10 Team-Building Games That Promote Collaborative Critical Thinking. 10 Team-Building Games That Promote Critical Thinking by TeachThought Staff One of education’s primary goals is to groom the next generation of little humans to succeed in the “real world.” Yes, there are mounds of curricula they must master in a wide breadth of subjects, but education does not begin and end with a textbook or test.
Other skills must be honed, too, not the least of which is how to get along with their peers and work well with others. This is not something that can be cultivated through rote memorization or with strategically placed posters. Students must be engaged and cooperation must be practiced, and often. 10 Team-Building Games That Promote Collaborative Critical Thinking You can purchase a classroom-ready version of team-building games that promote critical thinking here. 1. This team-building game is flexible. Then, give them something to construct. You can recycle this activity throughout the year by adapting the challenge or materials to specific content areas. 2. 3.
Michael Moore and the Finnish Education System. Icebreakers that Rock. We’re coming up fast on the beginning of another school year. That means a new batch of students to get to know, students who need to be made comfortable in your classroom, and who need to get to know each other. It’s essential to start building relationships with your students right from the start. And how to accomplish this? Icebreakers. I planned to create a nice big post with dozens of icebreaker ideas you could choose from. I would scour the Internet for the very best activities and games and store links to them here for your reference. The problem is that so many of the ones I’ve found are problematic for one of these reasons: They require students to take massive social risks with people they barely know.
So I have scrapped my plan to curate good icebreakers from the Internet. In my own classrooms, with middle school, high school, and college students, I have played all three of these games with great success. Blobs and Lines Here are some sample prompts you can use for this game: The Warm Demander: An Equity Approach. Recently, I was talking with a high school student about his frustrations with a first-year teacher. The student said, "I like [the teacher] because he's understanding, but he doesn't require enough discipline. He tells us to stop talking, but he doesn't really do anything to stop it. If I say, 'I forgot my homework,' he extends the deadline, and he keeps extending it, so I don't bother doing it. He needs to be more strict! " He didn't know it, but this student was asking for his teacher to be more of a warm demander -- a key strategy for creating equity in the classroom.
The staff at June Jordan School for Equity in San Francisco, where I am co-director, developed a four-part framework for how to become a warm demander: 1. Do you really believe that all children can learn? 2. Warm demanders understand that learning starts with trust. 3. 4. Warm demanders teach their students to have a growth mindset and understand that real learning comes through failure. Homework is wrecking our kids: The research is clear, let’s ban elementary homework.
“There is no evidence that any amount of homework improves the academic performance of elementary students.” This statement, by homework research guru Harris Cooper, of Duke University, is startling to hear, no matter which side of the homework debate you’re on. Can it be true that the hours of lost playtime, power struggles and tears are all for naught?
That millions of families go through a nightly ritual that doesn’t help? Homework is such an accepted practice, it’s hard for most adults to even question its value. When you look at the facts, however, here’s what you find: Homework has benefits, but its benefits are age dependent. For elementary-aged children, research suggests that studying in class gets superior learning results, while extra schoolwork at home is just . . . extra work. Before going further, let’s dispel the myth that these research results are due to a handful of poorly constructed studies. This is what’s worrying. Then there’s the damage to personal relationships. 15 inspiring quotes chosen by teachers, for teachers. “Motivation, creativity and freedom are my most powerful educational tools,” says Cyprus teacher Evanthia Poyiatzi.
To sharpen your motivation, creativity and freedom this week, read (and share!) The 15 inspiring ideas and quotes below — handpicked for you by Evanthia and her fellow TED-Ed Innovative Educators: Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. “For the mind does not require filling like a bottle, but rather, like wood, it only requires kindling to create in it an impulse to think independently and an ardent desire for the truth.” — Plutarch “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” — Maya Angelou “Let us remember: one book, one pen, one child and one teacher can change the world.” — Malala Yousafzai “We are what we believe we are.” — C.S. “We must take sides. “Well-behaved women seldom make history.” — Laurel Thatcher Ulrich “I have not failed. How Finland broke every rule — and created a top school system. Spend five minutes in Jussi Hietava’s fourth-grade math class in remote, rural Finland, and you may learn all you need to know about education reform – if you want results, try doing the opposite of what American “education reformers” think we should do in classrooms.
Instead of control, competition, stress, standardized testing, screen-based schools and loosened teacher qualifications, try warmth, collaboration, and highly professionalized, teacher-led encouragement and assessment. At the University of Eastern Finland’s Normaalikoulu teacher training school in Joensuu, Finland, you can see Hietava’s students enjoying the cutting-edge concept of “personalized learning.”
Related: What high-performing countries have to teach us about teacher training But this is not a tale of classroom computers. While the school has the latest technology, there isn’t a tablet or smartphone in sight, just a smart board and a teacher’s desktop. Related: Ranking countries by worst students.