ThinkUp! Support
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Get Started with ThinkUp!
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The 9 Traits of Critical Thinking
Our goal is to take the guesswork out of critical thinking instruction, so we’ve embedded opportunities for deeper thinking throughout our TEKS-aligned student resources and provided teachers with instructional strategies that promote student thinking and questioning. Each and every resource we’ve published is research-based, filled with classroom-tested strategies, and developed by former educators.For more information or to download a 9 Traits classroom poster, click here. -
The Components of ThinkUp!
- Getting Started: The purpose of the Getting Started section is to introduce the unit focus TEKS and Critical Thinking Traits that support students as they learn, practice, and master the TEKS concepts.
- Instruction: The purpose of the Instruction section is to provide an explanation for students and teachers of the unit focus TEKS, to identify essential vocabulary, and to provide activities and practice items to assist in moving closer to the goal of student mastery of the TEKS.
- Assessment: The purpose of the Assessment section is to provide students with opportunities to apply the unit focus TEKS/concept in a context that mimics high-stakes testing.
- Intervention: The purpose of the Intervention section is to provide engaging instructional activities that support students who have demonstrated the need for intervention in order to show mastery of the unit focus TEKS concepts.
- Extension: The purpose of the Extension section is to provide students opportunities to relate, explore, or extend the learning of the unit focus TEKS/concept in a new context.
While the individual components and instruction will vary with each subject area, all ThinkUp! curricula follow the same five sections that are each designed with a specific purpose and provide a variety of tools to help you deliver effective TEKS-based instruction to your students.
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ThinkUp! Digital Options
ThinkUp! is available in print, digital, or a print + digital bundle. If you are uncertain which version your campus has purchased (or whether you have digital access), please contact your campus administrator responsible for ordering ThinkUp!
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Learning Module Videos
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ThinkUp! Answer Keys & Codings and Pre-Assessments
- Login to k12.mentoringminds.com.
- Click on Curriculum in the menu at the top of the page.
- Choose your title from the drop-down menu.
- Once a title is selected, a list of units and resources of that ThinkUp! title will populate.
- Find the unit you are working on, and click on it to view a list of all available resources.
To keep ThinkUp! streamlined, we have migrated several tools from your teacher edition to k12.mentoringminds.com – the same place you access your teacher and student edition for whiteboard functionality.To access ThinkUp! Coded Answer Keys and Pre-Assessments, please follow the below instructions:
What is ThinkUp!?
ThinkUp! Math, ELAR, Science, and Writing integrate critical thinking into TEKS instruction to support standards mastery and cultivate critical thinkers.
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Critical Thinking Activity of the Month
Every month we will post a new activity or tip that you can use in tandem with your ThinkUp! resource. Check back periodically for free new activities, tips, and resources to use in your classroom.
These activities are meant to spark ideas, give suggestions, and save you some time coming up with your own activities. They can be easily adapted to fit your subject, grade level, and classroom.
March: The third Thursday in March is National Absolutely Incredible Kid Day! It’s a day created by Campfire USA in 1997 to inspire and encourage kids to do amazing things by letting them know how incredible they are. Mentoring Minds believes every day is a great day to celebrate kids AND critical thinking. Since writing assessments are right around the corner, let’s use this as a perfect opportunity to develop the Create critical thinking trait. Students will use their unique personalities and characteristics to create a new Absolutely Incredible superhero and extend their creativity to develop an informational writing piece.
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ThinkUp! in the Classroom
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Teacher and Student Edition
- Read the introductory information prior to the Table of Contents.
- Select a unit/module and read the instructional activities provided for each section.
- Mark the Teacher Resources section in the back of your Teacher Edition for additional instructional practices.
When you have gained an understanding of the Teacher Edition design and components, we suggest you review the corresponding unit/module in the Student Edition. The various activities and formative assessments demonstrate how the Teacher and Student Editions can be used in conjunction to support instruction.
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Lesson Plan Development
- Refer to your district scope and sequence to determine the standards to be addressed. Locate the unit(s)/module(s) that address targeted standards.
- Review the strategies, activities, vocabulary terms, and suggested formative assessments in the Teacher Edition and the activities in the Student Edition.
- Collaborate with your grade-level colleagues to plan appropriate standards-based instruction.
- Use a graphic organizer to help you get started.
- Download the ThinkUp! ELAR Use Case PDF.
- Download the ThinkUp! Math Use Case PDF.
The full value of ThinkUp! is experienced when the Teacher and Student Editions are used collectively to plan effective and engaging lessons.
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Integrate Critical Thinking into Every Lesson
- Allow students some choice in how to complete assignments, whether in print, online, or a combination of formats.
- Invite students to choose between working individually or with a partner, and to make limited choices relating to assignments.
- Use varied and flexible settings (e.g., whole group, small group, stations) to engage students with content.
Critical thinking is essential for students to be college and career ready, life-long learners, and self-advocates. To support students in developing this skillset, ThinkUp! embeds opportunities to practice critical thinking skills throughout each unit. Teachers can make the most of these opportunities by employing methods that support a thinking-centered classroom: choice, collaboration, questioning, and problem solving. (Read more about our approach to critical thinking.)
Offer Choice
- Project Student Edition content on the whiteboard and guide students (as an entire class or in a small group) to engage in academic conversations when discussing the activity. For example, ask students to actively listen, add onto ideas, and cite evidence that supports their thinking. Students could also analyze and evaluate evidence together, make judgments based on others’ viewpoints, or interpret information and draw conclusions.
- Use “partner talks” about real-world application (e.g., Extended Thinking activities found in the Teacher Edition) to strengthen collaboration, develop reasoning, understand multiple perspectives, and deepen understanding of content.
- Form small groups and discuss what students learned from assignments. Lead students to synthesize new learning, reflect on experiences, and make connections.
Promote Collaboration
- Interact with students while they work on assignments to model thinking and promote group and partner collaborative conversations.
- Pose open-ended questions from the Student Edition and follow up with questions that model how to think and move the conversation. For example, Do you agree/disagree? Why?; Do you connect to what ________ said? How?; What can you add?; Do you see it differently? Explain.
- Probe for deeper meaning by discussing responses to the Critical Thinking component in the Student Edition: What do you think? Why do you say that? How does ________ relate to our discussion? What evidence supports your thinking? What is another example? What is an alternative? Why is ________ best?
Use Thoughtful Questions
- Invite students to work in groups, with partners, or independently, and seek reasonable solutions to open-response questions/tasks in the Student Edition.
- Ask students to propose a justifiable plan for engaging in focused practice on select Student Edition unit components, utilizing their format preference (print, online, a combination) and their group choice (e.g., partner, independent).
- Have students reflect on and self-assess strength/weakness patterns about their thinking. Hold data talks using the Standards Mastery Report to observe mastery of items. Use the Teacher Edition Answer Key to share the thinking level coded to each item.
Invite Problem Solving
Our Instructional Support team is on hand to support you all year long as you implement ThinkUp!. Here are some tips to get started, both for administrators and teachers.
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