beyond question stems: critical thinking in the 21st century classroom

South Mebane Elementary

September 19, 2012

Beyond question stems: Best Practices for Critical Thinking

in the 21st Century Classroom

by Jennifer Jones helloliteracy.blogspot.com

helloliteracy@gmail.com

Virtual Annotation (aka Parking Lot)

www.todaysmeet.com/smeseptember19

flickr by roujo

Setting The

stage for thinking deeply & critically

The Guided Reading Table

Strategy #2 Describe Guided Reading as a Session Rather than a Lesson

• Teacher support enables students to

problem-solve, connect and discover

• Session is conversational in format

• (K-2)Students read a lot (2-5) Students

talk a lot

Strategy #15 Engage All Students, Regardless of Instructional Reading

Level, in Thinking Deeply About Story

•Beyond a series of questions

•Beyond “Today I want you to make

a prediction.”

•Beyond story retelling

•Beyond details of the reading

process but active in all of it

•Meaning at the text level

The Language of Teaching Comprehension Instruction Deeply

Little Questions Big Questions

What houses did

each pig build?

How are the pigs’

houses different?

Why did the writer

have the third pig

build the brick house

instead of the second

pig?

What did the wolf say

before he blew down

the houses?

Why did the wolf say

the same thing at

each house?

What happens at the

beginning, middle

and end of the story?

What did the pigs

learn from their

experience?

A Where is Your Level of Thinking?

Are Your Kids There?

Lower vs. Higher Level Thinking

the answer is already known

Critical Thinking Rubric

….

First We must be Critical

Thinkers…

Form an opinion and justify it!

Image: http://www.1vigor.com/brain-power/Clear-Thinking/index.html

Build Community

Justifying my answers

Justifying Scientific Claims

Build trust

Science Notebooks…

…increase CRITICAL THINKING because students reflect on their

learning and their thinking.

Justifying in math w

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National Assessments 4th Grade Sample Items

http://www.k12.wa.us/SMARTER/Resources.aspx

Analogy Poster

Daily Analogies

“Mrs. Jones, this is hard!” “I don’t know.”

Schoolwide Vocabulary instruction Tier 2 & Tier 3 Words

Urgency with Word Learning

Creating a Sense of Urgency & the Relationship between Words & Learning

Making Inferences with…

Picture of the Day

You Tube * ***IS** Informational Text

Problem-Solvers in a Student Centered Classroom

Problem Solving Framework

…before We can be Critical

Readers.

You don’t have to believe everything you read in a book, you have the right to question it and

judge for the reasons for yourself.

First We must be Critical

Thinkers…

Image: 10englishcm.wikispaces.com

Literary Text

Or

Informational Text

So What?

Critical Reading… …is a way of looking at a book and

analyzing what the author is saying and

the methods the author [and

illustrator] are using to communicate a

message or idea. Your analysis is

complete when you have formed your

own interpretations of the

author’s intentions.

Accountable Talk So

What?

Images: www.julieballew.com

Critical Read-Aloud Think-Aloud

Character Analysis With Evidence

Images: www.julieballew.com

Text Level 3/4 Text Level 4th/5th

Evaluating Author’s Reasons & Word Choice

Critically Responding to

Reading

Sticky Thinking 3rd

Non-fiction Reading Shift Our Thinking from… “What do want kids to KNOW?” to

“What do want kids to get out of it?”

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cwf-fcf.org BIG

Image: www.julieballew.com

Evaluating Non-Fiction Text with Two-Column Notes…all strategies at once

Opinionated Students Blogging

blogs.wcpss.net/ourclassreads

Image: www.fountasandpinnell.com

Planning & Assessing Critical Thinking

www.julieballew.com

Cooperative Learning

Short Term Book Clubs Long Term Book Clubs

Project Based Learning...Inquiry is part of the Process

Higher Level Thinking Independent Projects

Schoolwide Research Model for LMES – remixed by Leigh Pittman from the AGOPE & WISE research models

Image: D. Garland

Thank You!

This presentation has received rave reviews by the faculty of the three schools I have presented it to. Many folks said that they finally understood what was teaching the Common Core way meant. My own principal called me a “rock star.” If your school or a school you know of, is interested in or

could use some help with this I'd be more then willing to travel and present to the faculty and staff. Please contact me and we can figure out

transportation and time compensation expenses. I can contacted at helloliteracy@gmail.com References available upon request.