ITC Companion - Flash Content

Collaborative Strategies

Collaborative strategies are group thinking tools with clear roles, steps and outcomes. The 2010 innovative teachers’ companion offers a range of different collaborative strategies, such as the Round Robin (a very effective brainstorming activity that involves students working collaboratively to generate new ideas, lists or new data in a short period of time) explains at which level of Blooms these strategies can be used and then provides practical examples of the strategies use in a subject context e.g. in Mathematics.

By regularly employing the many collaborative strategies throughout the Companion students (guided by their teachers) will be empowered and motivated as challenging tasks are broken down into manageable parts enabling all students to experience positive outcomes.

Cognitive Strategies

Cognitive relates to the processing of information at different levels. How do we encourage our students to effectively process the information presented in the curriculum? Based on the ITC Framework for thinking at different levels (which provides a rationale for the use of learning tools and different levels of thinking) the 2010 innovative teachers’ companion offers over 20 different cognitive strategies, such as the SWOT analysis, explains at which level of Blooms these strategies can be used and then provides practical examples of the strategies use in a subject context e.g. in English.

By regularly employing the many cognitive tools throughout the Companion students (guided by their teachers) will be empowered and motivated as challenging tasks are broken down into manageable parts enabling all students to experience positive outcomes.

Daily Sample - Primary Secondary

Secondary Companion Sample #1 | Secondary Companion Sample #2
Primary Companion Sample #1 | Primary Companion Sample #2

Free Associate Membership

Consider becoming an ITC Associate Member at www.itcpublications.com.au for some great on-line resources and additional benefits:

• A monthly on-line newsletter
• Teacher Favourite Websites: a wide-ranging directory of excellent websites across most subject areas – updated monthly
• Recommended Podcast Sites: a guide to websites for downloading podcasts
• Thinking tool templates
• A4 Thinking Framework poster
• NAIDOC Week – activities for your students to celebrate indigenous culture and indigenous contribution to modern Australia
• Classroom learning activities: hundreds of creative examples of using the cognitive and collaborative tools – all grouped into subject areas.
• Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Quiz
• Special articles on teaching and learning

Maths and higher-order thinking

Higher order thinking best happens in the uncertain contexts of more open investigations and often requires students to rethink progress as the investigation unfolds. Too often, maths classes involve exercises where the procedure is obvious from the examples and the answer is in the back of the book. The best opportunities for higher order thinking require the teacher to think ‘outside the box’ and persist as students learn to work in open and challenging environments. Some of the best examples of higher order thinking pose powerful questions using simple contexts. There are uncertainties, revisions, dead ends and frustrations to be dealt with, but the thinking rewards are worth the effort. 

The 2010 innovative teachers’ companion provides a series of innovative examples to help Mathematics teachers provide their students with opportunities to engage in Higher Order Thinking.

Science Week

National Science Week (August 14 - 22)
Einstein once said, “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honours the servant and has forgotten the gift.” Science Week is a time to honour the gift of intuition in each of us, a time to question and explore, argue and experiment. As teachers, we should endeavour to apply this philosophy to our own teaching strategies in order to encourage our children to adopt it for themselves. “Great spirits,” Einstein said, “have always found violent opposition from mediocre minds. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence.” Be courageous!

Children’s Book Week

The 2010 innovative teachers' companion celebrates Children’s Book Week (August 21 - 27).
The 2010 theme 'Across the Story Bridge' hints at all the intrigue and mystique to be enjoyed from adventures with books. Even the least experienced reader of stories will know to expect at least one troll, ugly and cantankerous, but mercifully easy to out-smart. Literary journeying-here we come.

The Companion combines some wonderful children’s books with a range of cognitive strategies to create truly memorable experiences for your students.

Special Promotional Offers

Contained in the 2010 innovative teachers’ companion are literally hundreds of dollars in promotional offers designed to reward the professionalism and commitment of users of the innovative teachers’ companion. Enjoy a coffee, visit some of Australia’s best theme parks and attractions, go Ten Pin bowling, go shopping at one of Melbourne’s best shopping districts and much more, all at discounted rates courtesy of ITC Publications.

Backwards Mapping

Backward mapping is a model for planning a Unit or Work that begins with the summative assessment task and works backward to plan learning experiences that will create optimal conditions for students to undertake that task. The model assumes an authentic or ‘rich’ assessment task and the set of criteria for marking will look for evidence of deep learning and critical thinking. Ideally, it is a collaborative effort by an interdisciplinary team of teachers preparing to plan and implement a Unit of Work.

Systems Thinking
Systems Thinking aims to deepen our understanding of the relationships underlying the behaviour of both natural and artificial phenomena.

Brain Compatible Learning

Modern Science, through the use of Magnetic Resonance Technology, for example, has made significant breakthroughs in understanding how the Brain works and how it learns. It is beholden to the modern teaching professional to obtain a general understanding of the brain and its properties. The 2010 innovative teachers’ companion provides an overview of Brain Compatible Learning as well as a framework for teachers and students to create classrooms that take into account how the brain learns and operates.

The Companion contains stimulating tips on ‘Emotional Rooms’ (different types of thinking generate action in various localised areas of the brain and this impacts on the way we feel at any point in time) and ’Using Emotions to Engage Learners’.

Bloom’s Taxonomy

ITC Publications has developed a thinking framework based on Benjamin Bloom's taxonomy of thinking to better assist teachers and students categorise the level of abstraction of questions that commonly occur in the classroom.

The innovative teachers’ companion is based on the ITC Thinking Skills Framework and is an easy and practical tool by which teachers can create lessons based on critical and creative thinking.