Church at Emanuel
Accomplished international educator and author, Mark Church, was the keynote speaker at Emanuel School’s Cultures of Thinking Teachers’ Conference.
Natanya Milner (Dep Head of Primary), Mark Church and principal Anne Hastings
This is the first time that Church has visited a Jewish Day School in Sydney, guiding teachers to promote students’ thinking, understanding and learning as explored in the book, Making Thinking Visible, which he co-authored.
His two-day presentation focused on further building a Culture of Thinking at Emanuel School. By using the Cultures of Thinking approach, which encapsulates Visible Thinking, the teachers collectively explored ways to push beyond traditional boundaries to encourage a rich, supportive and nurturing approach to learning.
Church said, “As teachers who wish our students to learn as a result of their time in our care, we have to ask ourselves just what kind of thinking students are doing. Learning is a product of thinking. This belief lies at the heart of creating and sustaining rich, powerful Cultures of Thinking for all those we serve.”
Anne Hastings, Principal of Emanuel School commented, “We feel honoured to host an educator of Mark’s calibre to further enhance our understanding and practice of Cultures of Thinking. This approach is designed to put the student and thinking at the centre of what we do and to make explicit the various forms of thinking such as describing in detail, reasoning with evidence and making connections.”
Mark Church is a consultant for Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Project Zero, an educational research group whose mission is to understand and enhance learning, thinking, and creativity in the arts, as well as humanistic and scientific disciplines, at the individual and institutional levels. He co-authored Making Thinking Visible with Ron Ritchhart and Karin Morrison.
