Tag: critical thinking

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Critical Thinking: A Skill to Take to the Bank

Last week, I introduced the 7 Cs of education. Essentially, they are seven ways that students learn and process information that is taught to them. Since kids all learn in their own unique ways, each of these 7 Cs are equally important. Today we’ll start with the first on the list: Critical Thinking. 

Thinking critically has many benefits, including increased problem solving ability, improved decision making, and increased curiosity. As students learn to be critical thinkers, they begin to think outside the box. This leads to more diverse, unique solutions and answers. Students start to think creatively as they expand their thinking beyond the obvious. They are able to analyze and evaluate a problem on a deeper level, which lends itself to making informed inferences, and eventually, unique solutions.

Critical thinking is a skill that is used long after students have completed formal education. Because of this, it’s important that students are taught how to think critically so that it becomes second nature. When they are faced with a problem or situation in adulthood, they will already have the tools they need to process possible solutions because of what they had been taught when they were younger. As adults, we know that problems will arise in the workplace, at home, and elsewhere. Knowing how to tackle problems and find solutions becomes an immeasurable skill as we encounter various situations. 

There are many different ways that students can be taught to think critically. Allowing students to work in groups to solve problems can be a very effective way for students to combine their brain power to come up with creative, well thought out solutions. Activities like escape rooms, debates, role playing, case studies, scavenger hunts, and sequencing can encourage critical thinking. 

As kids are given opportunities to think deeper, they begin to train their brains to look at problems and solutions through a different lens, and soon enough, critical thinking becomes second nature!

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Exploring the 7 Cs

The world of education is anything but stagnant; it’s constantly changing, growing, improving, and moving. As we learn new techniques and methods, we adapt our teaching. When we realize some methods are outdated, we keep an open mind and try new things. As we become aware of new societal and cultural trends, expectations, and experiences, we use that information to better our teaching. This ever changing flow keeps us on our toes and helps our students receive the best possible education. Not only do we as educators change and adapt the way we present information, we also change the ways in which our students receive, process, and demonstrate their learning. While doing some research, I came across a concept I had never heard of, and was quite intrigued by: the 7 Cs in Education. 

The 7 Cs concept outlines seven ways that our students can demonstrate what they have learned, and ways they can process what we teach. Each skill requires students to use a different way of gathering and processing information, thus promoting diverse thinking. The 7 Cs are as follows:

1- Critical Thinking

2- Creativity

3- Collaboration

4- Communication

5- Computer Literacy

6- Cross-cultural Understanding

7- Career and Life Skills

Each of these skills can benefit students immensely. They are relevant skills for everyday life, every subject, and are skills that they will use as they grow into adulthood. Since each skill can be discussed in greater depth, I think it would be beneficial to dive into each skill individually over the next little bit. Join me as we explore these seven areas of teaching and learning!

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Question of the Day

As teachers, we try to make our classrooms an inviting place to be. We want our students to be excited about learning, and to be engaged in the content we are teaching. We want them to look forward to coming to school. But the reality is that not all of our students will be excited about school. Even still, we must give our best effort to make school as appealing as possible. We can do this through a myriad of ways. Rather than immediately jumping into the lesson for the day, teachers can take a few minutes at the start of class to warm students up and get them ready to learn.

One way to warm up students at the beginning of each class is through simple journal prompts. You don’t have to be a language arts teacher to incorporate journal writing into your curriculum– it can be used in any content area! Giving students a “question of the day” can help them get their minds ready to learn, focus, and participate. The question doesn’t even have to do with the content; it can be a silly, funny, or random question. Regardless of the kind of question it is, giving students a fun way to begin class can help ease them into learning and get them ready to focus. 

You can even go beyond just having them write by having them share their answers with a neighbor, then have a few students share with the class. This can be a fun way for everyone to think about the question in different ways, which encourages critical thinking. It also gets students talking to each other, helping foster class communication and relationships.

Thinking of a question to ask every day can sometimes feel a bit daunting. In case you need some question ideas, I’ve compiled a list for you! You can download the list and print a copy to keep in your files, ready to be used any time you need a question suggestion.

**This download is for personal or classroom use only. Do not sell, repost, or claim as your own.**

Question of the Day-2Download

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You’re Never too Young for Critical Thinking

Today my kids’ school held their annual kindergarten “Humpty-Dumpty Egg Drop”. Students were given homework to boil an egg, then create some sort of protective cradle for it. On the day of the egg drop, students bring their creation with them, ready to test out their engineering skills. The custodian takes all the creations with him to the school’s roof, then one by one, hurls them off the roof, where they then land on the blacktop. The kids all cheer and laugh as they watch as each other’s eggs are thrown off the roof. The goal is to have an unbroken egg by the end of the event. Some contraptions are wildly successful, while others are, well, not. Regardless of the outcome, they all have a great time.

One of my kids is in kindergarten this year, so I got the chance to go watch the egg drop today. Due to inclement weather, they moved it indoors, and the custodian dropped the eggs from the second level of the school down to the first— which offered the advantages of a softer landing spot as well as a shorter distance for the egg to fall. Even with these changes, the kids still cheered and laughed as they watched their eggs and their classmates’ eggs fall to the ground. After all the eggs had been dropped, the kids excitedly found theirs, and opened their creations to see whether or not their egg survived the fall. There were lots of squeals of excitement, mixed in with a handful of disappointed sighs.

While this seems like just a fun activity to do with kids, it goes beyond that. At the very least, it’s a great opportunity for students to cheer each other on and celebrate together. One of the biggest benefits of this assignment is the exposure to STEM related thinking. The students were asked to come up with their own ideas of how they wanted to protect their egg. I asked my son to think about how he wanted to do that, and gave him some time to consider some ideas. A while later, I asked if he had thought of anything. Immediately, he began to tell me his ideas, what supplies he would need, and how he wanted to execute his idea. 

It was a brilliant way to get him to figure out a solution to a problem. When it came time to build his egg cradle, he gathered supplies and asked for help gathering what he couldn’t find. We gently guided him along the way, and performed tasks that weren’t safe for a kindergartner  to do (like pushing holes through the plastic tub he wanted to use). As he worked, he made adjustments when he saw that something wasn’t going to work as well as he wanted it to. He was essentially testing out his plan and correcting mistakes as he worked. 

As a parent, I appreciated this activity for a few reasons. First, it gave my son a chance to get creative. He was able to come up with his own solution and create a model based on his ideas. Second, the ideas that he came up with were his own. Not mom and dad’s. Not his big brothers who had previously done this activity. They were his. He took great pride in his idea and worked hard to see it come to fruition. Third, he persevered as he worked. Not everything worked how he wanted it to, and he found he had to pivot along the way to make things work. Lastly, he was able to practice dealing with disappointment when he opened his egg container to find that it had not survived the fall and was cracked and smashed on one side of it. 

Any activity that gets kids to think critically is a-ok with me! I want my kids to be able to think through possible solutions and be able to be flexible when things don’t go how they want them to. I want them to be able to make adjustments to their solutions and plans as they go. These kinds of skills are not only useful in school, specifically in STEM related classes, but in life in general. 

So while the egg drop was a fun activity that got everyone involved, it was much, much more than that. Kudos to the teachers who facilitate such engaging, learning enriched activities!

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The Benefits of Jigsaw Puzzles

Jigsaw puzzles are, in my humble opinion, one of the greatest things ever invented. Ever since I was a little girl, I have loved putting puzzles together. I have fond memories from my childhood of sitting down with my grandma, doing puzzles and chatting. She even used to gift all of her adult grandkids a puzzle every year for Christmas, which only fueled my love of puzzles. She would often set up a puzzle to work on when we’d come for Sunday dinner— she knew my husband liked puzzles, too. 

As I’ve had children of my own, I’ve always kept puzzles in our game closet. When my kids were babies and toddlers, I’d get the chunky wooden puzzles that matched shapes and colors. As they grew, we progressed to the 24-48 piece puzzles. Now that my youngest is in preschool, we’ve started doing bigger puzzles together. My 4 and 5 year olds can easily do 48-100 piece puzzles on their own, or with little help. My older kids do really well with 300-1,000 piece puzzles. They’ve provided us with lots of quality family time and memories as we’ve worked as a team to put them together. 

This morning, I sat down with my daughter and helped her do a puzzle, and it got me thinking about the many benefits that come from puzzles, and how they are more than just a quiet activity for people to do. 

People who do puzzles can benefit in the following ways:

  • Increased short-term memory
  • Reduced stress and anxiety
  • Improved fine motor skills
  • Improved spatial awareness
  • Increased problem solving abilities
  • Better mood
  • Screen-free time
  • Quality time with friends and family 
  • Time to relax and take your mind off of other things
  • Increased concentration— this is especially good for people who tend to jump from one thing to the next
  • Improved collaboration skills
  • Improved cognitive abilities
  • Increased attention to detail

I’m sure there are many more I could add to this list, but what is on the list shows just how beneficial doing puzzles can be. The best part about these benefits is that they aren’t just limited to children. People of all ages can experience these positive side effects! They are a universal tool for people of all ages and abilities. 

Puzzles don’t have to be limited to just a home activity; teachers can use them, too! Puzzles make a great activity for centers, free time, or group time. They will get students focused, having fun, and working on their critical thinking skills. Those are things I think every teacher can get behind!

The next time you’re bored, have some free time you don’t know what to do with, or just need a change of pace, grab a puzzle and get to work! I promise you will find yourself more relaxed, happier, and feeling more accomplished as you enjoy some puzzle time.

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Ideas for Teaching The Giver

One of my favorite novels to teach with my eighth grade students was The Giver by Lois Lowry. The novel is rich with themes and ideas that lend themselves to some really good classroom discussions. Because the main character is close in age to junior high students, it provided excellent opportunities for students to make text to self connections and dive deeper into the book and really try to understand what it would be like to live in the society that is portrayed in the novel. 

The book is set in a “utopian” society. The people are pleasant and kind. They follow their laws and rules very obediently. The people don’t have memories, don’t see color, and they don’t feel pain, joy, love, sadness, etc. Weather is constant. There aren’t birthdays, and everyone born each year moves up a year (age) all together. They are assigned jobs as they become a 12, and begin training for their new assignment right away. Jonas, the main character, is given the assignment as The Receiver. His job is to receive and hold the memories of the past. It is a heavy responsibility. Through this assignment, Jonas learns just how imperfect his society really is. 

Students today are pretty familiar with dystopian novels, as they have recently risen in popularity. So while the genre itself isn’t new to most kids, some of the ideas that are in the novel are, or are at least presented in a new way. This provides a plethora of discussion and thinking points for students to study as they read the novel. Below is a list of some ideas you can use as you teach this novel.

  • As an anticipatory assignment, have students brainstorm what makes a “perfect” society. What kinds of rules are there? How are jobs chosen/assigned? Is there school? How is healthcare handled? What kind of government is there, and how are leaders chosen?
  • After they have brainstormed, have students design their own perfect society. 
  • Discuss the importance of names and individuality— the people in the novel are assigned a family unit and are assigned a name and a number. 
  • Talk about color. This is a great chance to do some cross-curricular activities. Learn how the eyes see and process color. Imagine a world where color didn’t exist. Talk about how color can influence the way we perceive things and remember things.
  • Talk about memory. Have students write about their favorite or important memory in each category: family, friends, school, a time they were sad, and a time they were happy. 
  • Discuss pain. Talk about what life would be like if we didn’t know pain of any kind. Find some quotes that talk about pain and have students write about what each quote means to them.
  • Talk about how the elderly are cared for in our society vs. in the novel.
  • If you feel your students are mature enough to handle it, appropriately teach them about euthanasia.
  • Talk about different kinds of government and the pros and cons of each kind.
  • Invite students to illustrate or write about a memory of their favorite celebration (holiday or birthday).
  • Have students write or think about what it would be like to experience a particular type of weather for the first time. 
  • At the end of the novel, ask students to write an additional chapter where Jonas returns to his society and tries to teach friends and family about what he has learned.
  • Have students reflect on how Jonas’ society is skewed, and to note any similarities and differences they might see between where Jonas lives and where we live. 

The Giver is full of so many opportunities to teach, discuss, and ponder the rights and wrongs of society. The topics, for the most part, are things that junior high students deal with or at least have dealt with in their lives. They can relate to Jonas as he navigates learning new things and goes through changes in his life. This novel opens up so many possibilities in a classroom and is a book that is worth reading!

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Announcing A 2020 Scholarship Winner: Hilton Stallworth

This is part of a series of interviews with our scholarship recipients for our 2020 Build A Better Future scholarship sponsored by Honors Graduation. We hope you will find their stories as inspiring as we do! For information on our 2020 program, click here”. 

Hilton Stallworth applied to our scholarship this last spring and we were incredibly impressed with his project. Hilton was enrolled in the magnet program at Enloe High school to be exposed to more rigorous classes and educational activities. Shortly after starting, he noticed that he was one of the few black students enrolled in these classes. The majority of his black peers were only enrolled in the standard public school classes. As he went into high school, there was an increased amount of students enrolled in the school, there was still a small number of black students pursuing advanced level classes. This being detrimental to both the students in the standard classes who aren’t performing highly, as well as the few in the advanced classes sometimes feeling discouraged and ostracized as if they didn’t belong there. 

This inspired Hilton to partner with the Black Student Union and create the “All the Stars Initiative” to close the academic achievement gap within Enloe High School by both increasing black student enrollment in advanced classes as well as increasing the performance in the classes in which the students are enrolled. The initiative has three pillars; Outreach, support, and incentive. Naturally, it starts with outreach and being able to get in touch with as many Enloe black students as possible and inform them of the program and opportunities available. Second comes support in which students would sign a pledge to the program, but also to each other stating they would support one another’s academic ventures through structured tutoring and encouragement. Finally, there is incentive which gives students short term goals to continue to fuel their drive for higher education and excellence. 

Hilton hopes that the program will gain the traction and recognition it needs to attract black families to the school due to stellar initiative. The other hope he has is that the program will become successful enough that other schools in the area will be inspired to implement their own version of the initiative, eventually turning All The Stars into a movement amongst the black community. Hilton is hopeful that people will see the true value in a program like this to continue to foster and invest their time in it so that it can positively affect the lives of the resident black students. 

Now that Hilton has graduated Enloe High School, he will be attending NC State University. Since he is attending college locally, he will be able to remain in close contact with the new leaders of the initiative and the Black Student Union. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, his plans to visit the students every few weeks came to a halt as they are all now doing virtual lessons. One thing he is doing, however, is attempting to work with the students at Enloe to figure out a way to have similar empowerment amongst the black students in a virtual format. Outside of high school, Hilton plans to actively encourage his black classmates in college to pursue academic excellence, as well as give back to their community.