bring a new resource to educators. With yesterday’s snow still blanketing most of New Jersey, the scene would be seasonally appropriate for the arrival...
Curiosity Catalysts, or How to Create Lesson Hooks that Really Work
Starting off a lesson with a “hook” is common practice in classrooms. And for good reason. After all, we know that deep learning doesn’t just happen on its own; it needs to be set up. I believe my fellow New Jerseyan, Bruce Springsteen, said it best: You...
When Professional Development Goes Right It Is BECAUSE . . .
Picture this . . . It’s late afternoon on a gloomy, overcast Friday. Coming to its end is what has been a marathon day of professional development designed to accommodate an entire building staff’s various interests and professional growth goals (a design that...
PUBLISHED ARTICLES
5 IDEAS for Developing Real-World Thinking Skills
Online Learning SuiteThe Instructional Designer’s ToolboxOn-demand access to effective tools for building high-quality learning designs: Planning Tools Instructional Tools Assessment Tools Infusing five processes into assignments can help students hone the skills...
Learning Loss: Are We Defining the Problem Correctly?
By Harvey F. Silver and Jay McTigheLet’s stop trying to “make up the distance” by teaching more content faster and instead use this opportunity to lay strong foundations that will propel our future efforts. How we define a problem has a lot to do with the solutions we...
3 Strategies for Promoting Deep Learning Virtually
ASCD EXPRESS | December 10, 2020 (Volume 16, Issue 7) | By Matthew J. Perini, Harvey F. Silver, and Jay McTigheLearning is learning, whether it occurs in a classroom, at a library, or within a virtual environment. But regardless of the venue, learning can vary...
Instructional Shifts to Support Deep Learning
ASCD Educational Leadership | September 2020 (Volume 78, Number 1) | By Jay McTighe, Harvey F. Silver Do you want to promote deep and lasting learning? Of course you do. All educators want their students to learn deeply and well. And yet evidence shows that such...
Transform Homework into Home Learning
ASCD EXPRESS | August 27, 2020 (Volume 15, Issue 24) | By Harvey F. Silver, Matthew J. Perini Far too often, students view any schoolwork that they need to do at home as an imposition—something to get through, or worse, avoid completely. This age-old problem has...
How to Turn Note-Haters into Note-Creators (Window Notes)
McREL Blog | June 13, 2019 | By Matthew J. Perini → Imagine asking hundreds of students and adults to share their unfiltered thoughts and feelings about taking notes in school. What do you think you’d get back? It turns out . ....
Making Lessons Memorable: Designing from Two Perspectives
ASCD EXPRESS | August 9, 2018 (Volume 13, Issue 23) | By Harvey F. Silver, Susan Kreisman → What do we want students to learn? What do we want them to remember—tomorrow? Next month? Next year? Clearly, we cannot separate learning from memory. Ensuring that what...
Recapturing the Magic of Teaching and Learning
ASCD InSERVICE Blog | June 1, 2015 | By R. Thomas Dewing → Where has the magic gone? In my travels as an education consultant, I have worked with hundreds of educators in hundreds of schools who are doing hundreds of great things on any given day. The commitment...
Effective Communication Needs Common Language and Goals
ASCD EXPRESS | April 9, 2015 | By Lindsay Vieira, Dean Auriemma → Where has the magic gone? In my travels as an education consultant, I have worked with hundreds of educators in hundreds of schools who are doing hundreds of great things on any given day. The...
STEM-ify Your Strategies
ASCD EXPRESS | December 24, 2014 (Volume 10, Issue 8) | By Claudia M. Geocaris → Common Core State Standards, Next Generation Science Standards, assessment literacy—how are teachers supposed to do it all? Instead of adding more to their plates, teachers can use...
Recapturing the Magic of Teaching and Learning
ASCD InSERVICE Blog | June 6, 2014 | By Harvey F. Silver → They say that the classics never go out of style. And lately, whenever I talk about the interconnection between assessment and instruction in one of my workshops, I find myself coming back to the same...
Helping Students Climb the Common Core Staircase
ASCD Educational Leadership | March 1, 2014 (Volume 71, Number 6) | By Harvey F. Silver, Matthew J. Perini → To prepare students for demanding assessments, we need to teach them how to examine and refine their own work. What's one way to reflect on the challenge...
The Four Ps of Effective Feedback: An Aha! Moment
SAANYS Practices (currently Vanguard) | Fall 2013 | By Susan Gorton → Recently, my use of Thoughtful Classroom Teacher Effectiveness Framework led to an Aha! moment. Alas, unlike most of my Aha! moments, which have come to me in the middle of the night or within...
Tips for Engaging Students in Scientific Thinking
ASCD EXPRESS | July 18, 2013 (Volume 8, Issue 21) | By Claudia M. Geocaris, Rochelle Green → "I hate science. We never DO anything!" We often hear this lament from students, and if their science classes amount to lectures, textbooks, and worksheets, who can blame...
The Triple Challenge of Evaluating Teachers
AASA School Administrator | January 2013 (Volume 70, Number 1) | By Cindy Weber → A colleague of mine recently posed this question to me: What keeps you up at night? The first thing that popped into my mind was school funding, but I changed my answer to teacher...
Tools for Thoughtful Assessment: Making the Shifts that Lead to Higher Achievement
NYSMSA In Transition | Winter 2013 (Volume 30, Number 2) | By Harvey F. Silver → Today’s educators recognize that the word assessment means something very different than it did just a few years ago. Assessment no longer means “assigning and grading student...
Reading for Meaning
ASCD EXPRESS | December 6, 2012 (Volume 8, Issue 5) | By Harvey F. Silver, R. Thomas Dewing, Matthew J. Perini → Reading for Meaning is a research-based strategy that helps all readers build the skills that proficient readers use to make sense of challenging...
The Balancing Acts of Teacher Evaluation
ASCD Educational Leadership | November 2012 (Volume 70, Number 3) | By Cindy Weber → In creating evaluation systems that promote teacher growth, school leaders must attend to three challenges. Sometimes, when you're handed a new, many-sided responsibility, it's...
Team Check-Up: Use 4 Goals to Assess a Professional Learning Community’s Effectiveness
Learning Forward Journal of Staff Development (currently The Learning Professional) | June 2012 | By Daniel R. Moirao, Susan C. Morris, Victor Klein, Joyce W. Jackson → Informed by their work in schools across the country, four coaches and trainers from The...
The Eight Cs of Engagement: How Learning Styles and Instructional Design Increase Student Commitment to Learning
On Excellence in Teaching (Publisher: Solution Tree) | September 10, 2009 | By Harvey F. Silver, Matthew J. Perini, Robert J. Marzano (editor) → Every day, in every one of the United States’ 14,000 plus school districts and in the majority of our 3 million plus...
Creating a Differentiated Mathematics Classroom
ASCD Educational Leadership | February 2004 (Volume 61, Number 5) | By Richard W. Strong, Edward J. Thomas, Matthew J. Perini, Harvey F. Silver → Recognizing different mathematical learning styles and adapting differentiated teaching strategies can facilitate...
Boredom and Its Opposite
ASCD Educational Leadership | September 2003 (Volume 61, Number 1) | By Richard W. Strong, Harvey F. Silver, Matthew J. Perini, Greg Tuculescu → An understanding of natural human interests gives teachers tools for overcoming students' reluctance to...
Making Students as Important as Standards
ASCD Educational Leadership | November 2001 (Volume 59, Number 3) | By Richard W. Strong, Harvey F. Silver, Matthew J. Perini → Educators can align curriculum, instruction, and assessment with both standards and students in mind so that standards serve teaching...
Keeping It Simple and Deep
ASCD Educational Leadership | March 1999 (Volume 56, Number 6) | By Richard W. Strong, Harvey F. Silver, Matthew J. Perini, Basho, Issa, Onitsura → What do Japanese haiku have to do with innovative school reform? More than you might think.
Integrating Learning Styles and Multiple Intelligences
ASCD Educational Leadership | September 1997 (Volume 55, Number 1) | By Harvey F. Silver, Richard W. Strong, Matthew J. Perini → What does it mean to express kinesthetic intelligence in an interpersonal way? Integrating styles and intelligences can help children...
Strengthening Student Engagement: What Do Students Want (and What Really Motivates Them)?
ASCD Educational Leadership | September 1995 (Volume 53, Number 1) | By Richard W. Strong, Harvey F. Silver, Amy Robinson → Where has the magic gone? In my travels as an education consultant, I have worked with hundreds of educators in hundreds of schools who are...
Integrating Teaching Strategies and Thinking Styles with Elements of Effective Instruction
ASCD Educational Leadership | May 1985 (Volume 42, Number 8) | By Richard W. Strong, Harvey F. Silver, J. Robert Hanson → Educators are increasingly concerned about enhancing student thinking but not yet sure about the best way to do it. . . . The question is:...
Thoughtful Education: Staff Development for the 1990s
ASCD Educational Leadership | February 1990 (Volume 47, Number 5) | By Richard W. Strong, Harvey F. Silver, J. Robert Hanson, Robert J. Marzano, Pat Wolfe, R. Thomas Dewing, Wende Brock → For a group of staff developers, working together to create a framework to...
New Strategies, New Visions
ASCD Educational Leadership | October 1986 (Volume 44, Number 2) | By Richard W. Strong, Harvey F. Silver, J. Robert Hanson → Skillful teachers use a variety of strategies to meet the demands of diverse students, content, and goals.