Critical thinking is a
basic life skill. You must learn how to think critically and model an excellent
example of critical thinking skills to those who look up to you. Having
established that, you must learn how to teach critical thinking skills.
Teaching critical thinking skills goes hand in hand with helping your students
understand the art of building critical thinking skills. The following steps
are helpful to you, who desire to learn how to teach critical thinking skills:
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Give
your students a prompt- a prompt is a statement
to which students should respond. Help your students understand what exactly
you need from the prompt by breaking it into portions they can easily digest.
Ask
questions- ask students questions often
in the course of the lesson. You may choose to ask different questions or ask
the same question differently. The idea is to develop intellectual curiosity
among your students.
Encourage
constructive debate- constructive debates
arise from discussing controversial yet relevant issues in society. You may
choose not to assign a topic taught in class, but have a topic that affects the
age bracket of your class or children.
Provide
effective tools for critical thinking-
before asking a question or assigning a prompt, help students understand what
critical thinking is, why they should cultivate critical thinking and writing
skills and the language they should use to critique.
Use
different methods of assessment
–capacities and abilities vary from student to student. The same applies to
their preferences. Use different avenues not only to teach critical thinking
skills, but also to help them master the art of building critical thinking skills. You may choose to use an
essay in one instance, a case study, speech or engage them in Socratic
discussions. Each child will display his/her strength in different categories.
Encourage evaluation among your students-
through sampling the works written by their colleagues, students are challenged
to master developing and building critical thinking skills; sometimes a challenge
from within works better than a challenge from external sources.
Let
students be the teacher- sometimes it is
paramount to step back, let the students approach the subject from the angle
they desire. Your work is to control the debate. You will be surprised at what
they can deliver given an opportunity.
Building critical
thinking skills and learning how to teach critical thinking skills is an art;
you become proficient through repeating the same thing severally. In case of
challenges, you can request for assistance from experts.
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