Toastmasters International announces Matt Abrahams is its 2025 Golden Gavel award recipient

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Toastmasters’ most prestigious award is the Golden Gavel.  It has been presented annually since 1959 to an individual distinguished in the fields of communication and leadership. There is a press release on February 20, 2025 titled Toastmasters International announces Matt Abrahams as its 2025 Golden Gavel recipient. He will accept the award and speak at the 2025 International Convention in Philadelphia on August 22nd. Matt is a lecturer in organizational behavior at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

 

Matt has authored two books. One from 2012 is Speaking Up without Freaking Out – 50 techniques for confident * calm * competent presenting. There was a second edition in 2014 and third edition in 2016. The other from 2023 is titled Think Faster, Talk Smarter: How to speak successfully when you’re put on the spot.

 

There are five articles by Matt in Toastmaster magazine that can be read on their web site. One from August 2016 on pages 14 and 15 is titled Be Confident When Called On. A second from January 2019 on page 19 is titled Consider Questions: A Speaker’s Best Tool. A third from September 2019 on page 14 is titled What Broccoli Taught Me About Influencing Others. A fourth from September 2023 on pages 24 and 25 is titled Improve Your Impromptu Speaking. A fifth from August 2024 on pages 12 and 13 is titled An Introduction to Masterful Introductions.

 

There also is a 16-minute TEDx talk from Spring 2015 titled Think Fast. Talk Smart | Matt Abrahams | TEDxMontaVistaHighSchool. Another 14-minuteTEDx talk from June 7, 2018 is titled Speaking Up Without Freaking Out | Matt Abrahams | TEDxPaloAlto. And a 45-minute lecture at Stanford Alumni on November 15, 2023 is titled Think Faster, Talk Smarter with Matt Abrahams.

 

Matt has a web site titled Think Fast Talk Smart. But you cannot take everything he says as true. For example, page 2 in my second edition of Speaking Up without Freaking Out incorrectly claims (as does the home page for his web site):

 

“Presenting in public, even when a speaker is prepared and practiced, can lead to dramatic and traumatic outcomes. For this reason, The Book of Lists has repeatedly reported that the fear of speaking in public is the most frequent answer to the question, ‘What scares you most?’ “

 

Fear of speaking only appeared once, in the 1977 edition of The Book of Lists.

 

Also, on September 29, 2020 I blogged about A quantified version of a discredited Mark Twain quotation about fear of public speaking. And on March 21, 2024 I blogged about how The BBC radio program More or Less fumbled in answering whether public speaking really is our greatest fear (for the U.S. it is not)

 

The golden gavel cartoon came from Wikimedia Commons.

 

Specific language is powerful. Use it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Being specific is very powerful. Don’t just say knife – tell us what kind, as is shown above.

 

There is an excellent blog post by Patricia Fripp on January 5, 2025 titled One Little-Known Secret to Sound Intelligent in a Speech – Expert Advice. Her third and fourth paragraphs are:

 

“During a coaching session, a highly educated engineer prepared for a session at his company’s international customer meeting. Initially he said, ‘There are two things people love about our services…’ Prompted by my question, ‘If it weren’t a ‘thing,’ what would it be?’ he clarified, ‘Innovative upgrades.’ I then asked, ‘There are billions of people in the world. Which people love your innovative upgrades?’ His response: ‘System administrators.’

 

On stage his message transformed to, ‘There are two innovative upgrades that system administrators love.’ This specific language tailored his message to an exact audience and enhanced its impact. This was especially critical as his audience was globally diverse, with customers from 71 countries.”  

 

In a similar vein, a post by David Murray at Writing Boots on February 20, 2025 is titled Introducing a New Writing Boots Feature: Gee, Why Do you Think I’m Re-running *This* Old Post? [from 2011]. He lamented our use of the word ‘broken’ to describe flawed things:

 

“When did ‘broken’ become the adjective by which we describe public education the financial regulatory system, the tax code, The Culture in Washington or American politics in general?

 

When, and why?”

 

He said it misapplied a mechanical diagnosis to an organic or social problem.

 

There also is a web page from the University of Washington on Effective Use of Language.   

 

Cartoons of a box cutter, fighting knife, and Swiss army knife came from Openclipart.

 

A paraphrase is not a quotation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is an inadequately researched article by Lee-Ann Ragan at Rock Paper Scissors on February 18, 2025 titled The Science of Great Speaking: How to Engage, Persuade, and Inspire. She begins:

 

“Yes, it's true.

There IS research suggesting that people fear public speaking more than death. In a 1973 study by R. H. Bruskin Associates, which surveyed Americans about their fears, public speaking ranked as the number one fear, even above death.

 

This led to the famous quote by comedian Jerry Seinfeld:

 

‘Most people would rather be in the casket than giving the eulogy.’

 

Glossophobia (fear of public speaking) is extremely common, affecting up to 77% of people.”

 

First, what she claims Seinfeld said isn’t a real quote – it’s just a paraphrase. An article by Leigh McCullough and Kristin A. R. Osborn in the Journal of Clinical Psychology for 2004 (Volume 60, Number 8. Pages 841 to 852) titled Short Term Dynamic Psychotherapy Goes to Hollywood: The Treatment of Performance Anxiety in Cinema first got it wrong:

 

“Jerry Seinfeld once joked that at a funeral, ‘most people would rather be in the casket than giving the eulogy.’ “

 

At The Sunday Times on September 28, 2014, in an article titled Conquer the fear that dare not publicly speak its name, Paul Cleary got it right:

 

“To paraphrase Jerry Seinfeld, at a funeral most people would rather be in the casket than giving the eulogy.”

 

I most recently blogged about the actual quote on January 21, 2024 in a post titled Ten quotes to motivate speaking in public – five of which are incorrect. What Jerry really said in his TV show, on May 20, 1993 was:

 

“According to most studies, people’s number-one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. ‘Death’ is number two! Now this means to the average person, if you have to go to a funeral, you’re better off in the casket than doing the eulogy.”

 

Second, the 77% for fear is wildly overstated. On January 14, 2025 I blogged about how A claim that 77% of the world fears public speaking is just nonsense. I also blogged about it on October 12, 2020 in a post titled Do 77% of Americans fear public speaking? No! That percentage described stage fright in Swedes who also had social anxiety disorder. Only 24% of Swedes had a fear of speaking or performing.  

 

Third, the 1973 Bruskin study described (not just suggested) what more people fear, rather than what people fear more. Way back on October 27, 2009 I blogged about The 14 Worst Human Fears in the 1977 Book of Lists: where did this data really come from? Speaking before a group was feared by 40.6%, while death was feared by 18.7%. And on May 19, 2011 I blogged about another survey two decades later in a post titled America’s Number One Fear: Public Speaking – that 1993 Bruskin-Goldring Survey. That time speaking before a group was feared by 45%, while death was feared by 31%.

 

How about survey results from last year? On October 24, 2024 I blogged about how In the tenth Chapman Survey of American Fears for 2024, public speaking was only ranked #59 of 85 fears at 29.0%. And Dying was #51 at 31.6%, but People I Love Dying was #4 at 57.8%.  

 

The cartoon was adapted from one at Openclipart.

 

We can edit our speech for more clarity. Be like an OK’er at The New Yorker magazine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At BBC Sounds - The Media Show on February 20, 2025 there is an interview titled The Explanation: The Media Show: Diplomacy and the media and 100 years of the New Yorker. The editor, David Remnick was interviewed, and he discussed their unusual process for articles at 20:35:

 

“The writer sends in the first draft. It’s 10,000 words or how ever long the piece is. What happens then? And then he or she sits down with the editor, who’s read it, at least once right away and they have discussions about further work to be done on it.

 

There are copy editors and something called wildly OK’ers. OK’ers? OK’ers! What do they do? Which is a high position of copy editor but the mission is clarity. Not to rob the writer of his or her voice, but clarity. This is a very high premium here.

 

And the other very high premium is accuracy and fairness. We have 28 fact checkers, not just to make sure you spell a complicated name correctly, or get the dates right, but also to call the sources and say is it true that you said this?    

 

Just clear up exactly what an OK’er is. Because there are going to be people listening right now who are thinking maybe I need an OK’er in my business. Help us understand the role. What precisely is an OK’er doing? An OK’er is a higher version of copy editing.

 

Copy editing is, you know, that and which and misspellings and sentences.  OK’ers, if they’re good at it, are giving a final read that is aimed at clarity and misdirection and indirection and vague wording and things that could be even that much clearer.

 

These are people – it’s like somebody who can tune a piano without a tuning fork. People who are really tuned in to language and repetition and just the act of clarity and accuracy.”   

 

Earlier Mary Norris discussed the page OK’er in her 2016 book Between You and Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen:

 

“And it has now been more than twenty years since I became a page OK’er – a position that exists only at The New Yorker where you query-proofread pieces and manage them, with the editor, the author, a fact checker, and a second proofreader, until they go to press. An editor once called us prose goddesses; another job description might be comma queen. Except for writing, I have never seriously considered doing anything else.”

 

We can be the OK’er for the speech we are writing by reading it one more time, just for clarity.

 

My cartoon was adapted from one at Openclipart.

 

Natural always being better is a fallacy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is an article by Amanda Ruggeri at BBC on February 12, 2025 titled Natural doesn’t always mean better: How to spot if someone is trying to convince you with an ‘appeal to nature’. It also was discussed by Steven Novella at Science-Based Medicine on that day in another article titled BBC Takes On Appeal to Nature Fallacy. And there is a Wikipedia page on Appeal to nature.

 

Natural may be terrible. For example, poisonous arsenic can be in well water. There is a web page at the Minnesota Department of Health titled Private Well Protection Arsenic Study with the following information:

 

“Approximately 10 percent of new wells in Minnesota contain arsenic above the drinking water standard. Drinking water with low levels of arsenic over a long time increases the risk of diabetes and increased risk of cancers of the bladder, lungs, liver, and other organs. It can also contribute to cardiovascular and respiratory disease, reduced intelligence in children, and skin problems such as lesions, discolorations, and the development of corns. Health impacts of arsenic may not occur right away and can develop after many years, especially if you are in contact with arsenic at a low level over a long time.

 

Arsenic can be found in groundwater throughout Minnesota, but is more likely in some areas than others, due to the way glaciers moved across Minnesota. Because it has no taste and no odor, testing is the only way to know whether or not a well has arsenic in it. All new wells must be tested for arsenic before being placed in service.”

   

Arsenic can also show up in foods grown in water like rice. In November 2014 there was a Consumer Reports article titled How much arsenic is in your rice? and a long report titled Analysis of Arsenic in Rice and Other Grains. In July 2023 there is an article by Lihchyun Joseph Su, Tung-Chin Chiang, and Sarah N O’Connor at Frontiers in Nutrition titled Arsenic in brown rice: do the benefits outweigh the risks?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How about poisonous plants, for which Wikipedia has a web page. And the Wikipedia page about Cassava discusses how there is cyanide in bitter cassava (manihot esculenta).

 

What about fish? There is a Wikipedia page about poisonous fish. The Wikipedia page on the Fugu (pufferfish) says it can be deadly if not properly prepared, as shown in a YouTube video from The Simpsons.

 

The adapted water warning sign and Poison Garden gates are from Wikimedia Commons.

 

 

What percent of adults dread public speaking?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a recent magazine article by Robin M. Kowalski et al. in The Journal of Social Psychology for 2025 (Volume 165, Issue 1 pages 135 to 153) titled Psychological dread and extreme persistent fear. You can find the abstract here or here. It is interesting because, as shown above, it looked at two higher levels of fear, Dread and Extremely Afraid, than usually are in surveys like the Chapman Survey of American Fears (Very Afraid, Afraid, Slightly Afraid, Not Afraid).

 

They did two different studies on dread with nonrandom sampling. The first used an online sample of 211 that was very skewed (82.9% female and 96.6% white). It was a “snowball sample,” with invitations to participate posted at Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, Canvas, and GroupMe with respondents encouraged to share the invitation. The second used another less skewed online sample of 260 through Prolific (another snowball sample) that is 53.5% female and 81.5% white. For the first sample, the Margin of Error is plus or minus 6.7%, and for the second it is plus or minus 6.1%. The second study also covered extremely feared events. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Results for Dread from the first study (Table 1) are shown above via a bar chart. The top five dreads were Academic: 16.6%, Work: 12.7%, Conflict/Confrontation: 10.7%, Significant Life Change: 10.2%, and Health: 7.3%. Public speaking was dreaded by only 2%.    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Results for Dread from the second study (Table 4) are shown above via a second bar chart. The top five dreads were Health: 16.1%, Work: 12.4%, Family: 11.7%, Legal/Finance: 8.9%, and a tie for Events and Public Speaking: 7.3%.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Results for Extremely Feared from the second study (Table 4) are shown above via a third bar chart. The top five were Other: 26.0.%, Death: 17.9%, Health: 11.7%, Relationships: 7.3%, and a four-way tie at 6.5% for Conflict, Legal/Finances, Socializing and Travel. Then came Family: 4.1% and Public Speaking: 3.3%.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How do these results compare with those for Very Afraid of Public speaking in the Chapman Survey of American Fears? Those results are shown above in a fourth bar chart. The mean for Very Afraid is 11.0%, which larger than those found for Dread or Extremely Feared.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As shown above in a fifth bar chart, the most common fear in the Chapman Survey (with a mean of 38%) is Corrupt Government Officials. That mean is about 3.4 times that for Public Speaking.  

 

Fifty questions for a first date which also can be used in Table Topics at a Toastmasters club meeting

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday was Valentine’s Day. Back on February 12, 2018 I had blogged about Falling in love and Table Topics questions. A half-dozen articles in the last six months describe sets of fifty or more first-date questions which also can be used for the impromptu Table Topics section at a Toastmasters club meeting.

 

One article by Sanjana Gupta at VeryWellMind on September 18, 2024 is titled 50 First Date Questions to Make a Great Impression. Hers are divided into three categories:

 

Casual and Light-Hearted Questions [20]

Deep and Meaningful Questions [20]

Questions for Navigating Awkward Silences [10]

 

A second article by Chanel Campbell at The Glowing Muse on October 28, 2024 is titled 50 Good Questions to Ask on a First Date. Hers are divided into five categories:

 

Ice-Breaker First Date Questions [10]

Funny First Date Questions [10]

Flirty First Date Questions [10]

Deep and Meaningful Questions [10]

Light-hearted First Date Questions [10]

 

A third article by Emily Weaver at PopSugar on January 29, 2025 is titled 70+ First-Date Questions to Keep the Conversation Moving. Her six categories with 76 are:

 

Funny First-Date Questions [11]

Important First-Date Questions [12]

Ice-Breaker First-Date Questions [15]

Flirty First-Date Questions [12]

Serious First-Date Questions [14]

Would-You-Rather First-Date Questions [12]

 

A fourth article at Lifebulb on February 4, 2025 that has 58 questions is titled First Date Questions to Get to Know Someone Deeper. There are four categories:

 

Ice Breaker Questions [10]

Questions to Get to Know Someone [10]

Deep Conversation Starters [20]

Compatibility Questions [18]

 

A fifth article by Jenna Ryu at SELF on February 12, 2025 is titled 50 Non-Awkward Questions for a First Date That’ll Actually Spark a Connection. Her three categories are

 

If you want to start off light and casual [14]

If you’re looking to learn more about them – without overstepping [20]

If you’re ready to suss out your compatibility [16]

 

A sixth article by Isabelle Eyman at Camille Styles on February 14, 2025 is titled 50 Thoughtful First Date Questions That Skip the Small Talk. Her five categories are:

 

Getting to Know Each Other [10]

Personal Interests and Hobbies [10]

Life Values and Beliefs [10]

Fun and Lighthearted Questions to Ask on a First Date [10]

Future Goals and Ambitions [10]

 

Her ten about getting to know each other are:

 

 1] What’s the best book you’ve read recently?

 2] How would you describe your perfect day?

 3] What’s something you’re passionate about?

 4] What’s one thing you’ve always wanted to try but haven’t yet?

 5] Do you have a favorite childhood memory that still makes you smile?

 6] What’s your favorite way to spend a weekend?

 7] If you could lve anywhere in the world for a year, where would it be?

 8] What’s the most unusual job you’ve ever had?

 9] Who or what inspires you most?

10] What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

 

I have a good reply to the eighth question. When I was serving as a medic I once had to take footprints of all our aircrew. (Footprints are one way to identify the dead after a crash and fire). I mentioned that on November 10, 2024 when I blogged about Some memories of the Air Force Reserve – for Veterans Day. The Air Force manual had vague and useless advice about inking the glass plate used for prints. But the Treasury Department had a manual on Palm Prints with great specific advice: just put a sheet of white paper beneath the glass, and then ink until you can barely see the paper. Problem solved.

 

The silhouette came from Openclipart.

 

The Scout Mindset is an interesting book by Julia Galef which discusses why some people see things clearly and others do not

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recently I have been reading an interesting book from 2021 by Julia Galef titled The Scout Mindset: Why some people see things clearly and others don’t. There is a Google Books preview of it and a Wikipedia page.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A table (shown above) from page 14 describes how there is a large difference between a soldier mindset and a scout mindset.

 

Chapter 4 in the book is titled Signs of a Scout. It has the following headings:

 

Feeling Objective Doesn’t Make You a Scout

 

Being Smart and Knowledgeable Doesn’t Make You a Scout

 

Feeling Objective Doesn’t Make You a Scout

 

Actually Practicing Scout Mindset Makes You a Scout:

  Do you tell other people when you realize they were right?

  How do you react to personal criticism?

  Do you ever prove yourself wrong?

  Do you take precautions to avoid fooling yourself?

  Do you have any good critics?

 

In 2016 Julia gave two twelve-minute TEDx talks about this subject. One in February is titled Why you think you’re right - even if you’re wrong. The other in April is titled Why “scout mindset” is crucial to good judgment. There also is an hour and a half seminar at the Long Now Foundation on October 18, 2019 titled Soldiers and Scouts: Why our minds weren’t built for truth.

 

There is an article by Benjamin J. Lovett in Psychological Injury and Law magazine for 2022, Volume 15, pages 287 to 294 titled Objectivity or Advocacy? The ethics of the scout mindset in psychoeducational assessment.

 

The image of a woman with binoculars is from Wikimedia Commons.

 

Making our talk pop with effective use of a prop

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a three-minute YouTube video by Michael Davis at Speaking CPR on May 3, 2024 titled One key to make your talk pop with effective use of props. He advises that we should get our audience to pay attention by interacting with a prop. Look at it and pick it up.

 

The image was modified from kid and grandpa and microphone at Openclipart.

 

Another 2,401 prompts for writing and storytelling

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A writing prompt (or story prompt) is a brief topical suggestion to help us get started. There is a 46-page pdf e-book by Stevan Krajnjan titled 1000 Quick Writing Ideas.

 

And there is a free 56-page e-book by Chris Davenport from 2023 titled Story Prompts for Nonprofits that is a nonprofit storytelling conference publication subtitled 900+ storytelling prompts for attracting new donors, generating media buzz, connecting with your community, and deepening relationships with donors!

 

There is also a 181-page pdf e-book from LearningExpress in 2003 titled 501 Writing Prompts.

 

On November 12, 2022 I blogged about how Writing Prompts also can be used for Table Topics questions at Toastmasters club meetings. And on May 15, 2024 I blogged about My workshop presentation at the 2024 District 15 Toastmasters Conference on May 18, 2024 about Creating or Finding Great Table Topics Questions.

THE STORY BEAST is a free quarterly magazine about storytelling

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE STORY BEAST is a free quarterly magazine about storytelling, which is subtitled For Story Artists, Listeners, and Dreamers. It has a web site with an archive of pdfs from three volumes with fourteen themed issues so far:

 

VOLUME 1 - 2022

Issue 1, July 2022 – Breaking Free

Issue 2, August 2022 – Dog Days of Summer

Issue 3, September 2022 – Monsters in Your Backyard

Issue 4, October 2022 – Whispering Spirits

Issue 5, November 2022 – Eternally Grateful

Issue 6, December 2022 – Guiding Lights

 

VOLUME 2 - 2023

Issue 1, Spring – Winged Words

Issue 2, Summer – Bright Babblings

Issue 3, Fall – Under the Tome and Tombs

Issue 4, Winter – Peaceful Ponderings

 

VOLUME 3 - 2024

Issue 1, Spring – Stepping Stones

Issue 2, Summer – Chaotic Creations

Issue 3, Fall – Flavored Fright

Issue 4, Winter – Whirling Winds

 

A section titled TAMING the BEAST is about The Art of Crafting Stories. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Summer 2024 there is an article by Joan Leotta titled Folded Tales on pages 15 to 18 which describes how Kuniko Yamamoto and Megan Hicks use origami as props.

 

The mammoth and origami crane cartoons are from Openclipart.

 

An intriguing book about weird and wonderful things

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are you looking for an offbeat topic for a speech, perhaps to use in a Toastmasters club meeting? At my friendly local public library I found and perused an intriguing 2023 book by Milo Rossi titled The Encyclopedia of the Weird and Wonderful and subtitled Curious and Incredible Facts That Will Blow Your Mind. You can find a preview at Google Books. This book has ten chapters with the following titles:

 

The Early Years

Eat, Drink, and Be Merry

Our Best Friends

Play and Leisure

Rites and Rituals

Love and Sexuality

Fashion and Beauty

Education and Work

Sickness and Health

Memento Mori

 

Under Education and Work, on pages 181 and 182 there is a section titled Aztec Education:

 

“The Aztec people, one of the most well-known pre-Columbian groups, had an education system that vastly surpassed other parts of the world in accessibility and scope. First and foremost, education was mandatory. Not only was this unusual for most parts of the world at the time, but the formal Aztec educational system accommodated both men and women, though the systems and lessons taught to both were different in many ways.

 

For boys around the age of fifteen, there was the Telpochcalli. Translated into English as ’house of youth,’ these education centers focused on training young men in standard military tactics and skills, much like the ancient Greek Ephebate (see page 177). As a civilization with a strong military, this schooling system was a vital part of maintaining the Aztec way of life. The Telpochcalli also taught other topics to these young men, such as law, religion, and history.

 

While women were not allowed in the Aztec military or government, they were obviously still an invaluable part of maintaining a balance in society. Around the age of thirteen, Aztec women began their own educational program, separate from the men. This program focused on the complexities of running a home and raising a family, including cooking, weaving, and sewing, as well as singing and dancing for rituals and ceremonies. Great care was taken to ensure that students were able to fully hone the complexities of the myriad tasks required to run a home and a family unit. This education system even prepared women for work outside the home, such as training to be what we today refer to as a midwife.”

 

Milo also has posted some interesting YouTube videos about Pseudoarcheology under Miniminuteman. One 38-minute video is titled Pseudoarcheology and the Pseudoscience Pipeline. Another 32-minute video is titled Fighting Pseudoscience with Science Communication. And there is a series of four on the Ancient Apocalypse Netflix series by Graham Hancock – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4 of I Watched Ancient Apocalypse So You Don’t Have To.

 

The Aztec art image was colored in from this one at Openclipart.  

 

Making thinking visible is powerful

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Visible thinking is a powerful cognitive process whereby a person’s thoughts are represented externally to support further thought and communication. It is a three-step process: 1) Develop an internal thought; 2) Externally represent that internal thought; 3) Couple those external representations with ongoing internal thoughts to support further thoughts.

 

I have been looking at a 2020 book by Ron Ritchhart and Mark Church titled The Power of Making Thinking Visible: Practices to engage and empower all learners. There is a preview at Google Books.

 

An earlier article by Ron Ritchhart and David Perkins at Educational Leadership on February 2008, pages 57 to 61 that is titled Making Thinking Visible describes this topic, and includes the Compass Points routine that I have shown above via a PowerPoint graphic. There is a detailed collection from Project Zero of PZ’s Thinking Routines Toolbox.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Page 108 of the 2020 book shows another more detailed routine, Peeling the Fruit, which I have illustrated above via another colorful PowerPoint graphic.

 

Active Listening and Aizuchi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is an intriguing brief article by Daniel James Ince-Cushman and Marion Dove in the January 2025 issue of Canadian Family Physician magazine - Volume 71, No. 1, pages 67 and 68 titled Approach to teaching active listening in the age of artificial intelligence.

 

The fourth and fifth paragraphs say:

 

“Aizuchi originally referred to the alternating strikes of hammers on hot iron by an expert sword maker and their apprentice. It has come to mean the frequent short interjections or sounds that a Japanese listener makes to show they are paying attention. Simple aizuchi translations include words such as yeah, uh-huh, and oh (Table 1).

 

However, aizuchi is not only a verbal phenomenon. Nodding is also a form of aizuchi. Much of Japanese communication is nonverbal, and short utterances are also mirrored with engaged facial expressions and well-timed nods. In linguistics this is referred to as back channelling. Back channelling is how we interject to show understanding and attention rather than to convey new information. These are not so much questions but rather facilitating remarks to encourage the speaker to continue.”

 

The image was adapted from one of forging ahead at the Library of Congress.