This full-day session is grounded in the core principles of Building Thinking Classrooms and extends them beyond mathematics to support instruction in ELA, science, social studies, world languages, the arts, CTE, and electives.

 

Participants will explore how classroom structures — not just strategies — shape student thinking, engagement, and long-term retention. The focus is on creating learning environments where students actively reason, collaborate, struggle productively, and develop ownership of their learning.

 

Throughout the day, participants will experience the strategies as learners, analyze their impact through an instructional lens, and translate them into content-specific classroom applications.

Participants will:

 

• Understand the research-based principles behind Building Thinking Classrooms and why they support deeper learning and retention.

• Explore classroom structures that increase cognitive engagement and reduce passive compliance.

• Learn how to design tasks that promote reasoning, discussion, and productive struggle across disciplines.

• Apply thinking-classroom principles to their own content areas using guided planning tools.

• Examine what these practices look like through both a teacher and evaluator lens.

• Leave with ready-to-use strategies and planning templates for immediate implementation.