TEACH 5- Higher Order Thinking Skills
Teach 5 is probably the one indicator that most teachers have trouble wrapping their head around. This is the one indicator that is usually asked about the most and the one that teachers sometimes take the longest to understand how to effectively incorporate it into their lesson. Even I still have trouble with HOT simply because it can be challenging to take a student to a higher level when they may not understand the skill or concept or are sometimes not ready to demonstrate knowledge at a higher level. Although this can be a problem, simply asking them to explain how they arrived at an answer or asking them to explain how they know something is your first step at HOT. There are ways that you can incorporate HOT in the classroom and I am going to break it down for you the best way I can.
Whole Group instruction:
During your whole group instruction, the best way to demonstrate HOT or better yet, students demonstrating HOT to you is by simply asking them to explain their answers. If you have lower students that just do not know the answer to a question, don't just simply let them tell you, "I don't know". You definitely do not want to continue lingering on that student hoping it will come to them, because they already told you they don't know. This is where taking TLAC strategies work best. Have another student answer, tell the student, ask the student the question again, let them answer, then later on, go back to that student and have that student tell you in their own words the answer to the same question again. This shows that your expectations are high and you expect the student to understand any way they can. During your lesson, you want to be able to have students EXPLAIN how they know a particular answer. They could just be telling you something they remember from a previous lesson, but applying that knowledge verbally will allow you to know that they actually understand what they are informing you of. During your questioning, here are some example questions/statements to add on to your initial question (depending on the learner and the grade):
1. How do you know?
2. Can you explain that to me?
3. Please elaborate.
4. Can you give me more information on that?
5. Why do you think that?
A simple strategy that I like to use is to ask myself, is this question HOT or NOT?
Example of a question that is NOT:
What is a noun?
What is a verb?
Example of a question that is HOT:
Can you explain the different types of nouns there are and give me an example of each?
Can you explain to me the difference between a noun and a verb and tell me what makes them different?
You may even have students come up with their own HOT questions for each other to answer. Challenge them!
Small Group instruction:
During your small group instruction, you want your students applying what they have learned in a creative way. You want them engaged and discussing problem solving skills with each other in order to complete a project/activity.
• You want students analyzing, comparing, contrasting, evaluating, and explaining the information to complete the activity.
• You want them acting as if they are at a job (in a real-life scenario) and working as a team to have an effective end product.
• You want them creating, designing, and using their imaginations in order to figure it out on their own how to complete the task. You want them to figure out the reason something did not work out in order to want to research how to redo it correctly.
• You want to have high expectations for them to research their own ideas or ways to complete the task. If they need a dictionary, google, blue prints, etc., then make it available to them as the teacher/facilitator, but allow them to generate their questions, ideas, and mistakes on their own in order to actually be able to show and tell you what and how they arrived to the conclusion of the project/activity.
• Last, you want them to be able to CHOOSE how they want to present their knowledge to you!
HOT= Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Communication
Below is a YouTube video I want you to watch. This will show exactly what it's like to design a lesson that is at higher levels, set high expectations for ALL students, and is engaging at the same time. After watching the video, you should have a better understanding of HOT and the reason it is so important.
Teach 5 is probably the one indicator that most teachers have trouble wrapping their head around. This is the one indicator that is usually asked about the most and the one that teachers sometimes take the longest to understand how to effectively incorporate it into their lesson. Even I still have trouble with HOT simply because it can be challenging to take a student to a higher level when they may not understand the skill or concept or are sometimes not ready to demonstrate knowledge at a higher level. Although this can be a problem, simply asking them to explain how they arrived at an answer or asking them to explain how they know something is your first step at HOT. There are ways that you can incorporate HOT in the classroom and I am going to break it down for you the best way I can.
Whole Group instruction:
During your whole group instruction, the best way to demonstrate HOT or better yet, students demonstrating HOT to you is by simply asking them to explain their answers. If you have lower students that just do not know the answer to a question, don't just simply let them tell you, "I don't know". You definitely do not want to continue lingering on that student hoping it will come to them, because they already told you they don't know. This is where taking TLAC strategies work best. Have another student answer, tell the student, ask the student the question again, let them answer, then later on, go back to that student and have that student tell you in their own words the answer to the same question again. This shows that your expectations are high and you expect the student to understand any way they can. During your lesson, you want to be able to have students EXPLAIN how they know a particular answer. They could just be telling you something they remember from a previous lesson, but applying that knowledge verbally will allow you to know that they actually understand what they are informing you of. During your questioning, here are some example questions/statements to add on to your initial question (depending on the learner and the grade):
1. How do you know?
2. Can you explain that to me?
3. Please elaborate.
4. Can you give me more information on that?
5. Why do you think that?
A simple strategy that I like to use is to ask myself, is this question HOT or NOT?
Example of a question that is NOT:
What is a noun?
What is a verb?
Example of a question that is HOT:
Can you explain the different types of nouns there are and give me an example of each?
Can you explain to me the difference between a noun and a verb and tell me what makes them different?
You may even have students come up with their own HOT questions for each other to answer. Challenge them!
Small Group instruction:
During your small group instruction, you want your students applying what they have learned in a creative way. You want them engaged and discussing problem solving skills with each other in order to complete a project/activity.
• You want students analyzing, comparing, contrasting, evaluating, and explaining the information to complete the activity.
• You want them acting as if they are at a job (in a real-life scenario) and working as a team to have an effective end product.
• You want them creating, designing, and using their imaginations in order to figure it out on their own how to complete the task. You want them to figure out the reason something did not work out in order to want to research how to redo it correctly.
• You want to have high expectations for them to research their own ideas or ways to complete the task. If they need a dictionary, google, blue prints, etc., then make it available to them as the teacher/facilitator, but allow them to generate their questions, ideas, and mistakes on their own in order to actually be able to show and tell you what and how they arrived to the conclusion of the project/activity.
• Last, you want them to be able to CHOOSE how they want to present their knowledge to you!
HOT= Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Communication
Below is a YouTube video I want you to watch. This will show exactly what it's like to design a lesson that is at higher levels, set high expectations for ALL students, and is engaging at the same time. After watching the video, you should have a better understanding of HOT and the reason it is so important.