Creating Cultures of Thinking: The 8 Forces We Must Master to Truly Transform Our Schools

CONTENTS

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

List of Figures

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Introduction: Demystifying Group and Organizational Culture

A New Standard for Education

The Forces That Shape Culture

Tools for Transformation

Chapter 1: The Purpose and Promise of Schools

Thinking Differently About Outcomes

Teaching as Enculturation

Culture as the Enactment of a Story

Enacting Our New Story, Realizing Our Vision

Chapter 2: Expectations: Recognizing How Our Beliefs Shape Our Behavior

Focusing Students on the Learning vs. The Work

Teaching for Understanding vs. Knowledge

Encouraging Deep vs. Surface Learning Strategies

Encouraging Independence vs. Dependence

Developing a Growth vs. A Fixed Mindset

Chapter 3: Language: Appreciating Its Subtle Yet Profound Power

The Language of Thinking

The Language of Community

The Language of Identity

The Language of Initiative

The Language of Mindfulness

The Language of Praise and Feedback

The Language of Listening

Leveraging Language

Chapter 4: Time: Learning to Be Its Master Rather Than Its Victim

Recognizing Time as a Statement of Your Values

Learning to Prioritize and Always Prioritizing Learning

Giving Thinking Time

Investing Time to Make Time

Managing Energy, Not Time

It's Time to Rethink Time

Chapter 5: Modeling: Seeing Ourselves through Our Students' Eyes

Dispositional Apprenticeship: Being a Role Model of Learning and Thinking

Cognitive Apprenticeship: Making Our Thinking Visible

Gradual Release of Responsibility: Modeling for Independence

Interactive Modeling: Learning from Examples, Practice, and Reflection

Learning from Models

Chapter 6: Opportunities: Crafting the Vehicles for Learning

Constructing Character: Using Mathematics to Understand Othello's Iago

Voice Thread: Using Storytelling to Understand Migration

Music 2 Save Music

Categorizing, Recognizing, and Realizing Learning Opportunities

Chapter 7: Routines: Supporting and Scaffolding Learning and Thinking

A Routine is More Than an Activity

Using Claim-Support-Question to Delve Into Number Theory in Fifth Grade

More Than a Game: Differentiating Mathematics in Second Grade

Making CSQ Fly in Secondary Mathematics

Tools, Structures, and Patterns: Establishing Routines in the Classroom

Chapter 8: Interactions: Forging Relationships That Empower Learners

New Roles for Students: Empowering Disenfranchised Learners

Beyond Sit and Get: Teaching Students to Build on One Another's Ideas

Building Culture Through Affect and Actions

Shaping Interactions Through Roles

Asking Good Questions

Creating New Patterns of Discourse

Chapter 9: Environment: Using Space to Support Learning and Thinking

New Learning in an Old Container

Curating a Classroom

Designing for Thinking

Creating Environments to Enhance Learning and Build Culture: Four Fronts

Chapter 10: Moving toward Transformation

A Close Look at Substantive Change

Sameness and Difference in the Journey to a Culture of Thinking

Appendixes

Appendix A. My Reflections on the Learning Activities in this Class

Appendix B. Ladder of Feedback

Appendix C. Success Analysis Protocol

Appendix D. Looking At Students' Thinking (Last) Protocol

Appendix E. Six Key Principles of the Cultures of Thinking Project

Appendix F. Laying the Foundation for a Culture of Thinking

Appendix G. Leading a Culture of Thinking at My School

Appendix H. The Development of a Culture of Thinking in My Classroom

Appendix I. Assessment Ladder

References

Subject Index

Name Index

End User License Agreement

List of Illustrations

Figure 6.1

Figure 7.1

Figure 9.1

Figure 9.2

Figure 9.3

Figure 9.4

Figure 9.5

Figure 9.6

Figure 9.7

Figure 9.8

Figure 9.9

Figure 10.1

Creating Cultures of Thinking

The 8 Forces We Must Master to Truly Transform Our Schools

Ron Ritchhart

Cover Design: Ron Ritchhart

Cover Image: © Justin Lewis | Getty

Author photo: Max Woltman

Copyright © 2015 by Ron Ritchhart. All rights reserved.

Published by Jossey-Bass

A Wiley Brand

One Montgomery Street, Suite 1000, San Francisco, CA 94104-4594—www.josseybass.com

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax 978-646-8600, or on the Web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, 201-748-6011, fax 201-748-6008, or online at www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

Certain pages from this book are designed for use in a group setting and may be customized and reproduced for educational/training purposes. The reproducible pages are designated by the appearance of the following copyright notice on each page:

Reproduced from Creating Cultures of Thinking by Ron Ritchhart.

Copyright © 2015 by Ron Ritchhart. Reproduced by permission.

This notice may not be changed or deleted and it must appear on all reproductions as printed. This free permission is restricted to limited customization of the materials for your organization and the paper reproduction of the materials for educational/training events. It does not allow for systematic or large-scale reproduction, distribution (more than 100 copies per page, per year), transmission, electronic reproduction or inclusion in any publications offered for sale or used for commercial purposes—none of which may be done without prior written permission of the Publisher.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages. Readers should be aware that Internet Web sites offered as citations and/or sources for further information may have changed or disappeared between the time this was written and when it is read.

Jossey-Bass books and products are available through most bookstores. To contact Jossey-Bass directly call our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 800-956-7739, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3986, or fax 317-572-4002.

Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file.

ISBN 978-1-118-97460-5 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-1-118-97462-9 (ebk.)

ISBN 978-1-118-97506-0 (ebk.)

List of Figures

Figure 6.1: Duration and Scope of Opportunities

Figure 7.1: Jemma's Triangles

Figure 9.1: Accordion Display of Documentation on the Large Number Exploration

Figure 9.2: Documentation of the Class's Learning in Reading

Figure 9.3: Student's Drawing of the Heart

Figure 9.4: A Parent Looks at Documentation

Figure 9.5: Science Provocation

Figure 9.6: Stick Sculpture

Figure 9.7: Students Work at Standing Desks with Swinging Footrests

Figure 9.8: Two Different Sources of Lighting Provide Good Illumination for Learning

Figure 9.9: Students Use the Idea Wall as They Work in Groups

Figure 10.1: Four Areas of Attention in Shepherding Change

Dedication

To the great teachers who are never satisfied,

always expecting more of themselves

and more of their students.

Acknowledgments

As with creating a culture of thinking, writing a book is very much a collective enterprise. My efforts have not been realized by working alone in isolation but have been elevated by the support and encouragement of those around me. I am lucky to be surrounded by people who have allowed me to develop my ideas. These individuals have listened to my nascent thoughts while asking me questions and offering up challenges to push my thinking. As my ideas developed, these individuals have been willing to give them a go and try them out in the classroom. In doing so, they have made the ideas that much better. Among my cadre of collaborators are those who have invited me into their schools and classrooms to learn from and with them. I am greatly indebted to all those who have encouraged my learning, and thus to this book. At the risk of leaving out some important contributors to my thinking, research, and writing, I want to acknowledge a few organizations, schools, and individuals who have played a particularly significant role.

My exploration of the importance of classroom culture to learning started in 1998 with the generous support of the Spencer Foundation to study six exemplary teachers to understand how they developed students as powerful thinkers and learners. That early research produced the framework of eight cultural forces explored in this book and set the stage for nearly two decades of work with schools around the world. Since then, other funders have supported my research, allowing me to move the ideas forward in the world, most notably the Carpe Vitam foundation in Sweden; Abe and Vera Dorevitch in conjunction with Bialik College in Melbourne, Australia; and the Melville Hankins Family Foundation in Santa Fe, New Mexico. As a researcher, I am indebted to all these entities for their backing and encouragement.

In addition to my major funders, many schools and school districts have been interested in pursuing the ideas that embody cultures of thinking, and thus they have proven invaluable partners. I could not have produced the rich stories shared here without their willingness to support this work through the substance of their practice, inviting me into their schools and classrooms to learn with them. The list of these schools is extensive. However, I would like to mention specifically the International School of Amsterdam in The Netherlands; Bialik College, Melbourne Grammar School, and Wesley College in Melbourne, Australia; Marblehead School District in Marblehead, Massachusetts; Washington International School in Washington DC; Way Elementary, Bemis Elementary, Clarkston Community Schools, West Middle School, and West Hills in Oakland County, Michigan; and Pymble Ladies College, Shore School, Masada College, and Emanuel School in Sydney, Australia.

These schools and many others have allowed me to spend time in their schools and classrooms taking notes, talking with teachers, and gathering the pictures of practice that breathe life into the ideas explored in this book. Many of these individual teachers' stories are included here. To all of these teachers, I owe a special obligation. They not only took the ideas of a culture of thinking seriously but also put them into practice in truly transformative ways. Through their examples, I have been stretched. In addition to inviting me into the classrooms, they allowed me to interview them, and they read the drafts of their cases to make sure I accurately represented them and their students.

In the actual writing of this book, I am particularly indebted to Julie Landvogt, Connie Weber, Lauren Childs, Jim Reese, and Mark Church. These individuals read, commented on, and offered suggestions on early versions of this book. They also provided careful proofreading and editing skills to help make the writing as clear as possible. Many other teachers read the chapters of this book as they were being written, allowing me insight into how the ideas and stories might be received. Finally, there are my family, friends, and colleagues who supported in the wings providing encouragement to keep writing. Of special note are Kevon Zehner, David Perkins, and Karin Morrison.

At its best, a culture of thinking lifts up the individual to achieve heights that he or she could not reach alone. The worldwide community of educators that surrounds me is my culture of thinking. I owe each and every individual in that community a debt of gratitude for his or her support. It has been my pleasure to learn with and from them all.

About the Author

Ron Ritchhart is a senior research associate at Harvard Project Zero and fellow at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Prior to becoming a researcher, Ron was a classroom teacher working in New Zealand and later in the United States. In 1993, he received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics Teaching from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics in the United States. The thread running through all of Ron's work as an educator and researcher has been and continues to be the importance of fostering thinking, understanding, and creativity in all settings of learning. His research is classroom based and often focuses on understanding the complexity of teaching by examining the work of expert teachers.

In 2002, Ron published the book Intellectual Character, which put forth the idea that a quality education is about much more than scores on tests; it is about who students become as thinkers and learners as a result of their time in schools. Ron's research into how teachers developed students' thinking dispositions illuminated the important role that classroom culture plays in nurturing the development of students as thinkers. His identification of the forces shaping the culture of groups and organizations resulted in a framework now being used widely to help educators both in and out of the classroom think differently about teaching and learning. This framework has also been the foundation for much of Ron's research and development work in schools around the world.

In 2011, Ron coauthored Making Thinking Visible with Mark Church and Karin Morrison. This best-selling book documents one aspect of teachers' development of a culture of thinking: the use of thinking routines as tools to make thinking visible. These simple structures scaffold and support learners' thinking in all kinds of learning situations. Making Thinking Visible has done much to popularize the use of thinking routines at schools and museums throughout the world.

These three core ideas—that schools must be about developing students' thinking dispositions, the need to make students' thinking visible, and the crucial role of classroom culture in supporting and shaping learning—are the foundation of Ron's decades-long work to help schools transform themselves into cultures of thinking.

Introduction

Demystifying Group and Organizational Culture

When and where have you been a part of a culture of thinking? That is, when have you been in a place where the group's collective thinking as well as each individual's thinking was valued, visible, and actively promoted as part of the regular day-to-day experience of all group members? It might have been any type of learning group—a book study, committee, graduate course, online community, museum tour, or hobby group—or it might have been a school or classroom. Take a moment to identify a single instance from your life as a learner in which you were a part of such a group. A time when you felt that everyone's thinking in the group was valued, that thinking was expressed in a way that made the thinking itself visible, and you felt pushed to think and to advance your thinking.

Now, with that particular experience in mind, what were some of the practices or ingredients that helped shape, promote, advance, and sustain that group? Try to think beyond general features or qualities to identify specific actions. For instance, you might well identify leadership as a key ingredient in such a group. However, most groups have leaders, yet not all would be considered cultures of thinking. Even having an effective leader doesn't really help us understand the types of practices we might want to employ in our own quest to create cultures of thinking, considering that one might say that virtually all leaders set out to be effective. In contrast, The leader kept the group focused on our goal offers a glimpse of an action that helped promote and sustain a culture of thinking. Try for that level of practical specificity if you can. After you have made your list, you might want to pick a second example from your experience that represents a different type of learning group and see what new action items you can identify.

This set of memories and actions you have just identified is a good place to start our exploration of what it means to be a part of and to create a culture of thinking. A culture of thinking isn't something mysterious or foreign to us, but rather represents some of our best and most productive experiences as learners. Drawing from this experience has been the basis of my research over the past decade and a half.

Over the years, I've asked thousands of people—teachers, administrators, parents, businesspeople, academics, museum educators, doctors, and so on—to reflect on the cultures of thinking they have experienced. The qualities that each of these constituencies identify as being effective shapers of cultures of thinking are surprisingly similar. Here is a short list of the most common responses:

Everyone in the group had a high interest in the topic and brought a sense of passion.

There was a shared vision and common goal that was both challenging and attainable so that everyone had buy-in.

Everyone's input was valued, creating a sense of respect.

We developed a shared language and vocabulary for talking about ideas.

There was constant questioning and probing of ideas by everyone in the group, not just the leader.

The chairperson/leader monitored participation and shared the floor so that no one dominated.

The leader was engaged, interested, and passionate. She was a learner with us.

There was open communication and active listening going on. You felt heard.

We had time to think, respond, and develop ideas.

We felt safe to take risks and make mistakes. It was even expected as part of the process.

There were stimulating group interactions. We liked each other. We pushed and supported one another.

Our learning was connected to our lives. It had value and meaning.

How does that list fit with your own reflections? Does your experience of being in a culture of thinking echo the sentiment of these statements if not their exact language and framing?

Looking through this list of practices, it is clear that people's experience in cultures of thinking and their responses to this exercise tend to be clustered around a few important themes. One of the most common responses from groups is that in a culture of thinking, there is a sense of purpose to the learning. This not only provides a sense of direction and a goal to pursue but also imbues the group's efforts with personal and collective meaning. Having a well-articulated purpose lays the foundation for the development of commitment, both to the task at hand and to the learning of the group as a whole. People often mention that in a culture of thinking, they feel committed to the learning of others and not just to their own. It is this commitment and the recognition of the symbiotic relationship between one's individual learning and that of other group members that help create a sense of community. That feeling of community is further enhanced through a dedication to promoting equity within the group. People often mention shared leadership, valuing everyone's contribution, a nonhierarchical structure, and the leader's being a learner as important actions or characteristics that support the development of equity.

It might go without saying that once you have a sense of purpose and a commitment to both the task and the group, you will also have engagement. Indeed, the idea of engagement is one that is often mentioned as people talk about the very active nature of cultures of thinking. There is a sense that one can't sit back and that everyone must take part. That might be because of another quality: challenge. People often mention that in cultures of thinking, they feel propelled by the leader and the group as a whole to do their best. In addition, they feel that their thinking is constantly being pushed. They aren't sitting back. They are learning.

Together these qualities, and the practices that breathe life into them, create a dynamic group of people who feel that they are learning together and creating something greater than that which any individual might produce. This is not to say that people aren't aware of their own individual growth and development, only that they are uniquely aware of how much their learning is tied to that of the group. In short, we might say that the leitmotif running through cultures of thinking is that of connection: connection to the task at hand, to the topic, to the leader, to each other, and to the learning.

When you thought of a group you had been a part of that was a culture of thinking, how did it make you feel? Uplifted? Energized? Eager to step back into that space? In collecting these ideas from groups, I am always struck by the sense of enthusiasm and excitement on people's faces as they recount their involvement in such groups. They become animated as they recount their experiences. It feels good to be a member of a culture of thinking. It produces energy. It builds community. It allows us to reach our potential. This is something we as educators need to remember. A culture of thinking is not about a particular set of practices or a general expectation that people should be involved in thinking. A culture of thinking produces the feelings, energy, and even joy that can propel learning forward and motivate us to do what at times can be hard and challenging mental work.

A New Standard for Education

This book is about transforming our schools and classrooms into the kinds of learning communities we have just brought to mind. As educators, parents, and citizens, we must settle for nothing less than environments that bring out the best in people, take learning to the next level, allow for great discoveries, and propel both the individual and the group forward into a lifetime of learning. This is something all teachers want and all students deserve.

Admittedly, there are amazing schools all around the world, and many remarkable teachers, too, who regularly accomplish this goal. You'll be inspired by just such teachers in the chapters to come. Nonetheless, such environments aren't the norm for many students. Low-performing schools often lack the energy for learning; high-performing schools may narrow learning to simply preparing for tests. In both cases, and those in between, we as a society should want more for children. Indeed, the twenty-first century will demand that we provide more and that we rethink the purpose and promise of schools, a topic I take up in chapter 1.

I believe that culture is the hidden tool for transforming our schools and offering our students the best learning possible. Traditionally, policymakers have focused on curriculum as the tool for transformation, naively assuming that teachers merely deliver curriculum to their students. Change the deliverable—Common Core, National Curriculum, International Baccalaureate Diploma—and you will have transformed education they assume. In reality, curriculum is something that is enacted with students. It plays out within the dynamics of the school and classroom culture. Thus culture is foundational. It will determine how any curriculum comes to life.

The Forces That Shape Culture

If culture is the key to transformation, then we must understand how group culture is created, sustained, and enhanced. We must have a framework for understanding and assessing it. Some people look on culture as a mysterious, nebulous ethos that somehow grows up amorphously around a group. Others view group culture as a mere reflection of the leader's or teacher's personality, a view perpetuated in Hollywood movies about great teachers or books on the business genius of the latest CEO guru. Both of these takes on culture are misleading and unhelpful.

Culture does emerge and define a group. However, it needn't be mysterious. Likewise, although it may be true that some people have an intuitive knack for harnessing the forces that shape culture, once we are clear what those forces are, then anyone can begin to work with them to move a group's culture in a more positive direction. I will identify and briefly introduce the eight cultural forces here and then explore them more fully with case studies from various classrooms in the chapters to come.

Expectations

Ask teachers about expectations, and they will often talk about their expectations of students. For instance, expectations of behavior, the amount and type of work, or neatness. Although important in terms of class order, which is a concern for teachers, such expectations do little to motivate the actual process of learning and can, in some cases, represent defensive teaching that maintains order while actually decreasing learning (McNeil, 1983). The expectations that help to shape culture are those that outline and define the learning enterprise itself while signaling the kinds of thinking necessary to its success. Not our expectations of students, but our expectations for students.

This means that we teachers must have expectations that focus our teaching—for instance, the expectation that school will be about learning rather than the mere completion of work and merely accumulating enough points to score a top grade. Likewise, when we hold the expectation that understanding is a chief goal of learning and take students further and demand more of them than solely focusing on the acquisition of knowledge and skills, then our teaching becomes focused on deep rather than surface learning. An expectation for student independence rather than dependence demands a different way of teaching as well, one that empowers rather than controls students. Finally, when both teachers and students have the expectation, or mindset, that one gets smarter through one's efforts, then challenge and mistakes can be embraced as learning opportunities.

Language

Words mediate, shape, inform, and solidify much of our experience. Lev Vygotsky (1978), whose work explored how learning unfolds within social contexts, wrote, The child begins to perceive the world not only through its eyes but also through its speech. And later it is not just seeing but acting that becomes informed by words (p. 78). Through language, teachers notice, name, and highlight the activity, thinking, and ideas that are important within any learning context, drawing students' attention to these concepts and practices in the process. To many teachers' surprise, they often find that when they begin to notice and name students' thinking and positive learning moves, their students begin to exhibit more of those behaviors.

Time

Time is one of the scarcest commodities in schools, a constraint that every teacher feels and something we all struggle to manage. This pressure makes it hard for some teachers to allow time for thinking, but giving students time to think actually helps teachers achieve learning goals faster because students are more engaged. Of course, wait time after asking a question is important, and so is providing longer blocks of time for students to gather ideas and thoughts before a discussion. Teachers must be cautious about asking students to jump into complex discussions without providing them with time and structures to gather their thoughts first. This might mean giving a prompt and then a chance to write down a few ideas before beginning the discussion, as well as stopping discussions periodically to take stock of the learning.

Modeling

Teachers are quite familiar with notions of modeling. However, this is often limited to instructional modeling, the Now watch me and I'll show you kind of modeling. Instructional modeling certainly has its place, but it isn't really a shaper of culture. The kind of modeling that creates culture is more subtle, ubiquitous, and embedded. It is the modeling of who we as teachers are as thinkers and learners. This kind of modeling can't be put on for students' benefit; it must be real. Students know if a teacher is passionate about a topic, interested in ideas, engaged as a learner, reflective, and deliberative.

Teachers can struggle with this kind of authenticity, however, particularly when it comes to modeling risk taking, reflection, and learning from one's mistakes. Some teachers try to derive their authority from their superior content knowledge (Buzzelli & Johnston, 2002) and worry that showing any lack of knowledge will be perceived as ineptitude. This view harkens back to the notion of teaching as transmission. However, when teaching is seen as fostering engagement with ideas, a teacher's fear of inadequacy is reduced. Furthermore, teachers often find that students respond to authenticity better than they do to false bravado.

Opportunities

Typically the language teachers use to talk about teaching is in terms of lessons, activities, tasks, units, assignments, and so on. Sometimes, these words may reinforce a work rather than a learning orientation. By instead thinking about creating opportunities, we focus on what it is that is potentially powerful for learners within a lesson. Even when teachers teach a lesson out of a book, recognizing the opportunities the lesson affords allows teachers to focus on maximizing those opportunities. Does it allow students to challenge misconceptions? Does it push learners to clarify a position? to consider different perspectives?

Powerful learning opportunities invite all students to the learning, having a low threshold for entry and a high ceiling so that learners can take themselves as far as they wish. Such opportunities provide students with the chance to apply their skills and knowledge in novel contexts even as they acquire new understanding. Powerful learning opportunities don't feel merely like doing work for the teacher but have their own worth that students readily perceive.

Routines

Classrooms and groups are dominated by routines, often invisible to outsiders. This is why it is often difficult for new teachers to learn classroom management and organization from experienced teachers. What appears to happen effortlessly in well-managed classrooms is actually the result of established routines. Getting new teachers to think about creating patterns of behavior is important, but this must extend beyond managerial concerns. We must also establish learning and thinking routines in our classrooms that offer students known structures within which to operate and tools that they can take control of and use for their own learning. Ultimately a routine can be thought of as a pattern of behavior, as a manifestation of a group's way of operating. One way of thinking about a routine is simply, This is how we do things here.

Interactions

Perhaps nothing speaks louder about the culture of a classroom than the interactions that take place within it. This is also where mystery and the power of personality dominate, but this needn't be the case. Listening and questioning are the basis for positive classroom interactions that can in turn shape meaningful collaboration, which can then build a culture of thinking. At the heart of these two practices lies a respect for and interest in students' thinking. Of course, these practices apply equally to student-to-student interaction, and therefore teachers must teach students these skills through their example first.

Environment

Walk into any classroom or learning space, even in the absence of students or teachers, and you can tell something about the learning that happens in that space. The arrangement of furniture will tell you about how the group is expected to interact. What is up on the wall will tell you what the teacher or leader thinks is important to highlight and showcase. What learning needs is the environment set up to facilitate? For instance, does the space facilitate learners' needs to communicate, discuss, share, debate, and engage with other learners—or is it meeting only the students' need to see the board? Thinking about the messages an environment communicates and the needs it facilitates can help us construct environments that better support students' learning.

Tools for Transformation

The eight cultural forces represent the tools or levers we have for transforming school and classroom culture. In the first chapter, The Purpose and Promise of Schools, I lay out the case for a new vision of schools and schooling and identify ways you can better understand the current culture of your school or classroom. Each of the eight subsequent chapters then addresses one of the aforementioned cultural forces.

Although I have thought carefully about the order of the following chapters, placing the most engrained and foundational forces (expectations, language, time, and modeling) first, followed by those more easily designed and planned for (opportunities, routines, interactions, and environment), the fact is that there is no hierarchy or order to the cultural forces. One is not more important than the other, and all interact simultaneously in a group setting. As Nellie Gibson, whose case is presented in chapter 9, once said to me, I think of the cultural forces as dominoes. It doesn't really matter where you start; you will soon find yourself knocking up against the others and addressing them at some point in your teaching. Therefore, feel free to start your reading with whichever cultural force you like. However, I do make references to earlier chapters as I go along, so reading sequentially will have its benefits.

In writing about each of the cultural forces, I draw on my work with schools in Australia, Europe, and the United States as part of the Worldwide Cultures of Thinking Project to demonstrate each force within the embedded practice of teachers. Many of these teachers have been involved with these ideas for years and have created robust cultures of thinking that produce powerful learning—often with amazing results. Where I have the information about student performance on standardized tests, I make mention of those data as a way of providing context. However, I am not reporting on the results of experimental research in doing so, merely providing you with additional information. Although we all want students to do well on tests, I hope I have portrayed the real power of each teacher's efforts through the actual example of his or her teaching presented here.

These cases of teaching offer inspiration as well as a contextualized understanding of both what and how each force contributes to the culture of the classroom. From these cases, I then pull out and identify core elements or practices that all teachers can use as they seek to better engage that cultural force to its best effect. In doing so, I have attempted to weave together research with real teaching in a way that illuminates that research and, I hope, makes it more accessible.

Because this book is about transformation and not simply learning about culture, I conclude each of the following chapters with a set of possible actions. These actions should be viewed as first steps teachers can take to better understand and leverage that particular cultural force. In some cases, teams of teachers may want to collaborate to take action together as part of an inquiry-action group. Working through this book in cycles of reading, discussion, action, and reflection can be a powerful mechanism for whole-school change.

To take this charge for transformation further, I conclude this book with a series of case studies in chapter 10 written by a superintendent, a principal, an instructional coach, a head of professional learning, and two educational consultants. All of these individuals provide a unique picture on what it means to grow these ideas to truly transform a classroom, school, district, or county. As these cases demonstrate, there is no single way to go about the process of developing a culture of thinking. You will need to consider your own context to determine what is most appropriate.

Clearly this book has been written with school leaders and classroom teachers in mind; however, the fact is that anyone interested in group learning will find herein the tools needed for unlocking, understanding, and shaping powerful learning environments that get the best out of people. This includes educators in nonschool settings as well as those who manage groups in the business world. Indeed, the eight cultural forces, first identified as part of my analysis of great teachers' teaching, have proven to be a very robust model for understanding all groups, whether they be a museum tour, committee meeting, retreat, or project team.

The creation of any group culture is ongoing and evolving. As educators, we construct classroom culture over time with the active participation and input of those around us. This emergent culture is powerful because it sends messages about what learning is and how it happens. For teachers, understanding this process and how they might more directly influence it, as well as having the language to talk about classroom culture, can go a long way to demystifying teaching. Awareness of the presence of the cultural forces in any group context helps prospective and experienced educators alike take a more active role in shaping culture. In doing so, we move away from the view of teaching as transmission and toward the creation of a culture of thinking and learning in which curriculum comes alive. Let the transformation begin.

Chapter 1

The Purpose and Promise of Schools

How do we talk about the value of school? How do we define the meaning of a quality education? The value of school has traditionally been measured in term of results—grades on exams, projects, and essays designed by teachers to match the taught curriculum and dutifully recorded in report cards sent home to parents each term. Over the last two decades, these kinds of results have lost ground to external measures: standardized tests that allow for the easy ranking and comparison of students across disparate settings. Increasingly, these have become the markers of quality, the measures by which we assess progress, and the outcome that teachers are teaching for, that students are working toward, and that parents expect. But is this really why we send our children to school? Is this truly the goal of education to which we collectively aspire?

Commenting on education reform in a back-to-school issue of the New York Times Magazine, historian Diane Ravitch stated, The single biggest problem in education is that no one agrees on why we educate. Faced with this lack of consensus, policy makers define good education as higher test scores (How to Remake Education, 2009). Although the definitions of policymakers surely matter, they are not the final arbiters in this debate. Policy is ultimately shaped by societal, organizational, parental, and student-held definitions of good or great or any adjective we use to define exceptional quality. These definitions establish the broader context in which schools operate. It is these conversations about quality that give rise to the standards that shape the lives of teachers and students and that define the outcome to which all efforts must be aligned. We must change the way we talk about education. As Elliot Eisner (2003) has said, As long as schools treat test scores as the major proxies for student achievement and educational quality, we will have a hard time refocusing our attention on what really matters in education (p. 9).

Ultimately, our definition of a great school or quality education matters because it will define what we give time to and what becomes a priority in the day-to-day life of the classroom. It will shape our expectations of what schools can contribute to our lives and to our society. In short, our definition of what makes a quality education shapes our aspirations as parents, educators, and as a society at large. So, yes, it matters how we talk about schooling and its purpose. It matters how the society talks to its politicians, how policymakers talk to the media, how principals talk to teachers, how teachers talk to students, and how parents talk to their children. It matters because our talk shapes our focus, and our focus directs