Thinking Prompts

What Makes You Say That?

1. What’s going on?

2. What do you see that makes you say that?

Claim Support Question

1. Make a claim about the topic

2. Identify support for your claim

3. Ask a question related to your claim

Think Puzzle Explore

1. What do you think you know about this topic?

2. What questions or puzzles do you have?

3. How can you explore this topic?

Think Pair Share

1. Pose a question to students

2. take a few minutes of thinking time

3. turn to a nearby student to share thoughts

Circle of Viewpoints

1. I am thinking of … the topic… From the point of view of … the viewpoint you’ve chosen

2. I think … describe the topic from your viewpoint. Be an actor – take on the character of your viewpoint

3. A question I have from this viewpoint is … ask a question from this viewpoint

I used to Think… Now I think…

Remind students of the topic you want them to consider. It could be the ideal itself—fairness, truth, understanding, or creativity—or it could be the unit you are studying. Have students write a response using each of the sentence stems:

• I used to think…
• But now, I think…

See Think Wonder

1. What do you see?

2. What do you think is going on?

3. What does it make you wonder?

Compass Points

E = Excited What excites you about this idea or proposition? What’s the upside?

W = Worrisome What do you find worrisome about this idea or proposition? What’s the downside?

N = Need to Know What else do you need to know or find out about this idea or proposition? What additional information would help you to evaluate things?

S = Stance or Suggestion for Moving Forward What is your current stance or opinion on the idea or proposition? How might you move forward in your evaluation of this idea or proposition?

Connect – Extend – Challenge

1. How are the ideas and information presented connected to what you already knew?

2. What new ideas did you get that extended or pushed your thinking in new directions?

3. What is still challenging or confusing for you to get your mind around? What questions, wonderings or puzzles do you now have?

The 5 W’s & H

As a class or group answer the questions as insightfully as you can.

• Who?
• What?
• Where?
• When?
• Why?
• How?

Headlines

Write a headline that captures the most important point.

Add a Caption

There is no caption for this image, so here’s your chance to write one!  Write a line that captures the message of this image.

Be Inspired – Wax Lyrical

1. Allow the media to inspire you.

2. Get in touch with the feelings it inspires.

3. Put these feelings into words – don’t worry if they don’t “make sense.”

Find What’s Funny

1. What is being made fun of?

2. What specific things make this “funny?”

3. How might you tell this as a joke without describing what you see?

Inspiration  – Act on the Feeling?

1. What feelings do you have after experiencing this?

2. How were you made to feel this way?

3. What would you like to do with these feelings?

KWL: Know – Want to Know – Learned

1. What do you already know about this?

2. What more would you want to learn?

3. What is something new you learned by looking closely?

Pro – Con – Neutral

1. Why would people be in favor of this?

2. Why would people be against it?

3. What would be a neutral position?