Teaching Tips

Dr. Jeanne L. Paynter

As we saw in Tip 1, metacognition is “above and beyond” thinking. We use metacognition when we ponder: “What is the best way to solve this problem? Am I...

Dr. Jeanne L. Paynter

“Stop, look, and listen before you cross the street.” This is an early example of how we teach children metacognition: literally, thinking about (our) thinking....

Dr. Jeanne L. Paynter

I’m excited to share an instructional strategy you can use to help students to question the validity of their negative persistence stories or strengthen their positive...

Dr. Jeanne L. Paynter 

Why do some learners have negative mindsets about their aptitude for persistence? 

Traumatic experiences are likely to result in wrong “cause and...

Dr. Jeanne L. Paynter

I’ve been reading a new book, Mind Your Mindsets, and discovered something about our marvelous brain: It continually seeks to make meaning from our memories and...

Dr. Jeanne L. Paynter

Recently I talked with an art teacher who lamented a student’s lack of persistence. She developed a unit on wire sculpture based on the work of a local street artist,...

So far, we’ve explored the importance of explicitly teaching the concept and attributes of logical reasoning as an aptitude that innovators use in the convergent (focused) stages of creative...

I'd like to share a tried-and-true instructional strategy you can use to develop learner's logical reasoning: concept attainment. This strategy enables you to “teach the content”...

Tomorrow’s innovators (our children today) must become adept at open-ended (divergent) and focused (convergent) thinking. For example, their curiosity and creativity fuel open exploration of...

Have you ever heard someone say, “That’s just not logical.”  (Perhaps that person was you!). What makes reasoning logical?

Logical reasoning is a type of critical thinking...

I know you understand the importance of creativity as a 21^st century skill for all graduates. In the past three Creativity Tips, I’ve shared ways we can develop it using the...

We may not have the time or the discretion to implement the complete Creative Problem Solving process in our classrooms. I want to share with you three ways I have integrated CPS stages into my...

Creativity Tip #1 introduced Creative Problem Solving (CPS) as a process to apply creative thinking in a unique and useful product, idea, or service— in other words, to innovate. The creative...

In our homes and classrooms, children exhibit creativity when they express new or unusual ideas and connections, enjoy imagining, inventing, and divergent thinking; and they initiate new projects...

Q: What capacity doesn’t diminish over our lifetime?

A: Our capacity for curiosity!

Children are naturally curious, aren’t they? Their motivation is to explore, question, and imagine....