MayfieldAllThroughSchool

Thinking Hats!

The thinking hats are a method used to structure thinking and discussion of ideas. Each colour has a specific focus and when pupils are focused on this colour, they should not be talking about anything else. Changing the colours at timed intervals keeps the conversations relevant and purposeful. Below I have outlined how I used this within an English lesson.

Pupils were planning a persuasive speech to give to the rest of the class. The aim of the speech was to persuade the rest of the class to vote for their product – a fictional product that they had made up, which would help save people on a Cruise Ship if disaster struck (using the films Poseidon and Titanic as a stimulus).  This was done as a speaking and listening exercise done as a ‘Dragon’s Den’ style pitch. They used the thinking hats to consider different elements  of the situation and their product in order to create the best pitch.

White: What are the facts of this situation (stuck on a ship in an air bubble, all communication down) This discussion helped clarify  what it was they were actually creating a product for.  We focused on this hat first  so that all pupil’s were ‘singing from the same hymn sheet’ and could ask any questions about this fictional situation.

Red: How would people be feeling in this situation?

By focusing on the potential feelings of people within in the situation, rather than themselves as ‘inventors’, it allowed them to tailor emotive language to their audience when discussing their product and the impact having it on a ship could have. This is a key aspect of persuasive language.

Yellow: The good points of your product

Simply, why cruise ship companies needed their product on board. What does their product offer?

Black: The negative points of your product We looked at a couple of dragon’s den videos and saw that the Dragons would sometimes pick out bad points or flaws in a person’s product and essentially, rip them to shreds. By using the black hat, it allowed pupils to consider, not only the bad points of their product, but also ways to counteract these in a persuasive manner if the class ‘Dragons’ picked up on them.

Green: Possibility

This linked to the purpose of the task which was to persuade a company to buy their product. It linked to money and potential. As all investors want to see potential in the products they invest in, it allowed pupils to consider what they would say to the dragons as to how their product could be developed.

Blue: Evaluation

We used the blue hat to consider which group had planned the most effective speech and to decide our class winner.

Impact on teaching: The thinking hats provided far more clarification for pupils as to the necessary content and structure of their speech and also the purpose of it. Even though it was for an unlikely and fictional situation, they didn’t treat it like that. They appeared to have so much focus and were given time to think about key elements. I gave a lot of top marks (GCSE A/B) and I don’t think I would have given so many if I hadn’t used the thinking hats to structure their thinking beforehand.

Ms Rebecca Davis - TAG team