The Book Fort
Instructional Ideas for Immediate Implementation
Welcome to The Book Fort: Issue 23
Week Twenty Three: Critical Thinking in the Common Core Era
Whether or not you are a fan of the Common Core Standards, they are a part of the national standardization initiative. Having been a KY Core Advocate with Student Achievement Partners, I saw the benefits of college and career readiness standards, but it took many hours of training, deconstruction, and collaboration to wrap my head around implementation of the standards work in my own classroom. I wish I had read this book during my time in the classroom!
Solution Tree offers three of its rock star writers and consultants in How to Teach Critical Thinking within the Common Core Standards; all three have very practical, rich educational backgrounds rooted in the classroom. The suggestions are based upon great educational thinkers and practitioners like Marzano & Vygotsky. As such, the three-phase approach presented by the writers is pragmatic and useful, but also research-based.
The Three-Phase Model (pp 5-8) is reminiscent of I do, We do, You do, but a bit more specific:
Phase One: Talk-Through - Explicit Teaching Lesson (5)
- The teacher explicitly presents the focus thinking skill, say analysis, in a formal lesson.
- The lesson focuses on a key idea, well-developed scaffolding, strategic integration, assessment, and adequate time for reflection and review.
- Metacognition is key.
Phase Two: Walk-Through - Classroom Content Lesson (6)
- Students practice the skill with a teacher-led walk-through of the content-based lesson.
- Facilitation of application of the skill in a grade-appropriate guided lesson.
Phase Three: Drive-Through - CCSS Performance Task Lesson (6-7)
- Students apply their skill and content-knowledge to a performance task first in groups, then individually, to demonstrate learning in authentic ways.
- Rigorous tasks and complex texts are the focus.
The brief summaries that follow are taken from the first six sections of the text that focus on various skills, but the few shared below are truly only a few. I chose one from each section that doesn’t tend to get the most airtime. If this appeals to you, please purchase the book and reap the benefits of the strategic lessons that incorporate this three-phase model. There are elementary, middle, and high school lesson samples included in each.
How to teach critical thinking within the common core: 7 key proficiencies of the new national standards. Bellanca, J.A., Fogerty, R.J., & Pete, B.A. (2012). Solution Tree: Bloomington, IN.
Section One: Critical Thinking
Problem Solve
“Learning to solve different types of problems will contribute to students’ success in different domains” (32). Delve into the “messy” problems with students, those that are authentic and apply to the world beyond the classroom. These are multi-dimensional in nature and force students to examine multiple factors, points-of-view, and potential solutions. The chapter outlines important key characteristics of productive problem-solving, which are: risk taking, questioning assumptions, openness to ideas, willingness to connect to divergent ideas, a respect for data, and attention to precision and accuracy (33). If these are the norms, think of the deeper learning and “soft” skills that will be enhanced in this process! Table 3.3 (35) is shown below for an elementary social studies “messy” problem.
Section Two: Creative Thinking
Associate
“Children learn by associating one idea with another. They connect thoughts and then apply and generalize the ideas to build new concepts” (50). Associating is a trial-and-error process that reminds me of completing a puzzle; you try the pieces in different ways and different spots in order to find the one that fits, eventually completing the whole picture to see what it reveals, much like analysis and synthesis. A fun and informal motivational, or opening activity is shared on page 51 in which the teacher asks the students to recall how the grocery store is organized. First, ask the students which aisle the toothpicks are located, prompting them to write down the aisle on a card or white board. Then, students share their answers and come to consensus with explanations for their associations. Finally, the teacher begins the explicit skill lesson. An instructional strategy called ABC Graffiti is shared below to practice this skill (52).
Section Three: Complex Thinking
Clarify
“Metaphorically, clarifying is running a fine-tooth comb through the passage [or text] to reveal tangles that need smoothing” (68). Clarifying is a foundational skill for those highly tested skills we all love to hate, such as making inferences and generalizing, but is often skipped in explicit instruction. Sometimes, the inability to or struggle with clarification may be what’s holding students back from inferring or generalizing. A foldable is suggested to work with, in this case, the Preamble of the Constitution to clarify and paraphrase. Figure 7.1 (71) is reproduced here as an example.
Section Four: Comprehensive Thinking
Compare and Contrast
“In school, students can’t advance without developing the skill of comparing and contrasting. In fact, Marzano, et al. (2001) declare the skill of finding similarities and differences to be a top-ten skill in terms of high-yield strategies in student achievement” (108-109). Even though children begin comparing and contrasting naturally when they are babies, the task gets more and more difficult as the complexity of their world and the texts they encounter increases. The can begin in a motivational strategy or opener with something as simple as comparing and contrasting themselves in pairs. This will prompt them to practice the skill in a low-stakes, fun environment, but can be a golden opportunity to think about all parts of this skill, such as categories, perceptions, etc. An amazing acrnoym is used to break down this skill to students on page 109 and is shown here.
Section Five: Collaborative Thinking
Develop
“...the concept of developing requires mindfulness. Developing an idea is much different than having an idea, and this real-world skill of how to develop one’s thoughts is sorely needed for student work in all disciplines” (126). Students are inundated with short blasts of information and their minds whir constantly. With this barrage of media, students are often consumers rather than producers (well, most humans are these days, regardless of age). As such, it is imperative that we provide opportunities and push students to develop their ideas, taking these ideas beyond their infancy now and then. Another acronym is given on page 127 and featured here as a protocol of sorts to use in collaborative groups. This is suggested for use in conjunction with a problem-solving lesson.
Section Six: Communicative Thinking
Reason
“Reasoning is what humans do. We take clues and draw conclusions. The challenges to reason are found in every life situation and career field” (140). Logical and sound reasoning seems to be getting more and more lost in writing, rhetoric, and politics. One of the most important gifts we can give students is to develop their reasoning abilities before they go out into the adult world and make big decisions, such as voting and choosing careers. It seems that we will help create more civically-engaged and fair-minded adults if we focus on this skill more often. It helps to stress the importance of taking steps to achieve reasoning, rather than to simply arrive at it somehow. This places more importance on method and facts than opinion and emotion. Another acronym, used in conjunction with an arguable point or issue, is shown here.
Website of the Week
LivBits
Tool of the Week
KY GoDigital Learning Channel
What Students Are Reading
The Scholastic 39 Clues Series by Various Authors
Bud Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
No Matter the Wreckage by Sarah Kay
World Read Aloud Day
Kristie Hofelich Ennis, NBCT
Email: kennis@murraystate.edu
Location: Dublin, OH, United States
Facebook: facebook.com/kristie.hofelich
Twitter: @KristieHEnnis