Theories of Critical Thinking

The first article that I read was The Adoption Process. It discussed the fact that we do not all accept change at the same time. Some people are quick to jump on the bandwagon, while others take their time, accepting at a slower rate. Eventually, everyone has accepted the change, leaving no one behind. Each level of acceptance has its own unique label, starting with the Innovators continuing to the laggards, the last to accept the change. This progression sums up the manner in which some educators accept change in their school. As I look at the school that I work in, I see administration providing faculty with what they feel is the latest and greatest, best new practice. Teachers each have their own unique way of incorporating the new theories in to their lessons. Some are quick to figure out a way to work with this new idea almost enthusiastically, while others slowly add to their repertoire, and the laggards who drag their heels until they are given no choice but to follow along. There are so many factors that affect someone’s acceptance: age, background, and technology skills are just a few. I believe the differences in faculty are what makes each school a special place for learning, so we need to make sure that we accept, to an extent, their speed of acceptance and implementation.

As educators, we have learned about Bloom’s Taxonomy of the Cognitive Domain. This taxonomy places skills teachers expect their students to learn in to a hierarchy or progression starting with knowledge and ending with evaluation. Learning at one level must be complete prior to moving on to the next. Some kids will be successful at each level, while others may never get beyond the stage of knowledge. As a teacher, preparing lesson plans for any topic, providing for each student and their abilities, has historically been a difficult task. In today’s society, with the progression of technology, meeting the needs of students at varying levels of understanding is less of a challenge. Teachers used to have access to textbooks and whatever their library could provide. Today, through technology, they have access to so much more. There is a vast array of tools at a teacher’s finger tips that allows them to meet the needs of each student.

Education is no longer a teacher standing in front of a class of students, lecturing about the lesson of the day. Technology allows teachers the ability to help students learn at a deeper level of understanding. Mark S. Kuhn writes about three new ideas that have helped propel this idea. New pedagogies take place when teachers create ways for students to apply what they have learned and how they learned it to real life. Learning continues after students have left school. New change in leadership explains that teachers and students are both responsible for teaching and learning. Imagine the way a child feels when they realize that they have just taught their teacher something. New system of economics says that learning is less expensive than in the past as a result of the new pedagogies. The school district that I work has already incorporated some of these ideas. It is unfortunate, but no matter how hard we try, some students will still struggle to learn the simplest of concepts, but we will never stop trying, and neither will they.

All the ideas that have been presented in these articles sound great on paper, but I feel it is important to remember that we are all different and unique, and we do not all learn in the same way. Flexibility in implementing new ideas in so important for teachers, but even more important for our students. Even with the best formed plan, it is still possible to lose a student along the way. We as teachers, need to make sure that we don’t overlook a student that is struggling to keep up.