Thinking Skills in English

A Creative-Writing Example

Teaching thinking-skills within your lessons can have a dramatic impact on students’ confidence, engagement and achievement.

The following example is for the planning phase in creative writing – a stage which many students struggle with.

This example includes three thinking skills:

1. Association (i.e. recalling knowledge and generating ideas)2. Interrogation (i.e. asking Who...? What...? Where...? When...? Why...?)3. Hypothesis (i.e. providing a possible answer with is: Is it...? Could it...? Does it...?)

The visual example (below) explains how each skill can be used in creative writing and how, when used together, the three thinking skills can create confident, independent learners.

The example (above) is Thinking Skill 1: Association.

As the teacher, you choose any topic (example ‘boy lost in a forest’).

You then build a chain of words of ‘boy lost in a forest’ (see above).

Building a chain of words is called ‘multiple association’ because each word triggers another and another...

The next step is adding Thinking Skill 2: Interrogation (see below).

The example (above) is Thinking Skill 2: Interrogation (e.g. Who? What? Where? When? Why?)

As the teacher, you take your associations (from step 1) and write them in a list (in white above).

Then, next to your associations (in white above), you write one Interrogation (in green above).

As the teacher, you can explain to students that asking questions ‘builds detail’ for students.

The more detail students have, the easier the story will be to write = a better grade!

The next step is adding Thinking Skill 3: Hypothesis (see below).

The example (above) is Thinking Skill 3: Hypothesis (e.g. Is it...? Could it...? Does it...?)

As the teacher, you now write an prediction to your Interrogation questions (from step 2).

You write your predictions (in orange above), next to your Interrogations (in green above).

As the teacher, you can explain to students that writing predictions ‘builds even more detail’.

The more detail students have, the easier the story will be to write = a better grade!

The next step is giving students a ‘Creative Writing Colour-Key’ (see below).

The example (above) is a ‘Creative Writing Colour Key’.

Now that students have their plan (using the three thinking skills – above)

As the teacher, you can show this colour key and explain it’s a ‘self-checklist’ for students.

The colour-key is an ideal AFL tool for students, saving you loads of time marking!

During the lesson, students colour-code their work to see what’s included and what’s missing.

Students can then write the word *NEXT* and identify what to include next time/lesson.

See below for an example of the ‘Creative Writing Colour Key’ in action.