The six thinking hats strategy is a tool to increase creative thinking by dividing up the different styles of thinking into six "hats": logic, emotion, caution, optimism, creativity, and control. (1) It fosters collaboration, creativity, and innovation with the parallel thinking process of the six metaphorical hats. You ‘put on’ or ‘take off’ one of these hats to indicate the type of thinking being used. A ‘thinking hat’ is a metaphor for a certain way of thinking. By mentally wearing different thinking hats people are forced to look at things from different perspectives. The discussion can go from a one-sided way of thinking to some new insights being created. This strategy can be used as students view images as they learn about the illustrators in this unit.
White hat: Data and information
Think of white paper, which is neutral and carries information. Questions include:
What information do we have here?
What information is missing?
What information would we like to have?
How are we going to get that information?
Red hat: Feelings and emotions
Think of red and fire and warm.
The red hat has to do with feelings, intuitions, hunches, emotions.
Black hat: Caution
Think of a stern judge in a black robe
The black hat is for critical thinking.
Yellow hat: Positive view
Think of sunshine
The yellow hat is the upbeat, logical view.
Green hat: Creative thinking
Think of vegetation and rich growth
The green hat is for new ideas and alternatives.
Blue hat: Thinking process
Think of the sky and the overview
The blue hat is for thinking about thinking.
Here is how we might use the Six Hats strategy with Nina Crews’ A Girl Like Me and some examples of possible responses from students:
Figure 1: Cover of the book, A Girl Like Me by Angela Johnson and Illustrated by Nina Crews, published in 2020.
White hat: I see a girl in cowboy boots and a city in the background.
Red hat: They way she is smiling makes me feel like she is having a great time.
Black hat: I am not sure that the city is real. It looks kind of small next to the girl.
Yellow hat: The purple swirls and stars make the cover look very exciting, which means the book is probably a good one.
Green hat: I think the illustrator used all kinds of ideas. I would like to try something like that.
Blue hat: I am wondering how all these parts of the picture go together. They all seem different from each other.
Every comment or thought should be acknowledged and recognize that not every image needs to have this process. Trying to use it on the cover will help the students prepare their thinking for the contents of the books and set the stage for the discussions.