Improving Critical Thinking Skills For Elementary Students

Another way I plan to develop students’ critical thinking skills is by including more information-based texts in my curriculum. An article in the Early Childhood Education Journal discusses how two second grade teachers incorporate this into their classrooms (Calo, 2011). My favorite way that the teachers used informational texts was by choosing readings related to what was going on in the students’ lives. In one classroom, they had weekly visits from service dogs, so the teacher chose texts about dogs. For elementary students, this is a great way to get them engaged, ask deeper questions, and promote critical thinking.

Teaching higher order thinking skills is not a recent need. It is apparent that students, at all levels of education, are lagging in problem-solving and thinking skills. Fragmentation of thinking skills, however, may be the result of critical thinking courses and texts. Every course, especially in content subjects, students should be taught to think logically, analyze and compare, question and evaluate.

The skills learned in Middle School Critical Thinking classes would have a lasting impression in a student's life forever. With the added skills, advanced teachers, and motivation that a student gains while taking

This article focused on the constant debate concerning the conditions in which students develop the skill of thinking critically. Being able to use critical thinking requires knowledge of facts and concepts about the subject matter. I found this article interesting because I think it is important that students develop critical thinking skills. Most scholarly articles tend to have an abstract that summarizes the papers entirety. Due to this this article is considered scholarly.

The school that I work in is located in Frederick, Maryland. We have nearly 800 students that attend Kindergarten through 5th grade, and with diverse backgrounds. The school is located in a very prosperous neighborhood, with several additional sections of townhomes and apartment complexes which house Section 8. All of these are within walking distance to the school. In Frederick County there are over 2,500 ELL students and more than 11,000 that are FARM (Free And Reduced Meals) students. Our graduation rate is superb with an over 93% graduation rate and a 3.5% dropout rate. This

Currently, I am student teaching at Alfred E. Zampella PS #27 School in the district of Jersey City. The school is located in a busy city, next to John F. Kennedy St. which is especially busy in the morning and during rush hour. This results in several late students on a day to day basis. On the other hand, this school is also highly accessible and as a little over a thousand students. The school has grade levels from kindergarten to 8th grade, and has a mix of general, special, and inclusion education classrooms. Typically, families that enroll their students into this school are of lower-middle socio-economic class, and tend to be majority Hispanic, Indian, and African American, with few Caucasians and Asians. This school provides a variety of special programs for their ESL students and special need students. Students may be offered speech language pathology, occupational therapy, physical therapy, ESL programs, reading recovery, and counseling.

Silas Willard elementary school is mostly populated with students that are white. Hispanic and black students are the next two ethnicities. There is a 57.4% of kids coming from a low income family, which is awfully sad because that is more than half the students. The kids with limited English is only about 3% so that shouldn’t really be an issue. It says only 5% are homeless which seems pretty low, but could be something that they could fix in the future. The mobility rate is pretty low at 12.5%. The student attendance rate is at 94% which I think is really impressive. I think that demographic wise, the children the issues seem to be pretty low, so I feel like there shouldn’t be too many challenges for them. The class size for this school

In today’s current school systems, the question of whether or not schools are correctly teaching students the right curriculum is coming up for debate. In the Article,"Teaching Critical Thinking by Marcia Clemmitt, she goes into extensive research of the U.S. Department of Education’s crisis of standardized testing. Most learning activities include standardized testing which lacks many students to express creative and critical thinking. Critical thinking is defined as the examination and evaluation of ideas, events and arguments in their contexts which introduces students to interrogate assumptions and identifying biases (Clemmitt)Pure critical thinking involves investigating a text more than just memorizing, but to apply theirself in other ways of techniques, meaning schools should stimulate more analytical methods of teaching. This would not only free students from a sheltered test culture,but will allow students to think in a deeper,more passionate way than before.

Summary for “THE NJCU-UMDNJ SOCIAL PROBLEM SOLVING LABS PROGRAM: Teaching Critical Thinking in the Jersey City Public Schools”

Having employees with excellent critical thinking skills are the most important trait that one looks for. There are often times when working for a company that hasty decisions have to be made. Often times they are made so quickly that proper critical thinking of the situation is not done. This can lead to an employee having to go back on their decision and try to fix and correct mistakes that were made. So mistakes can often be an easy fix others can require more time. As an employer I look for employees that have quick critical thinking skills but, also have the ability to think smart when making critical thinking choices. I want my employees to have as less mistakes as possible which make my company run better. The better the employees are

I plan to engage students in critical thinking to promote by having the students complete various activities after the reading of the information. Some of the activities include writing answers to scenarios, writing advantages and disadvantages to scenarios, and researching agencies that can provide

According to Supon, one of the fundamental purposes of teaching critical thinking is to enhance the abilities of students to become critical thinkers. Corporate leaders, educational researchers, employers, and parents have continually pushed teachers to assist their students in the development of critical thinking ability. Critical thinking is a skill that ?involved not only knowledge of content by also concept formation and analysis, reasoning and drawing conclusions, recognizing and avoiding contradiction, and other essential cognitive activities? (Supon, 1998).

Although schools have recently incorporated requirements to help the development of critical thinking, it remains a skill that is often learned outside of the classroom. Through the program of Common Core, schools have created an environment of higher standards and problem solving courses. Along with critical thinking, abstract thinking looks at the deeper meaning of things, and they both begin in young ages in children. The jump from concrete to abstract and critical thinking comes with time and lessons from not only the classroom, but everyday experiences. How do schools help children develop critical thinking skills and move on from concrete to abstract thinking?

My school serves over 1,800 students in grades sixth through eighth. There are ninety-two teachers, a reading coach, an instructional resource specialist, a testing coordinator, an Exceptional Student Education (ESE) staffing specialist, two ESE support persons, one Paraprofessional and one media specialist. The administrative staff consists of two Deans, an Assistant Principal of Instruction, an Assistant Principal of Operations and a Principal. In addition, there are four guidance counselors. Of the 1,800 students 52% are White, 31% are Hispanic, 9% are African American and 8% are Asian. The percentage of students who receive free or reduced lunch is 28.6%. My worksite has a high population

When defining the term “critical thinking” it can seem overwhelming and daunting, especially for young learners. In laments terms, you are teaching your student how to think for him or herself when it comes to problem solving. Instead of giving the student the answer, you give them the tools to discover the answer him/herself. Critical thinking is an important component of any classroom. No matter the age group, these skills stay with a child for the rest of his or her life. As a teacher, it is important to understand what critical thinking pertains to and how to structure part of your lesson plan around developing critical thinking skills.