Making Thinking Visible as we increase levels of DOK

The North team made 52, "Making Thinking Visible" walk-throughs, this month as we increase to 194 total classroom visits.
Although the evidence of student thinking through writing and through verbal communication is interesting to look at, I think we all know that most important, are the levels of DOK we have our students engaged in during each class period.
These visits are usually only 2-5 minutes long, but I still have to wonder why 45% of the time, no one is seeing our students writing? Also, our teacher-led discussion still dominates the visits as we observe that 39% of the time. Yes, I hear you...time and place, I get it.
So, depths of knowledge...how are we doing in that area? At the last faculty meeting when Becky took us through the activity of purposefully crafting activities in the level 3 and level 4 range, we know many of us experienced some cognitive dissonance. Why did we struggle with this? Is it because it forced us to analyze more closely the activities and learning experiences that we put in front of our students, or was it because it was harder to purposefully plan strategic and extended thinking for our students?
I think what it opened my eyes to, was the admission that we are still heavy in our individual teacher planning and we need to become better at involving students in the planning process so they can have ownership in the "why" of their learning and ultimately have more control over the "how" to reach their ultimate student learning outcomes.

Identify Student Group Format

Whole Group	110	56%
Individual	76	39%
Pairs	18	9%
Small Group	47	24%

Evidence of Student Thinking Through Writing

Worksheet	51	26%
Annotating Text (Interacting with Text)	16	8%
Using a Graphic Organizer (KWL, Venn Diagram, Taking Notes, etc.)	31	16%
Writing Process (Brainstorming, Drafting, Editing, Final Copy, etc.)	10	5%
Collaborative Writing, (Discussion Boards, Responding to Blogs, etc.)	1	1%
Journaling (Thoughtful Logs, Response Journals, etc.)	8	4%
Exit Tickets	0	0%
Student to Student Feedback	2	1%
Not observed at this time	89	45%

Level of Student Thinking - Writing

Recall and Reproduction	37	19%
Working with Skill and Concepts	68	35%
Short-term Strategic Thinking	26	13%
Extended Strategic Thinking	3	2%
Not observed at this time	83	42%

Evidence of Student Thinking Through Verbal Communication

Partner Discussion (Turn & Talk, Think-Pair-Share, etc.)	28	14%
Teacher-Led Discussion	76	39%
Student-Led Discussion (Socratic Seminar, Debating, etc.)	2	1%
Students Asking Questions	18	9%
Student Presenting (Formal or Informal)	16	8%
Conferring (Teacher:Student)	23	12%
Student-to-Student Feedback	23	12%
Not observed at this time	48	24%

Level of Student Thinking - Verbal

Recall and Reproduction	61	31%
Working with Skill and Concepts	82	42%
Short-term Strategic Thinking	25	13%
Extended Strategic Thinking	2	1%
Not observed at this time	49	25%