DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 306 924 HE 022 650

AUTHOR Oxman, Wendy; Michelli, Nicholas M.TITLE Project THISTLE: Thinking Skills in Teaching and

Learning. A R.,,V1PW of A Nine-Year College-choolCollaboration Program.

INSTITUTION American Association of State Colleges andUniversities, Washington, D.C.; Montclair StateColl., Upper Montclair, N.J.

SPONS AGENCY New Jersey State Board of Higher Education, Trenton.;Noyes Foundation, Inc., New York, N.Y.; PrudentialFoundatiw, Newark, N.J.

PUB DATE Feb 89NOTE 41p.; This report is one of a group gathered by the

AASCU/ERIC Model Programs Inventory Project, fundedby the Fund for the Improvement of PostsecondaryEducation to the American Association of StateColleges and Universities, in collaboration with theERIC Clearinghouse on TI:gher Education. For relateddocuments, see HE 022 565-617, HE 022 619-643 and HE022 645-659. Support also provided by the VictoriaFoundation, and the Fund for New Jersey.

PUB TYPE Reports - Descriptive (141)

EDRS PRICE MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage.DESCRIPTORS *Basic Skills; *Colleg° Pound Students; College

Preparation; *College School Cooperation; *CriticalThinking; Curriculum Development; FacultyDevelopment; Higher Education; High School Students;Models; Program Descriptions; State Colleges; TeacherImprovement; Urban Schools

IDENTIFIERS *AASCU ERIC Model Programs Inventory Project;*Montclair State College NJ; New Jersey (Newark)

ABSTRACTThis report describes Project THISTIE: Thinking

Skills in Teaching and Learning, a collaborative college-schoolprogram developed by Montclair State College and the Newark publicschools, New Jersey. It was designed to improve the basic skills ofcollege bound urban high school students working with their teachersin an integrated process of curriculum and staff development. Itsmajor emphasis is on the preparation of classroom teachers tostrengthen the critical thinking abilities of their students, helpingthem develop the skills and dispositions to engage in intellectuallyactive, constructive, and reflective encounters with ideas within thecontent areas. It was first implemented in 1979 and has been incontinuous operation since then, involving more than 300 Newarkteachers. The basic structure of the project involves Newark teachers'n three overlapping but sequential curriculum/staff developmentphases: (1) graduate course wcrk to improve their own understandingof the learning process; (2) additional related coursework; and (3)extended professional development activities. Studies and evaluationsof tr s project show that it Pies been effective in improving studentabilities in reading comprehension. There has been continuinginterest in the program by Newark and its teachers. Copies of ProjectTHISTLE newsletters are appended along with copies of related journalarticles. Contains 24 references. (SM)

//E- a.2 A 45°

Project THISTLE: Thinking Skills in Teaching and LearningA Review of a Nine-Year College-School Collaboration Program

Wendy Oxman, Professor of Education andDirector, Institute for Critical Thinking

and

Nicholas M. Michelll, DeanSchool of Professional Studies

U S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONOffi, or Educabnal Resea r h and imorneament

EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATIONCENTER (ERICI

Are.,/,s document has been reproduced asreceived rrnm the Gerson or organ tun,ongmatmg 1M nor changes hare beer made to mpr, veeproducta, Quality

Pants,f , ew or opinloos stated Irrthns,loCument do not necessarily reresent bel,aiOEM guzrsilion or p01,cv

Montclair State College

"PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THISMATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY

Wendy 6.1:man Michelli

Montclair State Coll

February, 1989 TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCESINFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)

Project THISTLE is a college school collaboration program designed toimprove the pre-college preparation of urban students. The support oi thethe Victoria Foundation, the Prudential Foundation, Fund for New Jersey,the ressie Smith Noyes Foundation, the New Jersey Board of HigherEducation, and Montclair State College are gratefully acknowledged. Thisreview was prepared for the AASCU/ERIC Model Programs inventoryProject.

Upper Montclair, NJ 07043

2BEST COPY AVAILABLE

AASCU/ERIC Model Programs Inventory Project

The AASCU /ERIC Model Programs Inventory is a two-year project seekingto establish and test a model system for collecting and disseminatinginformation on model programs at AASCU-member institutions--375 of thepublic four-year colleges and universities in the United States.

The four objectives of the project are:

o To increase the information on model programs available toall institutions through the ERIC system

o To ercourage the use of the ERIC system by AASCUinstitutions

o To improve AASCU's ability to know about, and shareinformation on, activities at member institutions, and

o To test a model for collaboration with ERIC that other nationalorganizations might adopt.

The AASCU/ERIC Model Programs inventory Project is funded with a grantfrom the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education to theAmerican Association of State Colleges and Universities, in collaborationwith the ERIC Clearinghouse on Higher Education at The GeorgeWashington University.

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Project THISTLE: Thinking Skills in Teaching and Learning

Wendy Oxman and Nicholas M. MichelliMontclair State College

February, 1989

Abstract

Project THISTLE: Think.ng Skills in Teaching and Learning is acollaborative college-school program developed by Montclair State Collegeand the Newark public schools. It was initially implemented in 1979, andhas been in continuous operation since that time, involving more than 300Newark teachers to date. Project THISTLE was designed to improve thebasic skills of college bound urban high school students by working withtheir teachers in an integrated process of curriculum and staff development.The major emphasis of Project THISTLE is on the preparation of classroomteachers to strengthen the critical thinking abilities of their students,helping them to develop the skills and dispositions to engage inintellectually active, constructive, and reflective encounters with ideaswithin the content areas.

Project THISTT E is described as a college-school collaborative projectand as a pre-college 'reparation program in critical, or reflective, thinkingwhich defines aspect of the basic skills as higher of der thinking skillswithin content instruction, and which integrates curriculum and staffdevelopment processes. References are made to a series of publications forand about Project THISTLE, many of which are included as appendices tothis summary review paper.

Oxman and MicheIII Project THISTLE

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Project THISTLE: Thinking Skills in Teaching and Learning

Wendy Oxman and Nicholas M. MichelliMontclair State College

February, 1989

Project THISTLE: Thinking Skills in Teaching and Learning wasdesigned to improve the basic skills of college bound urban high schoolstudents by working with their teachers in an integrated process ofcurriculum and staff development. The major emphasis of Project THISTLEis on the preparation of classroom teachers to strengthen the criticalthinking abilities of their students, helping them to develop the skills anddispositions to engage in intellectually active, constructive, and reflectiveencounters with ideas within the content areas. Project THISTLE is acollaborative college-school program developed by Montclair State Collegeand the Newark public schools. It was initially implemented in 1979, andhas been in continuous operation sin^e that time.

In this review paper, Project THISTLE will be described as a college-school collaborative project, for which it was nominated for the G.Theodore Mitau Awared for Innovation and Change in Higher Education bythe A--nerican Association of State Colleges and Universities. It will also bedescribed as a pre-college preparation program in critical, or reflective,thinking which defines aspects of the basic skills as higher order thinkingskills within content instruction, and which integrates the curriculum andstaff development processes. References will be made to a series ofpublications for and about Project THISTLE, many of which have beenincluded as appendices to this summary review paper.

Background

Planned as a cooperative higher education/local education agencyventure involving Montclair State College and the Newark, New JerseyPublic Schools, Project THISTLE was initially funded by the New JerseyDepartment of Higher Education, in the interest of reducing the need, atthe college level, for remedial support of poorly prepared entering students.Conceptualizing high school level basic skills as thinking skills, and workingwith secondary teachers to strengthen the teaching of thinking across thecontent areas, Project THISTLE has been operating since 1980, withfunding provided by several private foundations, including the Victoria andPrudential Foundat ons, as well as by the Department of Higher Educationand Montclair State College. The most recent group of Newark teachersenrolled in January, 1989.

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Description

The basic structure of Project THISTLE involves Newark teachers inthree overlapping but sequential curriculum /staff development phases.During Phase I, teachers engage in graduate course work designed toimprove their own understanding of the learning process and their abilitiesto develop curriculum--not new content outlines nor new lists of suggestedactivities, but more complete, more thoughtful, more consistent,'remodeled" (Paul, 1986, 1987) versions of their own curricular plans, withexplicit attention to the development of critical thinking. Phase II involvesadditional related coursework, classroom implementation during which theparticipating teachers put these remodeled plans into effect with theirstudents, with the help and support of college faculty, and Phase III ei.gagesparticipants in extended professional development activities which dependupon personal and professional interests, needs, strengths, and preferences.Throughout all aspects of the program, consistent emphasis is placed onskills in planning and in teaching for thinking.

Teachers who complete the entire project receive a total of 18gracivate credits, applicable, if otl.er standards are met, to a master's degreeprogram. More than 300 Newark teachers have participated in the projectover the past decade. A number of Project THISTLE teachers who havecompleted their master's degrees have become department chairs, assistantprincipals, and other administrators within the Newark school system. Atpresent, approximately 10 Montclair Stat., College faculty and 60 Newark',eachers are actively engaged in the project.

The basic format of the program has changed little over the years,although several sub-projects have been added to follow up on teachers'requests for opportunities fcr serrice and for further professional growth,and elementary teachers have been included in the Project. A newsletter,The Thistler (see Appendix), ha' been published regularly. A simulationgame, "The THORP Game" (Oxman, 1983) was produced to introduce theconcepts underlying Project THISTLE (reviewed by Erickson, 1984).Former participants have been involved in team teaching of graduatecourses, and in presenting the work of the project at national conferences,such as at ASCD in New York in 1982.

Project THISTLE as a College/School Collaboration Project

Prior to introducing the program to Newark school personel, explicitconsideration was given to models of the educational change process, andspecific change strategies were adopted. These strategies included securingand maintaining the cooperation of administrators and supervisors, avoidingdomination of the program by college faculty, implementing extensive followup act"rities, and providing profe3sional and personal incentives. Inplanning strotegies to assure program success, attention was given to theconcepts of relative advantage, compatibility, and divisibility (Oxman &Michel li, 1982).

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Project THISTLE has provided the opportunity for faculty at MontclairState College to further their professional growth as well. Research studieshave been completed (Oxman & Bare11,1983), and a collaboratively plannedand executed sub-project on metaphoric thinking was implemented (Barell& Oxman, 194). The Montclair Education Review, a journal sponsored bythe School of Professional Studies at Montclair State College to articulate theproblems and concerns of educators in Northern New Jersey, publishedspecial issues on positive aspects of the Newark schools (MichellL 1980),and on developing thinking in the schools (Oxman & Uhia. 1982). A three-issue series of the Montclair Education Review was also devoted to aconsideration of the problems of pre-college preparation, with ProjectTHISTLE as the context (Oxman & Bare11,1981 a,b; 1982). Currently, anannotated anthology of readings is in preparation (Oxman & Michel li, 1989).

The simulation game 'The THORP Game," developed to introduce someof the principles behind Project THISTLE (Oxman, 1983; Erickson, 1984)has provided further professional opportunities for Montclair State Collegefaculty. THORP illustrates the principle that, given the same materialresources, schools prepare children diferentially for positions in society.Debriefing discussion following this participative activity involves criticalreflection on the nature of traditional schooling and the extent to whichassumptions about education and society, and about particular groups ofchildren, determine the extent to which thinking abilities are lostefed.

In recent years, Project THISTLE has become a project "associatedwith" the Institute for Critical Thinking at Montclair State College(Philosophy for Children, under the direction of Matthew Lipman, is anothersuch project), and has contributed to, and benefitted from its associationwith leading members of the national critical thinking movement, includingMatthew Lipman, Mark Weinstein, who currently teaches in the project, andRichard Paul. Workshop presentations have been made about ProjectTHISTLE and the issues addressed by this project at the national conferenceon Critical Thinking and Educational Reform at Sonoma State University, inCalifornia (Oxman,1988), at the Conference on Critical Thinking at NewportNews, Va. (Oxman & Michel li, 1988), and at the annual meeting of theNortheastern Educational Rescarch Association ( Oxman, Michel li &Weinstein, 1988). Most recently, a series of essays about 17 of theparticipating teachers entitled Urban Classroom Portraits: Teachers WhoMake a Difference has been published in book form (Bredemeier, 1988).

Project THISTLE as a Pre-College Preparation Program

Thinking and Basic Skills. Underlying Project THISTLE is the beliefthat thinking skills are critical components of both the basic skills involvedin reading comprehension, analytic writing and mathematical poblemsolving, as well as successful classroom performance. Thus, it wasanticipated that improvement in thinking skills,defined, in part, as higher-order basic skills, would be reflected in improved performance on both

Oxman and Michelli Project THISTLE

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traditional standardized tests of basic skills and in classroom activities.(Oxman, 1984). A series of studies of student test performance haveindicated that the project was effective in improving student abilities inreading comprehension. The reading comprehension subtest of the regularstandardized reading test given in the Newark public schools was used as anindicator of achievement in 4-hinking, defined in terms of higher order basicskills. As noted in Oxman, (1984):

How do thinking and the basic skills relate to each other? A basic skillmay be thought of as any skill that is a prerequisite for learning or for life,although we typically associate the term with primary education. In the earliestgrades, almost all children master the association between letters and sounds,numbers and quantities, and learn to represent the symbols of language andmathematics on paper. They learn, too, to string together letters to makewords,and to string together words into sentences. They learn to combine and toseparate quantities. However, reading, writing and arithmetic involve far morethan these basic elements, which mainly deal with symbolic representation ofconcrete experience. Beyond these elements and yet well within the "three R's liethinking and learning. The very narrow, traditional view of the basic skillsmust be exchanged for a definition which recognizes the need for the students'intellectually active involvement in searching for meaning. Through reading,through listening toand interacting with one's teacher and classmates, throughoral and written expression, students, if they are encouraged to do so, construct,reconstruct and integrate new information and ideas. This process is thinking.

Integrating Curriculum and Staff Development. Project THISTLEsynthesizes the two processes of curriculum and staff development, and cutsacross disciplines to focus on the improvement of thinking as an essential,integral part of both subject area learning and basic skills development

The emphasis of Project THISTLE is on planning, by content areateachers, for instruction that encourages the development of thinking.Project THISTLE, then, is an "integrated curriculum and staff developmentprogram" as it ovides teachers with guided instruction by college faculty inthe use of curriculum resources in the planning process as well asinstruction in the nature of thinking and learning, and guidance in theskillful orchestration of a wide range of resources--materials, strategies,activities, content, and evaluation techniques--to improve thinking skills.Assistance in developing improved skills in leading discussions, in effectivequestioning and inquiry techniques, and in the creation of assignments thatinvolve complex individual and small group student work as well asconventional classroom practices , are provided, as is support in overcomingthe inevitable student resistance to the imposition of higher standards andexpectations is also of great value to teachers.

According to Newmann (1988), there is a commonsense differencebetween higher order and lower order th king. It is suggested in thecontrast between ideals for schools and the reality reported in numerousclassroom observations. Most students are rarely challenged to use theirminds...Higher order thinking signifies challenge and expanded use of themind; lower order thinking signifies routine, mechanistic application .nd

Oxman and Michel li Project THISTLE 5

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constraints on the mind." Typically, students do very little higher orderthinking in classrooms at any level of education (Good lad, 1983), and least ofall in classrooms in which narrowly defined approaches to basic skills or tocontent teaching is emphasized.

Few high school teachers have had training in curriculum development,and curriculum is typically viewed as content to be covered. However, theplanni.fg that good teachers must do is by its very nature curriculumdevelopment. Curriculum guides, textbooks, and other materials can do nomore than provide parameters, suggestions, and content information forteachers' planning. Teachers need greater understanding of, and skill in,th't planning/curriculum development process, in order to develop moreeffective plans that focus on thinking and to carry out the intentions of thosecurricula in their classrooms.

Most teachers have far more autonomy for curriculum planning thanthey realize, and many conceptualize then teaching roles as theconventional, restricted one of "content dispenser." In this restricted viewof teaching and learning, the student's academic task is to remember whatwas said by the teacher and the textbook have said, and how to do routineprocedures. Curricular planning improves when teachers reconceptualizetheir own roles as designer of a wide variety of complex "academic tasks" forstudents to complete, and in which their own role becomes that of "coach."

The nature of the academic tasks that teachers design for students toaccomplish seems to be the key to understanding how conventional teachingdiffers from teaching for thinking. Doyle's (1983) conception of "academicwork" is useful in understanding the way in which academic tasks vary intheir intellectual demands and require different strategies for getting themdone. For instance, students expecting to be evaluated on their ability tomemorize a list of concepts, definitions, and simple associations havedifferent work to do than students who have to explain why one of theconcepts on the list is applicable in a given situation and not in another, orstudents who must generate principles for organizing and applying thatsame set of concepts. Students expecting to be evaluated on their ability touse a routine procedure have different work to do than those who expect tohave to explain why the procedure works or decide when to use it. Studentsassuming they must work alone fail to learn to use the knowledge andtalents of others; those who are set to work at a group task learn from theirpeers.

Summary

Project THISTLE: Thinking Skills in Teaching and Learning is acollaborative college-school program developed by Montclair State Collegeand the Newark public schools. It was initially implemented in 1979, andhas been in continuous operation since that time, involving more than 300Newark teacLas to date. Project THISTLE was designed to improve thebasic skills of college bound urban high school students by working with

Oxman and Michel li Project THISTLE 6

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their teachers in r.n integrated process of curriculum and staff development.The major emphasis of Project THISTLE is on the preparation of classroomteachers to strengthen the critical thinking abilities of their studentshelping them to develop the skills and dispositions to engage inintellectually active, constructive, and reflective encounters with ideaswithin the content areas.

Results

A series of comprehensive program evaluations of Project THISTLE:Thinking Skills in Teaching and Learning, involving observations,interviews, questionnaire and test data analysis have been conducted overthe years by outside consultants as well as MSC faculty in collaboration withNewark teachers. Studies of student test performance (e.g. Oxman, 1984)have indicated that the project was effective in improving student abilities inreading comprehension. (The reading comprehension subtest of the regularstandardized reading test given in the Newark public schools was used as anindicator of achievement in thinking, defined in terms of higher order basicskills).

Most telling, perhaps, has been the continuing interest of Newark andits teachers in the program. In recent years, more teachers have to heturned away than can be accomodated by the program, and a long waitinglist is maintained. Staff members of our funding agencies, active insupporting a number of special projects in Newark have even reported to usparticipants' enthusiasm.

Conclusions and Recommendations

Project THISTLE, in its effective involvement with Newark teachers. and inits long term and cumulative effects within the Newark schools, is asuccessful college- urban school collaborative program. Project THISTLEmight be replicated by other colleges and universities in conjunction withother urban districts, aitr nigh a significant, long-term commitment wouldbe recommended, with time for preparation and collaborative planning. Theidea of conceptualizing basic skills at the high school level as thinking skillswas highly innovative at the time Project THISTLE began, in 1980. Providingin-depth instruction to teachers in the curriculum development process wasatypical as well. With the current national interest in critical thinking andeducational reform, there might well be even greater receptivity to such aprogram than the warm welcome we have enjoyed in the Newark schools..

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References

Barell, J. (1983). Reflections on critical thinking jn secondary schools.Educational leadership, 40(6), 45-49.

Barell, J., Oxman, W., & Michel li, N. M. (1982). Effects of Project THISTLE:Thinking Skills in Teaching and Learning on students' readingcomprehension. Paper presented at the annual conference of theNortheastern Educational Research Association, Ellenville, NY.

Barell, J. & Oxman, W. (1984). "Hi heels and walking shadows:" Metaphoricthinking in schools. Paper presented at the annual conference of theAmerican Educational Research Association, New Orleans, LA.

Bredemeier, M.E. (1988. Urban classroom portraits: Teachers who make adifference. New York: Peter Lang.

Doyle, W. (1983) Academic work. Review of Educational Research(Summer).

Erickson, T. E. (1984). The THORP Game by Wendy Oxman (Review).Simulation & Games, 15(4), 493-495.

Goodlad, J. I. (1983). A place called school, New York: McGraw-Hill.

Michelli, N.M. (1980). Newark: Into the eighties. Montclair EducationReview, 10(1). Tipper Montclair, N6*: School of Professional Studies.

Newmann, F. M. (1988) Higher order thinking in the high schoolcurriculum. NASSP Bulletin, 72(508).

Newmann, F.rA., Onosko, J., & Stevenson, R.B. (1988). Staff development forhigher order thinking: A synthesis of practical wisdom. Madison. WI:National Center on Effective Secondary Schools, School of Education,University of Wisconsin.

Oxman, W. & Michelli, N.M. (1981). Combining curriculum and staffdevelopment in Project THISTLE: A story of successful college/urbansecondary school cooperation. Paper presented at the annualconference of the American Educational Research Association, LosAngeles, CA.

Oxman, W. & Barell, J. (Eds.). (1981a). Liberal education in a back-to-basicsworld: The view from the college. Montclair Education Review,Volume 10 (2). Upper Montclair, NJ: School of Professional Studies.

Oxman, W. & Barell, J. (Eds.). (1981b). Liberal education in a back-to-basicsworld: The view from the public schools. Montclair Education Review,Volume 11 (1). Upper Montclair, NJ: School of Professional Studies.

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Oxman, W. & Bare ll, J. (Eds.). (1982). Liberal education in a back-to-basicsworld: Articulating public school and higher education. MontclairEducation Review, Volume 11 (2). Upper Montclair, NJ: School ofProfessional 'itudies.

Oxman, W. & Michel li, N.M. (1983). Project THISTLE: Thinking skills inteaching and learning mathematics. Newsletter of the ResearchCouncil for Diagnostic and Prescriptive Mathematics, 7(3).

Oxn:an, W. & Bare 11, J. (1983). Reflective thinking in schools: A survey ofteacher perceptions. Paper presentee at the annual conference of theAmerican Educational Research Association, Montreal, Canada.

Oxman, W. & Michel li (1984). Project THISTLE: Thinking Skills inTeaching and Learning: A model college-school collaborative programin curriculum and staff development. Paper presented at the annualconference of the American Association of Colleges for TeacherEducation, San Antonio, TX.

Oxman, W. (1984). Thinking, basic skills, and learning. AmericanEducation, 20, 17-21.

Oxman, W. & Michelli, N.M. (1984). Effects on student achievement ofProject THISTLE: Thinking Skills in Teaching and Learning. Paperpresented at the annual conference of the American EducationalResearch Association, New Orleans, LA.

Oxman, W., Michelli, N.M., & Hartman, H. (1985). Project THISTLE: Aprogram for developing thinking and learning skills. In R.T. Hyman(Ed.), Thinking proc,?sses in the classroom: Prospects and programs.Blackwood, NJ: NJASCD.

Oxman, W., Michelli, N.M., & Hartman, H. (1985). Principles oforganizational change: Apllication to field-based and college-basedprograms. Paper presented at the annual conference of the AmericanAssociation of Colleges for Teacher Education, Denver, CO.

Oxman, W. & Uhia, A. (Eds.) (1985) The art of the possible: Developingthinking in the schools. Montclair Education Review, Volume 12(1).Upper Montclair, NJ: School of Professional Studies

Oxman, W. & Michelli, N.M. (in preparation). Readings in critical thinkingfor urban education.

Paul, R., et al. (1987). Critical thinking handbook: A Guide to RemodellingLesson Plans. P.ohnert Park, CA: Center for Critical Thinking and MoralCritique, Sonoma State University.

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The ThistierVolume 7Number 1

FALL, 1988 MONTCLAIR STATE COLLEGEUPPER MONTCLAIR, NI 07043

Newsletter of Project THIS LE: Thinking Skills in leaching and Learning

New MSC Location: Life Hall, Rm. 224 Secretary, Linda Christy Telephone 893-5184

We are happy to welcome you bask to Project THISTLE : Thinking Skills in Teaching and Learning, and to let you know about

some recent changes. We have a new, very capable secretary, Linda Christy, who will be working just with us, daily from 8:30 to 12.30,

the first time we won't have to "share" a secretary! We are moving the campus location of Project THISTLE (that is, Linda and the books

and files will move) to the offices of the Institute for Critical Thinking. That way, I will be able to coordinate Proje : 'ESTLE again, withLinda's Hr. Joy Stone, who has taken on the responsibility of chairing the new department of Reading and Educational Media at MSCwill nu longer be able to serve as Project Coordinator. Joy wisheseveryone in Project THIS': LE well. Her last "Coordinator's Column,"written in June, is on Pagr 7 of this issue. Wendy Oxman, Directo-, Project THISTLE

IN THIS ISSUENancy Tumposky, Guest Editor

This issue of THE THISTLER is a thematic one. Thetheme is the meaning and impact of E.D. Hirsch't; bookCultural Li racy: What Every Americsot Needs to Know (1987,Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company), and the relationshipof Hirsch's thesis to the philosophy of Project THISTLE.:Thinking Ski" 3 in Teachng and Learning.

Several of the contributions to this issue derive fromdiscussions which emerged in twc, sections of a THISTLEcourse, "Research Seminar in Curriculum Construction",taught during the Fall1987 semester by Drs. John Palladinoand Nancy Tumposky. Palladino, Tumposky, and theirstudents comment here on the validity of Hirsch's state-ments, their possible relevance for Newark school teach-ers, and the extent to which kirsch and THISTLE are inagreement about th' causes of, and the solutions for,problems in American schools today.

A section of the Appendix of Hirsch's book has beenreproduced here for those who have not yet come face toface with "the list".

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Other a .,es by MSC faculty include reflections byTHISTLER Mci: ton Rich ("Writing and Personal Growth"),and a tentative explanation by Tom Benediktsson ("Can-co, is to the Right") of the porlarity of Hirsch's book, andof its oft-linked companion, The Closing of the AmericanMind by Allan Bloom. rich and E_nectiktsson are bothmembers of the English Department. Wendy Oxmanhascontributed a discussion of the value of Hirsch's work as itdeals with the content and process dichotomy in education("Federal Aid to Education and Cultural Literacy"),

Finally, The New York Times has granted us permissionto reproduce a provocative and tantalizing Op-Ed essayfrom December 1987, "What Do 47 Year Olds Know?", byBenjamin Baiter, a professor of political science at RutgersUniversity. Barber's thesis, that our 17 year olds areALREADY culturally literate, is sure to raise many eye-brows, and in the spirit of THISTLE, start us all thinking!

We welcome your comments and reactions to thisissue and look forward to printing your responses in thenext issue.

WHAT EVERY AMERICAN NEEDS TOKNOW

Nancy Tumposky, Ed.D.

The joke goes:

Man and woman, emerging from the subway atYankee Stadium:

Man: Weil, here we are the house that Ruth built!Woman: Ruth who?

If you think it's funny, that's because 7, Ju know thatBabe Ruth was a famous baseball player and that it was hethat the man in the joke was referring to, not a womannamed Ruth, even though Ruth is usually a first name fora woman, not a last name for a man. You have the back-ground information to make sense of the words, themeaning of which goes deeper than their actual surfacestruLture.

I got the joke, even though I don't know much aboutbaseball. That makes me, in Hirsth's terms, "culturallyliterate", though I'd be hard ressed to tell you muchmore about Babe Ruth other than that he was a goodhitter.

What about this information that he elcurns we "needw kno.v"? How much of it do we need? HJW does Hirschknow we'll need it? And doesn't it keep changing all thetinx. anyway? If there's anything that we "know" in thelast half of the 20th century, it's that we don't know whatIt is we'll really need to know! The argument nowtends to get a bit circular, like a Mobius strip. (Did you"know" 'Mobius strip"? You would have if you were amath major. I didn't know it until last year. Maybe I wascinturally illiterate until then.)

After a semester of debating with my class, after read-ing Hirsch's book twice, Bloom's book once, and countlessnewspaper and magazine articles, I'm still ambivalentabout Hirsch's thesis. I like his chapter on schema theory,anu die importance it placed on the role of pre-existinginformation for creating meaning. I hated the section onnational culture and on bilingualism. I thought his treat-ment of Dewey and Rousseau was superficial and missedthe point. He skirts the issue of "Whose list is it anyway?"But in the end, I 'tave to say, he started everybody talking,and thinking, about an important topic, and he put "con-tent" back on the table, for us to dissect it, critically andreflectively.

P.S. Mobius Strip is not on the list.

MSC RESPONDS TO BLOOM: "CLOSING"?NO! "OPENING!"

"Although Montclair State College is no longer exclu-sively a teacher's college, it remains a college whose facultycontinue to care deeply about teaching" remarks GregoryWaters, Associate Vice President fo. Academic Affairs, inthe Preface of Opening the American Mind: Reflections UponTeaching Thinking in Higher Education . Upper Montclair,NJ: Mor.tclair State College, 1988, edited by John Barell.

Nowhere is this concern more evident than in thevoices of the faculty themselves as they discuss, in thisvolume, what it means to think in their particular disci-plines, and what they do in the classroom to try to el.cour-age what dtey define as "good thinking." The reflections ofthese mathematicians, historians, philosophers and otherscenters around certain questions:

1. What is the nature of good teaching?

2. What makes you an effective teacher?

3. What is thinking in your discipline?

4. How do you challenge students to think in yourdiscipline?

5. What can the college do to enhance students'thinking processes?

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Participants ir. Project THISTLE: Thinking Skills inTeaching and Learning who are interested in further infor-mation about this book should contact: John Barell,ChapmHall, Montclair State College, UpperMontclair, New Jer-sey 07043.

MONTCLAIR STATE COLLEGESCHOOL OF PROFESSIONAL STUDIES

Nicholas M. Michelli, Dean

PROJECT THISTLE: THINKING SKILLSIN TEACHING AND LEARNING

Wendy Oxman, DirectorLinda Christy, Secretary

The Thistler, Fall 1988 IssueNancy Tumposky, Guest Editor

We welcome your comments, suggestions, andoffers of assistance. Please send them to:

Project THISTLE, Montclair State College,Upper Montclair, NJ 07043

893-5184

r

WHAT DO 47-YEAR-OLDS KNOW?Benjamin Barber, Rutgers University

(Reprinted unth permission of Benjamin Barber and THE NEW YORK T MES)

We have heard a great ( al about what our 17-year-olds do and don't know. About half don't know much of anything,according to Diane Ravitch 4nd Chester E. Finn, Jr., who authored the book "What Do Oir Seventeen Year Olds Know?"

We have also been lectured by E.D. Hirsch Jr. about the decline of "cultural literacy" - the ..ornmon vocabulary once pro-vided by Homer, Shakespeare, the Bible, etc. - and by Allan Bloom about how post-Nietzschean nihilists and weak-willedcollege administrators have conspired with know-nothing kids to dose the American mind.

Who is to blame for this alarming illiteracy? The culprit fashionable amongconservatives like Secretary of Edur tion Wil-liam J. Be inett is progressive education and all those teachers of the 60's who value skills over substance, participation inlearning over authority, creabvity over memorization, social justice over high standards and relevance over the timelessclassics.

With the complicity of the kids themselves, these dewey-eyed liberalsare charged with creating a generation of culturalmorons.

But there is ample evidence to suggest that the kids are smart, not stupid - smarter than we give them credit for. They aresociety-smart. They are adept readers - but not of books. What they read so acutely are the social signals that emanate fromthe world in which they will have to make a living. Their teachers in the world - the nation's true pedagogues -are television,advertising, movies, politics and the celArity domains they define.

What our 17-year-olds know is exactlywhat our 47-year olds know and, by their ex-ample, teach them. Thus the test we need toadminister to find out whether the young aregood learners is a test of what our 47-year oldsknow and are teaching. To ask who wrote 'TheIliad" or what the dates of the French Revolu-tion were or the identity of the philosopherDavid Hume is beside the point. Rather, weshould ask What do our 47-year-olds know?This is a multiple-choice quiz.

1. One-third of Yale's 1985 gradua, itclass applied for positions as (a) kindergartenteachers; (b) citizen soldiers in the volunteerArmy; (c) doctoral students in philosophy; (d)trainees at the First Boston Corporation?

2. The s.gnals coming from TV and maga-zine advertising teach you that happiness de-pends on: (a) the car you drive; (b) the clothesyou wear; (c) the income you earn; (d) the wayyou smell; te) the books you read?

3. The American most likely to have re-cently read "The Iliad" is: (a) a member ofCongress; (b) an arbitrager; (c) a real estatedeveloper; (d) a cosmetic surgeon; (e) one ofthose illiterate students who can't read or write?

4. The Reagan Administration hasworked to get Government off the backs of the

ft-

EXCERPT FROM"THE LIST"

E.D. Hirsch, Jr.

1

Sheba, Queen ofShelley, Percy ByssheShenandoah ValleySherlock HolmesSherman's march to the

seaSherwood Forestshibbolethshipshapeships that pass in the

nightshock therapyshort cirmitshort storyshout fire in a crowded

theatershow must go on, TheShreveport, LTaisiana ,1SnylockSiberiasicSicilysickle cell anemiasic transit gloria mundi

3

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people through deregulation and privati-zation in order to: (a) unleash business; (b)encourage market competition; (c) In-crease productivity; (d) foster trickle-down prosperity by helping the rich to getricher; (e) give the young plenty of privatespace in which to paint, scuipt and read theclassics?

5. To be hired by a top corporation,the most important credential is: (a) a doc-torate of divinity from Harvard; (b) anhonors degree in classics from Oxford, (c) aYale Younger Poets award; (d) a compara-tive literature degree from the Sorbonne;(d) an M.B.A. from just about anywhere?

6. If you were running for Presic;ent,you would devote many hours of study to:(a) the Bible; (b) Shakespeare's plays; (c)"The Federalist Papers"; (d) Plutarch's"Lives of the Romans"; (e) "How to MasterTelevision M.4keup"?

7. To sell a screen play to Hollywoodyou should: (a) adapt a play by Ibsen; (b)retell the story of Jean-Jacques Rousseau'sdramatic encounter with David Hume; (c)dramatize 'The Aenead," paying carefulattention to its poetic cadences; (d) novel-ize the life story of Donald Trump, payingcareful attention to fiscal cade ices?

Contimed on Page 4

STUDYING CULTURAL LITERACY:THE REGENERATION OF THE TEACHING SELF

John Palladino, Ed.D.

I selected E. D. Hirsch's Culture' Literacy as a textfor my fall THISTLE course, Research Seminar in Curricu-lum Construction. I did so for reasons both traditionaland provocative: On the one haod. the text, having beensubtitled "What Every American Nee to Know," cer-tainly whets an educator s intellectual appeete. in that thetraditional definition of curriculura is "a set of intendedleamings," perhaps this text would offer to our programfurther insights into the development of a rationale forcontent selection. This would certainly be worthwhile.Secondly, and equally traditional, was the notion thatHirsch's book was "hot," and that any professor worth hissalt will attempt to expose students to such a book,providing them with the greatest relevance possible. Anequally worthwhile motivation. Lastly, and more pro-vocative, Hirsch's emphasis on the important.: of contentwould provide a counterpoint to the Project THISTLEthrust of the development of student thinking skills,embedded within a Newark School System focus onHSPT skills deielopment. Provocative? You bet!

As the course unfolded, it was soon apparent that theHirsch book, and the reasons for its selection, were righton target, providing THISTLE teacher/students withinteresting reading, heated discussion, motivational as-signments, and lively debate. However, as any seasonedteacher discovers, one cannot anticipate the learning ofonly an intended sot of learnings. At times students willidentify a statement, a concept, or a generalization thatspeaks to their lives, both professional and personal,as noother has before, and seems to crystallize thoughts andemotions that lacked a tocur,, a spokesperson.

Hirsch achieved this spokesperson Vatus when hecompared the information middle-class el- :then are ex-posed to with that of 'less privileged" It ri -.nd huwthey receive this information. His arg-arr-tt ; on theunderstanding that tiaose who achif i.tDream, especially the economic part c- _ lone solargely because they have gained a cur. :Jai literacy, anetwork of shared information about the istream cul-ture, that truly educated people possess and which allowsentree for excellent higher education, professional careertraining, and promotion. While childrm from middle-class homes gain this literacy almost by osmosis, the childfrom the lower and working classes cannot; this literacymust be the result of a public education. However, theseare the very children who are not only literacy deficient,but also skills deficient. And those who govern andadminister educational program; have chosen to focusmoney and teaching on skills imprr vement. As a result,these children are not provided an opportunity for cul-tural literacy, aid l therefore seldom are they beneficiaries

Continue 1 on Page 84

WHAT DO 47-YEAR OLDS KNOW?

Continued frrom Page 3

8. Familiarity with "Henry IV Part II" is likely to be ofgreat importance in: (a) planning a corporate takeover; tb)evaluating budget cuts at the Department of Education; (c)initiating a medical liability suit; (d) writing an impressivejob resume; (e) taking a test on "What Our Seventeen YearOlds Know"?

9. Book publishers are financially rewarded for pub-lishing: (a) cookbooks; (b) cat books; (c) how-to books, (d)popular pot-boilers; (e) critical editions of Iminanual Kant'searly wntings7

10. Universities are financially rewarded for: (a) su; -porting quality football teams; (b) forging research linkswith large corporations; (c) sustaining professional schoolsof law, mediane and business; (d) stroking wealtby alumni,(e) developing strong philosophy departments:

For extra credit: Name the 10 living poets who mostinfluence your life, and recite a favorite stanza. Well, nevermind the stanza, just name the poets. O.K. not 10, just five.Two? So who's your favorite running back?

My sample of 47-year-olds scored extremely well onthis test - as did the 17-year-olds who took it (in every casethe correct answer is the last, or all but the last). Test results(nobody did the extra credit question!) reveal a deep strainof hypocrisy in the lamentations of the educational andcultural critics. They want our kids to know things thecountry at large doesn't give a noot about.

We honor ambition, we reward greed, we celebratematerialism, we worship acquisitiveness, we commercial-ize art, we cherish success and then we bark at the youngabout the gentle arts of the spirit. The kids know that if wereally valued :earning, we would pay their teachers whatwe pay our lawyers and stock b-akers. If we valued art, wewould not measure it by its capacity to produce profits. ifwe regarded literature as important, we would remove itfrom the celebrity sweepstakes and spenda little money onour libraries.

Kids just don't care much for hypocrisy, and if they areilliterate, their illiteracy is merely ours, imbibed by themwith a scholarly ardor. They are learning well he lesson weare teaching - namely, that there is nothing in all the classicsin their school libraries that will be of the slightest benefit tothem in making their way to the top of our competitivesociety.

Their i teglectof thr classical sources of Western civiliza-tion is thus a sad but appropriate tribute not to their igno-rance but to their adaptive intelligence, and though we canhardly be proud of ourselves for whatwe are teaching them,we should at least be proud of them for how well they arelearning it. C.1

FEDERAL AID TO EDUCATIONAND

CULTURAL LITERACY

Wendy Oman, Ph D.

As a child, I watched my parents work, through thepolitical process, toward provisions for federal aid toeducation. In fact, this effort dominated my childhood; myfolks were always running out to one meeting or anotherhaving to do with this issue. Of course. there were criticsof federal aid to education; they were 0-e bad guyspeople concerned about restrictions, Impositions, man-dates from an Impersonal, remote national authonty.Education, they believed, is a local concernleave theFeds out of it. Of course, I disagreed, as did most of theadults in the liberal community in which I was raised. Therights of localities to determine educational programsseemed to be part of the movement for states' nghtsaway of limiting the educational opportunities for childrenin relatively poor states, especially black children. Thecritics were racists and reactionaries, I believed; they didn'twant the status quo to change and didn't want to sharewhat they have achieved with others.

When, much later; with the Educational and Secon-dary Act (ESEA) of 1965, federal aid to education in theform of funds fcr Title I and other "Title" programs wasgranted, many ails in education rejoiced that a battle hadbeen won. Finally there would be funds available tosupport the many innovative ideas that had languished forlack of resources. Finally, there would be funds to helpunderachieving students so that they would not have toleave school without the educational background increas-ingly needed even for minimal employment. My owndoctoral work, in fact, was supported by ESEA Title IV,which, in existence only bnefly, paid for graduate work fortraining in educational evaluation (statistics, measure-ment, and other "fascinating" subjects) to train people toprovide technical assistance to school di stricts in desigrungand improving the innovative programs that were startedunder ESEA. I did that work for a number of years. It wasexciting to be a part of such a valuable endeavorI havenever been able to think of a more important effort. In fact,not long ago, whenNick and I were in Austin, Teas, wemade a special "pilgrimage" to the small schoolhouse, nowdesignated as a national monument, where PresidentLyndon B. Johnson signed the bill that put ESEA into effect.Thank you, President Johnson, for federal aid to education!

Now, more than 20 years after that bill was signed, itseems that, unfortunately, some of the predictions of thecritics came truz. Once the Feds start meddling in localschool affairs, education will suffer, they had said, even ifthey work well at first. Programs of great promise werestartei through the dreams, interests, abilities and hard

Continued on Page 7

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CANONS TO THE RIGHT

Tom Benediktsion, Ph D

A recent New Yorker -irtoon portrays a booksellertalking to a custcmer about Alla.. Bloom's The Closing of theAmencan Mind: " I haven rezi it, but it's excellent."Actually, by now nearly eve' vbxly who is going to hasread Bloom's book an-I its companion on the best-sellerlist, E.D. Hirsch's Cultural Literacy and even those whohaven't read them are mightily impressed. From WhyJohnny Can't Read on, It seems that every few years, educa-tional reform sells.

But why, of all the books on education published thisyear, should these two be best-sellers? What does theirpopulanty tell us about the public mood?

A quick survey of the opening section of Bloom's bookwould lead us to speculate that the pubii^ r od is reaction-ary. Bloom's Indictment of the "soul" of young America iswritten to please the educational right wing. Somewherein the 1960's, he asserts, American higher educationandAmerican society went wrong. The pervasive ethic ofrelativism destroyed the very basis of ethics. The pursuitof cultural "openness" led only to ignorance and paradoxi-cally to provincialism a closed Amencan mind.

In the process of establishing this argument Bloomfires salvos at various contemporary targets. Feminism isnot only "the latest enemy of the vitality of classic texts," ithas permarently altered the meaning of sexual love byeliminating feminine modesty. On affirmative action: "theuniversity degree of a black student is tainted, and employ-ers ... become guilty accomplices in the toleration of incom-petence." On popular music: "life is made into a nonstopcommercial prepackaged masturbational fantasy."

These indictments hardly seem the judgements of anopen mind, and they are not the core of Bloom's book: butthey may well be the source of its appeal. The more eruditebut no less eccentric review of political philosophy thatcomprises Bloom's major argument is not what placed it onthe best-seller list.

According to James Buchana n in The Chronicle of HigherEducation, Bloom is a foundationalist, an educator whoholds that "if we are to preserve culture, community andvalues, we deed foundations a set of beliefs, practicesand texts to build on." Bloom's foundations wouldinclude religious belief, a reverence for the Constitution,and a basic knowledge of the canonical texts of our civili-zation, the Great Books. Though he presents no specificprogram for educational reform, cultural absolutes and

Continued on Page 7

THISTLE PARTICIPANTS VOICE THEIR VIEWS

Nancy Tumposky's section of "Research Seminar inCurriculum Construction" (Fa111987) spent the better partof a semester reading and analyzing Cultural Literacy byE.D. Hirsch, Jr. Many THISTLE participants were struck-1.,,,l-i'rsch's claim that

"There is no insurmountable reason why thosewho advocate the teaching of higher order skillsand those who advocate the teaching of commontraditional content should net join forces" (Hirsch1987:133)

Perplexed by this apparent "smoothing over" of dif-ferences between a content based position and an ap-proach with an emphasis on process, several THISTLERSchose to write papers addressing the following question:"To what extent is Hirsch's argument in agreement withthe philosophy of the THISTLE program?" Below, wereproduce some of their retie( tions.

"Hirsch places the entire blame for the current state ofa decrease in cultural literacy on Dewey, Rousseau, andthe developmentalists. He believes that it was their unjus-tfied emphasis on the child that brought about the presentfragmented curriculum. To the contrary, the THISTLEstaff communic .tes that an emphasis on the child is notbad, but necessary" (Deborah Bredahl, Mount PleasantAnnex School).

"Dr. Hirsch and THISTLE strongly disagree regard-ing the memorization of facts. THISTLE believes that thecurriculum must serve as a vehicle for the development ofcritical thinking. Students must learn to pose questionsrather than memorize facs. They should be given theopportunity to organize and rearrange information. Stu-den ts should also be taught to critically analyze stated factsand formulate their own conclusions.

Dr. Hirsch states, 'Our current distaste for memoriza-tion is more pious than realistic.' He claims that childrenhave a desire and an urge to memorize facts. Children needto be taught facts at an early age to learn the traditions oftheir culture and feel the comfort of their culture. Thistheory according to Dr. Hirsch is the way to achieve aliterate society" (Elizabeth Sellitto, Abington AvenueSchool).

"Higher order skills and traditional content can worktogether toward the goal of establishing cultural literacy.

I believe that the philosophy of THISTLE is basically inaccord with this premise, for despite its primary focus onthinking skills, the Project does encourage the use of con-

ht material as the vehicle for their development....Hirsch is not proposing an academic police state in

which teachers function as robots reciting programmedscripts! His concern with uniformity, in fact, relates to theneed for at least a superficial exposure to those pieces ofinformation which have been targeted for inclusion in the

6

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index of cultural literacy The Importance of famllantywith these items is underscored in Hirsch's discussion ofthe learning model, and schema" (Mary Ellen Chaplin,Broadway Junior High School).

Far from resolving the dilemma, we nonetheless wereable to explore the value of Hirsch' s statements in a spiritedand challenging way which permitted all the participantsan opportunity for reflective thinking of the type we allhope to then carry into the classroem. In Dewey's terms,we encountered doubt and puzzlement, and then, tolerat-ing ambiguity, worked our ways through vanous hy-potheses.

WRITING AND PERSONAL GROWTHMorton D. Rich, Ph.D.

"Teaching Wnting," a graduate course offered by theEnglish Department at MSC, is designed to help teachersimprove writing instruction in their classrooms, regard-less of their disciplines or grade level taught. The coursehas evolved along with my professional development andthrough my responses to the needs of the teachers enrolled.At first, these teachers were secondary teachers of English;some taught both English and reading. More recently, theenrolled teachers represented all subjects, including healthand physical eduction.

The arrival of teachers of subjects other than Englishwits a welcome 7hallenge. Together we invented instruc-tional strategies and assignments to help them, in turn,develop classroom procedures and assignments for theirstudents. All of us experienced considerable satisfaction aswe heard about and tried new kinds of assignments inclassrooms from chemistry to art. Students in Newarkresponded eagerly to the variety of activity that writingassignments offered in courses where writing previouslydid not exist or had only a minor role. Learning throughwriting became part of their daily experience.

1 hree years ago, teachers from middle schools en-rolled, soon followed by their colleagues from the elemen-tary schools. so I found myself working with an area thatseemed new to me: teaching writing to children in gradesone through six.

I write "seemed" because the year before, the Aca-demic Foundations Program at MSC, a program for thegifted and talented, had asked me to teach creative writingon weekends to children in grades 4 - 6. In that setting, Iinvented many assignments that proved stimulating to mystudents and was pleased with the results. so when theteachers of younger children enrolled in "Teaching Tint-ing," I had already taught about fifty subteens, not ail ofthem gifted. What they taught me about themselves andtheir age group, provided a basis for my work with teach-ers instructing children of all abilities.

Continued on Page 8

FEDERAL AID TO EDUCATIONContinued from Page 5

work of people working in schools Homework Helperprograms and classroom-based ennchment and remedia-tion programs were, according to the evaluation results,always among the mos4 effective. Within a few years,however, requirements were imposed on these programsso that federal aid to education was available only forspecific types of programs; in order to get the money, adistrict had to restrict their efforts to the approved types ofprograms, which increasingly, were limited to certaintypes of pull-out remedial reading and mathematics pro-grams using certain types of approaches, materials andequipment. Restrictions, impositions, mandates from animpersonal authority had arrived. To some extent, thecritics of federal aid to education were right. Althoughmany youngsters have benefited from these pull-out pro-grams, I believe there was, over all, a devastating effect oneducation. The emphasis on pull-out remedial laborato-ries rather than classroom based programs, and the con-centration on lower-level basic reading and mzthematicsobjectives in these laboratories has resulted, in manyschools, in a fragmentation of the school day and of theschool curriculum. It has also left us with a way of thinkingal-out curriculum and teaching that emphasizes lowerlevel routines, and that ignore both higher order processes,such as critical thinking, and organized curncularcontent,such as science and social studies.

Here is where I believe E.D. Hirsch's Cultural Literacyis extremely timely and important. Over the years, the bal-ance of content and process has been a fundamental task ofAmerican education. Hirsch is, in my mind, entirelycorrect in his assessment that content-based instruction isnecessary that processes cannot be taught save at thelowest levels of basic skills without meaningful content.To be meaningful, content must be embedded within a richnetwork of associations with other content, and thus, well-organized, classroom based, unit workwork extendedover a pencd of time in the content areas must bereinstated in elementary schools.

To prepare students for participation in a nationalcommunity, as E.D. Hirsch states, is to teach them theshared history, geography, literature and art of that com-munity. At the same time, students need to learn, alongwith the content, higher order processes in order to com-prehend and integrate the Content knowledge they ac-quireit can't be done by memorizing lists of words.

We can argue with Hirsch regarding elements of hisparticular listand those of any other list that is proposed.I agree with his basic premise that there is a generally

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COORDINATOR'S CORNER

As I write this column, on a very warm June afternoon,I am aware that summer vacation time is practically here.The last grade sheets have been submitted to the registrar,students have come by to pick up papers and other proj-ects, and the last department meeting of the academic yearhas been attended.

The different pace and atmosphere that exists at schoolfor this short time is welcome. Its time to put away lessonplans, interesting articles clipped from newspapers and wrnal-e some notes and plans for next term. Its also a timewhen we can take a few minutes to think about ourselvesas teachers.

Why do we teach? In Essays on Teaching and Research,Anya Peterson Royce, professor of anthropology at Indi-ana University, said: "We are constantly challenged andstimulated by our interaction with students. Students askquestions you do not think to ask. Students challengeassumptions you have not questioned. Students force youto be clear in your thinking, explanations and writing. It isonly when you have to articulate (what you know) forsomeone who is not an expert that it becomes part of yourconsciousness."

These comments point to the unique opportunities forthe interaction of ideas that exist between teachers andstudents. I believe that interaction is one of the pleasuresof teaching we all cherish.

We've had several opportunities to interact with inter-esting "ideas" during the past year. Many of us partici-pated in the Critical Thinking Symposium on campus andwere able to react to the thoughts of Richard Paul; some ofus were able to attend a performance of the Alvin AlleyDancers; many of us were provoked by the book CulturalLiteracy; we all learned from each other in our classrooms.

I hope that your summer break is refreshing 7 idrelaxing and that you will return in the fall, eager to begin"interacting" again with educational ideas.

-Joy Stone

.1)

accepted body of communally shared information thatmust be acquired in order to function effectively in ourliterate national community, but I can't think we have towork toward absolute agreement on what that body ofinformation consist of. Much of it we can agree on. It is theresponsibility of our schools to find effective ways to teachthis body of knowledge. And that involves, I believe,content-based instruction along with higher order proc-esses for making that content meaningful. CI

STUDYING CULTURAL LITERACYContinued from Page 4

of what this literacy can provide in terms of acquisition ofthe American Dream.

When we looked at Hirsch's listing of what culturallyliterate Americans should know, and as a class, perceivedthere to be a gap between that knowledge with which weare familiar and that with which we aren't many of theemotions attached to loss, i.e., in this case, loss of stature,perhaps, began manifesting themselves.

At first many of us denied the importance of the itemslisted. Then for some there was resentment that oureducations didn't provide this. For others, when welocked horns in debate, real anger emerged, with recogni-tion as to what had been "done to us," in a sense. Later, forsome, a leveling of affect appeared as we started tointernalize our real teaching selves. And finally, as westarted to draw significant implications from our readingand discussion, and focus on new perspeaives and direc-tions, there was a sense of acceptance and resolution,sparked by the hope that our new understandings werecreating a wiser, more determined teaching self.

Simultaneously, some of these same stages of losswere made manifest as teachers considered not only them-

selves, but also how their students were being cheated of anopportunity for literacy. This perception de teachers re-sentful that they were being requested to have studentsdevote so much time to skill and drill, and then theseteachers became angry when they realized they had sup-pressed their own reservations about the wisdom of thispolicy. Hope was theirs when their regenerated teachingselves saw the promise of working with skill developmentin tandem with the learning of meaningful content.

I originally wanted to say more here, specifically aboutwhat I learned as an instructorof Curriculum and Teachingthat could be shared with future THISTLE classes aboutcurriculum development. It was to focus on the differencebetween intensive and extensive curriculum, and how bestto utilize these concepts. But in my writing about theregeneration of the teaching self, I realize, much more thanbefore, the significance of that experience for me as aparticipant/observer, and I'd like to end here so as notdiminish its importance. My thanks to those THISTLEteachers who participated in this course; our thanks, I'msure to E.D. Hirsch, Jr., for his novel insights, which fur-rowed brows, raised voices, made us think, and when weleft, there was a difference. U

WRITING AND PERSONAL GROWTHContinued from page 6

The current group of THISTLE teachers includesteachers of grades one, two, and three. Again it is necessaryto invent assignments and test their validity against theeassroom experience of these able professionals.

While the content and skills to be taught in the earlygrades may differ, the teacher's attitude andmental dispo-sitions need to be the same. And what are they?

self-acceptanceacceptance of others, exactly as they areunderstanding of our own needsunderstanding the needs of othersinner q.iieta desire to growliving in the momenta sense of adventuregiving ...edit to othersaccepting credit

While this list applies to all of living, it has particularrelevance for writing instruction. Who we are, fundamen-tally, always emerges through writing. Word choice, spell-ing, colloquialisms, punctuation, ano syntax reveal usdeeply, often unconsciously. Sinceeven professional writ-ers find themselves discovering news about themselves as

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they write, we can be certain that younger writers will berevealing aspects of their experience through whateverthey write, including math-writing. And this is why teach-ers must be conscious of how they respond to children'swriting.

In a recent class, we modeled a situation witha teacher-student acting the role of a resistant fourth-grader. My jobwas to get him to write more than one sentence, his usualstopping point. He willingly wrote one original sentenceon the board. I then asked him to choose any word in thatsentence and start a new sentence with that word. P.e didso. The I asked him to choose another word and startanother new sentence with that word. While writing thosetwo sentences, he added to the number o: iifferent wordshe had written, thereby opening up the number of newsentences that he could write using the method I offered.

Whatever he wrote, I accepted without judgment. Anycomment or question about content or mechanics wouldhave stopped his process and made me a critical co-author,a school figure to whom we all capitulated early. Bysupporting his process, I supported mine, and we bothlearned more about our craft.

So the cou rse, the teachers, and their students evolve, aswe learn and grow through wnting and personal interac-tion, and rough interaction with our own writing.

CANONS TO THE RIGHTContinued from Page 5

moral imperatives would seem to be the basis of instruc-tion: "prejudices, strong prejudices, are visions about theway things are. They are divinations of the order of thewhole of things."

While Bloom's discussion is limited to top Americanuniversities like his own University of Chicago, Hirsch isconcerned with the public schools. Like Bloom, Hirsch isa foundationalist, attacking the "fragmented" curriculumof the 1960's and 1970's that elevated skills over content,cultural pluralism over unity. The school curncif.um heargues, should be grounded in "traditional literate knowl-edge, the information, attitudes, and assumptions thatliterate Americans share.

Cultural literacy, in other words, can be understood asa set of key terms, a national vocabulary. Hirsch thenmakes the questionable pedagogical inference that teach-ing cultural literacy can be conducted as an exercise invocabulary-building. Hence the infamous canonical Listof names, quotations, terms and dates. If our studentslearn this vocabulary, he argues, they will be culturallyliterate.

If this recommendation for reform conjures up visionsof a nineteenth-century classroom presided over by aGrandgrind whose students spend hours memorizingfacts without contextualizing them, then it's not surprisingthat Hirsch should praise McGuffy's Reader and defendmemorization as a pedagogical method. Nor should itcome as a surprise, given the conservatism of his method-ology, to find him attacking bilingual education and de-scribing American primary political documents as the"sacred texts" of our "civil religion."

There is a proselytizing tone in Hirsch's book. Twoyears ago when the Institute invited him to Montclair State

College, he said that he wanted to be introduced as aperson who has had three conversion experiences fromliterary criticism to critical theory (Validity in Interpreta-tion), then to writing theory (The Philosophy of Composition),and now to cultural literacy. So it's not surprising to hearsomething of the zeal of the recently converted when hewrites that his reform "will bring us closer to the Cicer-onian ideal of universal public discourse ..., achieving fun-damental goals of the Founders at the birth of the repub-lic."

So why are Bloom and Hirsch so popular? Thea nsweris two-fold.

From the publication of A Nation at Risk in 1983 to therecent Ravitch and Finn book What Do Our 17-Year-OldsKnow?, the evidence mounts that our students are embar-rassingly underprepared and that we ourselves are partlyto blame. Ravitch and Finn, for example, found that what17-year-olds know most comes from the popular cLItLre;what they know least, from the schools.

Secondly, in an atmosphere of public loss of confi-dence, be it political or education, there is a tendency toretreat from thecomplexities of the present to the imaginedsimplicities of the past. Hirsch's recommendation, par-ticularly, is not merely an educational quick fix orbureaucrat's dream. It appeals to a fundamentalist spiritthat is abroad in the country - a spirit that responds to crisisby searching for the simple authority and certainty of acanon.

The crisis is real. As educators in the humanities wehave to respond to it not through "civil religion," notthrough canons or Lists, and certainly not through a na-tional cultural literacy examination. We must give ourstudents a literate foundation while we instill in them aspirit of critical inquiry and challenge that constitutes thetrue legacy of the humanities, a sense of cultural pluralismthat describes our world as it really is, and a tolerance thatdistinguished the informed and truly open mind. CI

From Stephen Toulmin's Human Understanding

Each of us thinks our own thoughts; our concepts we share with our fellow men... We acquire our grasp oflanguage and conceptual thought, then, in the course of education and development; and the particular sets of conceptswe pick up reflect forms of life and throught, understanding and expression current in our society.. Our personal beliefsfind expressions only through the use of communal concepts. The new moulds in which our individual thoughts arecast accrire a definite form only when they becomeat any rate, potentiallythe collective intellectual instruments of anappropriate community.

Rationality is an attribute, not of logical or conceptual systems as such, but of the human activities or enterprisesof which particular sets of concepts are the temporary cross-sections, specifically, of the procedures by which the con-cepts, judgments, and formal systems currently accepted in those enterprises are criticized and changed.

Comments? A later issue of the THISTLER will be devoted to a discussion of these and related claims!

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MILO f'NJ!*Pluoki Jeddn

Mil Owedacrd

oRisod s.naio moiduoN

a6ailog`LI;iFiiiifoltdinovi

SAUNDRA ALEXANDRAMARION ALSTON

GEORGE AMBROSELINDA BENNETTJOAN BENNE1TE

DEBORAH BREDAHLEUGENE BROWN

JUANDRA BOXLEYPATRICIA CALDWELL

BETRECHIA COXHARRIET DOUGUN

BEVERLY EVANSJOYCE FRIEDY

CONGRATULATIONS TO:

PATRICK GARRETSONSHIRLEY GLAUDE

RUBY GREENSAUNDRA GREENMYRTLE HOFLER

CYNTHIA HOOVERJAMES JACKSON

LOUISE JAMESGWENDOLYN JOHNSON

ELAINE LANECLAUDIA LAURIE

JUANITA LE BLANCPAULA MARINO

T

JERLINE MC CRAYEDNA MURPIf

MARVA PETERSONJERELEAN REEDJETTA REYNOLDANNIE RIGGSBEE

HELEN SMITHJOSEPH STANNISH

DEBBY TAYLORGAIL VELOX

PATRICIA WHITEJOAN WILKINS

SUSIE WILLIAMS

These Newark teachers have recently completed the 18 credits required by Project THISTLE.

Z 2

Momuidli otcue c'one"i se yeSchool of Professional StudiesOffice If the Dean(201) 893-5167

UPPER MONTCLAIR NJ 07043

February 23, 1989

Ms. Meredith Ludwig, DirectorOffice of Association ResearchAmerican Association of State Colleges and UniversitiesOne Dupont CircleSuite 700Washinton, DC 20036-1192

Dear Ms Ludwig:

I am delighted to include information on Project THISTLE: Thinking Skillsin Teaching and Learning for inclusion in AASCU/ERIC's Model ProgramInventory Project. I enclose Part A, Part B and a collection of material fromthe Project. Please feel free to contact me if then; 're any questions. Weappreciate the opportunity.

c: Dr. Gregory Vvh., ors, VPAA

Sincerely,

endy OxmanDirectorInstitute for Critical Thinking andProject THISTLE

Where tradition meets tomorrow'AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY/AFFIRMATIVE ACTION INSTITUTION

23

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,

The ThistferVolume 6Number 2

WINTER 1988MONTCLAIR STATE COLLEGEUPPER MONTCLAIR, NJ 07043

The mistier is a newsletter sponsored by Project THISTLE: Thinking Skills in Teaching and Learning. Since 1980, Project THISTLEhas engaged Neloark teaches in graduate coursework and other curriculum and staff development activities deigned to improvestudents' chance for success in college. The support of the Victoria Foundation, Prudential Foundation, the New Jersey Board ofHigher Education and Montclair State College are gratefully acknowledged.

THE THORP GAME: AN OVERVIEW

The THOP.? Game was designed to illustrate theprinciple that, given the same material resources,schools prepare children differentially for positions insociety. In one school setting, an atmosphere of inquiryis established. Questions are asked by students andteachers, the focus is on the meaningfulness of what islearned, and cooperative group work results in en-hanced achievement. In the other school setting, thesame materials are used, but inquiry is discouraged, roteperformance is rewarded and students do not engage inactivities through which they learn from each other.Time is used inefficiently, and potential occasions fordeveloping meaning and leadership ability are disre-garded.

The THORP Game engages participants in one or the

%\.rummaimemanimmismiF--

other of these two school settings, and then places themin competition with one another for positions in a hierar-chical division of labor. Although superficially the twoschools have taught the sane content usiii6 the sameresources, participants' performance on the CAREERDECISION PLAN demonstrate that, in fact, the schoolwhich emphasizes thinking rather than rote memoriza-tion has more effectively taught the skills necessary forattaining the higher occupational levels. Work perform-ance subsequently demonstrates that the "better"school's emphasis on inquiry has also taught the skillsneeded to perform at the decision-making level, whilethe other school has quite successfully prepared itsgraduates for, the routine and monotony of unchal-lenging and repetitious work.

THE THORP GAME:BACKGROUND AND USES

Mary E. Bredemciez, Ed.D.Guest Editor

IntroductionI am delighted to have this opportunity, as guest

editor, to introduce THISTLER readers to an excellenttool for teaching and learning. It is THE THORP Gan*,designed by Dr. Wendy Oxinsin, Director of ProjectTHISTLE, and now Director of Montclair State Collegesnew Institute for Critical Thinking.

THORP (Thinkers or Parrots) is a simulation activitywhich illustrates the principle that, even with the same 24

i

material resources, schools tend to prepare childrendifferently for positions in society, depending upon theirsocioeconomic backgrounds.

What is "simulated" is the differemce in the experi-ences students have with " thinking skills" and "rotelearning" approaches to administering the same basiccurriculum. rartidpants have actual experiences in oneof two school settings. In one school (Thobbin Acad-emy), an atmosphere of inquiry is fostered: students andteachers ask questions, cooperative group work is fos-tered, and the focus is on the meaningfulness of what islearned. In the second school setting 'Thuzzer Prep), thesame materials are used, but inquiry is discouraged, rote

(arederneier, continued on page 2)

COORDINATORS COLUM3T

We warmly welcome the 50 new participants toProject THISTLE: Thinking Skills in Teaching and Learn-ing. The number of applications submitted to us till:.year was so large, and so many of the applicants are sointerested in learning about using thinking skills toenhance curriculum development, that we have in-cluded an additional section. We are also gratified by theinterest and support Newark teachers and administra-tors continue to give us.

Those readers affiliated with Project THISTLE formore than a year are probably familiar with ThobbmAcademy, Thuzzer Prep and making dorries. You mayhave participated in the THORP game, a simulationactivity, in one of our classes, or as part of an inserviceprogram at your school. The current issue of THETHISTLER is devoted to the THORP game. WendyOxman, Director of Project THISTLE, developed thegame. Mary Bredemeier helped her shape it into itsexisting forraat. Their articles provide us with an under-standing of the rationale for the THORP game. Alsoincluded are reactions of faculty and students who haveparticipated in the game.

As always, we welcome your comments and sug-gestions. Joy Stone

(Bredemeier, continued from page 1)performance is rewarded, and students do not engage inactivities through which they learn from each other.Time is used inefficiently and potential occasions for de-veloping meaning are disregarded.

After their "education" is completed, participantscompete with one another for positions in a hierarchicaldivision of labor. The outcome illustrates the advantagesof schooling which promo te5 reflective thinking. A thirdphase of the game examines the relationship of leader-ship abilities developed in "school" to organizationalproductivity. The "debriefing," or post-game discus-sion, provokes lively sharing of experiences andthoughts about the real meaning of "educational equity"and how to achieve it, as well as the personal andeducational factors involved in effective organizationalleadership.

The THORP Game has special relevance for teachersin urban schools where traditional stereotypes may havepromoted the notion (deplored-and disproven by Proj-ect THISTLE teachers and other successful urban teach-ers) that economically disadvantaged youngsters "can'tthink." It thus serves as a dramatic reminder of the self-fulfilling prophecy effects of low expectations anddemands

A.,

My role in the development of this game was pri-marily to help Wendy edit and field-test it in the early

2

1980's and to introduce it nationally through the NorthAmerican Simulation and Gaming Association (NA-SAGA). We have now -un It in a vaney of settings,including five annual meetings of NASAGA: RutgersUniversity, 1983; University of Iowa, 1984; Indiana Uni-versity, 1985; University of Michigan, 1986; and Cham-plain College/Bishops University, Lennoxville, Canada,1987. It has been published, and is disseminated nation-ally, by the NASAGA National Headquarters, Univer-sity of North Carolina in Asheville, N.C. We have usedit in graduate classes at MSC, in THISTLE classes andprograms, and for faculty inservice programs in ourwork. with the Barringer Cluster schools.

For this issue of the THISTLER, we have Dr.Oxman's own description of the basic purposes anddesign of the game. We include a review of THORPwhich appeared in the December, 1984, issue of Simula-tion and Games (the journal of theory and research insimulation- gaming), written by Dr. Timothy Ericksonfrom Project EQUALS at the University of California,Berkeley.

We have used THORP frequently this year in theTHISTLE classes and for inservice workshops as part ofour collaboration with Barringer Cluster schools. Fromthis perspective, we offer some reflections by MSC's Dr.Wandalyn Enix , Mrs. Muriel Lovell, principal of the Dr.E. Alma Flagg School, and by Ms. Elizabeth Jefferson,Ms. Princess Towe, and Mr. Robert Da vis, Newark teach-ers and THORP Game leaders.

For my own contribution to this issue of the THIS-TLER, I have excerpted some selected passages from mygraduate students' reaction papers, written after playingand discussing the game. 0

MONTCLAIR ETATE COLLEGESCHOOL OF PROFESSIONAL STUDIES

Nicholas M. Michelli, Dean

PROJECT THISTLE: THINKING SKILLSIN TEACHING AND LEARNING

Wendy Oxman, DirectorJoy Stone, Coordinator

The mistierMary E. Bredemeier, Guest Editor

Please send your comments to the office of:Project THISTLE, Montclair State College,Upper Montclair, NJ. 07043

:Dr

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A PRINCIPAL'S REACTIONSTO THE THORP GAME

Ms. Muriel Lovell, PrincipalDr. E. Alma Flag School

Newark, N.J.

The importance of critical thinking skills in the in-structional program was made quite explicitly to teach-ers at E. Alma Flagg School as they participated in theTHORP Game, at their November 19,. 1987 inserviceworkshop. The THORP Game, a simulation activitywhich involved direct teacher participation, provided anopportunity for participants to actually experience themotivational acvantage of a "thinking skills" approachto learning.

The simulation activity was directed by Dr. Wan-dalyn Enix, of Montclair State College, Department ofCurriculum and Teaching. The teaching strategiesemployed in the activity demonstrated the relationshipbetween instructional practices and student achieve-ment. The outcomes of the activity made teachers moreacutely aware of how critical thinking skills combinedwith interesting and challenging activities can motivatestudent achit vemer

An analysis of the activity also highlighted theimportance of teacher attitudes and boy> certain teacherbehaviors impact upon student achievement.

The workshop is one of several workshops designedby the Montclair State Barringer Cluster Collaboration.

The Administration and faculty wish to thank Dr.Mary E. Bredemeier for t e continuing assistance andsupport of our staff development effort. CI

THE THORP GAME A REAL GIANTIN TEACHING AND LEARNING

Wandalyn F.nix, Ed.Dv Assistant ProfessorDepartment of Curriculum and Teaching

The training of teachers is one of the most challeng-ing and difficult tasks in the world of higher education.As a teacher educator, I am always looking for effectivetraining techaiques for both preservice and inserviceteachers. One of my goals is to help train teachers so thatthey have positive Attitudes towards levier socioeco-nomic students and students who belong to racial mi-norities. The first step in this process is to help teachersidentify their own attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors.The second step is to provide diverse experiences for theteachers through films, literature, multimedia materials,cross-cultural interactions, simulations, and factual lec-tures. The third step is to have teachers examine theircurricula to see that both content and implementationare free of prejudicial leanings.

My first acquaintance with the THORP Game wasasa participant under the direction of Princess Towe andBob Davis. My more recent experience with the gamewas as Director of the game for the faculty at the E. AlmaFlagg School Newark. Student teacher, Denise Pitts,served as my Assistant Director. The THORP Game hasexcited me about the several possibilities that it offersteachers to help them gain insight into social class struc-ture in America. It offers some excellent explanations asto how education determines who gets what in thissociety, why they keep it, and why those who have littleeducation tend to remain in the same condition genera-tion after generation.

Schooling is a powerful force in this country, havingmany political, economic, and social ramifications. andbecause the teacher is at the helm of this force, I seefHORP as having a tremendous potential to help themunderstand why it is so very important that they dev:qopand foster demoaatic attitudes and values in the class-room. I see the THORP game as being one of the mostimportaiu simulations that could impress upon teachersthe need to fo :us on thinking skills and cooperativelearning methodologies.

The changing of teacher attitudes and behaviors is atremendous task. Very little work has been done oneffective techniques that can be used to change teachers'attitudes and behaviors toward lower socioeconomicstudents and students of minority backgrounds. This Iperceive as one of the major difficulties in elementaryand secondary public education in urban America to-day. I would propose that diverse experiences such asthe experience of THORP should be used periodicallywith preservice and inservice teachers. Teachers canthen go through the "debriefing" phase of the game andcompare current responses with previous responses.

The teachers at the E. Alma Flagg School were veryinsightful after the THORP experience. One teacher toldme, "My son goes to a school just like the one yourani..4truit cond zted;" (Thuzzer Prep, where rote memo-rization and neatness were emphasized at the expense ofthinking and cooperative learning) "he has a very diffi-cult time in school. " Another teacher said "It makes youstop and think just how do you run your classroom." Allteachers were positively receptive and enjoyed the expe-rience.

To focus only on the attainment of facts and rotememorization for both students and teachers is anexpensive educational mistake. Teachers and teachereducators must s 'me to see the value of thinking andcooperative learning and the relationships betweensocial class and knowledge. The THORP Game providesan excellent opportunity as a springboard for discus-sion. CI

THE THORP GAMECRITICAL INQUIRY

AND EDUCATIONAL PRACTICE

Wendy Oxman

The THORP Game had its origins within ProjectTHISTLE: Ttanig Skills in Teaching and Learning,and was designed as a simulation to help teachers expe-rience the effects of different kinds of school settiogsonchildren. The THORP Game is about critical inquiry -about the effects of thoughtful reflection -bout educa-tion. It deals with teachers' unexamined assumptionsabout themselves and their students, about the purposesof schooling, and about the nature of knowledge itselfthat underlie familiar, traditional educational practicesthat may put some students at a disadvantage.

Schools are essentially conservative institutions;that is; they are meant to mirror and to transmit toyoungsters what is known of our physical, social, andcultural worlds. In carrying out this function of theschool, teachers share wir tudents traditional knowl-edge and skills. Schools also tend to perpetuate tradi-tional ideas about knowledge and traditional ways oflearning, despite the fact that rapid social and techno-logical change has not only created new knowledge, butthe need for students to learn new ways of relating toknowledge. To purticipate meaningfully in a technologi-cally complex society, students need to learn to under -stand the processes they are using in acquiring newknowledge and ways of finding, organizing, transform-ing, utilizing and evaluating hat kr.JwIedge. They needto learn to inquire - to question, to challenge, to suggest,to initiate. And they need to learn to coordinate theirknowledge and skills with those of others in workingtoward a group goal.

Traditional knowledge and skills tend to be consci-entiously updated when needed, such as when knowl-edge about non-Western societies, and skill in usingcomputers, are added to the cu-riculunt However, thekinds of pressures that force additions to the explicitcontent of the curriculum are rarely applied to ideasabout knowledge and about learning that affect teachers'decisions about classroom processes. Needed changesar seldom introduced in a way that transforms educa-tional traditions in such a way as toovercome the gener-ally conservative ethos of the school.

In schools relatively free from social, economic, andprofessional problems, there is likely to be the time andthe perspective to review traditional practices, explorenew ideas, and plan changes to help student relate indifferent ways to learning. In these schools, there istrically less mobility and absenteeism, fewer bureau-cratic directives, higher levels of basic skills, lower levelsof student frustration and alienation, and greater sup-port for professional development and initiative on the

(Oxman, continued on page 8)

PARTICIPANT " v.ACTIONTO THE THC_' SAME

Elizabeth Baker JeffersonTeacher /librarian, Barringer Preparatory School

The purpose of the Thorp Game is to illustrate "vis-cei ally" the principle that schools prepare children to as-sume different positions in : vciety. In less thanan hour,participants discover that in one school setting, studentsare encouraged to focus on why something is beingtaught, to be creative and to work cooperatively; in theother, rote performance is rewarde% and cooperationand inquiry are discouraged. In the next cl.kase of thegame, participants must depend upon the educationthey have received for their ability to compete, disgunedas "decision-mak ng." Usually, students from the schoe'in which thinking was emphasized, rather than rotememorization, end up in management; students fromthe other school become (well-trained!) workers.

The nuances of individuality and interaction makethe game continually fascinating for me, as facilitatorand as observer. All the people who participate havealready been successful in their academic endeavors.They are in college or have graduated from college. Theyhave developed good images of themselves as studentsand teachers. Yet, invariably, the randomly selectedgroup coming from the rigid, rote-memorization class,Thuzzer Prep, develop a look of suppressed anger, re-sentment, and tension. The off group usually is re-laxed and communicative. The latter group is able tofocus on the meaning of the "decision-making" ciirec-dons, and assume management roles, while the rote-memorization group appears confused and passive, inaddition to resentful.

c44

Participants reported, "I felt like a child must feel insome classrooms," It made Lite think." "The gameserved as an opportunity to rethink how we treat othersand how our actions affect us. It served as a reminderthat ur behavior is crucial to students who often comein as "Thuzzer people" from home." "Good, practicalex-perience, very clna. D real life situations" "As teacherswe were made aware of how children would feel in Litzclassrooms conducted in this atmosphere." The overallreaction of participants to the Thorp game wes "Awe-some."

My reaction to this 1 Inflation game was to affirmagain the nem w c all have for an environment in whichwe are encouraged to learn and grow by developing andusing our ability to think, create, and workcooperativelywith each other. Cil

So

.a

1

RUNNING THE THORP GAME

Princess Towe and Robert Davis,Malcolm X Shabazz High School

Over the past several years, we have conducted theTHORP Game for groups ranging in size from unclectwenty to over seventy participants. These groups haveincluded elementary and secondary school faculties aswell as graduate and undergraduate college classes. Asa reflection of real life, the THORP Game mirrors atti-tudes and behaviors we find in our own students on adaily basis. When students can experience what they arelearning, they learn it more thoroughly. We have foundthis to be true among the "students" playing the ThorpGame; typically teachers and other school personnelparticipating in Thorp as part of an in-service workshoppmgram.

While the outcomes of the Thorp Game are usuallypredictable, it's never played quite the same way twice,and we never know quite what tc expect. The differencesamong groups of teachers can be startling, and observingthe dynamics of each group is fascinating.

In the Thorp Game, " students" are taught by two"teachers" in two different "schools." Although thecontent is the same, the approaches are distinctly differ-ent. In Thobbin Academy, a positive tone is set, and the"students" generally respond enthusiastically. They areled through an active process of inquiry to understandthe meaning and the applicability of what they learn.Even though some Thobbins might be among the ini-tially reluctant students, they come around and becomeactively involved. Unlike Thobbin Academy, ThuzzerPrep is distinctly authorit -Tian Students are directed tocomplete various rote exercises without being told thepurpose of or the reasons for the lessons. They becomefrustrat I because they are not allowed to question theauthonty of the teacher and must complete what seem tobe meaningless tasks. During the debriefing portion ofthe game, participants explore the relationship betweenthese different types of education:4 experiences andindividual success or failure in later life. Since Thorp isan outgrowth of Project THISTLE: Thinking Skills inTeaching and Learning, it's not hard to guess that thegame is "rigged" to demonstrate that those who areencouraged to think in school will do better in the jobmarket than those who are not. And it usually worksthat way. Usually.

The Thorp Game is typically run as an in-serviceworkshop for teachers and other school personnel in asingle school. When we present the game to a schoolfaculty, the initial reactions of the teachers can range

5

from amusement, to bemusement, to boredom, to reluc-tance to participate.

Often, interesting differences among schoolsemerge. Some groups of teachers participating in theThorp Game seem to have had a great deal of prior expe-rience interacting and communicating with each otherwithin their schools; these teachers always seem to enjoythe experience and have little difficulty playing the vari-ous roles the game calls for. When the principal joins in,the faculty members typically mirror his or her willing-ness.

On the other hand, teachers who have apparently ex-perienced little prior interaction and communicationwith each other within their schools Dose a special chal-lenge to the game leaders. As in real life, we often havea "student" who is reluctant to join in some dass activity;the "I-don't-want-to-do-this," or the "why-do-we-have-to-do-this" student! In most cases these attitudes arecorrummicated through body language, though therehave been instances where the attitudes were verballyexpressed. In these ......rtations, it is more I .ifficult toinvolve them in the game.

Again, as .n real life, through these groups we seeour own real students at work. Our roles as facilitator smirror our real life roles as teachers. As dassroomteachers, we are satisfied when our students can see thevalue in what we're teaching, and in Thorp, our mostsatisfying moments mate when, during the debriefingphase, the teachers, like our students, begin to "see" thevalue and applicability of the insights gained in theThorp Game. Mission accomplished!

What we have also come to realize is that as facilita-tors, we are modeling not only teaching methods, but ina way we are modeling ways in which faculty membersare treated by administrators. In those cases /here staffand administrators communicate as peers, and wherethere is free exchange of ideas, new ideas are welcomed

even if no one knows what those ideas are at first. Onthe other hand, where there are barriers and walls be-tween staff and administration /and among staff mem-bers themselves), new ideas face a hard time becomingaccepted.

Thorp demonstrated the continuing need for im-proved communication both in and out of the classroom.Just as it reminds us of the need to encourage thinkingand communication in our classrooms, it should alsoremind us of the same need in the rest of our professionallive:. CI

r, R

THE THORP GAME:GRADUATE STUDENTS SPEAK

Mary E. Bredemeier, Ed.D.

ForwardOne of the objectives of a graduate course I have

taught for many y..?ars ("Social Class and Education") isto show how students' axial class and ethnic back-grounds often affect teachers' perceptions and expecta-tions as they decide what and ,mw to teach. Of course weexplore also the relatimiship between students' educa-tional achievement and their subsequent occupationalstatuses.

Research documenting the thesis that teachers'expectations influence student achievement and areinfluenced by students' backgrounds is part of the re-quired reading in this course. However, I have foundThe THORP Game an invaluable tool for giving experi-ential meaning to this ubiquitous phew anon. Oftour. 2 we have all experienced teachers who stimulateand encourage our reflection and creativity as well asthose who stifle it, but the passage of years desensitizesus to the effects; we need to be reminded of how it feels,and how it affects us, to be the recipient of those quitedifferent treatments.

Even before THORP was created, I had becomeaware of the value of simulation-gaming as an instruc-tional tool for generating thoughtful exchange of ideas.Partly this is because the dynamics of good simulationgames quickly captivate and engage students, fromkindergarten through graduate school; time passesquickly, and students usually want to go on playing. Itis in the post-game discussion, however, that studentsenthusiastically draw connections between the ideas,concepts, and theories they have learned in claw andtheir real-life and game experiences.

. The reaction paper is a useful assignment to supple-ment, expand, and reinforce the learnm,gs derived fromthe game experience and debriefing. The excerpts whichfollow come from selected reaction papers to THORPover a number of years, and illustrate the impact of th'game in furthering the goals of my course.

Graduate Students Speak:Some Perceptions of Purpose and Meaning

"If I have adequately comprehended the intentand purpose for which THE THORP GAME was de-signed, it demonstrates the inferior results of rote learn-ing as compared with the superior method of encourag-ing individual thinking, reasoning, and application. Thestudents of Thuzzer Prep were simply directed to make(lorries, with an instructional methodology based orf2 C3imitation and repetition; the educational objective was toteach than to copy and obey. By contrast, ThobbinAcademy students learned not only how to make dor-

nes, but the significance of correct dorrie order and theapplication of the principle in the determination of se-quence. It is not surprising, then; that Thobbin studentsfared better on the 'Career Decision Plan' than Thuzzerstudents, even though the former may not have beenconsciously aware that they were using 'dorrie order'knowledge in their performance of the exercise."

"The purposeof T'HORP is to show how two teach-ers (or schools) can, with the same curriculum, havequite different outcomes. The students in the 'lowerclass' school learn simple tasks by rote, while the 'execu-tive elite' are taught to think! As it is with the Thuzzers(lower class) and Thobbins (uppers), so it is within manyof our schools across the country!"

"After playing the game and thinking about thetwo different schools, I realized how much a teacher caninfluence the lives of her students. This was a meaning-ful experience that I never will forget."

"This game is a microcosm of our society today,where the more educated and well-trained the person,the higher status and more demanding a job he or shewill acquire. Our task as educators is to try to distributethe opportunities more equitably, to give those who startwith disadvantages more of a chance, rather than addingobstacles to their paths."

"The Thobbin Academy students did, indeed, cap-ture the executive and managerial jobs in THORP-land,and the Thuzzer Prep students became their workers.What a parallel to the real world!"

"The last part of the game concerned tht. organiza-tion and running of competitive businesses. The actualexperiences here sensitized the class further to the ad-vantages of a 'thinking skills' curriculum in givingpeople the chance to achieve higher occupational stat-uses, and in helping them succeed when they get there.It also gave us first-hand experience with the frustrationand monotony that workers must tolerate in a repetitive,routine job, as well as the tensions and pressures experi-enced by those in managerial and executive positions.And last, but not least, it showed that personality andleadership style matter too; the executives and managersof both companies had graduated from Thobbin Acad-Lay, but one group did much better than the otherbecause they remembered to apply the leadership prin-dples which their teachers had demonstrated!"

"One of the purposes of this game is to show thekey elements which make for productivity within a com-pany or corporation. We saw what was involved in eachtype of work role from assembly-line worker to managerto executive, and how they were interdependent. Wealso saw the incredible differences in productivity whichoccurred under different styles of leadership."

(Bredemeier, continued on page 7)

i

(Bredemeier, continued from page 6)

"The third part of the game allows one to experi-ence the complexities, and sometimes the monotony, ofthe work world. Management people are faced with theproblem of hiring the work force, supplying materials,organizing the workers for effective production, payingsalaries, etc. The workers face the tedium of producingTHORPs, an activity that becomes very boring in a shorttime. It also shows how iescntment can build up in afactory worker or laborer whose steady and persistentwork doesn't pay off, and who realizes the impossibilityof ending up with much more than he or she startedwith."

How the Game Looked toThuzzer Prep Graduates

"I know now that both Thuzzer Prep and ThobbinAcademy were learning about the same thing domes.We had the same materials - handbooks, pencils, paper,and blocks - on down the line. Yet the Thuzzer teacher'sapproach was so shallow - no explanation of any pos-sible significance for potential future use - nothing! Evenwhen we raised questions, we were discouraged. Whatwe were doing seemed pointless! We were just given thematerials and a lot of rote activities . . . Then came thecareer choice. I'll admit that, when we did that portion,I felt incredible frustration, and even embarrassment, atnot being able to dr, it rapidly; and I earned myself alowly worker's position in the job market."

"Our teacher was more interested in having uslearn the 'hidden curriculum' than anything else. Wewere being trained to be workers, not leaders or manag-ers. We were taught by rote, did copy work, andcouldn't get our questions answered, so we stoppedasking them. No wonder that, after we graduated fromThuzzer and took our competency exam, most of usended up as workers! I wanted to be an executive, but itwasn't until tne debriefing that I understood the educa-tional advantages the Thobbins had which gave themthe top jobs. They had been taught t hink!"

"Being a Thuzzer Prepper caused me to reflect onmy own elementary and secondary school years. I real-ized that I had quite a few teachers from the 'ThuzzerPrep' school of learning, and that I learned far less fromthem than from the others. Even in college, someprofessors told us to be creative, but did not teach ushow, or even allow it. I wish I could tell them all nowhow much I resent their rohbing me of learning! On theother hand, I am thankful that the majority of my teach-ers loved learning and provided me with good rolemodels."

How the Game Looked toThobbin Academy Graduates

"At Thobbin Academy, we had a 'thinking skills'

7

curriculum. We learned dorrie order and how to use it insequencing. The most important thing we learned,though, was the importance of examining the whys ofthings. Our teacher told us we were smart, praised us forasking good questions, encouraged us to be creative, andtaught us to be divergent, rather than convergent, think-ers!"

"I loved this game! Of course, I was lucky enoughto be a Thobbin Academy student, and we enjoyed ourclass. But mainly what I liked was the incredible paral-lels I saw in our discussion afterward between what wehad been discussing all semester the experiences ofthe game."

"I was a graduate of Thobbin Academy, and I fin-ished the Career Decision Plan first! This made me abusiness execlitive in the division of labor. I thoroughlyenjoyed the challenge of figuring out how to makeTHORPs and to motivate my workers to be productive."

"I went to Thobbin Academy and got a manage-ment job. I noticed that one Thuzzer graduate also got amanagement job. This corresponds to the reality thatsometimes a very bright person with a poor education,who is in the right place at the right time, can breakthrough the mold of the system and capture a prestigiousposition."

Perceptions of Who Can Benefit, and Why"THE THORP GAME is extremely beneficial to

teachers, but it can also be useful to even elementaryxhool students. This would be a good way of showingthe students the importance of learning to think aboutwhat they are being taught, and to ask questions abouttheir work, rather than just memorize it.

"I think The THORP Game can be used in juniorand senior high school. In junior high, students begin tobe exposed to various occupational clusters. This gameallows them, and senior high students, to experience ahands-on approach to the world of work and to the rolesof boss, management, and worker. They can experiencethe frustrations of management, the tedious routine andritualism of the assembly line, and the organizationaldifficulties of the top brass. It is a good career educationtool."

"The THORP Game is extremely valuable to stu-dents preparing to be teachers. We have been discussinghow teachers should teach 'thinking skills' rather thanjust rote learning. Just talking about this is useful, but itdoesn't have the same impact as feeling the differencesthe way we did in the game.

"This is a good game for all adults who have inputinto our educational system: teachers, Board of Edmembers, parents, administrators, and even companyexecutives, who might be in a position to initiate andsupport change." 0

(Oxman, continued from page 4)

part of the faculty. In other settings, the immediate needto bring students up to minimal levels in terms of tradi-tional knowledge and skills and to compensate for theharsh realities of the shiclents' out-of-school experiencesmake it hard to even recognize the need for a critical re-conceptual cation of schooling as it currently exists. Yetit is in these schools that the need is greatest.

Jean At. -on's report of educational inequality, SocialClass and School Knowledge t1981) inspired tit: construc-tion of the THORP Caine. Anyon based her analysis oncritical theory. Critical theory exposes contradictionsbetween the stated democratic ideals of American soci-ety and its institutions, including humanitarianism andequal opportunity, and its actual practices. Anyonhypothesized that among these contradictions are socialclass differences in schooling embedded within theunexamined practices of the schools - the "hidden cur-riculum," that contradict the availability of generallysimilar books, curriculum guides, and other materialresources that seem to signal equal opportunity.

Anyon visited elementary schools in conununities inNew Jersey differentiated by soetil class. She reportedevidence to the effect that the education experienced bystudents in the different schools vary in fundamentallyimportant ways, despite similar material resources. Shefound that in the working class school, the emphasis inclassrooms was on mechanical behaviors, as opposed to"sustained conception," - reflective thinking.

Students were taught respect for authority, andgiven routine "busy work." In one example, Anyonreported that teachers had selected textbooks well abovethe comprehension level of students. This selectiondecision then served to confirm the teachers' pre-con-ceived expectation that the students were incapable ofunderstanding, and thus justified the educationallyworthless, but apparently purposeful, practice of learn-ing" by copying from the book. In more affluent schools,she found teachers emphasizing creativity and personaldevelopment, "thinking for themselves," "making senseof their experience," and "immersion in ideas."

Anyon concluded that schools indeed perpetuatesome basic contradictions in American society: equalopportunities and preparation for those opportunitiesthat are superficially equal but essentially and unjustifia-bly different and unequal. She suggested that workingclass children, through their experiences in school, areprepared for adult roles doing routine work directed byothers, while more affluent children prepare for profes-sional and managerial work requiring initiative, creativ-ity, conceptualization, and autonomy.

How might we illustrate t,nyon's description of herresearch in such a way as to raise the consciousness of

teachers to these different realiht.... experienced by chil-dren? How might we arouse teachers to pose their owncritical questions and to involve themselves, and thustheir students, in transforming teaching and learning soas to reach - rather than contradict - the ideals of Ameri-can Society?

These were the problems inspiring the initial devel-opment of the THORP Game to illustrate Anyone's re-search and to relate i t to the principles underlying ProjectTHISTLE: Thinking Skills in Teaching and Learning.

A Special Note Mary Brdemeier's support andhelp was the key to the development of the game intopublishable form. It would not otherwise have hap-pened.

And Another Note: Jean Anyon is a Professor ofEducation at Rutgers University, Newark. After the firstfew trial runs of the THORP game, we contacted Dr.Anyon, and Mary and I ran the THORP Game for her andone of her dasses. She was most appreciative that we haddeveloped this illustration of her work. Limited num-bers of copies of Anyon's article (Anyon, J. (1981). Socialclass and school knowledge. Curriculum Inquiry. 11:1,3-41.) are available upon request from the THISTLE office.Through Project THISTLE, too, arrangements can bemade for runs of the THORP Game for in-service staffdevelopment sessi ins in Newark schools. 0

THE THORP GAME: A REVIEW

Timothy E. Erickson, Ph.D.University of California, Berkeley

Review of THE THORP GAME, reprinted from Simula-tion and Games, December 1984, pp. 493-497.

THE THORP GAME by Prulect THISTLE, 2-3 hours; 12 -36players. Manual and complete instructions from Dr. WendyOxman, Project THISTLE, Montclair State College, tipperMontclair , NJ 07043, (201) 893-5192. Available fromNASAGA National Headquarters, ZINC Asheville;Asheville, N.C.

Inequity in education is a serious problem. Groupsare distinguished by race, creed, or sex; the distinctionsare manifested in school segregation, differential in-struction in classrooms, and differential attention in thehome. The result is always the same: the more privilegedgroups are prepared to take advantage of more optionswhen they graduate from high school. These differencesare not genetic. We are, in our educational practices,denying opportunities to deserving sc.gments of our

3 l'''P' (Erickson, continued on page 9)

(Erickson, continued from page 8)

The THORP Game incorporates much of the best ofwhat simulation gaming has to offer. It addresses thisserious problem to the nght audience, it is ingenious anddirect in its approach, it seems extensively play tested,and its materials are clear and easy to use. Most impor-tant, it is an apprepraite use for simulation. It is hard toimagine a more effective medium for illuminating thisissue.

Description of the Game

The game is played in three phases. First, players arehigh school students, getting the education they need tofunction in the game's work world. Next, they find jobs.f=inally, their companies compete with one another inmaking the game's eponymous THORPs - small objectsvita] to the national economy of THORPLAND. . .

... Debriefing is, as usual, essential. The game man-ual gives a good and detailed guide to that process philo-sophically similar to the Stadsklev (1974) EIAG model.discussion progresses from a simple recounting of expe-riences to greater generalization. Ultimately the game iscompared to the reality it simulates.

Commentary

There are many appealing aspects of the THORPGame. For me, the most interesting is how ingenious itis. Stratification occurs naturally and understandably.Furthermore, it is not a result of any artificial pointsystem, but rather a result of education, which is exactlywhat we are studying. Congruency between the simula-tion and the subject is essential for the players to acceptthe model as useful; the THORP Game designers have,through ingenuity, kept their model closer to reality thanmost of us manage.

One result of this goad design is that the simulationrings true in more ways than are made explicity in themanual. The manual would have us believe that thereare really two observations players can make about thegame: first, that educational stratification has significantsocial effects, and, second, that the level of cognitiveskills attained in school strongly affects occupationalattainment. The game goes far beyond that - intention-ally, I'm sure - in its ability to serve as a forum forcommentary on our educational system. Schooling atThuzzer Prep is boring; at Thobbin Academy, it's fun.Management jobs are interesting; workers' jobs, in gen-eral, are not. On the other hand, managers suffer a lot ofpressure, whereas the workers just follow instructions.Though players are not told that management jobs aremore desirable, they usually choose them. If we areinvestigating pedagogy, we can easily see what kinds ofteaching lead to inquiry and interest, and what kindslead away fr.= it. My favorite observation from thetame, though, is this: What we learn in school may help

us get a }, b, but very little of it helps once we get there.It is perhaps the spirit of the schooling, more than any-thing else, that makes a THORP player resilient enoughto survive the uncertainties of management or placedenough to endure a lifetime on the assembly line.

Although the deeigners point out that the game canbe played by seventh graders, the game is most impor-tant for graduate students and practicing teachers. Twohours or so invested in this game would be a vital part ofany preservice or inservice program.

There are only a few problems with the game. First,it cannot be played twice. Like other classic games, suchas BaFal3a Fa' and Starpower,11-iORF depends on theignorance of its participants. Another problem thatmight inhibit its widespread use in classrooms is that itrequires two directors to run it - one to teach each of thetwo schools in the game. Combining two classes mightmake the game unwieldy. Another difficulty I had wasthe business of paying the workers. The economic sys-tem of the third phase did not seem to have much to dowith the rest of the game; it was not associated with anyother goals. Perhaps while the elite students are hearingabout patriotism and the importance of THORPs to thenational economy, their counterparts at Thuzzer Prepcould be told that what's really important in life is tocollect chips. On the other hand, maybe we could elimi-nate the chips altogether.

The benefits of the game far outweigh these fewproblems, however. It is easy to run, fun, and important.The messages of the game are clear, and the experiencesof the player;, both direct and vicarious, will help themall better understand the effects and mechanisms ofeducational inequity. 0

ReferenceSTADSKLEY, R. (1974) Handbook of Simulation Gaming i nSo-dal Education. University: Institute of Higher EducationResearch and Services, University of Alabama.

(1---

March 23, 1988 7 p.mKops Lounge, Russ HallMontclair State College

Knowledge as Design:A Workshop on Critical Inquiry

Project Thistle teachers are invited to joinMontclair State College faculty in attending

a workshop by Dr. David Perkins,Harvard Graduate School of Education

NonPrdit OrgU.S. Postage

PAIDPermit #102

Upper MontdairNJ 07043 1

Montclair State CollegeUPPUR MONTCLAR NJ 07043

The Star-Ledger NEWARK This Week December 19. 1988

THISTLE' helps teachers strengthen pupils' intellectual, creative abilities

Critical thinking project targets classroom preparationBy JANICE PHIPPS

Although Theodore Sizer, a promi-nent educator, states in a 1984 studythat America doesn't believe poor kids,imaginatively taught, will respond toacademic abstractions, it's happeningevery day in Newark classrooms.

"My kids are reading Macbeth thisyear," said Barringer Prep Englishteacher Willie Mae Wright-Gaulden."The boys are required to send lettersto the girls as if they were Lady Mac-beth, complete with Old Englishphrases.

"They're not bored," she said."They act as if the scenario is beingplayed out right new. They're interest-ed and enjoying Shakespeare."

Wright-Gaulden has taught in thiscity for 22 years and is ore of 17 New-ark teachers highlighted in a new book,"Urban Classroom Portraits: TeachersWho Make a Difference," written byDr. Mary Bredemeier, professor emeri-tus at Montclair State College.

The 17 teachers described in thebook were a part of Project THISTLE'(Thinking Skills in Teaching and Learn-

ing), a curriculum and staff develop-ment program at Montclair State de-signed to improve the basic skills ofurban college-bound students by work-ing with their teachers.

"The program's main emphasis ison the preparation o: classroom teach-ers to strengthen their students' crea-tive and critical thinking abilities " saidthe prod -am director, Wendy Oxman-Michellt.

Her husband, Nicholas Michelli, isthe dean of professional studies atMontclair. Together they founded theprogram in 1980.

"Critical thinking could be themost basic skill," he said.

Michelli said many of the teach-ers were exhibiting the behaviors theycomplained about in their studentswhen they began the project.

"They complained. 'We don't un-derstand; we've never had to do this be-fore,' " he said. "I asked them who didthey sound like. They had to laugh athow much they sounded like their stu-dents."

Wright-Gaulden described the pro-gram as a "renaissance for us!"

i 7Y

Photo by Richard Raska

Wendy Oxman-Michelli, director of the critical thinking program atMontclair State College, explains Project THISTLE

"The teachers from this school andmany others we met who enrolled wereveterans, having 10 years or more ofexperience.

"We learned that we were nearlyall filled with frustration about ourproblems, especially the policies whichgoverned us so strictly and which wedidn't have anything to say about," saidWright-Gaulden.

When she enrolled in ProjectTHISTLE, Inez Appling said she wasgetting discouraged and had begun toentertain ideas of leaving teaching. Shejoined primarily because she felt sheneeded "recharging." She believed shewas losing the creativity which hadcharacterized her early years of teach-ing (22 years at Seventh Avenue Schooland Barringer Prep).

Before THISTLE, Appling said shetried to be creative but remembers thatmuch of what she did was explain for-mulas.

"I asked questions about what Isaid or what was in the book and testedthem on that. A great portion of myquestions concentrated on memoriza-tion of facts.

"Now I ask a lot more how andwhathow to tell the difference andcompare questioi.L. I require them tofigure something out for themselvesabout a chapter before I explain a thingabout it," she said.

One situation cited in Brede-meier's book describes a student whojust "didr't understand any of it afteran introduction to molecular bonding.The students were looking at a diagramwhich illustrated how elements bond toform molecules. Appling told the stu-dent: "That's not true. There are twothings in that diagram that I know youunderstand What are they9"

One student pointed out they knewthat "H" was hydrogen and "C" wascarbon

"That's two of three things in thediagram," Appling said "What's thethird thine"

"The lines," they responded"Well, when people, or objects, get

'boded,' what happens?" she queried,"they stick together. People get mar-ried, for instance

"It's the same with electrons Thelines are symbols of electronic bond-ing."

Appling said she tries hard to"show them the relationship betweeneducation and life."

Bredemeier said one commoncharacteristic of the teachers in her

p

iz>

a.Photo by Richard Rosenberg

Mary Bredemeler, author of 'Teachers Who Make a Difference,' second from left, discusses her book withparticipants in Project THISTLE at Barringer Prep. From left, are Willie Mae Wright-Gaulden, Elizabeth

Jefferson, Ida Anderson and Inez Appling

book was their disposition to rejectstereotypes and low expectations.

"These exceptional teachersarch constantly for imaginative waysto develop students' curiosity and re-flective thinking capacities," she said."They don't neglect facts, though; theyperceive facts as necessary means toends, and not as --is in themselves.With teachers, as with students, whenyou tap motivation, you get results."

Initially, Bredemeier set out todocument what teachers were doing inthe classroom and what they consid-ered to be THISTLE's effects on theirperceptions and performance for an an-nual THISTLE report.

"You might say I got hooked onthis project," Bredemeier quipped."One day it dawned on me that if Iadded an introduction and a conclusion,I would have a book no one else hadwrittena 'teachers talk' type of bookfocusing on the much-neglected urbanschool. These are their stories."

When Bredemeier interviewedBarringEr Prep English teacher Ida An-derson in 1983, she asked the veteraneducator how she avoided "burnout."

"I like chilaren," Anderson said."They are my motivation"

Last week, Anderson insisted herenthusiasm "hasn't changed."

"Every child comes to the class-room with something to offer:' shesaid. "They are ready to learn. It's myjob to facilitate that learning."

Anderson believes she has a sim-ple formula which works with basicskills as well as higher-level classes

"The answers to who, what, when,where, why and which (the 6 Ws), plushow (the H), provide the 'decoding andinterpretive key' for self-probing stra-tegies students can apply in their read-ing and writing activities," she said.

Elizabeth Jefferson, the school li-brarian at Barringer Prep, has workedin Newark for 20 years. Bredemeier de-scribed her as an "extraordinary educa-tor by any standards."

"She brings to her teaching and li-brary work an intellect and store ofknowledge which qualify her for col-lege-level teaching.

"One of Liz's most durable school-wide contests is the 'Wora of the Week'project," Bredemeier said.

35

"She was working on it the day Ifirst visited her in Barringer Prep It isa competition open to all students inthe school and is designed to improvetheir vocabularies and SAT (ScholasticAptitude Test) scores

"Students must define the word,use it corm-Hy in a sentence and list asmany other words as possible whichcan be created from the letters in it,"she explained.

"The results," Bredemeier said,"have been startling For example, onestudent generated 265 words out of 'ca-tastrophe.' She went through the dic-tionary to do it, and I had to check onthe unfamiliar words It expanded myvocabulary:"

Bredemeier summed up the THIS-TLE program simply when she said"With teachers, as with students, whenyou tap motivation, you get results "

Project THISTLE is housed at LifeHall of Montclair State College, 893-5184 A participating teacher, if he orshe qualifies for admission to a Mont-clair State graduate program, also Lasthe opportunity to apply 18 free creditstoward a master's degree

The Stcar-L---dger EDUCATICN/YOUTH Sunday, April 24, 1983

Newark program sfresses

developing thinking skillsA program that will attempt to

show teachers how to have studentsthink for themselves. going beyond true-ortalse exams, is being developed bythe Newark public schools and the%Iona:lair State College faculty

The program. project THISTLE(Thinking Skills in Teaching and Learn-ing), is an attempt to train teachers todevelop their students' thinking skills.according to a spokesman for the pro-gram.

THISTLE stresses the idea thatthinking skills cannot be developedthrough routine classroom exercises,said Dean Nicholas Michel li of Mont-clair State College's School of Profes-sional Studies

"You don't learn photograph:- hesaid, "until you first know there's moreto it than snapping the shutter, until youwant to become a good photographerand -ou're willing to try taking somepictures that might not turn out very

wellMichelle said part of the procs; am.

theretore, invokes helping teachers de-velop their students' selt-contidence,"Intellectual courage" and the willing-ness to make mistakes

The program encourages teachersto use classroom exercises that stressthe creative thinking process and thatallow a give-and-take between student,and teachers.

"Right-wrong answer teachingmay be , good way to train robots." sawDr Wendy Oxman. THISTLE's director"Relying exclusively on it in the class-room surely is no way to get humanbeings beyond rote basic skills to humanthinkmg.

The program. which has shown"extremely lurh -aorale and enthusi-asm" on the par. ,t Newark teacher, isbeing evaluated through standardizedtests and classroom observation, 1spokesman said

- - ...... .... 0 . . rkk_I _Alt I I I f Anil r

Cl'

\'

Teaching thinking skillsWhat are thinking

skills and how do youhelp teachers teachthem', Answers to thesequestions are beingdeveloped in ProjectTHISTLE (ThinkingSkills in Teaching andLearning), a programdeveloped cooperativelyby the faculty ofMontclair State Collegeand the Newark N J ,public schools. Its aim isto strengthen teachers'abilities to help studentsdevelop their thinkingskills

The Project stafftakes seriously the ideathat the teaching ofthinking requires farmore than the typicalpassive classroomprocesses. Teachersmust engage with theirstudents in the intenselyactive mental process ofcoping with an in-tellectual problem Forthe student, an in-dispensable aspect of

learning, then, is theawareness of a per-

, plexitk a nuzzle Thestrategies followed inProject THISTLEfollow directly from thispremise First,itersmust h'.! hel pe -"todevelop and reconstructtheir subject matter insuch a way as to intereststudents inchallenging, puzzling,perplexing aspect of amathematical process,a snort story, a poem, ahistorical event or awriting assignment.Second, teachers musthe helped to developsupportive butbusinesslike classroomatmospheres andstructures that requirestudents to work towardthe resolution of theperplexities It isthrough activitiesdesigned with these

features in minr1 that1:armiig occurs

Not until teachersand students un-derstand thatmeaningful learning-cannot occur throughthe completion ofroutine classroomexercises can thinkingskills become the focusof classroom lessons."You don't !earl theskill of photography,"say Dean NicholasMichell] of I'dontclair'sSchool of ProfessionalStudies, "until :,ou firstknow there's more to itthan snapping theshuttei , until you wantto become a goodphotographer and untilyou're willing to trytaking some picturesthat might not turn outvery well." Part of theProject e'ifort, ac-cordingly, r; to helpteachers develop theirstudents' se,f-contid-ence and "intellectualcourage," thewillingness to makemistakes.

With the stimulationof curiosity aboutsubject matter andencouragement andsupport for learning theundergirding, itbecomes possible tobuild on another of thefundamental premisesof Project THISTLEthat responsibility forlearning must be sharedby students andteL.Thers. The teacher'smajor tesponsibility isto bring important,fruitful and interestingproblems to the at-tention of the students.to provide tt,e nece,savsupportire atmosphere

3(

ea4111,sft(oAVolume 6Number I

FALL 1987 MONTCLAIR STATE COLLEGEUPPER MONTCLAIR, NJ 07043

COORDINATOR'S COLUMN

This autumn marks the second half of year 7 ofProject THISTLE and the affiliation of Montclair StateCollege with the Newark Public School System We havehad seven groups of participants, and are looking for-ward to enrolling a THISTLE VIII group this January.Through The Thistler we are able to communicate withcolleagues currently involved in the projw, as well aswith old friends. We invite you to participate. Wewelcome letters to the editor and original articles fromcurrent or former participants in the Project.

This is the second time that an entire issue of Thei histler is fc.ised upon a single school. We askedfaculty from Shabazz High School to share some of theirthoughts about participation in Project THISTLE. Theresults of their thinking are printed in this issue. Inaddition, colleagues from MSC present the findings of afollow-up study conducted at Shabazz during the pastyear, and an assessment of the unique characteristics ofgraduates of Project THISTLE.

joy Stone

LIFE AFTER THISTLEby Princess B. Towe

On reflection and review of the last seven years, I amastounded by my professional and academic growth.Growth certainly can be measured in many wal s. Myparticipatiol in Project THISTLE has meant a constantevaluation of self and adjustment where necessary.Consequen cly, I am ever aware of my role relative to thatof my students. Though I had sor.te vague not:on of thisfactor before THISTLE, after THISTLE my understand-ing is cleat and more focused. I realize that as afacilitator, my role is much more.

It is not simply giving facts and expecting studentsto regurgitate those facts. It is sharing ideas, collaborat-ing and motivating. It is aiding students in internalizingmaterial, assimilating it, and relating it to various otherareas outside of the classroom. In this way, studentsareable "to see" the value in learning. Once they can makesome sense of what they are learning and how thatlearning impacts on their lives, they aremore likely to bemotivated and engaged. Success, here, does not justhappen. I have always engaged students in probing,reflective thought. However, my use of strategies inteaching for thinking has been refined as a result ofProject THISTLE, thus affording me and my students agreater measure of success. Through THISTLE I gainedvaluable strategies and techniques that insure successwhen applied.

In addition to strengthening my instructional skills,Project THISTLE has aided in my professional growthand develop rent. I have had many exciting opportuni-ties to share my acquired knowledge and skills withcollege students (undergraduate and grad ate), col-leagues, and other professionals in the education arena.These opportunities have been some of the most reward-ing expenences c i my professional career. I have learnedso much from so many. The continued support andnetworking of the THISTLE staff are invaluable.

Needless to say, I think THISTLE is a valued asset.Life before THISTLE had its good moments. But, therewere ton many frustrating ones. Life after THISTLE hasafforded me renewed vigor, confidence, and reaffirma-tion that teaching is honorable, worthwhile, and dy-namic. Perhaps my saying "Life after THISTLE" is amisnomer, because I do not suggest that THISTLE isdead, quite the contrary. For this educator, THISTLE isstill very much alive and doing wol',.

38

THISTLE PARTICIPATION ANDTEACHING IMPROVEMENT

John Palladino Ed.D. , Assistant ProfessorDepartment of Curriculum & Teaching

IntroductionTen teachers at Malcolm X. Shabazz High School in

Newark. along 'Alth three of their supervisors, agreed toparticipate in June, 1987 in a study to evaluate the impactof the THISTLE Program on one ot its first graduatingclasses. Nine of the teachers were interviewed.Results: Teachers

Teacl-er participants_ perceived that their participa-tion in THISTLE resulted in positive change in theirteaching, reporting either modifications or significantchanges in teaching methods. The variety of modifica-tions and changes reported by these teachers suggeststhat the Protect pros fried an abundance of teachingstrategies presented in ways that facilitated transter. Themodifications or changes that were cited by more thanone teacher appear to overlap the two major thrusts otthe Project. planning and teaching. The focus on plan-rung is illustrated by the emphasis on setting realisticgoals and objectives, and the ability to better developquestions to elicit thinking. The focus on teaching isillustrated by the emphasis on problem-solving, im-proved questioning techniques, and great emphasis onwait-time following teacher questions.

Those teachers who perceived that they had madesignificant changes were teachers who expressed howthey were looking at their courses very differently. Forexample, a consumer math teacher had incorporated agreat deal of vocabulary building and reading skills-building into her lessons. A social studies teacherswitched from lecture to a more socratic method, goingbeyond basic recall and requiring greater applicationand synthesis. A third teacher now focused less onteacher talk and more on student activities.

MONTCLAIR STATE COLLEGESCHOOL OF PROFESSIONAL STUDIES

Nicholas M. Michelli, DeanWendy Oxman. Director, Project THISTLEJoy Stone, Coordinator, Project THISTLE

The This tier

Princess Towe, Guest Editor Malcolm X. Shabazz

Please send your comments to the office of:Project THISTLE , Montclair State College, UpperMontclair, Ni. 07043.

The Project's emphasis on providing teachers w ithcoursework, experiences, and supervision that wouldpromote plartrung and teaching which would moregreatly foster the development of student thinking skillsappears to be realized by the significant number ofteachers who reported that they were working with agreat emphasis on thinking skills The Project's impacton this thinking skills focus is supported by the numberof teachers reporting that this focus was eithera small orgreat change from he way they taught prior to theirparticipation in the Project.

Also, the majority of teachers reported involvementin curncu!um development activity, ranging from asingle urut to course development, with particular focuson curriculum modification and adaptation.Results: Supervisors

The perception of these teachers' supervisors wasthat change in teaching methods had taken place as aresult of participation in THISTLE, with supervisorsreporting modification or significant change in six ofseven teachers. Also, all seven teachers were perceivedas focusing on thinking skills in their instruction, eithersomewhat or a great deal.Recommendations

As a result of interview and questionnaire analysis,the following recommendations emerged:

I. Supervisors should be provided with coursecontent information as well as THISTLE proceduralinformation in order to have them better function insupport of THIS" LE goals.

2. In order to develop a stronger scaffolding forlearning and implementation of THISTLE principles, agreater focus on subject area content mastery, perhapsindicated by offering content area courses earlier in theTHISTLE sequence.

3. The encouragement of the development ofschool building mecliarusm that would provide collegialrecognition, support, cultivation and follow-up ofTHISTLE graduates' new skills and knowledge.

4. Greater attention paid to the development ofparticipant loyalty not only to the expressed philosophyand principles of Project THISTLE, but also to its contin-ued support, r urturance, and growth toward excellence.C onclusions

The data suggest that teacher participation in ProjectTHISTLE has resulted in positive teaching changes,especially with a thinking skills focus, and in greaterinvolvement in curriculum development.

I would like to extend both my personal thanks andthe thanks of the THISTLE staff to those teachers andsupervisors who devoted the time to participate aridmake this significant research contribution.

THISTLE: COLLEGIALITACRITICAL THINKING

by Bob Davis

Education today is a complex, often confusing pro-fession. Frequently that confusion comes from within.Teachers and administrators alike build walls, whichprevent tree communication of ideas. While we've cometo accept, and even expect those walls between teachersand administrators, it's the walls between teachers thatare the most damaging

Among Thistle's most important aspects - to me atleast - has been its ability to lessen the number of wallswhich have blocked the flow of ideas between us. Unfor-tunately, some °four early participants have for a varietyof reasons, rebuilt those walls. Communication hasagain been stifled.

Some of us have continued to share ideas, and it'sbeen especially effective when teachers in different dis-ciplines share the same students. When we take the timeto share our ideas, our techniques, and our perceptiOnsof our students, we find ways to make their instructionmore effective It really does make a difference when aconcept discussed in United State History is reinforcedin English. It demonstrates to the student that ideasdon't exist in isolation, and that they can be applied to avariety of situations. This realization helps the student todevelop the critical thinking skills so necessary to suc-cess in higher education - and which THISTLE wasdeveloped to foster.

Our problem today is to find a way to keep that all-important sense of collegiality alive. This is increasinglydifficult in an educational environment in which dis-agreement and confrontation are the norm. How do weconvince the cynical, "burned-out" teachers among usthat caring and sharing can make a difference, and thatthe students in their classrooms are capable of learning?How do we convince the administrators, central officepersonnel, and state bureaucracy that threats and con-frontahons don't develop a climate that foster cornrnuru-cation?

How do we keep the THISTLE idea alive? 1'0 teach!

PROJECT THISTLE & MATHEMATICSby Kathleen Witcher

Project THISTLE enabled me to write a ConsumerMathematics program for senior classes at my school.With the use of Bloom's Taxonomy, a workable curricu-lum was added to math courses for twelfth graders, notintending to go on to college from Malcolm X. ShabazzHigh School.

Students of this course are able to compute as well asapply and even evaluate various topics that affect con-sumers, including automobile insurait..:, financing pur-chases, and comparative shopping.

Whereas I once thought that I knew the techniquesfor teaching basic mathematics, participating in Proje:tTHISTLE allowed me to explore new realms of theeducation profession and it enhanced my teaching abili-ties greatly. 4O

THISTLE & SCIENCEby Wanda Davis

Upon entering the THISTLE program, I had mixedfeelings. I was a newly hired and certified teacher whowasn't very confident of my teaching abilities, acid Iknew that I needed help. I got the most benefit I believe,from one of Dr. John Barrell's courses. In this course, Dr.Barrell showed us that through the use of concrete ex-amples with which the students can relate; then wewould make better contact with our students. I began touse the method that he utilized sa well, and now I use itin my classes unconsciously. It's like second nature tome. When I see in my students' faces confusion or a noteof "I don't understand," I say to myself, "let me see ifthey'll understand it if I explain it this way My ex-amples may seem far-out to some people, but when I seea head nod or that bright-eyed look, I know that I havereached my kids. highly recommend this process to anyand all teachers with a desire to reach their students onall levels.

The THISTLE Program offered many other strate-gies and techniques for the enhancement and ultimatelythe education of our students. It has made my approachto teaching much different and I hope that the differenceis for the benefit of my students. I was skeptical of theeffects of THISTLE, but I know now that the ideas thatthe program fosters, really work. More if today's educa-tors should be exposed to developing thinking skills, sothat tomorrow's populous will be more enterprising andself-sufficient.

THISTLE: TEACHING STUDENTSTO THINK

by Doris Wood McNeil

For me, teaching is a rewarding and motivating ex-perience. The motivational aspect comes into being byembarking on new and realistic methods of teachingwhich involve students in the learning process. Therewarding aspect cc nes into being when learning hastaken place.

With the help and guidance of THISTLE, I realizedthe necessity of teaching students how to think. Gettingstudents beyond the know ledge level is very challengingand frustrating at times.

THISTLE made me feel better as an educator pro-viding students a quality education. I've learned a littlemore patience and how to relate better to the students.Making learning relevant is important in all subjectareas.

THISTLE TEACHERS: MAKINGA DIFFERENCE

by Mary E. Bredemeter

I have followed Protect THIST1 F great !nterestsince it began in 1Q80 In 1982, I b writing a bookabciL some of the ,caciers in the pro, n, and finishedit last year while on sabbatical. It is now in review bypotential publishers

Malcolm X. Shabazz High School is well-repre-sented In !rivrt Class-oon. °ortrazts Teachers Who Mak.' aDv'ference Except for the iniroductory and summarychapters, each cf the 18 chapters presents a profile of aT .ISTLE teacher. The stories include my classroomobservations and points of emphasis from my interviewwith the teacher and, sometimes, students. Shabazzteachers Princess Towe, Bob Dz is, Dons Wood McNeil,and Chet Oxford are among the seventeen teacherswhose stones are t- d.

What do all sev ',teen teachers have in common':.-,The first thing is coinrrutment to the Idea fun(' men-

tal to the THISTLE model, that thinking is the most basicslut'. Another is the assumption that every studentexcept possibly the severely retarded has the capacity tolearn to think reflectively A third is the belief that the in-dispensable first step in activating capacity is ameaningft'l stimulus to think. These teachers believethat, when you tap motivation, you get results. Theyconsider i' part of the teacher's job to find the puzzle, orperplexity, or challengE,ohat will start the thinking proc-ess and keep it Ding This is not easy, of course; it is theteacher's primary puzzle, perplexity, or challenge.

I have seen them provide the necessary stimuli toelicit thinking in a variety L t ways. Bob Davis placesgreat emphasis on showii.,:, connections bet'. ,r1 thesubject matter he teaches and students' real life ,xperi-ences, and across subject matter fields. Princess Towe's

;7.,.ers...mality arid r.iasterrui -g Is)nmulate lip ely speculation, contro.ersv, and ..1uestion-ing Chet Oxford does a tine lob of shoeing students thepositive learning value of error, and Dons McNeil skill-tully challenges students tothz nk about and with music

These teachers told me that Project THISTLE gavethem a great many, as about how to escape the dreary"one-answer-is-r ght" pedagogy which so often encour-ages students to want to be already right rather than tofind out They learned from THISTLE how to showstudents that there often is no single answer to a thought-provoking question or correct solution to a complexissue, and that there is usually more than one way toresolve a problem. They regard facts as tools rather thanends in themselves, and encourage experimentation andnsk-taking. They demonstrate their conviction that clearthinking is not an easy or simple matter by sharing theirown perplexities with students.

As a corollary, they place great emphasis on ques-tioning Nearly every teacher [ interviewed mentionedimprovement in questioning skills as one of the majorbenefits they experienc"d from Project THISTLE. A sec-ond major emphasis was on their improved skill inmaking the classroom cooperative learning environ-ment through team effort and peer teaching.

The overriding thing, though, was that ProjectTHISTLE gave teachers the opportunity for shangidei.s, frustrations, and successes with their colleagues.This "networking" aspect of the program seems to pro-vide an antedote to the isolation and lack of positivereinforcement teachers too often experience in theirdaily routines, and this it enhances teacher morale andeffort.

I am sold on the THISTLE model! I commendShabazz for its high level of participation since the begin-ning, as well as for the contributions Shabazz teachershave made to the program's success.

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