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Session 4. Thinking Routines and Assessing Reasoning
Objective. Use two or three short thinking routines that make pupils' reasoning visible, and assess the reasoning behind an answer with a simple three-level rubric, not only whether the answer is right.
If a pupil gives the right answer, what do you know about their thinking? Often very little. If you want pupils to reason better, you need to see their reasoning, and then you need a way to respond to it that is quick enough for a class of thirty. Thinking routines make the reasoning visible; a short rubric makes it readable. Together they help you teach reasoning without turning every lesson into a long marking session.
Key ideas
What a thinking routine is
- A thinking routine is a short, repeatable set of 3 or 4 steps that asks pupils to show how they think. Harvard's Project Zero publishes many under the name Visible Thinking.
- A routine takes 5 to 10 minutes and works with any content: a picture, a text, a map, a problem. The same routine used again and again becomes a habit pupils run themselves.
- Routines are for thinking, not for marks. Keep them low-stakes so pupils dare to say half-formed ideas.
Three routines to start with
- See, Think, Wonder: look at a picture or object. What do you see? What do you think is going on? What does it make you wonder? It separates observation from interpretation.
- Claim, Support, Question: state a claim about the text, give support from it, then ask a question the claim leaves open. Use it after reading, in any subject.
- Think, Puzzle, Explore at the start of a unit: What do I think I know? What puzzles me? How could I explore it? To close a unit: 'I used to think ..., now I think ...'.
Why look at reasoning, not only answers
- A right answer can come from guessing, copying or memory. A wrong answer can come from careful reasoning with one wrong fact. Marking only the answer treats these two pupils the same.
- Ask for one line of reasoning in every written task: 'Because ...', 'I know this since ...', a worked step, a labelled diagram. Or ask 'Tell me how you got there' in a 30-second talk.
- What you see in the reasoning tells you what to teach next: a missing reason, a wrong fact, a jump from one case to all.
A simple three-level reasoning rubric
- Look at four things: a clear claim, a relevant reason, use of evidence or facts, and awareness of another possibility. Rate each as Not yet, Getting there or Strong.
- Mark a sample, not all: take 6 papers from the pile (two strong, two middle, two weak) to see the pattern for the class, then give written feedback to a few.
- Feedback on reasoning has two lines: one thing the reasoning does well, and one question that pushes it further ('What else could explain this?').
Three levels of reasoning in an answer
Not yet
Answer only
- Yes, it is in the book
- No reason or evidence
Getting there
A reason, with a gap
- Yes, plants need light
- Reason is about the wrong thing
Strong
Reason and evidence
- Warmth may differ too
- Proposes a fair test
Making a routine a habit
A routine works through repetition. Introduce one routine and use it three or four times in a fortnight, with different content each time. The first time, expect awkward silence; the third time, pupils begin to run the steps themselves. Keep your own talk short and model the routine aloud once: 'I see a dry canal. I think the water is used upstream. I wonder who decides how much goes where.'
Use the same routine in different subjects if your school allows. A pupil who learns See, Think, Wonder in science can use it on a map in geography and on an illustration in literature. A shared language of thinking also makes it easier to talk with colleagues.
Credit for reasoning, standards for answers
Giving credit for reasoning does not mean lowering standards for correct answers. The two are separate questions: is the answer right, and is the reasoning sound? A pupil can be wrong and reason well, and the best next step for that pupil is correcting a fact, not repeating the whole topic. A pupil can be right and reason poorly, and needs help to explain.
To keep the work manageable, rate a sample, not every paper. Ask a colleague to rate the same six papers independently. Where you differ, discuss the words in the answer that led you to your rating. This short habit makes your rubric clearer and your feedback fairer.
Examples from the classroom
A thirty-second explanation
Scene. Jasur teaches Grade 5 mathematics in Bukhara. When pupils give the answer 84 to a multiplication problem, he adds a rule: 'Tell your neighbour how you got it, in one sentence.' He listens to six pairs. Two pairs use a method that will not work with bigger numbers. Jasur teaches the better method for 4 minutes the next day, which he could not have known without hearing the reasons.
Insight. Hearing the method, not only the answer, shows what to teach next.
See, Think, Wonder with a photo
Scene. Dilnoza teaches Grade 7 geography in Samarkand. She shows a photo of a dried-out harbour in the Aral Sea region. Pupils write what they see (a boat on sand), what they think (the water went away), and what they wonder (where the people went). The wonder column becomes the list of questions for the next three lessons.
Insight. The routine separates seeing from interpreting and turns curiosity into a plan for learning.
An exit ticket with a rubric
Scene. Aziz teaches Grade 8 history in Tashkent. His exit ticket asks: 'Was the Silk Road mostly good for Samarkand? One claim, one reason.' He rates 30 tickets in 8 minutes using three marks: reason missing, reason there, reason with an example. Twelve tickets have no reason, fourteen have a reason, four have an example. Next lesson he shows one example sentence and asks everyone to add one.
Insight. A very simple rubric is enough to see where the whole class stands.
Common pitfalls
- Using a different routine every lesson, so none becomes a habit.
- Turning the routine into a graded worksheet, so pupils write what the teacher wants.
- Rating neatness or length instead of the reasoning.
- Giving feedback on every paper instead of rating a sample and teaching the common gap.
Read the Reasoning
- Do the routine yourselves (10 min): read the picture card in your Activity Kit and do See, Think, Wonder in groups of four. Write one item in each column.
- Read six pupil answers to the seed question in your kit (15 min). Alone, rate each answer on the four rubric lines, then compare with a partner. Do not decide yet which is 'right'; decide which reasoning is strongest.
- For your own subject (10 min): write one question that needs a reason, an answer line ('Because ...') and a three-level rubric of two or three lines.
- Swap with a partner (10 min): answer each other's question as a weak, a middle and a strong pupil might. Does the rubric tell the three apart? Improve it, then fill in the action task.
Your facilitator will guide you through this activity in the session.
Questions to discuss
- Which answer had the right conclusion but weak reasoning, and which the reverse? How would you mark them?
- How long did the six answers take to read? How could you make it faster in a class of 30?
- Which routine will you repeat every week for a month, and when in the lesson?
Reflect
- What do you currently learn about a pupil's thinking from a right answer?
- Which lesson part (start, middle, end) is the best place for a 5-minute routine in your timetable?
- What worry do you have about giving credit for good reasoning when the answer is wrong?
Try it tomorrow
- Pick one routine and use it three times in the next two weeks, always with a different picture or text.
- Add 'Because ...' to the end of one written task and rate six answers with the three-level rubric.
- Exchange six answers with a colleague, rate them separately and compare.
Further reading and links
Use short routines to make thinking visible, and rate the reasoning, not only the answer, with a few clear lines.