M5f. Using the Top Ten Pit Tools (Preview)

Module 5 has thus far focused on the Four Cs of Thinking. This is because of the old adage, ‘It’s not what you do, it’s the way that you do it.’ Those ‘four Cs’ – critical, creative, caring and collaborative thinking – will ensure the strategies we’re about to look at are used in the ‘right way’. Indeed, it could be said that not only are they preferred partners but essential enablers for the pit tools to work properly.

So, with the Four Cs covered, it’s time to turn to Chapter 6 of the LC Book. You’ll notice it is entitled ‘Construct Meaning’ because each of these tools – used in conjunction with one or more of the Four Cs – will help your students organise and make sense of all the conflicting ideas that caused them to go into the Learning Pit in the first place. In other words, these tools will help your students construct meaning and thereby climb out of the pit.

Read & Reflect

Focus:  LC Book, Chapter 6

Chapter 6 begins with an introduction to ‘constructing meaning’ and the ways in which this can be done, particularly through dialogue. After that, it looks in depth at ten different tools, each of which can be used in isolation, in context and/or within the curriculum to help your students climb out of the pit.

Do not feel the need to use all ten tools, nor indeed to follow them in the order in which I have written about them in the LC Book. Pick and choose the one(s) you think will support your students the most at any given time in which they find themselves in the Learning Pit. Ultimately, of course, you will want to get to the point where students are making the selection themselves based on their understanding of, and experience with, each tool. At the beginning though, you will need to pick one at a time and teach your students how to use it effectively.

The tools to choose from, and the sections of the LC Book in which you will find them, are as follows: