How to help your Students become (better?) Critical Thinkers!
In today's ever-changing world (aka Planet ChatGPT), the ability to think critically has become a vital skill for students to navigate the complexities of life.
Seriously, just Google “What do Employers want from future Employees,” and almost every research study will tell you their top 3 things are:
Critical Thinking
Critical Thinking
Don’t steal from me
As educators, it's one of our 1,500 responsibilities to try and help cultivate this essential skill set in our students whenever possible.
In the next few minutes, I wanted to help you explore five practical strategies (inspired by notable professionals) to help you foster critical thinking skills in the classroom (where applicable).
Shape the Climate to Support Thinking: Dara Laws Savage, an experienced English teacher, emphasizes the importance of creating a thinking-based classroom environment. By integrating current events into lessons, teachers can encourage students to think critically about the world around them. One effective technique is the FIRE Write: students focus, identify, reframe, and exchange their thoughts, fostering active engagement and critical reflection.
Free Related Resource: Adapt this Bell Ringer Notebook and insert video news articles!
2. Foster Self-Esteem and Effort-Based Mindset: Dr. Kulvarn Atwal, an executive head teacher, highlights the significance of raising students' self-esteem and promoting an effort-based mindset. Teachers can create a positive classroom culture that values perseverance and growth. By praising students explicitly for their critical thinking and development, educators can reinforce the idea that effort, not innate ability, leads to success.
Free Related Resource: Help with that classroom culture by giving the “Be Thankful” vibes daily with the Daily Gratitude Journal!
3. Encourage Questioning and Reflective Thinking: According to Larry Ferlazzo's research, secondary education teachers have varying perceptions of critical thinking skills. Teachers can encourage students to ask questions and engage in reflective thinking to address this. Diane Dahl, an education professional, suggests using prompts like "What evidence supports your claim?" or "What alternative perspectives exist?" This approach nurtures deeper analysis and encourages students to challenge assumptions.
Student Activity Idea: Have them write something, then paste what they wrote into Bard/ChatGPT and have it “Tell me why I’m wrong.”
4. Promote Collaborative Learning: Meg Riordan, an instructional coach, believes collaborative learning environments are conducive to developing critical thinking skills. Encourage students to work together in groups, fostering discussions, debates, and the exploration of diverse viewpoints. Through collaboration, students can develop the ability to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information critically.
Shameless Plug: I wrote a book that helps teachers with this, but also, do you, booboo!
5. Integrate Real-World Problem-Solving: Dr. PJ Caposey emphasizes the importance of connecting critical thinking to real-world problem-solving. Teachers can present authentic, complex problems that require students to apply critical thinking skills in practical scenarios. By solving real-world problems, students gain a deeper understanding of the value and relevance of critical thinking in their lives.
Incorporating these strategies into the classroom will empower students to become critical thinkers who can confidently navigate the world's complexities (when they don’t always have a certified professional in the room to answer every single question for them).
By shaping the classroom climate, fostering self-esteem, encouraging questioning and collaboration, and integrating real-world problem-solving, you can help lay a soliddddd foundation for your students' lifelong critical thinking skills!
Or don’t, I’m not your boss!! 😂
Never stop learning,
Dr. Tyler Tarver
P.S. I’ve got a FREE Baller Teacher Conference playing today! Hopefully you can jump in and knock out some PD hours. This is a replay of the virtual conference we did a couple summers ago! If you want to get any of your summer PD knocked out with me (at your own pace), make sure you tell your school to buy you this!