Critical Thinking

Introduction

This entry was developed in the last month of school and unforunately was never shared. However, I wanted to be sure to still post these incredible examples to the blog. Hopefully they may inspire new ideas or ways to weave critical thinking skills into the curriculum.

Critical Thinking

In the last post we began looking at the 4 C's: Creativity, Critical Thinking, Collaboration and Communication. My post was specifically dedicated to "creativity."   I only feel that it is natural to focus on "critical thinking" next.  I recently read a chapter in, Power-Up: Making the Shift to 1:1 Teaching and Learning (Neebe & Roberts, 2015), where they cite Dee Fink (2013) explaining that "... creative thinking leads to critical thinking. Asking students to engage in meaningful, creative work sharpens their ability to conceptualize, apply, analyze, and synthesize- essential skills for critical thinking."

If we know that allowing students to be creative will lead to critical thinking, and we already see creativity happening in our classrooms at LGES then we can only conclude that "critical thinking" is also happening. I have seen many units of study throughout the building that have woven critical thinking skills into the curriculum, 2 of which I have chosen to highlight this month. In both units, I feel that it is worth noting that teachers spent time designing curriculum that would challenge students in a particular content area, and also allowed for student choice and creativity, which ultimately required students to use critical thinking skills. In addition, the structure of both units integrated content, creativity and critical thinking together without seeing "creativity & critical thinking" as add-ons. I feel that this a valuable part of their lesson design and reminds me that 21st Century Skills should not been seen as an "add-on", but should be viewed much like we view technology in our building. It should be a seen as a seamless part of our day and integrated into our classroom culture.


1st Grade: 

Mrs. Abrantes has recently been motivated by the success of inquiry based instruction in her classroom and has slowly integrated inquiry throughout her curriculum. The unit that I have been observing is a science unit based on plants. The ultimate goal is for students to be able to plant their own plants and then teach others how to do so.

Mrs. Abrantes first tasked the students with planting a garden. She told the kids that she knew nothing about planting a garden and that they needed to figure out what she needed to buy because she was going to the store tonight. The students quickly started using resources such as PebbleGo to determine what they needed and jotted down all of the things that they were discovering. Mrs. Abrantes could have easily told the students what plants needed to grow, but instead she put the learning on them, and motivated them to be critical thinkers with an authentic purpose.

Students continued to work in teams at their tables over the next couple of days going through the inquiry process by researching, recording, and developing new “I Wonder Questions.”  As a class they complied 3-5 of the most popular "I wonder questions..." and set out to answer them ("Wonder" and "Investigate" stages of inquiry).  Students used apps called Pic Collage, Explain Everything, and Book Creator to create their pages for their Plant Book that they will share with an authentic audience ("Synthesize" stage of inquiry). Students recorded each other during the planting process and added those videos to their books.  Some students used airdrop to share a video they preferred, this is a great example of how students used critical thinking skills.  In celebration, all books were uploaded to our class blog in Kidblog and shared with family and peers ("Express" stage of inquiry).

2nd Grade:

The second grade team designed a place-based unit that addressed the Social Studies standard, "The location of physical features and natural resources often affect where people settle and may affect how those people sustain themselves." From that standard they developed the EQ: How does the lake (Lake George) affect the community?"

Wonder

Students started the unit off by visiting the lake with the EQ in mind and taking pictures (with their ipads) of things that they were interested in learning more about. After they took a picture, they then recorded their voice with their questions that they wanted to learn more about that particular "thing of interest." They used the EduCreations Apps to take pictures and record their questions.

When they got back to the classroom as a class they started to group and organize their topics of interest and questions into categories (history, geography, recreation, etc).  Then students chose an area of focus and developed strong questions (not "yes" or "no" questions) to learn more about their topics of interest, always keeping in mind that the ultimate goal is to answer the EQ. This required them to use higher level thinking skills.


Investigate

Once students developed their questions they discussed places that they can find the answer to their EQ. They discovered that the best place would be to ask the experts. So they brought in experts from the community to help answer their questions. This year the experts included members of The Park Commission, a guide from Fort William Henry, the town historian, and a Captain from Shoreline boats.

Students spent an hour asking the experts their questions and taking notes. They needed to be critical listeners and thinkers during this process. Some students needed to tweak their questions "on the fly" because their questions were already asked by another student and sometimes new questions came up because they learned new information.


Synthesize 

Once the students finished taking their notes they needed to re-evaluate and assess where they were in the inquiry process. They needed to determine how they were going to answer their EQ, who they were going to share it with and how the information would be shared, all part of developing students critical thinking skills.

As a class they brainstormed who their audience would be, which varied per class. Some classes thought the library could benefit from a book about the lake, other groups thought it would be nice to share with the experts themselves so that they could share it with others.

Next students had to critically think about what it was that they were going to create. In all classes they decided that they would create something collaboratively, since each member of the class had different interests and if they put them together they would have a comprehensive resource. Between the 3 classes they decided to create an A-Z Book about the Lake, an informational e-book, and a video.

After deciding what they were going to create and who they were going to create it for many students realized that they didn't have enough information. Those students went back around the inquiry wheel, by determining what they still needed to know (critical thinking) and where to find the information.

Once students had their information they could start creating. This is where the student creativity shined through. Students had chose how they were going to create, which led to critical thinking. They needed to take all the information that they had learned, synthesize it and answer the EQ. The part that proved to be the most challenging and that required them to apply their critical thinking skills was answering the EQ. They had all this information, but applying it to answer the question required that higher level of thinking.

Express

Once students created their final knowledge product they shared them digitally to their desired audiences.

Mrs. Dudla's Class

Mrs. Zehr/ Aspland's Class

Assessing Critical Thinking

Below are a few rubric resources that you may be able to adapt when trying to assess critical thinking skills. These resources come from The Buck Institute for Education.

K-2 Rubric

3-5 Rubric

6-12 Rubric

Ultimate Creature Investigations

We often assume that once students locate a resource they can take it from there with their note taking, but in my experience they often struggle to identify what information they should pull for their notes and what information is not relevant to their research.  Explicit teaching is needed as they identify what they "need to know" during the investigation phase.
So, we started the research process for our Ultimate Creature project, with a Close Reading activity, which taught students how to pull different categories of information from an unexpected source- poetry!  This connected to the learning students had been doing in English as well, as they were just wrapping up a poetry unit there.

Students were encouraged to read a short poem, which I had shared with them digitally.  They read the poem three times- once to experience the poetry in its entirety, and then to respond to two specific questions with annotations:

1. Highlight any characteristics or structures, which could be identified as adaptations in yellow.
2. Highlight any impact this creature might have on their biome in green.

After having this Close Reading experience independently they collaborated with those at their table, who had read the same poem, to see if they found the same things for adaptations and for biome connections and/ or what they could add to their own annotations.
We finished this with a group discussion on why some things were highlighted as adaptations and why others were biome connections, and how they would use this skill as they gathered sources and information for their specific animal type and biome.
To follow up this lesson we used Padlet to brainstorm specific questions that would help them identify the information they "Need to Know" for the different categories of information they are search for in preparation of creating their own Ultimate Creature.

Developing 21st Century Skills (specifically 4C's) through Inquiry: Part I- Creativity

Conversations are happening all through the district and beyond about 21st century skills and the skills that future employers are looking for in their workers. When looking at 21st century skills a person can get overwhelmed with the number of skills that fall under that umbrella. There has been emphasis lately focusing on the 4 C's: Creativity, Critical Thinking, Communication and Collaboration. When looking at these 4 C's it makes addressing 21st century skills more manageable. It becomes even more manageable when you think about addressing 21st century skills, specifically the 4 C's, through inquiry.  Each of the 4 C's can easily be built into the WISE(R) model of Inquiry.

I thought that over the next 4 blog posts I would showcase how each one of the 4 C's are successfully being addressed within our building. It is my hope that you can get some ideas from each other by putting them in one place.

Creativity
I wanted to start with creativity because as I work within the classrooms, I tend to be most impressed when I see how creative students are being with the tools that they have learned. I also see some of the most excitement out of kids when they are creating.

When I think about creativity I typically think about the synthesize phase of inquiry, although it certainly does happen in more than this stage.

The kindergartners recently finished a guided research on hedgehogs in the library in which they systematically walked through each stage of the inquiry process with Mr. Bizan and my support. Then the kindergarteners were set out to do their own inquiries on a topic of choice. When being introduced to the new inquiry, one of the students raised their hand and asked, "When sharing my information, do I need to use Book Creator?" I paused and said, "No. Why, what were you thinking?" She instantly said, "I would rather use Doodle Buddy to share what I learned." Of course, I said, "Yes!"


This to me is the perfect example of how choice can allow for creativity. Students at any level need the opportunity to be creative. During the synthesize phase of inquiry where students are creating "knowledge products" choice can allow for creativity to shine through. Of course providing your students with a toolbox of resources that allow for creativity is important, after all, that kindergartner would have never known about Doodle Buddy if we hadn't used it earlier in the year for a different inquiry.

What digital creativity tools is LGES classrooms finding success with?

Fourth Grade:


In 4th grade students built persuasive i-movie commercials to convince an audience to support either the loyalists or the patriots. We have been working on this inquiry for years and each year it gets better and better. This years success fell in the area of "creativity." Since these students have now been working on the i-pads for 2 years their toolbox of tools is much fuller than previous classes. So when we ran into the issue (as we do every year) of not being able to find "fair use" images that were exactly the image that the students were searching for, students got creative and began app smashing. They would take a "fair use" image, say of a patriot flag, and drop into the Skitch app and draw a red "X" over the image. Some students wanted to add text on top of multiple images and would then pull their images into PicCollage. Other students just wanted to draw the entire image and they used Paper 53. Student creativity shined through and in many cases it allowed for the teachers to address media literacy skills.

Example Projects:

Third Grade:

In 3rd grade teachers are having students use Explain Everything for the first time. Students were giving the following task, "Create a path to get around the world using all the oceans and continents. You must use cardinal directions, and both continent names and ocean names to explain your path." Students were giving time to explore the app in the beginning and were able to discover the different tools and features. Once the students learned the tool, they were given the autonomy to use the tool however they saw fit to complete their challenge. It was amazing to watch their creativity prevail as they not only completed their challenge, but conquered it. Some students chose to find a map online and add it to the Explain Everything App, some students took a picture of their map that they used as a planning sheet, other students asked me if I could air drop the map I used in the example to them. Students were very creative in how they chose to complete their challenge. This creativity was possible by placing the learning on the students and giving them personal choice.

New Tools to Explore: 
Here are some new tools that you might like to explore. Each of these tools can foster creativity and help to add to the students' toolboxes!

Buncee- This is a creation and presentation tool that allows you/students to bring together all types of content (artwork, photos, videos, drawing, audio, links & more) in one place. It can be used both on the i-pad and on a PC. In addition it has a built-in management tool that allows for teachers to review and grade student work. 

BeFunky- This tool allows students to be photo editors, graphic designers and collage makers. Students will be able to take their creativity to a new level with this easy tool. 

Watch the video to get a general idea of how to use their "graphic design" tool. As you can see it is very professional and allows for students to be creative.

Is creativity being fostered in your classroom?

Above are just a few examples of how student creativity is being fostered in the classroom. If you have an example you would like me to add, please share it with me and I would be happy to showcase it. The more we share the more our ideas grow as a building.

In addition, if you are using a new tool that allows for student creativity, please add it in the comments below. Everyone, especially the students, appreciate new tools for their toolbox!  

Connecting Globally through Inquiry

As we begin to discuss the "new" literacies we hear the term "global literacy." What exactly does global literacy mean? What does it look like in your classroom?

Here is a video by Heidi Hayes Jacobs to help give basic understanding of the three literacies, specifically highlighting to term "global literacy" and presenting ideas for where to go when trying to connect to global projects that will tie into your curriculum.

According to Heidi Hayes Jacobs, "a globally literate student has the competencies to:
Investigate the World, Recognize Perspective, Communicate Ideas, Take Action
Make the commitment to transformation" (Jacobs, "Activating Digital-Media-Global Literacies and Learning").

When thinking about inquiry and these competencies that make up a globally literate student, what can you do in your classroom? Below I have highlighted some ideas, tools and resources that could be combined to help address global literacy in your classroom.

The Global Goals for Sustainable Development Infographic is a great platform for inquiry.

Students could choose one topic on this poster and answer any variety of inquiry questions that is created with your curriculum in mind.

Some examples might include:

• Which global issue is more important to the world's sustainability?

• Choose one goal from the infographic. Is there enough being done around the world to meet this goal?

• Choose one goal from the infographic. How will you make a difference in helping to meet that goal? For the younger grades you could propose the following EQ: "How can your community help to meet this goal?

Curriculum 21 Global Hub

This a great resource for connecting with global projects. Find various posts on topics that match your curriculum to a particular global project. This is a great resource for all grade levels.

Newspaper Map

Newspaper Map

Newspaper Map is a website that allows users to read today's newspapers from around the world in any language. This is a great way to see the rest of the world's perspective on world and even national issues. What does the rest of the world think about who elect into office?, What do they think about global warming?, etc"





100 People Project


The 100 people organization aims to answer this question:"If the world were 100 people, what would it look like?" This organization takes complex global issues, such as water, education, food, transportation, economy, health, war, shelter, waste, etc. and tries to simplify and humanize the issues by looking at the world as a community of 100 people. The videos that are shared on this site are both powerful and impactful. They would be great platforms for discussion on these global issues or for personal inquiries at any grade level.




Possible Essential Questions:

• EQ: What can I do to help with "x" global issue?
• EQ: What can we do as a class to help with "x" global issue?
• EQ: How would your life be different if you didn't have "food/water/education/shelter/transportation, etc.?"
• EQ: How can you be a leader for "x"?

Jacobs, Heidi Hayes. "Activating Digital-Media-Global Literacies and Learning." Independent School Magazine. National Association of Independent Schools, 2014. Web. 11 Jan. 2016. <http://www.nais.org/Magazines-Newsletters/ISMagazine/Pages/Activating.aspx>.

Expressing with Purpose

In 8th grade English students have been developing the skill of presenting a point of view and supporting it with evidence, as they share book reviews for monthly independent reading.

During the first month they wrote reviews, which were posted in the library catalog with the book records.  The focus of these reviews was on presenting an opinion and then providing specific evidence from the text to support that opinion, and assist another student in making their next book selection.

Their second round of reviews were done as Podcasts using Audacity.  The Podcasts were also added to the book records in the library.  However, this format also lent itself to a more interactive presentation.  So, we added a library display and bulletin board presenting their Podcasts through QR Codes attached to the books.  Eighth grade students then came to the library to explore books that their peers reviewed and recommended,  giving this expression of opinion a real life purpose.  The library display and bulletin board is also available for all students and teachers to benefit from.

Lessons from the Classroom

4th Grade Inquiry Unit

The classrooms are buzzing with inquiry lessons and units. I will be using this blog to share some of the inquiries that are happening at the Elementary School. Hopefully, some of these units will give you ideas of tools, resources, or inquiries that you can do within your classroom. In 4th grade students worked on a 1 1/2 week inquiry on Native American settlement.

Start with the Standard

Standard 4.2a states that Geographic factors often influenced locations of early settlements. People made use of resources and the lands around them to meet their basic needs of food, clothing and shelter. 

Essential Question

We took the standard, played with the words and developed an essential question. The essential question we developed was: "What led the Native Americans to settle where they did in NYS?"

Wonder:

We then tasked the students to determine what they would need to know in order to answer the EQ. They came up with: "Who were the Native Americans who settled in NYS?" and "What resources did they use?"

Investigate:

Graphic Organizer

I was able to go in as the librarian and model the different resources for investigation such as ebooks, maps, and primary resources. I also modeled how to analyze and gather information that is pertinent to answering the EQ. The students used the graphic organizer (shown on right) to record their information.

*The following electronic resources were used:
Rosen ebooks: Social Studies ebooks
Library of Congress: Primary Documents
Google Images: New York State Maps

*All of these resources can be used with multiple Social Studies topics. I highly suggest looking them over to see if they can be used within your curricular content.


Synthesize:

ThingLink

Once students gathered and collected their information it was time to begin creating (21st Century Skill) an interactive map with their information. Students used an app (also available for desktop computers) called ThingLink. ThingLink allows students to take an image and place hotspots on it that lead to further information.

Students took a picture of a blank New York State map and used their notes to place hot spots in the correct locations where the Native Americans settled in NYS. Then they added information identifying the location and explaining why they settled in that particular location (identifying the resources that were there). It was at this point that many students realized that they didn't have enough information to answer the EQ completely, and they went back through the inquiry process again, by first identifying what they still needed to know (wonder) and investigating the answer.

Express: 

Inquiry Rubric

Once students interactive maps were created they shared each of their presentations in front of the class. Students reflected their screens onto the SmartBoard using "Reflector."

During that time the classroom teacher and I each completed a rubric evaluating both the presentation and the research. The rubric was created by directly pulling skills and practices from the NYS ELA Standards and the Social Studied Framework. To view the rubric in full click on the link below the image.