Meg Lee: We want every student to be thinking effortfully, and that requires a safe and nurturing environment and a high degree of accountability. One of the things the warm demander does is setting up the classroom environment and the conditions for learning that ensure that every student feels like they belong as part of the group, feels like the teacher is there to help them learn, and then utilize strategies where every student has opportunities to engage in the deep thinking required.

Elisa Galvan: All right, guys. So yesterday, we were reading about the joints and muscles, and now we’re going to be ready to do the answering part.

I am known for holding kids accountable and pushing them. I’m going to push you all year, every day, at your level, and they know that. And then, I’m there, I’m there to support them.

Student: Using figure two, where is the cartilage located?

Elisa Galvan: I never want anybody to feel like they’re just sitting there, just getting by, without being accountable for their own learning. We’ve been learning about the human body, and so they were learning what the purpose of the cartilage was.

We’re going to jump into answering the questions. How can you use your own words?

Student: Did you know that cartilage is a flexible connective tissue?

Elisa Galvan: Perfect. I like that you formed a question for your reader.

So there will be kids who I know they know the answers and they have their hands up all the time, and of course, I give them a chance to speak out. But I do like to go around the room and just cold call.

Now, I’m going to come over to Cecilia. How am I going to let my reader know where to go to locate that at?

Cecilia: Paragraph two.

Elisa Galvan: So how can I tell my reader to go look for it there?

Cecilia: I found all of this in paragraph two.

Elisa Galvan: Perfect.

Everybody needs to know that, at any time, I want you to be part of this as well.

Meg Lee: That’s a structure where if you’ve set in place the expectation that that’s going to happen, everyone knows that that teacher may call on them and they need to be ready to share an answer. But they also know that that answer may not always be right, and that’s okay too. But the demand is that everyone be ready to participate.

Elisa Galvan: How can I add something else? Gunner?

Gunner: You could add…

Elisa Galvan: One of the things that we all tend to want to do as teachers is fill in the blanks for students, and yet, that doesn’t help their thinking.

Was there anything in the text that we can go back and find to expand?

Gunner: Yes. Some of the most important tissues in your body are located at the joints.

Meg Lee: I think one of the things that helps all students be accustomed to wait time is really the expectation from the very beginning of the school year that thinking takes time and that we’re not going to rush, and so there could be moments where there’s an uncomfortable silence. That uncomfortable silence is your brain getting comfortable with the to-be-remembered content. So we’re actually thinking deeply during those silences.

Elisa Galvan: I heard joints. Was there anything there to support muscles?

Student: No.

Elisa Galvan: No.

What’s really shifted is I put more on the kids, and they get the opportunity to tell me what they’re thinking. They get the chance to explain to me and to others in the same classroom how they’re thinking, how they’re coming to their answers, right or wrong.

Did you read something about joints in there?

Student: Yes.

Elisa Galvan: I’d say you did.

Student: But not on the picture.

Elisa Galvan: But not on the picture.

Then we can guide them that way, depending where they’re at. It’s a practice and we just keep building on it all year long, and I’m going to push you really hard and we’re going to make you feel successful in my classroom.

Cecilia: And also, there’s a muscle right behind that.

Elisa Galvan: Perfect. Very nice.

Cedaredge Elementary School

.css-1sk4066:hover{background:#d1ecfa;}Cultivating Effortful Thinking With the Warm Demander Approach

Cultivating Effortful Thinking With the Warm Demander Approach