PataCognition
LLC
Learn to leverage critical thinking skills in the classroom to prepare students for a 21st century workforce.
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Upcoming Events
See you soon in Round Rock for TXCSS 2024!
See you soon in Round Rock for TXCSS 2024!
Professional Learning Opportunities
Professional Development
We are available for in-person professional development keynotes, presentations, workshops, and more!
Topics include, but are not limited to:
- "Shifting the Paradigm: How Historical Thinking Skills Work"
- “Foundational Activities for Instruction in Historical Thinking”
- “Decoding Standards and Prompts for Historical Thinking”
- “AI and Historical Thinking: Be More Employable Than an Algorithm”
- "There are Three Parts to Cause and Effect"
- "Comparison Beyond a Venn Diagram"
- "Context Matters: Setting the Stage for Thinking"
- “First Think Historically, then Create an Argument”
Please email inquiries to: patacognitionllc@gmail.com
Coaching and Book Studies
We are available for in-person or virtually for individualized coaching sessions and support for book studies.
Paradigms Shifted
Book Studies
Historical Thinking Taskforce
Prosper ISD, Texas, USA
The taskforce completed a book study on Starting and Ending with Thinking in Social Studies, engaged in a Q&A video conference with the authors, and shared their learning with other teachers in their district.
2023 - 2024 School Year
ESC Region Engagements
Regions 10 and 11
Exploring Historical Thinking Through Story and Inquiry Cohort and Book Study Keynote Speakers
Sep 9, 2024 - Richardson, Texas, USA
- "Shifting the Paradigm: How Historical Thinking Skills Work"
- “Foundational Activities for Instruction in Historical Thinking”
- “There are Three Parts to Cause and Effect”
- Historical Thinking Lesson Creation Workshop
Regions 10 and 11
Social Studies Metroplex Conference
June 18, 2024 - Richardson, Texas, USA
- “Why Historical Thinking Skills Work”
- “There are Three Parts to Cause and Effect”
Conference Presentations
“Tech Tools for Critical Thinking in Social Studies”
TCEA 2024 Conference
February 3, 2024
Austin, Texas, USA
“Starting and Ending With Thinking in Social Studies”
TCEA 2023 Conference
January 31, 2023
San Antonio, Texas, USA
“Starting and Ending with Thinking in Social Studies”
TXCSS Fall Conference
October 15, 2022
Denton, Texas, USA
District Professional Development
Richardson ISD, Richardson, Texas, USA
- “There are Three Parts to Cause and Effect”- Jan 18 & 30, 2024
- Social Studies District Wide Day - Nov 7, 2023
- GROW Conference - June 1, 2023
East Central ISD, San Antonio, Texas, USA
- East Central ISD Educator Summit - July 25, 2022
Publications
"The skills method changed [everything]. I immediately found that my students not only appreciated the consistency of what they [were] graded on, but also now... take ownership of their learning growth in the classroom. This lead[s] to deeper thought processes in and out of the classroom."
Melissa Benson - Teacher
12th Grade Government and AP Government
"Writing methods such as causation and comparison, have allowed my students to better organize their thoughts into effective answers... My students not only answer correctly, but their answers were full of content, making it that much easier for me to assess what they know.”
Sergio Lopez - Teacher
9th Grade World Geography
Our Team
Tracy Tillotson
Theresa (Tracy) Tillotson has a Bachelor of Science in Education from Bowling Green State University in Ohio and a Master of Arts in Political Science from the University of Texas at San Antonio. She has been teaching for over 15 years and has served as an adjunct professor for Alamo Colleges teaching Dual Credit Government classes. She began her career teaching on-level World Geography, US History, Psychology, Sociology, and Economics. After spending a few years outside of education working in the private sector for a non-profit which provides mental health services, she returned to her true calling of teaching where she continues to teach, often simultaneously, AP Human Geography, AP World History, AP US History, AP US Government and Politics, AP Comparative Government, AP Macroeconomics, and AP Psychology. For the past several years, she has served as a celebrated grader of AP exams through CollegeBoard while she continues feeding her passion for teaching.
Kelsey Cooper
Kelsey Cooper (née Toms) attended Trinity University in San Antonio where she received a Bachelor of Arts in History and a Master of Arts in Teaching, specializing in Secondary Education. She has published peer-reviewed Understanding by Design (UbD) units on the Trinity University Digital Commons which have been downloaded over 20,000 times. She taught AP United States History, 8th and 11th grade US History, AP Psychology, and freshman Pre-AP Geography. When she left the classroom she became a Campus Instructional Technology Specialist in a middle school in Dallas, Texas. In 2024 she became a Technology Integrationist at a private school in Fort Worth, Texas where she helps secondary teachers of all subjects leverage technology in the classroom through professional development and coaching.
Other Publications
Toms, K. (2019). "AP United States History: Period 4 (1800-1848)". Understanding by Design: Complete Collection. 433. Trinity University Digital Commons.
Toms, K. (2014). "Profile of Runaway Servant Women Based on Fugitive Notices in the Pennsylvania Gazette, 1729 - 1760". Undergraduate Student Research Awards. 18. Trinity University Digital Commons.
