Thinking Routines / Headlines
Headlines
If a newspaper ran one line about what you have just been studying, what would it say? Not a summary — a headline. The difference is the whole exercise.
Opens on the whiteboard to model with the class · no sign-up · printing is optional
The sheet it prints — optional
What is the Headlines thinking routine?
Headlines is a thinking routine in which a class writes the one line a newspaper would run about what they have been studying. It forces a decision about what actually mattered, because a headline has no room for anything else.
How do you run Headlines with a class?
Ask for the headline before any discussion, so the first attempt is honest. Take three or four, then ask what each one left out. Finish by voting for the line that captures it best. Five minutes as a plenary, longer if you want the reasoning.
How is a headline different from a summary?
A summary tries to include everything and ranks nothing. A headline can only carry one idea, so writing one forces a judgement about which idea is the important one. Children who produce a summary have not yet made that judgement.
Give them a word limit and it improves overnight. Open-ended, a Year 4 class writes a sentence with an 'and' in it every time. Capped at six words, they start cutting — and the argument about which word to lose is where the thinking is. I write the limit on the board before I ask the question, and I have stopped accepting anything with 'and' in it at all, which sounds harsh and works.
Which subjects does Headlines suit?
Every one, which is what makes it worth having.
- Science — after an investigation, before you tell them the conclusion.
- History — at the end of a period, or after a single event.
- Maths — yes, really: what was today's lesson actually about?
- Trips and assemblies — the fastest way to find out what landed.
What usually goes wrong with Headlines?
You get summaries with 'and' in them. A word limit fixes it faster than any amount of explaining — cap it, ban 'and', and let the argument about which word to cut do the teaching.
Which year groups is Headlines for?
Headlines works from Year 2 upwards, grade 1 in the US. Younger children write summaries and need the difference modelled several times. By Year 6 you can ask for a headline in a fixed number of words, which sharpens it considerably.
What do you do with it afterwards?
Keep the winning headline on the wall for the unit and add to it. A row of headlines across a term is the clearest record of a class's learning you can put up, and children reread them, which displays of finished work rarely manage.
How often should you use Headlines?
As often as you like — weekly is comfortable. It costs five minutes, works in any subject, and improves every time a class runs it, because they get better at telling a headline from a summary.
What if two headlines are equally good?
Keep both and put them side by side. Two defensible headlines usually mean the topic has two centres, and asking which one the class would run on the front page is a better discussion than either headline was on its own.
| Year group | US grade | What to change | How long |
|---|---|---|---|
| Years 2–3 | Grades 1–2 | Model two headlines yourself first. No word limit. | 5 min |
| Years 4–5 | Grades 3–4 | Cap it at eight words. Ban the word 'and'. | 8 min |
| Year 6 and up | Grade 5+ | Six words. Then ask what the headline left out. | 12 min |
Headlines compared with Colour, Symbol, Image
Both ask a class to compress a topic into something small. Headlines does it in words and suits a quick plenary. Colour, Symbol, Image does it without words and suits reflection. Running both on the same topic is a good pairing.
Free · no sign-up to run it · printing is optional
Where this routine comes from: the Headlines thinking routine was developed by Project Zero, a research center at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Sage Teachers is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Harvard University or Project Zero. The prompts and the wording on this page are our own.