Ideas needed for Higher Order Thinking Skills in Notebook lessons

[M Swift]

Please share resources, tips and ideas you have for creating Notebook lessons that promote higher order thinking skills.  Any videos, articles or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  

I'll start off the discussion with an example.  There is an activity called "Cubing" which was created by Gregory and Chapman (2002).  It helps students think at various levels by encouraging discussion from six points of view.  You could use the "Dice-keyword" from the Gallery and enter the discussion starters:  Describe it, Compare it, Analyse it, Associate it, Apply it, Argue for or against it.  Choose a topic, have a student tap the die on the SMARTBoard and let students discuss the topic based on what comes up.  

So many of the Notebook lessons offered for download at various sites revolve around the lower levels of the updated Bloom's Taxonomy (Remember, Understand).  How can we make modifications to our existing lessons to "take them up a notch" and encourage our students to Apply, Analyse, Evaluate and Create?

Thanks!

Marie

[Shelly Moses]

I have some materials and a Micorsoft Word version of a resource handbook on project based learning for gifted students that I created for a seminar. They aren't necessarily for SMART Board, but I have a lot of technology resources in it. You can get some of the resources on my website, www.teachsmarter.ning.com. I am having trouble uploading the handbook, but if anyone would like a copy you can e-mail me at [e-mail] and I will send it to you. There is also a PowerPoint on the website that goes with the handbook, with more resources.

[Matt Granger]

Great topic. Thanks for starting it. Why don't you make a template of this dice activity and attach it here? That would help others. Here is an example from Ben Hazzard and Joan Badger. They did a podcast called Smart Board Lesson podcast. There are like 150 episodes still on their site, though they've moved on to other projects. This one is called I Read, I think, therefore... It is used to teach inferencing from visual, then textual sources.

[M Swift]

Thanks for your response, Matt. I hadn't thought of the "I Read..." lesson. I have recently used their Point of View lesson. I should have thought to mention Ben and Joan's awesome work. I'll dig a little deeper there as well. Do you have any other sources?
I popped a "Cube" into a NB file with a page of teacher notes. A Grade 6 teacher at my school is going to use it as an oral activity to prepare her kids for a "robust task" they have coming up next week. They have studied Hydro Electric Energy and Wind Energy. They are going to have to do some Point of View/Persuasive writing to express which they feel is a better source of energy and then back up their position with evidence from various texts. The teacher felt that the "Analyse it" and "Associate it" parts might be a little too challenging at this time for her students, so we took those out. I found a short video on YouTube of a 4th Grade teacher explaining Cubing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFyEdmhW6j8
I'll add some other activities later.

[Christopher Fleming]

As Matt pointed out, Ben Hazzard has some great resources on his site pdtogo.com. One thing that i found and use often of higher order thing is something called a q-chart that i got for Ben's site. I will attach a copy of it for you. it is just a single page but is can be added to any Notebook file. good luck.

[M Swift]

Thanks, Christopher! That is an awesome file. I have used it with kids from Grade 2-7!

[Colleen McLain]

Marie,
Another activity you might consider is the ranking activity found in the Lesson Activity Toolkit. Present students with a list of 6 or so items, then students need to rank in order of importance. So using your example of wind energy, give students examples of why this might (or might not) be good sources of energy. Students need to have the discussions among their group and arrive at some sort of consensus to put their list in order. But the point of view and persuasiveness discussion could help even a single group get their thoughts in order before presenting to an entire group. Another example was a lesson on famous Americans. The list is what characteristics lead people to greatness, either as a leader, innovator, artist, etc.

Hope this makes sense!
Colleen

[M Swift]

Thanks so much, Colleen! I didn't even realize that feature existed in the Toolkit. I will definitely add that to my presentation.
Marie

[M Swift]

How about websites to show using the SMART Board? Can you think of any that incorporate higher order thinking skills?

I have enjoyed using the Analogy of The Day site. The students really have to understand the meaning of a word and then analyze its relationship to another word before choosing a parallel relationship.

http://www.factmonster.com/spot/analogy.html

[Jennifer Harper]

On a podcast that I was listening to on iTunes, they offered this attached template. Students work either by themselves or in teams to make decisions on level of importance. Attached is a template that could be modified.

[Jennifer Harper]

I also just found this great weblink. Some really solid PD for teachers.
http://langwitches.org/blog/2009/01/20/using-a-smartboard-for-highe...

[M Swift]

Jennifer,
I really appreciate your contribution. It has given me lots more to think about!
Marie

[Shelly Moses]

On the www.teachingwithsmartboard.com site there are many templates for slides.

There is one that has a continuum where you put things on the continuum according to their importance. Iused it for my first graders with things like, answering quickly, solving a problem in more than one way, solving a problem correctly, noticing and using patterns, making connections, etc. I had a first-grader say, "Solving a problem in more than one way is more important than solving a problem correctly because if you solve it in more than one way you will find your mistake." I had other, just as profound statements and was blown away! I guess some of my teaching is taking hold in their little brains.

There is also one where you put a bunch of words, numbers, or pictures on one side. Then the student chooses three things that go together and has to explain why. I use it all subject areas and the kids make some connections that I never would have come up with.

They have a ton of templates, check them out. They also have great podcasts. I have become the school SMART Board queen and it's all because of their podcasts, and this site.