The Avant Gardist

March 22, 2010


Sharon Abrigo - Curriculum Director
Myron B. Thompson Academy



Thompson Academy is making a concerted effort to stretch student thinking beyond the simple recall of facts. While there are important dates in history, verb conjugations and math formulas that should be etched in the minds of all students, simply being able to recite these doesn’t necessarily indicate an ability to think. For example, naming all 50 states with their capitals is quite a feat of memorization, and while important, it basically represents a recall task. Being able to explain how the Southern states differ from those on the Eastern seaboard politically, economically and socially requires a person to process information. Devising a plan to attract tourists to a particular state or region requires a person to recall the facts, process them and finally create something new with the information.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. wrote the following poem in the mid-1800s.
The Three Story Intellect
There are one-story intellects, two-story intellects, and three-story intellects with skylights.
All fact collectors who have no aim beyond their facts are one-story men.
Two-story men compare, reason, generalize, using the labor of fact collectors as their own.
Three-story men idealize, imagine, predict–their best illumination comes from above the skylight.
This poem served as the inspiration for the simple design of a house with 3 floors, created by educator/author Robin Fogarty in 1997. Each floor represents a different level of thinking. Teachers are expected to move students up and down all floors during the course of a lesson or unit. Thompson Academy uses this model along with Bloom’s Taxonomy, which breaks thinking into 6 levels, as they plan instruction and assessment. The idea is that students should not stay on the first floor (Bloom’s recall level). They also need opportunities to process, analyze and apply.
While there are still quizzes and exams, which require the recall of facts, there are also written and oral assignments that require students to show an understanding of the facts. Additionally, there are projects that ask students to create products and original work.


Encourage your children to explain how they arrived at an answer to a question. This gives great insight into their thinking. See if you can determine which level of the house some of their assignments target.