Critical Thinking
Critical Thinking has many different definitions. Matthew Lipman (Nosich 2012) defines it as, "Critical thinking is skillful, responsible thinking that is conducive to good judgement because it is sensitive to context, relies on criteria, and is self-correcting." However I really like Richard Paul's definition: "Critical thinking is thinking about your thinking, while you're thinking, in order to make your thinking better" (Nosich 2012). Critical thinking is not a new notion, as Francis Bacon defines it, in 1605, as, "A desire to seek, patience to doubt, fondness to meditate, slowness to assert, readiness to consider, carefulness to dispose and set in order, and hatred for every kind of imposture" (criticalthinking.org).
I define critical thinking as:
I define critical thinking as:
A way of thinking that is reflective, promotes further questioning and helps you to arrive at a well reasoned, working conclusion for the issue at hand.
Elements of Reasoning in English Language Arts: The Logic behind the Words
Below you will find a paper, that I have written, that explores the logic of English Language Arts using the elements of reasoning to provide a working conclusion of what it means to be a critically thinking English Language Arts Student.
| ed4391logicofela.pdf |
Teaching Critical Thinking requires effort, but the rewards are worth it. It is a skill that students require as it is an element of the curriculum. Below you will find a file that will provide you with five teaching strategies for teaching critical thinking. Please, feel free to use these strategies and share them with colleagues.
| criticalthinkingteachingstrategies.pdf |
Questioning - The Heart of Critical Thinking
Questioning is at the heart of both critical thinking and teaching. As an educator, if I do not pose an open ended, critical thinking question my students have the potential to miss the importance of a topic or issue. Listed below are three critical questions and one related question, all pertain to the study of English Language Arts, these questions would be appropriate for the high school level:
1) What are the factors that motivate the protagonist?
1a) What generalizations can you make from the protagonist's actions?
2) How would you illustrate the plot of this short story?
2a) What evidence are you drawing to illustrate you point?
3) Why do you believe the author wrote this poem?
3a) Can you provide an alternative reason?
The document below is a Taxonomy of Open Ended Questions. These are suitable for all grade levels and subject areas.
1) What are the factors that motivate the protagonist?
1a) What generalizations can you make from the protagonist's actions?
2) How would you illustrate the plot of this short story?
2a) What evidence are you drawing to illustrate you point?
3) Why do you believe the author wrote this poem?
3a) Can you provide an alternative reason?
The document below is a Taxonomy of Open Ended Questions. These are suitable for all grade levels and subject areas.
| criticalthinkingquestions.pdf |
Critical Thinking in Action
A good way to understand a concept is to see an example of it. The following document is a SEE-I (state, expand, example and illustrate) of intellectual standards for English Language Arts. A SEE-I is a critical thinking strategy that enables clarification of a topic or an issue and it will deepen our thinking.
| ctsee-iintellectualstandards.pdf |
Another example is a critical reading of a current events story. The article Native communities embrace summer literacy camps by Simona Choiose appeared in the July 19, 2013 edition of the Globe and Mail.
| ctcurrentevent.pdf |
The following file contains an example of critical thinking in action in the form of a lesson plan.
| ss7plot.pdf |
Assessment - An integral component of Teaching Critical Thinking
If we are to teach critical thinking, then we should assess for it. Below you will find a rubric for ELA that assesses students for three elements of critical thinking. This rubric is for a short story and could be used for junior high and senor high grades
| ctsswrittenrubric.pdf |
