During EDGE, we discuss student's social emotional needs in a safe space. Students are able to dive into who they are as gifted learners and connect to other students, some who are experiencing the same emotions.
Although, our conversations are not only focused on the social emotional needs of students. We are also focusing on Critical Thinking this year. All middle school students have received an "EDGE" notebook in which they track their ALP goals and use as a free space to enter their thoughts. If you have browsed your child's notebook, you may have noticed a green card stock titled the "student skills tracker". We will be using the student skills tracker throughout the year to measure student's growth in their critical thinking skills. We start each EDGE meeting with a short activity in which I encourage students to push their questioning and reasoning.
Below are some suggestions from the American Philosophical Association:
The American Philosophical Association's tips for teaching critical thinking
• Start early. Young children might not be ready for lessons in formal logic. But they can be taught to give reasons for their conclusions. And they can be taught to evaluate the reasons given by others. Wondering where to begin? If you have young child, check out these research-based tips for teaching critical thinking and scientific reasoning to preschoolers.
• Avoid pushing dogma. When we tell kids to do things in a certain way, we should give reasons.
• Encourage kids to ask questions. Parents and teachers should foster curiosity in children. If a rationale doesn’t make sense to a child, she should be encouraged to voice her objection or difficulty.
• Ask kids to consider alternative explanations and solutions. It’s nice to get the right answer. But many problems yield themselves to more than one solution. When kids consider multiple solutions, they may become more flexible thinkers.
• Get kids to clarify meaning. Kids should practice putting things in their own words (while keeping the meaning intact). And kids should be encouraged to make meaningful distinctions.
• Talk about biases. Even grade school students can understand how emotions, motives--even our cravings--can influence our judgments.
• Don’t confine critical thinking to purely factual or academic matters.Encourage kids to reason about ethical, moral, and public policy issues.
• Get kids to write. This last recommendation doesn’t come from Facione or the APA, but it makes good sense. As many teachers know, the process of writing helps students clarify their explanations and sharpen their arguments. In a recent study, researchers assigned college biology students to one of two groups. The writing group had to turn in written explanations of their laboratory work. The control group had to answer brief quizzes instead. At the end of the term, the students in the writing group had increased their analytical skills significantly. Students in the control group had not (Quitadamo and Kurtz 2007).
Although, our conversations are not only focused on the social emotional needs of students. We are also focusing on Critical Thinking this year. All middle school students have received an "EDGE" notebook in which they track their ALP goals and use as a free space to enter their thoughts. If you have browsed your child's notebook, you may have noticed a green card stock titled the "student skills tracker". We will be using the student skills tracker throughout the year to measure student's growth in their critical thinking skills. We start each EDGE meeting with a short activity in which I encourage students to push their questioning and reasoning.
Below are some suggestions from the American Philosophical Association:
The American Philosophical Association's tips for teaching critical thinking
• Start early. Young children might not be ready for lessons in formal logic. But they can be taught to give reasons for their conclusions. And they can be taught to evaluate the reasons given by others. Wondering where to begin? If you have young child, check out these research-based tips for teaching critical thinking and scientific reasoning to preschoolers.
• Avoid pushing dogma. When we tell kids to do things in a certain way, we should give reasons.
• Encourage kids to ask questions. Parents and teachers should foster curiosity in children. If a rationale doesn’t make sense to a child, she should be encouraged to voice her objection or difficulty.
• Ask kids to consider alternative explanations and solutions. It’s nice to get the right answer. But many problems yield themselves to more than one solution. When kids consider multiple solutions, they may become more flexible thinkers.
• Get kids to clarify meaning. Kids should practice putting things in their own words (while keeping the meaning intact). And kids should be encouraged to make meaningful distinctions.
• Talk about biases. Even grade school students can understand how emotions, motives--even our cravings--can influence our judgments.
• Don’t confine critical thinking to purely factual or academic matters.Encourage kids to reason about ethical, moral, and public policy issues.
• Get kids to write. This last recommendation doesn’t come from Facione or the APA, but it makes good sense. As many teachers know, the process of writing helps students clarify their explanations and sharpen their arguments. In a recent study, researchers assigned college biology students to one of two groups. The writing group had to turn in written explanations of their laboratory work. The control group had to answer brief quizzes instead. At the end of the term, the students in the writing group had increased their analytical skills significantly. Students in the control group had not (Quitadamo and Kurtz 2007).