Using Thinking Routines to Enhance Values Education in English Language and Literature Lessons
Lauren Minnie, the NET at Marymount Secondary School, presented on how she and her colleagues use Thinking Routines to promote values education in English Language and English Literature lessons.
When incorporating values education into the lessons, teachers would hope to see meaningful discussions, students’ good understanding of how to practise and apply these values, and connections being made to the students’ real lives. While values are an intrinsic part of our lives, it can be difficult to incorporate them into learning ways that are authentic. Thinking Routines allow students to understand values such as 'Empathy’ and ‘Care for Others’ and analyse their own experiences as well as their classmates’ experiences.
Thinking Routines can be regarded as a short series of steps that guide the thought process. They are simple and easy to use and help students make their thinking visible. When used regularly, students begin to have more open discussions, feel more confident in exploring complex ideas and making connections, and improve their critical thinking skills. In English Language and Literature lessons, Thinking Routines can be used at any stage of an activity. They are great for prompting discussions or brainstorming, effective in helping students draw connections in a text or to the outcomes of a task, and they have proved to elicit meaningful and constructive feedback.
In Lauren’s example of using Thinking Routines to promote positive values and attitudes in the English class, there was a stronger emphasis on the cognitive aspects of learning in that her students were required to structure the thought process and articulate their thinking about empathy in a systematic manner. The learning activities also pointed to affect and action because the students were practising empathy when interviewing their classmates. As reflected in the radar chart, cognition is weighted more heavily than affect and action during the English lessons that focused primarily on thinking and understanding – a highly cognitive process.
To watch the presentation, please click here to view the recorded session and here to access the PPT slides.
