A 100+ page lesson planning handbook for K-12 teachers. Fifteen simple routines or habits that simply and systematically teach all kids how to critically think about what they're reading.

"Critical thinking is the essential tool for ensuring that students fulfill their promise. But, in reality, critical thinking is still a luxury good, and students with the greatest potential are too often challenged the least. This bestselling book introduces a powerful but practical framework to close the critical thinking gap, gives teachers the tools and knowledge to teach critical thinking to all students, empowers students to tackle 21st-century problems, and teaches students how to compete in a rapidly changing global marketplace. Colin Seale, a teacher-turned-attorney-turned-education-innovator and founder of thinkLaw, uses his unique experience to introduce a wide variety of concrete instructional strategies and examples that teachers can use in all grade levels. Individual chapters address underachievement, the value of nuance, evidence-based reasoning, social-emotional learning, equitable education, and leveraging families to close the critical thinking gap. In addition to offering examples for Math, Science, ELA, and Social Studies, this timely, updated second edition adds a variety of new examples and applications for Physical Education, Fine Arts, Foreign Language, and Career and Technical Education"--

This book is based on a simple series of psychological concepts. While ability to think has always been important, the knowledge economy significantly increases the demand for higher order thinking and problem-solving abilities. Parents should take a much more active role in teaching their children to think. Early preschool years are critical because long-term attitudes and early strategies are learned then. Approaches and perspectives on learning to think can be clearly communicated to parents in ways which will make it possible for them to use the correct strategies to stimulate their students to think more clearly and critically. There are five elements involved in good, logical, critical, and creative thinking: 1. The skills involved in effective, efficient, and lasting learning, or commonly referred to as cognitive processing strategies 2. The mastery of logic and structure of what is being learned 3. Awareness of what one knows and does not know, and how one knows and how one thinks 4. The standards or guidelines for the validity and reliability of what one knows, called intellectual standards 5. The knowledge and skills involved in critical thinking and solving problems in different subjects or domains

In spite of soaring tuition costs, more and more students go to college every year. A bachelor’s degree is now required for entry into a growing number of professions. And some parents begin planning for the expense of sending their kids to college when they’re born. Almost everyone strives to go, but almost no one asks the fundamental question posed by Academically Adrift: are undergraduates really learning anything once they get there? For a large proportion of students, Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa’s answer to that question is a definitive no. Their extensive research draws on survey responses, transcript data, and, for the first time, the state-of-the-art Collegiate Learning Assessment, a standardized test administered to students in their first semester and then again at the end of their second year. According to their analysis of more than 2,300 undergraduates at twenty-four institutions, 45 percent of these students demonstrate no significant improvement in a range of skills—including critical thinking, complex reasoning, and writing—during their first two years of college. As troubling as their findings are, Arum and Roksa argue that for many faculty and administrators they will come as no surprise—instead, they are the expected result of a student body distracted by socializing or working and an institutional culture that puts undergraduate learning close to the bottom of the priority list. Academically Adrift holds sobering lessons for students, faculty, administrators, policy makers, and parents—all of whom are implicated in promoting or at least ignoring contemporary campus culture. Higher education faces crises on a number of fronts, but Arum and Roksa’s report that colleges are failing at their most basic mission will demand the attention of us all.

You look straight ahead. You try to breathe normally. You can smell the scent of the huge cat that is staring back. You are a cameraman. He is the King of Beasts. Your only thought is "I hope he has eaten today." Let National Geographic Explorers-in-Residence Dereck and Beverly Joubert bring you closer to the power and majesty of the regal African lion. With fewer than 25,000 wild lions now left on Earth, the authors make a passionate plea to young readers to take an active role in securing a future for these magnificent creatures.

Explore 12 species that you hope you'll never come across, from sharks, snakes, jellyfish, bears, tigers and mosquitoes.

This practical teaching resource has been designed to give children aged 9–12 the basic tools required to challenge some of the conflicting information which they may encounter in everyday life. With increasing exposure to modern information technology and social media, amongst other things, children are increasingly exposed to misleading information that can seriously influence their worldview and self-esteem. The sooner they are helped to approach some of this material with a critical eye, the better they will be able to make independent judgements and resist undue persuasion. Key features of this book include: • Short texts designed to give opportunities for critical examination, created to be points of discussion with individuals, groups or whole classes • Topics covering seven areas of critical thought, ordered in level of difficulty, including finding contradictions, and detecting bias and fake news • Supporting teacher prompts and questions, as well as photocopiable resources without prompts The ability to question and evaluate information is an essential life skill, as well as a key skill for academic learning, yet it remains one of the most challenging aspects of comprehension to teach. This is a vital text for teachers, teaching assistants and other professionals looking to develop critical thinking skills in their students.

Revised and extended to cover critical reflection and evaluation of information resources, this new edition of Critical Thinking Skills for Education Students is a practical and user-friendly text to help education students develop their understanding of critical analysis. It outlines the skills needed to examine and challenge data and encourages students to adopt this way of thinking to enrich their personal and professional development. The text helps students to develop their self-evaluation skills in order to recognise personal values and perceptions. Critical analysis, modeling, case studies, worked examples and reflective tasks are used to engage the reader with the text - building both skills and confidence. This book is part of the Study Skills in Education Series. This series addresses key study skills in the context of education courses, helping students identify their weaknesses, increase their confidence and realise their academic potential. Titles in this series are suitable for students on: any course of Initial Teacher Training leading to QTS; a degree in Education or Education Studies; a degree in Early Years or Early Childhood Education; a foundation degree in any education related subject discipline. Lesley-Jane Eales-Reynolds is Pro Vice Chancellor (Education) at Kingston University. Brenda Judge is a Senior Lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University. Elaine McCreery is Head of Primary, Early Years and Education Studies programmes at Manchester Metropolitan University. Patrick Jones, now retired, was Senior Lecturer in Primary Education at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Help children of all learning styles and strengths improve their critical thinking skills with these creative, cross-curricular activities. Each engaging activity focuses on skills such as recognizing and recalling, evaluating, and analyzing.

The insider's guide to turning your run-of-the-mill coaching job into a wildly powerful coaching practice that boosts teacher skill and student scores! Here you have it...again! You learned in Jill's first book, Get a Backbone, Principal!, how to get rid of fancy educational jargon and replace it with simple, habitual, straightforward conversations that lead a school from less than stellar scores to off the charts student performance. Well, she's done it again! BUT this time she's talking to you, COACHES! Jill wrote this book to once-and-for-all answer questions like these: How do I coach without being evaluative? What do I do with a weak administrator that won't hold teachers accountable? How do I build trust? What if all I do is put out fires and never get to the actual coaching? What does a successful coaching practice really look like? How do I debrief a teacher and have him actually implement my advice? This book is designed to support, nag, push and cajole instructional coaches into taking six very important steps: Step 1: Get Focused. Step 2: Get Into a Flow. Step 3: Get to the Dance of the Debrief. Step 4: Get to the Heart of Teaching and Learning. Step 5: Get Some Thick Skin. Step 6: Get a Plan. Advanced praise for Get Some Guts, Coach! "I knew what I needed to do, but just needed someone to tell me how to do it! Thanks for all of your wonderful insight!" "I love this. Thank you for addressing coaching head-on and providing me with practical and doable solutions." "Practical, clear and concise information for coaching. This is an area that can be difficult, but you make the difficult seem possible."