The Six Thinking Hats

Duration : 45 mins                                               

The Red Hat. 

How do you feel about this idea?

Aim :     To help pupils to isolate feelings without letting them take over their thinking.

For the explanation of the Six Thinking Hats,  we will use the same basic example so that we can identify the use of each hat.

Situation:    A friend of yours asked you to go on a holiday with his/her family.

Explanation of the Red Hat:

What is it used for?

The Red Hat helps us to focus on how we feel about a particular idea without the need to justify yourself. 

To practice the Red Hat  the pupils will not need to take a full five minutes.  In fact the maximum time allocated should not exceed 30 seconds.

Activity.    This activity will help the pupils to understand the concept of the Red Hat.

Ask a number of pupils or all of them if there is enough space to stand up and move to one side of the room.

	Divide the room into various segments lengthwise.
	Allocate a feeling to each segment
	e.g. I love it, I like it, uncertain, not so sure, I don't like it, I hate it.
	Mention things that your pupils like and others that they don't like.
	e.g. Burgers and Chips.  They can go to the segment that they prefer.  Do it again with other examples of food, activities anything that will cause a swing  in the pupils' opinions.

Activity

A friend of yours asked you to go on a holiday with his/her family.  Use the Red Hat to express how you feel about it.

Procedure.

Just ask the pupils: " How would you feel about it?"

N.B. As this is the first time for the pupils, the teacher could do this as a class activity on the board.  It will be much easier for the pupils to grasp the concept.  They will then be able to do it on their own.

Processing:

Teacher asks the pupils the following questions to stimulate metacognitive talk. 

1.  How did you feel when using the Red Hat?

Practice item 2.  Let's organise a party! (2 minutes)

Pupils work in small groups.  This will compliment the same example used for the White Hat when building a sequence of hats.

Processing:

Pupils now share the outcome of their thoughts 

Materials needed:

Loose sheets of paper (Unless they have the Thinking Diary already in hand)

Flipchart paper and markers if there is no board in the room being used for the sessions.

Portable reverse timer

Hat