Theories of Critical
Thinking
While there
are many different opinions about critical thinking and how best to accomplish
it, one thing is clear, getting students to this point is important. Throughout
the years, teachers have used different methods of teaching to give students
the greatest learning opportunity. The methods that teachers have used, often were
dictated by school systems or boards.
Teachers have always had the
closest connections to their students and have known that sometimes there were
better ways to help that student, which is what all good teachers want, but
teachers are not always given the freedom to use methods outside the prescribed
current teaching methods. Much of this is because in teaching the teachers tend
to see firsthand what is working and what does not, but the policy makers are
slow to adapt to changing their policies to allow these new methods. While with
everything else in life, change takes time. In some cases, the changes can be
done quickly, while some take extremely long periods of time.
Within the education system,
changes that are mild adjustments can often be made quickly where more extreme
changes take longer due to reluctance. Today, we see that we have shifted to a
new way of thinking where teachers no longer expect to give students
information and expect them to remember it and instead teachers look to have
students not only learn new information but also how to find new information
and to understand and be able to use this information in the real world. This is
a major shift in the pedagogy of educators today than that of the past.
Teachers today must also keep up with new information and technologies
themselves to help students. Therefore, teachers now must work together to help
each other learn new skills to better help student learning.
With todays climate in the school
systems, I think we are at a much better advantage to teachers of the past.
Leaders now recognize that all students do not learn the same and usually give
teachers more latency when it comes to the way teachers teach. And with
technology and information so easily available and quickly changing, views on
best methods of teaching are also much quicker to change. One of the biggest
advantages we have today is that we know we must get students to use critical
thinking and that there are various levels to thinking and understanding. We
use Bloom’s taxonomy today as a guide to help use see where students fall in
their critical thinking and it helps us know what type things, we should do to
help them reach a higher level. The biggest thing teachers today can do is
always be open to change, and to always keep learning new things.
Brian the last statement is very true. Teachers whether they are elementary, high school, or college, they should always be open to learn new ways to keep their students engaged and technology is the name of the game these days. My daughter teaches elementary and she works with a few teachers that have been teaching for a long time. They do not know how to use technology very well and they always ask her for help and she of course does not mind. In my opinion if a teacher is going to teach in today’s world, they need to do whatever it takes to learn the technology that our kids are using and use it in their classroom instead of staying with a script or like you stated using methods that are often dictated by the school system or boards.
ReplyDeleteStudents sometimes know more than the teachers. The other day in a conversation in my class I mentioned Tik Tok, my students just laughed at me. I guess they thought I did not know what that was. lol
Brian spot on adapting to change. When I graduated with my undergrad, I was only certified to teach history and I was planning to teach like my teachers taught me in school. One year into my career I was teaching six different preps and working in a therapeutic behavioral school. I knew within the first week I need to quickly implement new ways of teaching to meet these where they were and find more creative ways to get them engaged in their learning. Change can be a little scary because its something different, but sometimes change is for the better good.
ReplyDeleteBrian, you have provided an exemplary post regarding theories of critical thinking. I agree with allowing students to utilize critical thinking today. Yes, teachers often teach the way they were taught in the past, but research has shown that with technology growing so rapidly, educators must learn and teach new strategies to ensure that students are up to date with new technology and changes from the past. Becoming a library media specialist has proven that technology is forever changing and new strategies and techniques are recommended for students in all grade levels. I do believe that it is imperative that we use Bloom's Taxonomy as a guide to lead students in the right direction in order to use their criticlal thinking skills to be productive students in a school setting.
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