Kenilworth and Lowell elementary schools are being recognized for successfully implementing two separate academic programs that are helping their students improve focus and achieve more.
Kenilworth Elementary School began implementing its program, Thinking Maps, last school year as part of the Maricopa County Education Service Agency Spotlight Change Initiative.
Thinking Maps uses consistent visual patterns linked directly to eight specific thought processes. The eight thought processes are categorized within different organization charts.
These chart variations help students define in context, describe with adjectives, compare and contrast, classify, sequence, use cause and effect, identify relationships and see analogies.
“It’s a program that has been around for a long time internationally … we certified 18 of our 25 teachers to teach the program,” said Anthony Pietrangeli, principal of Kenilworth Elementary School.
Pietrangeli said there is a commonality and consistency with Thinking Maps throughout the school, and there is a margin for students to create their own thinking maps, as students did with their Pokemon GO-themed thinking map.
“Making the thinking map is 50 percent of the job and doing something is the other 50 percent,” said Pietrangeli, who goes by Mr. Anthony. “It’s common language from preschool to eighth grade in every subject.”
Pietrangeli said each map in each hallway has student-generated examples below it to model the students’ understanding and thought processes in their problem-solving skills.
Erika Chang, a fourth grade math and science teacher at Kenilworth Elementary, said she has been working with Thinking Maps for four years, and she thinks each year is a part of her learning process.
“It helps the students really put a visual to what they are thinking,” Chang said. “It helps build conceptual understanding across the board.”
She said Thinking Maps allows Kenilworth teachers to build rigor and add onto their curriculum.
Her students said Thinking Maps helps them separate and organize their thoughts, exercise their brain and make learning fun.
Lowell Elementary School began implementing its Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports system during the 2013-2014 school year.
“The purpose of the program is to take a whole school approach to creating positive behaviors and relationships with students and teachers,” said Jonathan Short, instructional enrichment specialist.
Short said the main goal of PBIS is to elevate conscientiousness and acknowledgment of behavior by addressing what is done right by students instead of what is done wrong.
“The process began three or four years ago when a large group of teachers and administration developed ROAR,” Short said.
At Lowell Elementary School, ROAR stands for respectful, orderly, accountable and responsible and is symbolic of the sound of its lion mascot.
Lowell Elementary received a 2016 Gold Award for achievement in fidelity and outcomes for a 98 percent implementation of its PBIS program.
There are three tiers of the program, with the third tier being more fully detailed and in-depth for students who struggle to follow school rules.
“Compared to ourselves four or five years ago, office behavior referrals are down dramatically,” Short said. “We have a number of different systems in place where there are three tiers.”
Short said the school’s overall culture has become one where instructors attempt to replace behavior instead of focusing on punishment.
Contact the reporter at brianna.bradley@asu.edu.
