Thinking Together With Children

Your child is asking Why? and seeking meaning. Listening and responding encourages refl ective thought. Now that our children are spending more and more time in virtual reality, making connections with their minds is becoming even more important. Thinking requires an individual to formulate an idea into a conceptual thought that can be recalled and analyzed. A parent can help their child think clearly by actively participating in their learning. Listening to your child means your child will listen as well. The child is seeking meaning.

Dialogic Readers: Children talking and thinking together about visual texts celebrates the sophisticated and dynamic discussions that primary-aged children can have as they talk together to make meaning from a variety of texts, and it highlights the potential for talk between readers as a tool for critical and creative thinking. It proposes a new dialogic theory of reading comprehension that incorporates multi-modal media and adds further weight to the argument that talk as a tool for learning should form a central part of primary classroom learning and teaching. The book explores: • the language of co-construction • children’s critical and creative responses to text • the dialogic transaction between text and readers • the use of language as a tool for creating a social cohesion between readers. This significant work is aimed at educational lecturers, researchers and students who want to explore an expanded notion of reading comprehension in the twenty-first century, realizing how opportunities for children thinking creatively together might transform the potential for learning in the classroom. It provides a framework for analyzing co-constructive talk with suggestions for promoting children’s critical and creative thinking.

Want students to understand-really understand-and retain the math they're learning? Focus on building your classroom community first. In Thinking Together, veteran teachers Rozlynn Dance and Tessa Kaplan explore nine beliefs that lead to a powerful community of learners. When students are part of a classroom where they feel valued and included, they are more likely to take risks, ask questions, and grow exponentially as mathematicians. Rozlynn and Tessa tell us, "We must create a kind, caring, trusting community of learners who feel comfortable tackling the unknown, taking risks, and making mistakes." This book doesn't pretend teaching is simple-instead, it celebrates the potential in the everyday messiness of learning together. Each chapter includes: opportunities to reflect on your practice through an exploration of beliefs such as "Mistakes are great!" and "It's not just about the answer" practical guidance for building your classroom community through student-centered strategies and classroom examples "When Things Don't Seem to be Working" sections for troubleshooting common challenges and adapting to teaching that doesn't go as planned. An environment fine-tuned for learning creates conditions in which your students can thrive as mathematical thinkers. Thinking Together will help shape your beliefs about what it means to be a learning community and provide support for building those beliefs into your classroom.

Thinking Together shows how story-based material can be used to help children raise philosophical puzzles and problems that will set them thinking. It shows how to build a community of inquiry in the classroom, and how to use questioning techniques, group discussion and other activities to develop thinking skills and concepts that can be applied across the curriculum.

Your child is asking "Why?" and seeking meaning. Listening and responding encourages refl ective thought. Now that our children are spending more and more time in virtual reality, making connections with their minds is becoming even more important. Thinking requires an individual to formulate an idea into a conceptual thought that can be recalled and analyzed. A parent can help their child think clearly by actively participating in their learning. Listening to your child means your child will listen as well. The child is seeking meaning.

"Learning and Thinking Together is full of simple, easy activities, games, and discussion prompts to help support and build kids' learning and critical thinking. There are reading activities that include read-clouds, writing, and how to have family book clubs. Science and math activities include games and D.I.Y. activities that are fun to do while kids expand their learning. Social studies activities help kids understand and think about their world. The perfect book to help keep your kids (ages 2-14; Pre K-Grade 8) learning, thinking, and growing."--Amazon.

This book draws on extensive research to provide a ground-breaking new account of the relationship between dialogue and children’s learning development. It closely relates the research findings to real-life classrooms, so that it is of practical value to teachers and students concerned that their children are offered the best possible learning opportunities. The authors provide a clear, accessible and well-illustrated case for the importance of dialogue in children's intellectual development and support this with a new and more educationally relevant version of socio-cultural theory, which explains the fascinating relationship between dialogues and learning. In educational terms, a sociocultural theory that relates social, cultural and historical processes, interpersonal communication and applied linguistics, is an ideal way of explaining how school experience helps children learn and develop. By using evidence of how the collective construction of knowledge is achieved and how engagement in dialogues shapes children's educational progress and intellectual development, the authors provide a text which is essential for educational researchers, postgraduate students of education and teachers, and is also of interest to many psychologists and applied linguists.

′This is a book to be treasured. This deeply respected pioneer brings together major research literature, theoretical understanding and practical help. She does so in a way that demonstrates her love and commitment in working with young children and helping them to have rich lives intellectually and with personal fulfillment′ -Professor Tina Bruce CBE ′What comes through is weighty warmth. The weight of research and experience coupled with the warmth of the fascination of children′s development over Marion′s professional and personal lifetime′ -Professor Mick Waters, Wolverhampton University ′This highly knowledgeable yet accessible book will be hugely valuable for all those who care deeply about young children′s learning and development′ -Liz Roberts, Editor, Nursery World ′A tour de force which has the potential to change practice and thinking about early childhood′ -Helen Moylett, Early Learning and Consultancy, President of Early Education Clearly linking theory and practice, this highly accessible book will be valuable to practitioners, teachers and students. The author explores the development of children′s thinking from 0-7 years, and how this affects home, Early Years settings and schools. The book includes: - case studies - professional checkpoints to help reflection - practical suggestions - guidance on involving parents - suggested reading - questions for discussion. It will be a great asset for students on Early Years Foundation Degrees, Initial Teacher Education and Early Childhood Studies courses. Marion Dowling works as a trainer and consultant in the UK and overseas, and is Vice President of Early Education, a national charity.