Ten Takeaway Tips for Teaching Critical Thinking Suggestions from educators at KIPP King Collegiate High School on how to help develop and assess critical-thinking skills in your students. Ideally, teaching kids how to think critically becomes an integral part of your approach, no matter what subject you teach. But if you're just getting started, here are some concrete ways you can begin leveraging your students' critical-thinking skills in the classroom and beyond. 1. Questioning is at the heart of critical thinking, so you want to create an environment where intellectual curiosity is fostered and questions are encouraged. In the beginning stages, you may be doing most of the asking to show your students the types of questions that will lead to higher-level thinking and understanding. 2. Pose a provocative question to build an argument around and help your students break it down. 3. 4. "It all comes back to modeling," says Kellan McNulty, who teaches AP world history and AP U.S. history at KIPP King Collegiate. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Tips for Writing Instructional Objectives - Bloom's Taxonomy Job Aids I am so delighted to see this post that includes Bloom's Taxonomy Wheels by ZaidLearn. I always find that it's far easier to design materials using these wheels than it is to see the verbs/products in lists. Many instructional designers can benefit from these job aids when trying to find the right action verbs for their objectives. Here are some wheels for the cognitive domain. Source: Source: Source: Bloom’s digital taxonomy. Have fun, designers! Google Docs Ways To Differentiate Instruction - Classroom Q&A With Larry Ferlazzo (This is the first post in a two-part series on differentiation) I posed this question last week: "What is the best advice you can give to a teacher about differentiating instruction?" I've shared my response in an Ed Week Teacher article that I've co-authored with my colleague, Katie Hull Sypnieski. It's titled "The Five By Five Approach To Differentiation Success." I'll limit my contribution here to sharing a useful link to The Best Resources On Differentiating Instruction. Experts in the field, though, have agreed to share their responses here, so today I'm pleased to publish answers from Carol Tomlinson and Rick Wormeli. Response From Carol Tomlinson Carol Tomlinson is an internationally-recognized leader and author in the field of differentiated instruction. My journey with differentiation began in my middle school classroom when it was quite clear that my one-size-fits-all approach to teaching was, in fact, not fitting many of my students. There were many more questions, of course.
15 Legitimate Ways Daydreaming Improves Thinking 15 Legitimate Ways Daydreaming Improves Thinking The student’s eyes drift to the classroom window and the teacher’s voice fades from consciousness. The daydream begins. It’s a familiar scene, one we have likely both experienced as students and struggled against in our students as teachers. But daydreaming is not what it might seem. 1. The most common view of the human mind assumes that our normal way of thinking consists of concentrated focus upon immediate tasks at hand. Daydreaming is now considered to be the normal state of our minds, with focus appearing as a break from the more common mind wandering. Another study has shown that the parts of the brain stimulated during daydreaming consist of the “default network” regions of the brain that are associated with most higher level mental activity. 2. As this study suggests, a healthy amount of daydreaming is connected to improved critical thinking capabilities, an invaluable characteristic in successful learners. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Integrating the 16 Habits of Mind In outcomes-based learning environments, we generally see three elements in play: 1) learning objectives or targets are created from given standards; 2) instruction of some kind is given; and then 3) learning results are assessed. These assessments offer data to inform the revision of further planned instruction. Rinse and repeat. But lost in this clinical sequence are the Habits of Mind that (often predictably) lead to success or failure in the mastery of given standards. In fact, it is not in the standards or assessments, but rather these personal habits where success or failure -- in academic terms -- actually begin. Below are all 16 Habits of Mind, each with a tip, strategy or resource to understand and begin implementation in your classroom. The habits themselves aren't new at all, and significant work has already been done in the areas of these "thinking habits." And a renewed urgency for their integration. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Ask students to map out their own thinking process. 6. 7. 8.
Cloud Office Support The Best Resources On Differentiating Instruction My colleague Katie Hull-Sypnieski is leading a February 1st Education Week Webinar on differentiating instruction, and I would strongly encourage people to participate. Katie’s the best teacher I’ve ever seen…. In addition, Katie and I have co-authored a piece for Education Week Teacher on the topic that will be appearing there soon (it’s appeared: The Five By Five Approach To Differentiation Success), and an upcoming post in my blog there will be talking about it, too (that two part series has also appeared). I also did a second two-part series in Ed Week on differentiation. Also, check out The Best “Fair Isn’t Equal” Visualizations. Given all that, a “The Best…” post was inevitable, and here it is. Here are my choices for The Best Resources On Differentiating Instruction: The Best Places To Get The “Same” Text Written For Different “Levels” Busting Myths about Differentiated Instruction is by Rick Wormeli. Reconcilable Differences? Deciding to Teach Them All is by Carol Ann Tomlinson.
Questioning | Marginal Learning Gains When it comes to Marginal Learning Gains, it is a real challenge to include QUESTIONING as an area where there could be a Marginal Learning Gain. There are many who would argue that if all we did was to concentrate on questioning, the gains for learning would be massive. With that in mind, the only way to include questioning in our suite of MLGs is to start to break it down into its own component parts. Quality questioning provides a great source for each of the Three As of Motivation in the following ways… AFFILIATION – Establishes a safe environment to encourage speculation, sharing of ‘best thinking’ and articulation of ideas AGENCY - Encourages a sense of self-efficacy as questions that are well-pitched, targeted and directed will elicit thoughtful and accurate responses AUTONOMY - Different types of questions and be used to encourage decision-making and self-direction by requiring students to reflect on their own and each others’ thinking and responses 1. 2. Like this: Like Loading...
Using Digital Tools for Differentiation Direct Address to this Page: Anyone who has worked in education for any length of time knows just how important it is for teachers to create differentiated classrooms. If schools are truly working to ensure success for every student, learning experiences need to be customized and aligned to student interests, needs, and unique learning styles. In this February 2012 Alaska Staff Development Network webinar, sixth grade classroom teacher, blogger and educational technology author Bill Ferriter will introduce participants to a range of digital tools that can be used to (1). provide structure for differentiated classrooms and (2). differentiate learning experiences by student interest. Today's Slides Today's Shared Reflection Document One of the things that we will do regularly during the course of our 90 minutes together is spend time in shared written reflection. To access our shared written reflection document, click here. Differentiating YOUR Learning She writes: #nice
Free Collaborative Writing Tool Centers: Effective Structures for Differentiation Photo by Woodley Wonder Works This article is written by Katie Haydon, founder of Ignite Creative Learning Studio. Learn more about Ignite at IgniteCreativeLearning.com or the Ignite Facebook page. Do you use centers in your primary classroom? Centers are an excellent tool for differentiation that will free you up to work with small groups of students, whether gifted, high-achievers, or those needing extra help. Centers, in my opinion, go beyond mundane and standard worksheet tasks. Though centers can be used at any time in the year, some teachers like to wait at least a week or two, and sometimes six weeks into the school year to implement them so that they can gain a greater understanding of their students and be confident that they are ready to follow protocol. One issue with large numbers of students in small rooms may be space. Katie Haydon, founder of Ignite Creative Learning Studio, is a teacher, nationally-known writer and speaker, and a mentor to students of all ages.