Creating Thinking Classrooms: Leading Educational Change for This Century - Softcover

Gini-Newman, Garfield; Case, Roland

Softcover

ISBN 10: 150639843X ISBN 13: 9781506398433

Publisher: Corwin, 2018

Synopsis

Written for leaders who support teachers, this guide treats educational change as a process of renovation, rather than revolution, and emphasizes building upon, refining and sustaining the many good things happening in today's schools. Practical and user-friendly, it emphasizes five key principles for learning and teaching: 

• Engaging students
• Sustaining inquiry
• Nurturing self-regulated learners
• Creating assessment-rich learning
• Enhancing learning through digital technology.

About this title

Review

I loved the book and highly recommend it. This book can help school leaders, teachers, and professional developers understand and appreciate what it means and what it takes to promote a thinking classroom. It is substantive, practical, well grounded in theory and practice. A must read.

(Giselle O. Martin-Kniep, President, Learner-Centered Initiatives)

My work with Garfield Gini-Newman and Roland Case spans almost two decades.  As a principal and community superintendent, I observed firsthand how transformational their work is in the classroom, in the school community, and on a systemic level.  Creating Thinking Classrooms takes theory and research and places it directly into the hands of practitioners by offering thoughtful and immediately-useful strategies.  Not only does this work transform student engagement and achievement, but it also transforms thinking for both teachers and their students.  Teaching and learning go from passive acquisition of information to active, purposeful, and deliberate interaction with the curriculum.  It is a must-read!

(Ursula A. Hermann, Ph.D, retired principal and community superintendent)

What impresses me most about Creating Thinking Classrooms is the notion of framing the retooling of schools as renovation or reinvigoration rather than as revolution. Too many seem to ignore that there are many good things worth preserving in our schools and others that need to be reframed or recast to give them greater currency.  This book builds on what has worked and makes it better. The message – being purposeful and patiently focused on long-term success – is a powerful one that needs to be heard above the din.

Creating Thinking Classrooms is an outstanding resource for educational leaders.  The plethora of charts and examples illustrate in practical detail how some concepts can show up or be implemented.  Very practical, very user-friendly.

(David Chojnacki, Executive Director)

Creating Thinking Classrooms is a must-read for all instructional leaders wanting to use a new lens on sustained school improvement. This book helps educators establish a thinking orientation, provides enriching goals, and lays out invigorating practices. Too often there is a focus to abandon practices rather than strengthen them in educational reform.  However, Roland Case and Garfield-Gini Newman challenge such thinking by suggesting a renovation mindset.  Through such a mindset, a renewal takes place in classrooms that is transformational, actionable, and meaningful.

(Barbara Woodward, Principal)

Creating Thinking Classrooms offered our faculty practical and powerful ways to nurture creative, critical, and collaborative thinking throughout our school. Our teachers found the ideas clear, concise, and relevant. The book offers ways to “make little tweaks to the good things we are already doing” that will “enhance learning substantially.” Our application of the book’s student-centered approach and clear criteria has had a significant impact on our school. 

(Teresa Belisle, Director of Learning Research and Development)

About the Author

Garfield Gini-Newman blends humor with a deep understanding of effective curriculum design centered on the infusion of critical thinking for all. As an associate professor at OISE/University of Toronto and a senior national consultant with The Critical Thinking Consortium, Garfield has worked with thousands of teachers across grades and subjects, helping them to frame learning around engaging and provocative activities and authentic assessments. Requests for Garfield’s services have taken him from Asia to the Middle East, Europe, the Caribbean, and across North America. His interest in effective teaching and learning has led him to actively explore the challenges and opportunities presented by teaching and learning in the digital age. Garfield has spoken across Canada and internationally on critical thinking, brain compatible classrooms, curriculum design and effective assessment practice, and nurturing 21st century skills in a digital world. In addition to his work at the University of Toronto and delivering workshops, Garfield has also authored several articles, chapters in books, and seven textbooks and has taught in the faculties of education at York University and the University of British Columbia. His most recent book co-authored with Roland Case, Creating Thinking Classrooms has received widespread praise from leading educators across Canada and internationally.

Edition details

• Publisher: Corwin
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 150639843X
• ISBN 13: 9781506398433
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304