I just finished my second week of Re-Building A Thinking Classroom in Mathematics. In certain ways, it may have been harder than Building the first one from scratch. At the start of last year, I didn't exactly know what a Thinking Classroom would look or feel like once I built it - I was figuring it out as I went.
This year, however, I know exactly what I want it to look and feel like. I want it to be the same comfortable, engaged, disciplined, and productive learning experience my students got last year that led to massive learning gains for the kids. With that goal to chase, there's something I did more of last week than ever before - give what-to-do directions. Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics differ from traditional ones in myriad ways, but I think it is important to keep in mind that great teaching and great classroom experiences share certain features that don't differ regardless of style, philosophy, or framework. In Teach Like A Champion 3.0, Doug Lemov and tells us that:
"there are teachers who without much fanfare take the students who others say 'can't' - can't read great literature, can't do algebra or calculus, can't and don't want to learn - and help, inspire, motivate, and even cajole them into being scholars who do."
In these classrooms, he goes on to tell us,
"the activities differ, but the techniques are the same.... My goal was to find as many such teachers as I could and to honor them by focusing on and studying their teaching. What I found is that while each great teacher is unique, as a group their teaching held elements in common..... In the aggregate, a story emerged. There is a toolbox for excellence... it turns out" (pp. xxxvi - xxxvii).
One of the tools in that toolbox, he found, is that great teachers give what-to-do directions (Technique #52).
What Are What-to-Do Directions?
In a Thinking Classroom - as in any classroom - we give a lot of directions. Very often, those directions tell students what NOT to do:
While all of these directions are important, there's something vital missing from them - they don't tell students what TO do. Often, as teachers, we assume that once we tell students what NOT to do, what TO do is obvious to them. But it often isn't. Most students want to do what we want them to do, but they can only do that if we tell them what we want them to do. What-to-do directions tell students what they SHOULD do in a Thinking Classroom rather than just what they should NOT do. Why are What-To-Do Directions Important In A Thinking Classroom?
Just imagine being one of my sixth graders who wanted to do well during his or her first week of middle school last week. Not only is stepping into a new school with new kids and new systems a "shock to the system," but also the math class they've stepped into is like nothing they've ever seen before.
A double "shock to the system." They need lots, lots, LOTS of help to know how to learn this way. They need to know what to do. Let's take the "don't hog the marker in your thinking group" example. If that's all I give the kids to work with, just imagine how many ways they can comply with those directions and still be entirely unproductive, even counterproductive! What Are Some What-To-Do Directions that Are Helpful In A Thinking Classroom?
During the task launch:
Transitioning from the task launch to the thinking task:
During note-making:
What Are the Qualities of Good What-To-Do Directions
In Teach Like A Champion 3.0, Lemov teaches us that what to do directions are:
How Do What-to-Do Directions Get Simpler As the Year goes on?
A Thinking Classroom is a "shock to the system." Kids have to learn procedures, routines, and expectations in every new classroom, but the ones they learn in a Thinking Classroom are harder to establish because they're so different from past experiences.
Early in the year, a lot of what-to-do directions have be given in excruciating detail. If we want students to learn to thrive in Thinking Classrooms, we have to tell them how. As time goes, however, the activities of a Thinking Classroom become routine as well. My class follows the same general sequence of activities almost every day. Once they do, I still give plenty of what-to-do directions, but I give them much more economically.
Consistency is key. If good routines are in place, directions are reminders of what to do most of the time. Giving those directions is still important, but queuing routine tasks and behaviors can be done much more economically.
What If My What-To-Do Directions Aren't Followed?
When my what-to-do directions aren't followed, I have to make two lightning quick decisions to decide how to handle it:
If directions are widely not followed - as in a large number of students don't follow them - I usually blame myself. It means either my directions were unclear or what I wanted needs modeling in addition to verbal directions. In that case, I call students back, apologize for the lack of clarity, assume good intent, and either give the directions again with more detail, or physically model what I want. If an individual or small cohort of students doesn't follow them (but the rest of the class does), then that cohort either didn't listen to me or is willfully disobeying the directions. Either way, I defer to my classroom management plan at this point, as both of those reasons are out of bounds. Reminders of expectations and/or consequences for not meeting them are on the way. Will What-To-Do Directions Really Help Build A Better Thinking Classroom?
Will they ever.
Just look at this group work on their thinking task. And the groups around them, too, for that matter.
It's like a dream come true! They're on point. They're equitable. They lead, they ask, they follow. They figured out curricular, high level math content on their own.
And they were happy doing it! The secret? They know what to do. They know how to learn like this. They know how to treat each other. They know how to be accountable to and responsible for each other. Sure, there are a lot of things they know NOT to do (see the rules on the back wall?). That matters. But that won't get me engagement like you see here. Knowing what TO do is where that was earned. 
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About MeI'm an award-winning teacher in the Atlanta area with experience teaching at every level from elementary school to college. Categories
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