Compass Points
Excitements · Worries · Needs · Stance, for evaluating an idea.
Considering perspectivesReasoning with evidenceWondering & questioning
What is Compass Points?
Decision-support routine. E/W/N/S quadrants surface stakeholder reactions to a proposition.
Setup: What is the idea or proposition under consideration?.
The prompts
- 1E · Excitements: what's the upside?
- 2W · Worries: what's the downside?
- 3N · Needs: what else do you need to know?
- 4S · Stance / Steps / Suggestions: where do you land?
Good moments for Compass Points
- Classroom warm-upSurface what students bring before introducing new content.
- After a reading or videoConsolidate big ideas without testing recall.
- Discussion starterResponses become the seed material for the room conversation.
- End-of-session reflectionCapture how thinking changed.
About Visible Thinking
Visible Thinking Routines were developed by Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (Ron Ritchhart, David Perkins). They are short structured protocols for surfacing thinking, not assessments.
Project Zero website