Author Archives: thinkwellcenter

ThinkWell at the Trinity Academy

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Lou at Trinity Academy

Currently, teaching Hands On Equations to a class of gifted third grade students at the Trinity Academy School in Hartford, Connecticut. Hands-On Equations is a supplementary program that can be used with any math curriculum to provide students with a concrete foundation for algebra. It uses the visual and kinesthetic instructional approach developed by Dr. Henry Borenson to demystify abstract algebraic concepts. This hands-on, intuitive approach enhances student self-esteem and interest in mathematics.

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I am also co-presenting Project Based Learning program at the Trinity Academy School with a class of eighth grade students which are engaged in researching and inquiring about “Sneakers” in order to obtain a deeper knowledge about all the aspects of how they impact the real world.

SPARKING STUDENT CREATIVITY by Patti Drapeau is a great book!

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Sparking Student Creativity: Practical Ways to Promote Innovative Thinking and Problem Solving, By Patti Drapeau

You will discover that you are probably already Sparking Creativity in quite a few ways and only need to tell your students that’s what they are doing. You will also discover many additional and varied methods that are easy to use AND you will find the book makes excellent and explicit connections to Common Core Standards. The scholars of creativity and their contributions to education are remembered in this book and that adds to my enthusiasm for Sparking Student Creativity.

Enjoy Your Creativity Workshop

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Dr. Louise E. Loomis will be presenting Enjoy Your Creativity Workshop on Saturday, October 18, 2014 for the Minds in Motion Program, at the Greene-Hills School, Bristol, CT.  This workshop is scheduled to run from 2:55PM – 3:55PM.

Come, relax and enjoy your creativity in this workshop. You will engage in three simple and imaginative activities that you will have fun doing later with your own child or children; actually, everyone likes doing them. Paper and crayons are all you’ll need and we’ll provide them!

For more details about Minds in Motion (MIM) Program, visit the Connecticut Association for the Gifted (CAG) at http://www.ctgifted.org/website/publish/newsroom/index.php?Minds-in-Motion-38 

Dr. Louise Loomis, Keynote Speaker for the Alpha Kappa State 75th Fall Conference

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Dr. Louise Loomis is announced as this year’s Keynote Speaker for the Alpha Kappa State 75th Fall Conference, to be held on Saturday, November 1, 2014 at the Courtyard by Marriott, 4 Sebethe Drive, Cromwell, CT 06416. She will be presenting Teaching to Abundance: Brainwise Learning with Our Natural Thinking.

For more information about AKS 75th Fall Conference please visit for details: http://www.deltakappagamma.org/CT/index.php

http://www.deltakappagamma.org/CT/Documents/Keynote%20Fall%202014.pdf

Click on link for copy of Participants Feedback of the presentation:AKS 75th State Conference_11_1_14 Feedback

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Cognitive Six workshop held at CPSI 2014 on June 18-22, University at Buffalo

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Hello and hope all is well in your part of the world,

This week I will be presenting at CPSI ’60 -Extending Track Education Sessions for the Creative Education Foundation Conference June 18 – 22, 2014:

The Cognitive Six: A Guide to Teaching Thinking

The Cognitive Six refers to the skills our brain uses naturally for organizing information. Practice of the Six develops the 21st Century learning skills of Creativity, Critical Thinking, Collaboration, and Communication. I have used the Cognitive Six for many years with great success and believes it is a valuable tool for answering that question, “How DO I Teach Thinking?”  My book, The Cognitive Six: A Guide To Teaching Thinking, will be published this year, and I look forward to engage participants in an ongoing dialogue.

If you are in the area or attending the conference, I sure hope you can join us while we:

  •  Identify and practice the Cognitive Six (classification is one).
  •  Connect the Cognitive Six to the 21st Century learning skills.
  •  Analyze the CPS process for the Cognitive Six

Please visit  link for details:

http://www.cpsiconference.com/programs_extending.htm#edcation

Thanks, and have a great day! 

Teaching Thinking

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Who’s teaching thinking? It was popular in the ’80’s and is now in style as part of 21st Century Learning. I started teaching thinking in the ’70s with wonderful material in a handbook, A Cognitive Skills Manual,  written by Wes Sager, Eugene Marr and Judy Kovacs. I was teaching Science then in a 9th grade program called Higher Horizons at a large high school in Hartford, Connecticut. Both the Language Arts Teacher on the team, Thomas Smith, and I were trained by Judy Kovacs using the Cognitive Skills Manual. Using what we learned with our students transformed our teaching. Teaching thinking became a constant for both of us.

Tom continued with high school Language Arts, and I decided to go into the “thinking field” full time, but we kept in touch, constantly sharing our enthusiasm, and exploring ways to involve others.

Then we realized that a manual from the 1970’s needed some updating!  With the help of a great editor and colleague, Sharon Smith, we are about to publish a new version of the manual called The Cognitive Six: A Guide to Teaching Thinking.

I started this blog to be in touch with people who are interested in “how to teach thinking” or who are already teaching thinking. Welcome aboard!