Critical Thinking Cultivator Pathway
The Critical Thinking Cultivator micro-credential is designed for educators who aspire to elevate their teaching practices by integrating advanced critical thinking skills into their classrooms. This program focuses on nurturing, developing, and assessing critical thinking in students across all subjects and grade levels. Participants will explore a range of strategies, tools, and approaches to foster an environment where questioning, analysis, and reflection are encouraged and become a natural part of the learning process. (15 Contact Hours)
Task 1: Training Video Reflective Response #1
Training Video: Build Critical Thinking Skills in the Classroom
Critical thinking skills are essential for students to succeed in the classroom and beyond. These skills involve analyzing information, evaluating arguments, and making informed decisions based on evidence. By building critical thinking skills in the classroom, teachers can help students become more engaged and independent learners who are better equipped to navigate the complexities of the world around them.
In this video, you will learn:
● The gap in a student's ability to use critical thinking skills to learn
● What critical thinking is
● What are the higher-order thinking skills?
● The transition from learning how to read to reading to learn
● Teaching students the ability to make decisions based on the gathered information
● Establishing a critical thinking space inside the classroom
● The resources and the materials that boost critical thinking skills
● What is metacognition?
● The explosion of AI technology in this post-pandemic world
● Incorporating real-world events and experiences into the classroom lessons
● Allowing students to embrace curiosity inside the classroom
Task 2: Training Videos and Resources Reflective Response #2
Website with videos and resources: Structural Learning
This article will help teachers teach critical thinking skills in the classroom. We'll look at how to teach critical thinking skills using examples from history, science, math, literature, and art. Please explore the videos and resource downloads.
Task 3: Reflective Response #3
Teacher Choice
Consider what you have learned in the two previous resources. Please explore the following resources to further your understanding of critical thinking in the classroom:
Education Week: Eight Instructional Strategies for Promoting Critical Thinking (Check out the FIRE writing!)
Resilient Educator: Critical Thinking for Middle School (Other levels here)
Reboot: How to Teach Critical Thinking: Lesson Plans for Teachers (Thinking Critically and Confirmation Bias)
Task 4: Reflective Response #4
Engaging with Contemporary Educational Research
In an effort to bridge the gap between research and practice, please read and reflect upon these two contemporary research-based sites. Your reflection on these readings will help to deepen your collective understanding and inform your pedagogical strategies.
Reading Rockets: Critical Thinking: Why Is It So Hard to Teach?
Edutopia: Helping Students Hone Their Critical Thinking Skills
Task 5: Peer Observation Form
Peer Observation
With the intent to create a collaborative and supportive culture at Patriot Preparatory Academy, each teacher is asked to complete three peer observations during the school year. For this task, please focus one of your peer observations on the topic of your selected micro-credential. For example, does the teacher utilize the information you have learned so far in your micro-credential study? Could the information you have learned be beneficial to the classroom you observed?
✏️Task 5: Peer Observation Form
Task 6: Culminating Activity
Lesson Plan Development: Applying Micro-credential Learning
Having pursued a micro-credential, you have engaged in focused, specialized learning. To bridge the space between this knowledge acquisition and its practical classroom application, please demonstrate your understanding in the form of a comprehensive lesson plan. By creating a lesson plan that directly applies what you've learned, you are not only showcasing your mastery but also preparing yourself to provide enriched experiences to your students.
Guidelines:
Lesson Objective: Clearly state the main objective of the lesson. What will students know or be able to do by the end of the lesson?
Alignment with Micro-credential Content: Detail how the lesson reflects specific concepts, skills, or strategies you acquired during your micro-credentialing journey. This should be a clear demonstration of your mastery of the content.
Instructional Procedures: Outline step-by-step procedures for the lesson. Include introductions, main activities, groupings, methods, and any differentiation strategies you plan to employ.
Materials and Resources: List any materials, technologies, or external resources that will be required for the lesson. Highlight any that directly relate to or were recommended during the micro-credential program.
Assessment and Evaluation: Describe how you will assess student understanding and the success of the lesson. Incorporate any innovative assessment techniques or tools you encountered in your micro-credentialing program.
✏️Task 6: Culminating Activity, Lesson Plan Development