TEACHING LIKE CHAMPIONS

http://www.pz.harvard.edu/vt/VisibleThinking_html_files/VisibleThinking1.html

What an excellent approach to raise global thinkers and instill appreciation of ones culture with this system of 'visible thinking' system.

I am fortunate having been raised by story-tellers... my parents, whose parents are from the culturally rich islands and country. It is from their story-telling, the catalyst to my method of teaching, where it comes from the 'third ear,' the heart, to pique and allow students' questions in open-ended discussions in my classroom. I remember my Mom would remind all nine of us siblings, with,..."thinking is like a fabric,(as she sewed our clothes), "if you do not visualize it, it will never materialize." She would speak to us in Chamorro, speak to my Dad in Yapese about Yapese thoughts on such matters as fishing, gardening, and and then immediately the two of them would exchange in Japanese about matters of repair and upkeep of home. Their focus on our education weighed heavily on their sacrifice to send us to private schools, no television, but lots of music and books in our humble home built by my Dad. We were raised on the food of the land they grew and raised or caught, abundant in our paradise home in Guam.

These I value, and shall pass on to my students in collaboration with the revamped 2010 Content Standard and with golden threads of knowledge from this research on 'Teach Like Champions', website.