Students will
Before reading (15 minutes) Open the lesson with an informal discussion of what students already know about the Korean War. Tell them that they will be reading and discussing a book about one girl's experience during that war. Can they make predictions about the book based on its title and cover and what they already know about the war? Let students know that after reading the book, they're going to be asked a question that will take the whole class to answer-and everyone's answer could be different. What will be important is whether they can provide acceptable reasons to support their answers. Reading phase (about 15 minutes, depending on the length of the text and the reading comprehension method you use) Depending on your students' needs and the availability of book copies, you can read the book to your students using the guided reading approach, have the students partner/group read, or have the students read silently. The important thing to consider when conducting the reading phase is to make sure students understand the text entirely. This will allow them to fully participate in the discussion phase to follow.
Discussion phase (30 to 60 minutes, depending on class size) There are four basic components to this part of the lesson:
As students become familiar with the critical-thinking process, these components can be modified to give students greater responsibility for their learning. (See Modifications for examples.) Before proceeding with the discussion, make sure to establish a few guidelines with the students. These guidelines can include
Central question. At this point, introduce a question that will be of interest to students and in response to which they will each have to take a position. The question should be thought-provoking, the answer to which can be debated. A sample question for this book (as listed on the Central Question Chart ) is, "Why did Mr. Han try to convince the soldier to let Soo go across the river instead of himself?" Once you have a question, you should offer two hypotheses (or positions) as answers to it. Record the two positions on chart paper, the board, or overhead. Sample positions are listed on the Central Question Chart. (Until students have practiced the subsequent processes of identifying and evaluating reasons, it is important to limit the position options for now to two.) Once the two positions are listed, ask each student to decide which position he or she thinks best answers the central question and to be prepared to explain why. Let students know that they can change their positions after the discussion. Identifying reasons . Have students explore each position by identifying supporting reasons for it. Talk to a student who supports the first position, for example. Ask the student why he or she believes it's correct. How about a student who supports the second position? Get the students to begin talking to each other, with you acting as facilitator between them. This may be a good time to abandon a rule of raising hands; instead, let students dialogue freely but respectfully. As they cite reasons, encourage them to use examples from the text, from their own background knowledge of not only the Korean War but any experiences they have had that help them understand the text, and from what they feel makes sense. Record all reasons on the chart underneath their respective positions, even those that make little sense or seem wrong. (In the course of the discussion, students will be evaluating the truth and acceptability of the reasons. If you filter out reasons according to your judgment, it will deny students the opportunity to evaluate their own thinking.) Evaluating reasons. After all the reasons are listed (and perhaps even as they are being listed), students should decide whether they are completely true, completely false, or are true or false depending on certain factors. As the facilitator, put each reason before the group for discussion and let students decide amongst themselves the truth and acceptability of each reason. For each reason, ask students the following kinds of questions (and eventually encourage them to ask each other and themselves): What makes this reason true? Or what makes it false? Are there times that it could be true, but other times when it could be false? What examples can you give from the book to support a reason as acceptable? Does it make sense? Why or why not? Should we accept this as a supporting reason for the position? Throughout this discussion, you may need to question the students or rephrase their ideas to help them formulate their thoughts. However, be sure not to put words in students' mouths. As students discuss the reasons, record their decisions about the reasons in the truth column of the chart. You can use a 'T' for true, 'F' for false, and 'D' for depends. For the 'T' and 'D' reasons, mark what makes them acceptable: 'TXT' for text support, 'BK' for background knowledge support, and 'LOG' for logical support. Students themselves may not know at first that an acceptable reason is based on text, background knowledge, or logic (i.e., what seems to make sense), but they should be able to decide if it's acceptable or not. As you classify the reasons, help them to understand why you are categorizing them as you are-that their discussion is leading you to figure out the kind of support each reason is based upon. Guide them in this thought process until they are able to tell you what justifies the reasons. Drawing conclusions. After all reasons have been evaluated, give students the opportunity to say what their positions are based on the discussion. Has anyone changed his or her mind? For those who are sticking with their original positions, do they feel more strongly about them now? Also, give students the option to say they have not made up their minds (for the ability to withhold judgment is central to critical thinking). Another way to end the lesson could be to have the students write their conclusions and justify their reasons in a journal entry or a more formal writing assignment. Modifications After a few lessons with the same book or subsequent readings, students will have had practice identifying and evaluating reasons for positions you hypothesize. Next, allow them to generate several positions of their own to new central questions. This will help them to develop hypothesizing skills. After practice at hypothesizing, move on to allowing them to generate their own central questions. You will have to determine their readiness for identifying central themes and issues, but also, you can expect by this time for students to help guide each other in this process. Another modification as students become more and more responsible for their own learning may include switching to peer discussion groups, which then report their results in writing or to the class.
My Freedom Trip does not have a great deal of factual information, so creating a K-W-L chart may help lead the class into a research project as an extension of the book. Ask the students what they already know about Korea and the issues that arose around the Korean War. Use the W column in the K-W-L as a springboard for research. As examples, students could research why the soldiers divided the country of Korea or why North Korea was oppressed while South Korea was "the freedom land." Since My Freedom Trip has a theme of bravery and not giving up, ask each student to write a personal narrative about a time when he or she was faced with a tough situation, but stuck it out. Remind students that their stories do not have to be of the same magnitude and that we all face challenges, big and small. You may want to take these pieces through the entire writing process to publication. Invite people who have lived through challenging situations to speak to the class about their ordeals. Send a letter to parents and community members to see if they would like to share their experiences. Students can respond to guest speakers' experiences through discussion afterward or in journal entries.
Observe the following in students:
Provide students with an opportunity to demonstrate their critical thinking skills with the following assessment:
Evaluate student journal entries on the following (minimum) criteria:
Much of what we do in the language classroom is focused on fluency and accuracy. Most teachers aim for students to use vocabulary and grammar accurately, and be able to read and listen with enough understanding to answer comprehension questions. However, language learning is different from other academic subjects, many of which are based around retention of knowledge.
Learning a second language involves a lot more than simply remembering the right words to use. The more that students activate their critical thinking brains, and employ Higher-Order Thinking Skills (HOTS), the more they will develop flexibility, confidence and the ability to self-evaluate in the work that they do, making them better language users in any situation where they have to use the language they learn.
Critical thinking includes a range of HOTS which can be useful to language learning, enabling students to develop learning strategies which can help them to work independently and develop in their own ways beyond the classroom and the set curriculum that you teach . Fostering a critical / analytical environment takes students further than simply supplying correct answers to pass tests, or repeating memorised chunks of language which may not apply to their real lives. Here are some simple ways of facilitating critical thinking in your classroom:
Ask for more than just information
The vast majority of questions asked by teachers in the language classroom are designed for students to answer based on something they have just been told, or that they need to remember from previous classes. In most cases, the teacher already knows the answer to the questions, which have been designed for teaching rather than actual sharing of information. Questions where the answer is already known are called ‘display’ questions, and are a useful teaching tool. However, the level of thinking required to answer them is not highly cognitive. Often, students either know the answer or they don’t - there is little room for calculation, deduction or other higher types of reasoning.
Rather than simply asking students for the answers to the questions they are studying, or for the information in the texts they read, push them to tell you more about aspects of the text which are not explicitly mentioned in the writing. This type of ‘referential’ question leads to much more authentic, spontaneous and personal information sharing, and requires more reflective and critical thought. Examples of higher-order referential questions (here, for a reading or listening exercise) might be:
Why does the writer use the word ‘_______’ in this sentence?
Why do you think the writer starts the article in this way?
Do you agree with the writer when she says ‘________’? Why?
Do you think the writer feels positive / negative / happy / sad / worried… by the topic? Why?
What does the word/sentence ‘__________’ make you think of?
Some of these questions are quite high-level in terms of the language needed to respond, but questions about simple tone or feeling, or emotional response questions, can be used with lower-level learners to help them reflect on their reaction (and the author’s feeling) about the writing. This takes the student out of the traditional understanding / comprehending / answering factual questions from the text that may restrict their thinking as they read.
Get students deducing meaning from context
Another area of language where critical thinking can be used is in vocabulary study. Traditionally, teachers focus very strongly on accuracy of meaning when teaching new words, then find ways of helping students to remember the words effectively. However, the majority of new words that a student meets, both in and out of the classroom, will not be the focus of specific teaching stages with a teacher going through pronunciation, meaning and use .
More critical/analytical approaches to vocabulary can help students to develop independent strategies for dealing with new words without constant support. The skill of deducing meaning based on language clues is an invaluable skill for anyone using a second language, and a skills which can be developed in the classroom. All that is needed are some ways of spotting the clues in a new word, sentence or paragraph, which can reveal different aspects of meaning:
At word level, a lot of meaning can be deduced from prefixes, suffixes and stems. By getting students to identify the stem meaning of a word, then applying prefixes and suffixes, they will be surprised at how they can decode new meanings more easily, as in:
Undeniable = prefix: un- + stem: -deny- + suffix: -able
If a student knows the word ‘deny’, they can build the meaning of
un- (not) + -deny- (refuse) + -able (be able to)
This kind of inductive work leads to activities with word families, where one stem word can be explored for all its related forms: deny, denial, deniable, undeniable, etc., building several words form a single, known root.
In sentence examples, clues to meaning (contextual clues) can be designed and added in to help students deduce new meanings, as in:
Janine was happy, but Bob was miserable
The key clue here comes from the contrast marker ‘but’ - if students know the meaning of happy, and they know that ‘but’ is followed by a contrasting idea, then they can deduce that ‘miserable’ means ‘unhappy’, even if they have never seen the word before.
Presenting vocabulary in a sentence context like this takes students beyond the level of single word meanings, and gets them using other information around a new word to think critically and engage with meaning in different ways. By teaching your students the skill of deducing meaning, you can save a lot of time teaching new words one by one, and get them working with different examples on their own, or working with a partner.
Use project-based activities
Another way of developing higher-order skills is by focusing students on the processes that they follow when they learn. A great way of doing this is to get them working on projects rather than individual language tasks. Projects are different toothed types of activity because they involve collaboration and allocation of work between different members of a group to get the job done. The process of planning, delegating and taking responsibility for different aspects of a project can involve some high-level critical thinking and reflection (if it is planned into the project by the teacher).
Projects usually result in more complex outcomes than single activities, so require more different skills than just language use. The discussion, role-setting, preparation and creative processes all require different types of interaction and communication, all of which are more authentic than general language-focused pair-work.
Working together to create a poster presentation, a board game or a labelled model involves different language and social skills, leadership, compromise and strategy-setting, which can be performed in English if the students’ level is high enough, or in the students’ first language (in a specific planning stage) if it isn’t. By following the procedure below, you can incorporate HOTS, language and other skills to produce an effective project outcome:
inform students of the goal of the project - what product are they working towards?
Students break the project into parts and assign roles to each group member (in first language with lower-level groups)
Students produce a plan for creation of the project, step by step to get everything done in good order and within the time limit (again, in first language if necessary)
Students each work on their role for the project, keeping in communication with each other at each step
Group members check each others’ work for accuracy of language, quality and how well it fits the project brief from 1)
In larger classes, further critical thinking can be developed by having each group present their work to another group for feedback - what do the other group(s) think of their work? Each group writes action points to improve their product and goes back to make any changes they think are necessary.
Each group presents their project to the class, either in a show-and-tell style, or by moving from project to project to view each others’ work.
Develop students’ reflective skills
Self-reflection is one of the highest of the HOTS. Without stopping to evaluate any task that we have done, it is much more difficult to develop better ways of doing a good job in future. This applies to language learning as much as it does to any other kind of activity.
A simple way of bringing self-reflection into he classroom is to include a short stage at the end of each activity that you do, or at the end of each class, which focuses on how students performed. Some simple questions that can prompt self-reflection after a period of class activity are:
How do you feel after completing this activity?
Did you find it easy or difficult? Why?
What did you find most useful in that activity?
How did you complete the activity? What did you do first, then what did you do?
If you did it again, what would you do differently?
You don’t need to ask all of these questions after every activity, but questions like these can prompt a little bit of thought about how students are working, not just whether they succeeded in a task or not. This can raise awareness about learning strategies, thought processes and how different students approach different types of activity . They can also inform you about how your students work, and therefore how they might benefit from different types of support from your teaching.
As we have seen, critical, analytical and higher-order work can be incorporated into the language classroom without too much disturbance of your planned work. A few small additions here and there, and some rethinking of tasks and activities, can raise the level of thinking that goes on, and help students to help themselves when they come to perform in English in situations outside the classroom. Start by including some small critical or reflective questions in your classes, and see how your students respond. You (and they) might be surprised at the results!
Tom Garside is Director of Language Point Teacher Education. Language Point delivers the internationally recognised RQF level 5 Trinity CertTESOL in a totally online mode of study , and the RQF level 6 Trinity College Certificate for Practising Teachers , a contextually-informed teacher development qualification with specific courses which focus on online language education or online methodology.
If you are interested to know more about these qualifications, or you want take your teaching to a new level with our teacher education courses, contact us or see our course dates and fees for details.
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Used consistently, these strategies can help middle and high school teachers guide students to improve much-needed skills.
Critical thinking skills are important in every discipline, at and beyond school. From managing money to choosing which candidates to vote for in elections to making difficult career choices, students need to be prepared to take in, synthesize, and act on new information in a world that is constantly changing.
While critical thinking might seem like an abstract idea that is tough to directly instruct, there are many engaging ways to help students strengthen these skills through active learning.
Create space for students to both reflect on their ideas and discuss the power of doing so. Show students how they can push back on their own thinking to analyze and question their assumptions. Students might ask themselves, “Why is this the best answer? What information supports my answer? What might someone with a counterargument say?”
Through this reflection, students and teachers (who can model reflecting on their own thinking) gain deeper understandings of their ideas and do a better job articulating their beliefs. In a world that is go-go-go, it is important to help students understand that it is OK to take a breath and think about their ideas before putting them out into the world. And taking time for reflection helps us more thoughtfully consider others’ ideas, too.
Reasoning skills are another key component of critical thinking, involving the abilities to think logically, evaluate evidence, identify assumptions, and analyze arguments. Students who learn how to use reasoning skills will be better equipped to make informed decisions, form and defend opinions, and solve problems.
One way to teach reasoning is to use problem-solving activities that require students to apply their skills to practical contexts. For example, give students a real problem to solve, and ask them to use reasoning skills to develop a solution. They can then present their solution and defend their reasoning to the class and engage in discussion about whether and how their thinking changed when listening to peers’ perspectives.
A great example I have seen involved students identifying an underutilized part of their school and creating a presentation about one way to redesign it. This project allowed students to feel a sense of connection to the problem and come up with creative solutions that could help others at school. For more examples, you might visit PBS’s Design Squad , a resource that brings to life real-world problem-solving.
Moving beyond the repetition of facts, critical thinking requires students to take positions and explain their beliefs through research, evidence, and explanations of credibility.
When we pose open-ended questions, we create space for classroom discourse inclusive of diverse, perhaps opposing, ideas—grounds for rich exchanges that support deep thinking and analysis.
For example, “How would you approach the problem?” and “Where might you look to find resources to address this issue?” are two open-ended questions that position students to think less about the “right” answer and more about the variety of solutions that might already exist.
Journaling, whether digitally or physically in a notebook, is another great way to have students answer these open-ended prompts—giving them time to think and organize their thoughts before contributing to a conversation, which can ensure that more voices are heard.
Once students process in their journal, small group or whole class conversations help bring their ideas to life. Discovering similarities between answers helps reveal to students that they are not alone, which can encourage future participation in constructive civil discourse.
Education has moved far past the idea of “Be careful of what is on Wikipedia, because it might not be true.” With AI innovations making their way into classrooms, teachers know that informed readers must question everything.
Understanding what is and is not a reliable source and knowing how to vet information are important skills for students to build and utilize when making informed decisions. You might start by introducing the idea of bias: Articles, ads, memes, videos, and every other form of media can push an agenda that students may not see on the surface. Discuss credibility, subjectivity, and objectivity, and look at examples and nonexamples of trusted information to prepare students to be well-informed members of a democracy.
One of my favorite lessons is about the Pacific Northwest tree octopus . This project asks students to explore what appears to be a very real website that provides information on this supposedly endangered animal. It is a wonderful, albeit over-the-top, example of how something might look official even when untrue, revealing that we need critical thinking to break down “facts” and determine the validity of the information we consume.
A fun extension is to have students come up with their own website or newsletter about something going on in school that is untrue. Perhaps a change in dress code that requires everyone to wear their clothes inside out or a change to the lunch menu that will require students to eat brussels sprouts every day.
Giving students the ability to create their own falsified information can help them better identify it in other contexts. Understanding that information can be “too good to be true” can help them identify future falsehoods.
Consider how to keep the classroom from becoming an echo chamber. If students come from the same community, they may have similar perspectives. And those who have differing perspectives may not feel comfortable sharing them in the face of an opposing majority.
To support varying viewpoints, bring diverse voices into the classroom as much as possible, especially when discussing current events. Use primary sources: videos from YouTube, essays and articles written by people who experienced current events firsthand, documentaries that dive deeply into topics that require some nuance, and any other resources that provide a varied look at topics.
I like to use the Smithsonian “OurStory” page , which shares a wide variety of stories from people in the United States. The page on Japanese American internment camps is very powerful because of its first-person perspectives.
To make the above strategies and thinking routines a consistent part of your classroom, spread them out—and build upon them—over the course of the school year. You might challenge students with information and/or examples that require them to use their critical thinking skills; work these skills explicitly into lessons, projects, rubrics, and self-assessments; or have students practice identifying misinformation or unsupported arguments.
Critical thinking is not learned in isolation. It needs to be explored in English language arts, social studies, science, physical education, math. Every discipline requires students to take a careful look at something and find the best solution. Often, these skills are taken for granted, viewed as a by-product of a good education, but true critical thinking doesn’t just happen. It requires consistency and commitment.
In a moment when information and misinformation abound, and students must parse reams of information, it is imperative that we support and model critical thinking in the classroom to support the development of well-informed citizens.
Introduction, creative and critical language learners, what is needed, attitude towards students, attitude towards pedagogy, attitude towards themselves (as teachers), how it is achieved.
'Let's compare the two pictures' | 'What do you predict will happen when ...' | 'What conclusions can you draw about this story?' | 'What evidence do you have to support ...?' | 'Let's analyze this problem.' |
'Describe the steps you took to arrive at that answer.' | 'What can you do to get started?' | 'Describe your plan of action.' | 'What criteria are you using to make your choice?' | 'How do you know you're correct?' |
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English language teachers are trained to teach language skills, but they do not always learn how to teach the critical thinking skills that help guide learning. Critical thinking skills are part of many curriculum guidelines, but some teachers may be unsure how to teach these skills. For example, an academic reading curriculum might have the following objective: “Learners will analyze a variety of academic writing samples in an effort to determine the components, organization, and structure of academic writing texts.” Although English language teachers can think of any number of ways to teach and support reading as a skill, they may find it more difficult to achieve the first part of this objective—how to teach learners to analyze.
Critical thinking involves reflection and the analysis of ideas. Good critical thinkers are able to break a broad idea into many parts. They can examine each part, question biases, and come to a reasonable conclusion. This task is difficult for anyone and requires practice. Thinking critically is even more challenging when done in a second language.
This month’s Teacher’s Corner looks at the critical thinking skills that shape learning goals and outcomes. Each week presents a new activity that targets critical thinking skills while also encouraging language use and development. Some of the activities and tasks may seem familiar as they are based on long-established language teaching techniques. The activities are designed to support authentic language use while also encouraging critical thinking.
Brown, H. D. and Lee, H. (2015). Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy. White Plains, NY: Pearson Longman.
Additional Resources
For additional information about critical thinking , check out the resource below and many others available on the American English website:
· A Questionnaire Project: Integrating the Four Macro Skills with Critical Thinking
It takes time to design activities and tasks that both target language skills and encourage critical thinking. Project-based learning (also known as experiential learning) is one approach you can use to integrate language-learning goals with critical thinking skills. Project-based learning tasks and activities combine language and action so that learners learn by doing (Brown and Lee, 2015). Learners must understand, examine, analyze, evaluate, and create while using English to complete a task or activity. The result is a language skills task or activity that promotes critical thinking skills.
One of the most popular types of project-based learning in the language classroom is the Language Experience Approach (LEA). LEA gives language learners a chance to recount a personal experience in their own words (Brown and Lee, 2015). This week’s Teacher’s Corner offers an LEA activity that can be conducted in the classroom using minimal resources.
High Beginning
During this activity, students will be able to the following:
Paper, pencils
o Describe a special meal you ate with your family.
1. Begin class by telling students: “Today you are going to talk about a special meal you ate with your family.” Direct their attention to the prompt and questions on the board.
2. Ask students to think about a meal. You might say, “Do you remember a special meal with your family? Do you remember two?”
3. Encourage students to begin sharing what they remember. For example, one student might share that they remember a time when they had a family dinner for a birthday or holiday. Use the questions on the board to guide the discussion.
4. Tell students that now they are going to work on writing their story of a special meal.
5. As students write, walk around and support them by helping them write down exactly what they say.
If you have a student who wants to know how to spell something correctly, you can tell them the correct spelling. On the other hand, if a student spells some words incorrectly, do not correct them. Encourage learners to use the English they know and are comfortable using in their stories.
6. After students have written their stories, give everyone a chance to share what they have written.
One way to share the stories is to divide the students into two groups. Have one group hang their stories on the wall and stand next to them. Tell the second group that they are visiting the story gallery, and they can go around the room reading the different stories and asking the authors questions. After students have circulated, the groups can switch tasks. The second group now hosts a story gallery, and the first group gets to read stories and ask questions.
7. Keep all of the stories up on the walls so students can see their work, or encourage students to take their stories home to share with their families.
One variation of this activity is to have learners write their stories in small groups of three or four students. Have one student tell their story out loud while the other students in the group write down the story as they hear it.
An additional variation could involve a whole-class shared experience. Rather than have learners share their individual experiences, you could ask the class to recount an experience you shared as a group. For example, if the class went on a field trip recently, ask the class to recount the field trip together. The teacher becomes the scribe and writes the story on the board, and the students can see their experiences taking shape in writing.
This activity can be extended to include a visual component. Once students have written their stories, ask them to draw a picture depicting the events in the story. This could be done simply with pencil and paper or, if magazines and pictures are available, students could make picture collages to go with their stories.
Reading aloud is a popular reading task in English language classrooms. The task typically targets skills associated with reading, such as fluency, word recognition, and pronunciation. In this week’s Teacher’s Corner, a read-aloud task is used as the framework for a more demanding task that targets critical thinking skills as well. The task asks learners to process and then summarize the content of a story while reading aloud in a group.
Intermediate and above
During this activity, students will be able to complete the following tasks:
Reading: “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allen Poe
1. Begin by putting students in the groups planned before class.
2. Tell the class that today they are going to read a story by Edgar Allen Poe called “The Black Cat.”
3. Have each group discuss what they expect the story might be about based on the title and on what they know about Edgar Allen Poe.
4. Ask the class to share what they’ve discussed in groups, and write the ideas on the board. For example, one group might say they know Edgar Allen Poe wrote scary stories so they expect this story to be scary. Another group might say that black cats are believed to be bad luck in some cultures.
5. Give each group a single copy of the story. Tell the class that one student will read three paragraphs aloud to the group. As the person reads, they will stop at the end of each paragraph to summarize the paragraph for the group. After the first student has read and summarized three paragraphs, the next student in the group will read and summarize the next three paragraphs. The group will continue reading the story by taking turns reading aloud and summarizing.
a. If possible, model the activity for students using Appendix A as a sample of reading and summarizing. For example, read the first paragraph in Appendix A aloud to the students. At the end, summarize the paragraph using the suggested summary in Appendix A.
6. Once all of the groups have completed the story, hand out more copies of the story so each student has a copy.
7. Direct students to read the story silently.
8. While students read, write the following questions on the board:
a. What was difficult about reading aloud while summarizing?
b. What part of the activity was easiest?
c. Were your group’s summaries accurate?
9. When everyone has finished reading, ask students to discuss the questions written on the board in their groups.
10. Finally, bring the class back together and ask for some responses to the questions.
Any reading can be used for this activity. The reading should be easy enough for the students to successfully complete the activity, but also difficult enough for them to find the activity challenging.
Another variation might include giving each student a different short text. For example, each student gets a different poem. Students would read aloud and summarize their text, and then the group would evaluate the reader’s performance.
Sample Annotated Read-Aloud
The Tell-Tale Heart
Edgar Allen Poe
It’s true! Yes, I have been ill, very ill. But why do you say that I have lost control of my mind, why do you say that I am mad? Can you not see that I have full control of my mind? Is it not clear that I am not mad? Indeed, the illness only made my mind, my feelings, my senses stronger, more powerful. My sense of hearing especially became more powerful. I could hear sounds I had never heard before. I heard sounds from heaven; and I heard sounds from hell!
Suggested summary:
The person has been sick, but is not crazy. The sickness made the person smarter and improved his hearing. He heard wonderful sounds and horrible sounds.
Making predictions in reading and listening activities is a great way to develop learners’ critical thinking skills. In order to make predictions, learners need to evaluate the components of the information they have while also making reasonable judgments about possible outcomes. Evaluating, reflecting, and making judgments are all part of the critical thinking skills needed for learners to fully engage in learning and to use what they learn beyond the classroom.
In this Teacher’s Corner activity, students use the first part of a comic strip as a starting point for creating their own endings. This activity is simple and fun, and can be used with any age group at any level. As you work through the activity, think about possible variations in addition to those offered below.
Beginning and above
During this activity, students will be able to do the following tasks:
1. Begin class by asking students to describe a comic strip.
2. Write the title of the comic strip on the board, “Lost in the Desert.” Ask learners what they think the comic might be about, based on the title.
3. Tell students that they will read the first part of the comic strip in class and then write new endings.
4. Hand out a copy of the comic strip to each student in the class.
5. Tell learners to look at the pictures and read the language silently.
6. After giving learners time to work individually, read the comic as a group by calling on different students to read aloud.
7. Check learners’ reading comprehension by asking the following questions of the whole class:
8. Once the story has been discussed, begin a group brainstorm.
9. Tell students that it’s now their turn to write and draw the rest of the comic.
10. After students have finished their comics, put students into pairs by having students work with the person sitting to their left.
11. In the pairs, students will read the comic with their new endings to their partners.
Instead of having students finish a comic strip, students can make their own comic strips. Then they give the first half of their comic strip to a partner. The partner will then write their own endings to their classmate’s comic strip.
Another alternative is to give students short stories or poems to finish. American English has both poems and short stories available for free to teachers and learners.
Academic writing teachers try to help learners understand and imitate the various rhetorical styles used in academic texts. Understanding academic writing involves careful and repeated reading, analysis, and evaluation of many texts. It then requires further analysis, synthesis, and creation to imitate the writing style. All of this work involves using critical thinking and language skills. One way to engage learners in this process and support the acquisition of advanced writing skills is to use students’ existing critical thinking skills in an activity that analyzes the components of academic writing.
This Teacher’s Corner offers a strategy to introduce learners to academic writing through the familiar task of outlining. Writers use outlining as a way to plan and organize their ideas at the beginning of the writing process. In this activity, learners use the outline in reverse as a way to break down and analyze the structure of an academic text. This process is called a reverse outline and is explained in detail here. Keep in mind that a reverse outline can be adapted to fit the needs of intermediate writers as well, as long as the reading is selected to meet learners’ language level.
Advanced (university level)
1. Start class with a warm-up discussion to elicit ideas about the structure of academic writing. Use these questions as a guide:
2. Hand out the outline template (Appendix A) to students. (The outline template can be adapted and adjusted to meet the needs of essay writing in your specific class. Feel free to add components to this outline or delete components that are unnecessary.) Ask learners to review the template for similarities between what they said in the discussion and what the template lists as components of academic writing.
3. Explain that this outline is a model of the structure, but that every article differs slightly as to how each of the core parts is structured. For example, one essay might have 10 body paragraphs but another essay might only have 4.
4. Tell students they are now going to use the outline to read an academic article. They will complete an outline, using the template as a model, based on the information from the article they read.
5. Give everyone a copy of the article. Explain that before trying to complete the outline, they should read the article once and make notes. Reading once will help them process the article, ask questions, and get an overview of the structure of the article.
6. Have learners read, make notes, and complete their outlines. While they are working, circulate to answer any questions they have.
7. After learners have completed the outlines, bring the class back together as a group.
8. Place students in pairs by dividing the class in half and counting off each group (for example: 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.). The two students who are assigned 1 will work together, the students assigned 2 will work together, etc.
9. Once learners are in their pairs, ask them to read over their partners’ outlines, paying attention to similarities and differences.
10. While they are reading, write these directions on the board.
11. Then give each pair a new outline template. Explain that students will work together to create a new outline, using the directions on the board.
12. When pairs have finished, bring the class back together to discuss what they learned from the outline activity.
One simple variation is to have students read the text at home and take notes before working on the outline in class. This variation allows students to read at their own pace so that when students come to class, they are all familiar with the text.
Another alternative to this assignment is to have students work in pairs from the beginning of the process. After everyone in the class reads the article, put students in pairs and have them work together to complete the outlines. This variation ensures that learners will vocalize, discuss, and negotiate what is included on the outline and what is not.
A possible extension to this activity is to revisit the reverse outline when students are writing their own essays. During the revision process students could complete a reverse outline of their own work or complete reverse outlines of their classmates’ work. For example, if students have written a first draft of an essay, before they revise it or write a second draft, they could do a reverse outline of their first draft. By doing so, they could recognize areas in their writing to improve. Then, students could use their reverse outline for help in preparing and writing a second draft.
Outline Template
I. Introduction
II. Main Paragraphs (repeat for each paragraph)
III. Conclusion
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Critical thinking has been a buzzword for some time now. In fact, judging by the research, it has been a buzzword for over a decade. The problem with buzz words is that, over time, they lose a lot of their original meaning and begin to stand for almost anything new or progressive. In addition, it has become an empty rallying cry (“We must teach critical thinking in English language teaching!”) devoid of the very thinking it purports to support .
Why does hearing the cry above make people cringe? Why does reference to Bloom’s taxonomy often cause negative reactions? One reason is because these terms are overused. But is there something more? Are people (rightly) skeptical of these concepts?
There is no doubt that “critical thinking” is buzzworthy. And, if it’s buzzworthy, it must have some importance. So, what exactly is critical thinking and why is it important? I believe the answer to these questions can be framed through the arguments of those who are critical of critical thinking. This article will briefly consider the research on critical thinking and argue that critical thinking should play a central and explicit role in English language teaching.
There are those who feel that critical thinking can only be defined in broad, subjective terms that are too various to unify. How do you teach something if you can’t even define it? The literature on critical thinking – coming from psychology, education, and philosophy, agrees somewhat with this point. It seems that critical thinking is not readily reducible. It is, rather, multidimensional, or, polysemous. Nevertheless, while the idea of critical thinking may be expressed in various ways, Moore found that these are typically well-articulated and clearly conveyed to students. Moore claims that the variety of meanings may be discipline-based, meaning that psychology prefers certain aspects of critical thinking more so than history, which prefers others. Still, Moore was able to identify some common features which can define the concept more clearly.
According to Moore’s research, critical thinking is:
Although Moore is not the sole and final authority on what is means to be a critical thinker, it’s clear that critical thinking can be somewhat defined as a concept, though we must accept that its meaning – like many other concepts – “is its use in the language” (Wittgenstein, cited in Moore, p. 508).
If critical thinking can be defined (as Moore and others have done), then can it be taught? Certainly, it’s important to think critically. No one is arguing it is not. However, many claim that it must be organically developed, or it is a skill that can be encouraged but not learned. The literature, however, shows the opposite. Not only can critical thinking be taught, it can be practiced and refined!
First, we have to understand that critical thinking is hard. Experimental research by Kuhn (1991) shows that a majority of people cannot demonstrate critical reasoning skills. That is, they cannot often justify their beliefs and opinions with evidence.
Van Gelder and Mulnix, mulling over the question of how to teach critical thinking, found some practical advice, much of which is based in cognitive science.
Empirical research on critical thinking shows that it not only can be taught but must be taught. As teachers, we should develop exercises, strategies, and assessments that seek to improve this skill. Mulnix concludes rather poignantly, “To do any less is not only to let our students down, but it is to fail at that very skill we are trying to teach”.
One exercise that has been shown to be effective is argument mapping, in which arguments (including claims, warrants, evidence, etc.) are visually displayed in a diagram. This makes it easy to understand, analyze, and evaluate arguments. Argument maps start with a central premise (i.e. thesis) at the top and include below it evidence or reasons, co-premises (co-reasons), counterarguments and rebuttals, with lines and arrows to show the connections between the ideas.
As a classroom activity, argument maps can first be given as templates that students fill in. Once familiar with argument mapping, they can then begin to construct their own based on analyzing textual sources (readings or lectures) or for forming their own logical conclusions (for discussions, debates, and presentations). By analyzing the arguments written, students can then begin evaluating reasons, evidence, and counterarguments. They can begin questioning the validity of these arguments and suggest their own conclusions or justification. In this way, they are deliberately engaging in critical thinking practice, which, as shown above, is key for developing good critical thinking skills.
Argument map examples:
Bloom’s taxonomy is perhaps the most well-known example of critical thinking. It is an orderly, visually-pleasing representation of, as we have seen, quite a large concept – and this is perhaps one reason why it has held educational weight since the late 50s. However, it has come under much scrutiny both for the way it has been organized and the way it has been employed. There is poor empirical basis for the organization of the hierarchy and its implications for task sequencing. “Lower order skills” are not necessarily easier than “higher order skills” and vice-versa. In addition, these “lower” skills are often used in conjunction or even after using the “higher order skills”.
Nevertheless, Bloom’s (revised) taxonomy is still quite common in the scientific literature. A search for “bloom’s taxonomy” on Google Scholar reveals a great deal of peer-reviewed research which utilized Bloom’s taxonomy. So, why the persistence? While the hierarchy may have its weaknesses and its organization may not always represent reality, the levels of the taxonomy do include most conceptions of what critical thinking is, and there is evidence from neuroscience that supports the taxonomy itself. In the video, “ What can Neuroscience Research Teach Us about Teaching? ”, neuroscientist Daniel Kaufer points to Bloom’s taxonomy as an example of active learning in which, as one moves up the hierarchy, more and more areas of the brain become dynamically activated. In other words, when more areas of the brain “fire together” they typically “wire together” . So, working on higher order skills may not be more difficult than lower order skills, but it may lead to stronger reinforcement of learning.
One of the alternatives to the taxonomy Case proposes is very much aligned with what we have read above about the pedagogical ideas behind teaching critical thinking:
“Understand that inviting students to offer reasoned judgments is a more fruitful way of framing learning tasks than is the use of verbs clustered around levels of thinking that are removed from evaluative judgments”. [jbox title=”Reference List”]
Atkinson, D. (1997). A critical approach to critical thinking in TESOL. TESOL quarterly , 31 (1), 71-94.
Case, R. (2013). The Unfortuate Consequences of Bloom’s Taxonomy. Social Education , 77 (4), 196-200.
Dalton, D. F. (2011, December). An investigation of an approach to teaching critical reading to native Arabic-speaking students. Arab World English Journal, 2 (4),58-87.
Davidson, B. W. (1998). Comments on Dwight Atkinson’s” A Critical Approach to Critical Thinking in TESOL”: A case for critical thinking in the English language classroom. TESOL quarterly , 32 (1), 119-123.
Hernandez, M. L., & Rodríguez, L. F. G. (2015). Transactional Reading in EFL Learning: A Path to Promote Critical Thinking through Urban Legends. Colombian Applied Linguistics Journal , 17 (2), 229-245.
Halpern, D. F. (1998). Teaching critical thinking for transfer across domains: Disposition, skills, structure training, and metacognitive monitoring. American Psychologist , 53 (4).
Moore, T. (2013). Critical thinking: seven definitions in search of a concept. Studies in Higher Education , 38 (4), 506-522.
Mulnix, J. W. (2012). Thinking critically about critical thinking. Educational Philosophy and Theory , 44 (5), 464-479.
Nezami, S. R. A. (2012). A critical study of comprehension strategies and general problems in reading faced by Arab EFL learners with special reference to Najran University in Saudi Arabia. International Journal of Social Sciences and Education, 2 (3), 306-317.
Parrish, B., & Johnson, K. (2010, April). Promoting learner transitions to post-secondary education and work: Developing academic readiness from the beginning. CAELA
Network Briefs. Retrieved June 1, 2015 from http://www.cal.org/caelanetwork/resources/transitions.html
Ramanathan, V., & Kaplan, R. B. (1996). Some problematic” channels” in the teaching of critical thinking in current LI composition textbooks: Implications for L2 student-writers. Issues in Applied Linguistics , 7 (2).
van Gelder, T. (2005). Teaching critical thinking: Some lessons from cognitive science. College teaching , 53 (1), 41-48.
Wong, B. L. (2016). Using Critical-Thinking Strategies To Develop Academic Reading Skills Among Saudi Iep Students.
Anthony Schmidt
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Thanks for this really well researched and written article, Anthony. I particularly liked your suggestion of 'argument mapping'. I think it could be a great way for students to plan their academic assignments. I'd like to discuss some possible computer tools which may be useful for students to use when argument mapping. One could be the Microsoft Word SmartArt function. Another could be this mindmapping website: I'd love to hear about any other suggestions. Sam
Thanks Sam. I think argument mapping has a lot of uses, and it is a technique that has not been utilized much in ELT. This is likely because few of us have little experience or knowledge of it. Thanks for sharing the mindmap website. It's really cool and I can see a lot of uses well beyond argument maps. Vocabulary lists were the first thing to pop into my mind. Again, really cool! Thanks again.
Karl Millsom
Eagerly awaiting part 2. Indeed, buzzwords pick up debris as they popularise, and too often eventually they get cast out entirely, the core and sound principles included. This article does a good job of extracting the baby from the bathwater. The argument mapping is something I use a lot here in Indonesia when teaching how to write essays to post graduates who have often not encountered the concept of structured academic writing at all in all their years of schooling. Your examples are very well presented.
Thank you for sharing this primer defining, questioning, and contextualizing "critical thinking" in ELT. While many English majors usually choose the essay as the place to teach argument and critical thinking, our EFL and ESL classrooms provide many other opportunities too. Argument mapping is an excellent, flexible technique. In teaching adult education, community college, university, and graduate students, it's also often helpful to deploy problem-solution assignments to develop critical thinking. It can be personal challenge and crucial life skill (staying healthy, choosing a major) or a common social problem (affordable housing, reducing pollution). You can also scale up the vocabulary to fit the situation with risks/benefits, trade offs, and stakeholders. Likewise, asking students to write consumer reviews often works. Consumer reviews provide students with a chance to present facts, express opinions, and provide supporting evidence. Students can also share movie reviews, product reviews, and restaurant reviews online with authentic English-speaking audiences. I've found many ESL and EFL students far more receptive to critical teacher feedback when they plan to share their consumers with the "public" at large, and rewrite class assignments to reach higher standards. Amazon, Yelp, and other review sites have opened up exceptional possibilities and new audiences for student writing. Unfortunately, as the declining level of political discourse in several elections around the democratic world show, critical thinking remains in short supply. Sometimes a powerful slogan - Make America Great Again - can seduce many voters. Would it be helpful for the word "great" to be defined? Would it be useful to know, in some detail, what proposals were being advocated to reach that objective? How will the proposal be implemented? What are the probable costs? What are the likely benefits? What's the timeline? Critical thinking at some level asks students to go from vague generalizations to accurate, detailed suggestions. Numbers add precision. Sources provide credibility. Example illuminate. From my perspective, teaching critical thinking also often requires teaching students to go from the language of false certainty to possibility and probability. Deploying frequency adverbs and hedging language often helps. Thank you, again, for sharing your experiences and research with EFL Magazine readers.
Thanks for the reply Eric. You raise many interesting points, all of which I agree with. I find that finding ways of making the audience authentic - not an easy task - paired with critical thinking makes for excellent assignments and student practice. I really like what you said here: " Numbers add precision. Sources provide credibility. Example illuminate." It's a good way to put it and can easily be explained to students in this manner.
I'm finding argument mapping to be more and more useful. I have not actually used it for outlining but have used it for breaking down readings, and using the information in the map to inform new writings.
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Common Core State Standards Initiative
The Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects (“the standards”) represent the next generation of K–12 standards designed to prepare all students for success in college, career, and life by the time they graduate from high school.
The Common Core asks students to read stories and literature, as well as more complex texts that provide facts and background knowledge in areas such as science and social studies. Students will be challenged and asked questions that push them to refer back to what they’ve read. This stresses critical-thinking, problem-solving, and analytical skills that are required for success in college, career, and life.
The standards establish guidelines for English language arts (ELA) as well as for literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects. Because students must learn to read, write, speak, listen, and use language effectively in a variety of content areas, the standards promote the literacy skills and concepts required for college and career readiness in multiple disciplines.
The College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards form the backbone of the ELA/literacy standards by articulating core knowledge and skills, while grade-specific standards provide additional specificity. Beginning in grade 6, the literacy standards allow teachers of ELA, history/social studies, science, and technical subjects to use their content area expertise to help students meet the particular challenges of reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language in their respective fields.
It is important to note that the grade 6–12 literacy standards in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects are meant to supplement content standards in those areas, not replace them. States determine how to incorporate these standards into their existing standards for those subjects or adopt them as content area literacy standards.
The skills and knowledge captured in the ELA/literacy standards are designed to prepare students for life outside the classroom. They include critical-thinking skills and the ability to closely and attentively read texts in a way that will help them understand and enjoy complex works of literature. Students will learn to use cogent reasoning and evidence collection skills that are essential for success in college, career, and life. The standards also lay out a vision of what it means to be a literate person who is prepared for success in the 21 st century.
Rèn luyện tư duy phê phán cho học sinh qua dạy học chủ đề nhị thức newton (chuyên đề dạy học toán 10), creative-critical thinking stimulation of pre service teachers by socratic questions and chemical representation, a study on the relationships between teachers’ critical thinking dispositions and their perceptions of occupational professionalism, an analysis of the units "i'm learning my past" and "the place where we live" in the social studies textbook related to critical thinking standards., improving the critical thinking skills of learners in a grade six history classroom: an action research approach, investigating the relationship between critical thinking skills and the quality of iranian intermediate tefl students' writing, a study of senior students’ critical reading competence via analyzing their reading reports, assessing the efficacy of argument diagramming to teach critical thinking skills in introduction to philosophy, seeing the forest through the trees: some renewed thinking on dispositions specific to social studies education, critical thinking training for army officers. volume three. development and assessment of a web-based training program, related papers.
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Reading, Writing, Math, Science, Social Studies
Reading, writing, grammar, and punctuation for grade 2.
Language Arts
Full curriculum
This fun, colorful 352-page book can be used as a textbook or a comprehensive workbook with your textbook to teach reading, writing, grammar, and punctuation skills and concepts that students are expected to know in second grade. They also develop critical thinking, vocabulary, and several other skills and concepts normally taught in third grade. The engaging lessons include easy-to-follow explanations, examples, and charts for visual learners—and there is no lesson preparation! Each lesson is followed by a variety of fun, colorful, mind-building activities that use different genres. Level C (Grade 2) Content
• Capitalization | • Vowels |
• Critical Thinking | • Word Families |
• Cause and Effect | • Usage |
• Compare/Contrast | • Am, Is, and Are |
• Deductive Reasoning | • Categorizing |
• Facts and Inferences | • Comparing |
• Opinion | • Homographs |
• Prediction | • Homophones |
• Adjectives | • I, Me, and Myself |
• Adverbs | • Ordering |
• Antonyms | • Sequencing |
• Articles | • Writing Directions |
• Contractions | • Writing |
• Friendly Letters | • Characters |
• Nouns | • Comparing |
• Pronouns | • Conflict |
• Sentences | • Context Clues |
• Subject and Predicate | • Editing |
• Subject-Verb Agreement | • Fantasy |
• Synonyms | • Fiction and Nonfiction |
• Verbs | • Folktales |
• Grammar | • Following Directions |
• Punctuation | • Idioms |
• Apostrophes | • Number Word Expressions |
• Commas | • Parts of a Book |
• Exclamation Marks | • Poems |
• Periods | • Real and Make Believe |
• Question Marks | • Reference Materials |
• Quotation Marks | • Rhymes |
• Spelling | • Riddles |
• Alphabetizing | • Setting |
• Compound Words | • Table of Contents |
• Consonants | • Topic and Main Idea |
• High Frequency Words | • Using a Dictionary |
• Prefixes, Suffixes, Roots | • Using a Glossary |
• Singular/Plural |
01002BBP | |
Judy Wilson Goddard and Kathy Erickson | |
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Language Arts | |
Student Book with Answers |
Paperback Book | |
Reproducible | |
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Arts Academy
in the Woods
These days, the ability to grasp the logical connection between ideas is a necessary skill.
Unless you’re a hermit living in a cave, there is so much information coming at all of us at any given moment.
Being able to discern which information is of worth – and which is not based in reality – requires critical thinking.
Critical thinking is often synonymous with reflective and independent thinking. It means knowing how to take in the data and then come to a reasonable conclusion.
Those who engage in critical thinking are constantly questioning ideas and assumptions rather than just accepting what’s being peddled to the masses.
Critical thinkers want to know that the incoming information is representative of the bigger picture. If they determine that it’s not, they’ll take the necessary measures to get that additional information.
Critical thinking is not the same thing as being argumentative or critical/judgmental of other people. Sure, critical thinking can expose errors or poor reasoning.
But it’s also crucial for cooperative reasoning and then moving toward constructive tasks. Because acquiring more knowledge improves and strengthens one’s theories and arguments. And this subsequently leads to enhanced work processes.
Because critical thinking tends to incorporate logical and rational thinking and veers from instinct, many people see it as a hinderance to creativity.
After all, creativity requires breaking the rules, right? (Well, yes and no .)
Still, critical thinking truly requires out-of-the-box thinking. Rather than just taking popular approaches and swallowing them whole, critical thinkers challenge the consensus. This means they often have to pursue less popular thoughts or approaches.
So if you think about, critical thinking is an absolutely necessary component of creativity. Without it, how can the creative person continue to evaluate and improve upon his or her ideas?
It’s this very process of observation and study that teaches students of the arts to more intensely observe and analyze the world. And it gives them the skills that build the foundation of critical thinking.
You might think that if your path leads you to work in research, law, education, management, finance or medicine, then you’ll absolutely need this skill. And you’re right.
But no matter what you choose to do with your life, the ability to think clearly and rationally is important.
Knowing how to receive information, clearly consider it and then use it to systematically solve problems is an asset for any career. Especially in light of this new knowledge economy. To be successful in such an economy requires one to able to handle changes quickly and effectively.
There is an increased demand for workers to be able to analyze a lot of information from diverse sources, then integrate it in order to find solutions. Critical thinking promotes these skills.
It also enhances language and presentation skills. The simple act of learning to think in a more systematic and logical fashion can also improve the way one expresses ideas.
Furthermore, in having to analyze the structure of different information sources, critical thinking also improves one’s ability to comprehend.
And as we mentioned above, critical thinking actually promotes creativity. Coming up with creative solutions is more than just having new ideas. There has to be an understanding that the new ideas are useful and relevant to the required task. Critical thinking plays an important role in this.
That’s right. Critical thinking is even important for this. It’s nearly impossible to structure a meaningful life without the ability to justify and reflect on our own values and decisions. And critical thinking provides the tools for this process.
So yeah, it’s safe to say that critical thinking definitely matters.
Arts integration education merges the important skill of critical thinking achieved through art education and blends it in with academics.
There’s no disputing the importance of STEM. The above mentioned knowledge economy requires students to understand facets of science, technology, engineering and math.
With arts integration though, there’s the added importance of art – hence the term STEAM. Arts integration isn’t looking to bypass STEM. It strives instead to create an integrated program that includes all of those, while teaching the application of skills learned through the arts – such as critical thinking.
Arts integration helps students see the world from multiple angles, and to take a design-thinking approach in finding solutions.
Teaching young people to be careful and deliberate observers can go miles toward expanding their worldview. And this, in turn, can create a stronger democracy.
So take a look at what our students have to say . And/or request a tour of our school and see what we have to offer.
Then get ready to put those critical thinking skills toward a higher purpose.
COMMENTS
Draw conclusions, make decisions, prioritize them; Take action and create steps to make your decisions applicable to the initial question. It might not always be possible to follow all steps in the language classroom, depending on the activity. That should not mean we should not teach critical thinking, even (and especially) to young students.
Critical thinking is an essential component of effective essay writing and written communication. It is the process of objectively analyzing, evaluating, and making judgements about information and arguments. When used in essay writing and written communication, critical thinking helps individuals produce well-reasoned, well-supported, and ...
Students grappled with ideas and their beliefs and employed deep critical-thinking skills to develop arguments for their claims. Embedding critical-thinking skills in curriculum that students care ...
Critical thinking happens when children draw on their existing knowledge and experience, as well as on their problem-solving skills, to do things like: Compare and contrast. Explain why things happen. Evaluate ideas and form opinions. Understand the perspectives of others. Predict what will happen in the future. Think of creative solutions.
Four educators offer suggestions on helping students develop critical-thinking ... She is a certified K-12 teacher and previously taught middle school English/language arts for five years ...
Let these verbs guide your methods and lesson planning. Engaging in the acts of recalling, interpreting, inferring, executing, differentiating, critiquing and producing will aid your students in accomplishing more rigorous tasks. 4. Incorporate authentic resources: There's no better way to expose students to culture and higher-order thinking ...
Language learning is a procedure, that needs critical thinking. In other words, critical thinking is not dependent on language learning, when it comes to its improvement and formation whereas language learning needs critical thinking, as it has the goal of being as much efficient as possible. Overall, it is a unique relationship during which ...
6. Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and nonprint texts. 11. Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities.
Critical thinking includes a range of HOTS which can be useful to language learning, enabling students to develop learning strategies which can help them to work independently and develop in their own ways beyond the classroom and the set curriculum that you teach.Fostering a critical / analytical environment takes students further than simply supplying correct answers to pass tests, or ...
Critical thinking is a key skill needed for everyday life. It should be applied to all aspects of a learner's studies, no matter their age or ability. It's a way of adding perspective, questioning intent and understanding ways of improving. Take a minute to watch this short video. It will help you to understand what we mean by Critical ...
It needs to be explored in English language arts, social studies, science, physical education, math. Every discipline requires students to take a careful look at something and find the best solution. Often, these skills are taken for granted, viewed as a by-product of a good education, but true critical thinking doesn't just happen. It ...
Creative and Critical Language Learners. For the purpose of this paper, creative and critical language learners are defined in terms of the learners' cognitive abilities to carry out certain tasks effectively. The creative language learners should be able to combine responses or ideas in novel ways (Smith, Ward and Finke, 1995), and to use ...
This month's Teacher's Corner looks at the critical thinking skills that shape learning goals and outcomes. Each week presents a new activity that targets critical thinking skills while also encouraging language use and development. Some of the activities and tasks may seem familiar as they are based on long-established language teaching ...
Moreover, the development of critical thinking enriches language learning by expanding it beyond language skills and memorisation ... Introduction: A unit entitled 'Fun with plays' from the language arts module of the primary English language curriculum was selected to embed the teaching of critical thinking in the curriculum context. The ...
language arts curriculum? • What are ways in which students ownership and engagements in their language arts activities might be increased as a result of the integration of training in critical thinking, creative thinking and problem solving. In each activity, students should: • focus on the important language art skills.
According to Moore's research, critical thinking is: A judgement of whether something is good, bad, valid, or true. rational, or, reason-based. skeptical thinking. productive thinking - not only challenging ideas but producing them - coming to conclusions about issues. carefully reading beyond a text's literal meaning.
This stresses critical-thinking, problem-solving, and analytical skills that are required for success in college, career, and life. The standards establish guidelines for English language arts (ELA) as well as for literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects.
The problem of development of student's critical and creative thinking skills in the process of teaching and learning a foreign language is reflected in numerous studies on enhancing the cognitive ...
These fun, colorful books can be used as textbooks or comprehensive workbooks with your textbooks to teach reading, writing, grammar, and punctuation skills for Grades 1-4. Each book also develops critical thinking, vocabulary, and several other skills and concepts normally taught in the next grade. The engaging lessons include easy-to-follow ...
Planning for Critical Thinking in Language Arts Instruction. January 2021. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-3022-1.ch075. In book: Research Anthology on Developing Critical Thinking Skills in Students (pp ...
Critical thinking handbook : a guide for remodelling lesson plans in language arts, social studies & science @inproceedings{Paul1993CriticalTH, title={Critical thinking handbook : a guide for remodelling lesson plans in language arts, social studies \& science}, author={Richard W. Paul and Moral Critique}, year={1993}, url={https://api ...
This fun, colorful 352-page book can be used as a textbook or a comprehensive workbook with your textbook to teach reading, writing, grammar, and punctuation skills and concepts that students are expected to know in second grade. They also develop critical thinking, vocabulary, and several other skills and concepts normally taught in third grade.
It also enhances language and presentation skills. The simple act of learning to think in a more systematic and logical fashion can also improve the way one expresses ideas. ... Learning Critical Thinking with an Arts Integration Education. Arts integration education merges the important skill of critical thinking achieved through art education ...