Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is an issue I think a lot about in my classroom. Since I am recently graduated for UGA undergrad, I still have the resounding sounds of "higher order thinking" in my head. I am constantly bombarded with the thoughts of critical thinking in my classroom, because I refuse to be a worksheet teacher.

I am troubled by critical thinking, however, because my students are so against it. I teach 8th grade language arts, and I know for a fact that most middle schoolers hate to think! :) It's like pulling teeth to get my students to think critically, but they are getting better and better.

Introducing technology into the picture usually piques their interest, and critical thinking is much more accessible for that vantage point. I am very interested to find more and more technology resources that provide critical thinking facets, because my students tend to gravitate toward the technology based projects.

The thing I love most about critical thinking is seeing my students really revel in the outcome. They are always surprised that they can think in that manner, and they are also surprised that they can come up with some of the ideas and solutions to problems that they do. I love the "light bulb" effect!

Resources I will use most...

I think I will use the digital storytelling resource the most out of all my resources. At least it is the one that I want to use the most. I was really looking for a way to integrate technology into some of the more mundane aspects of Language Arts, and I think digital storytelling will do just that. Most of my students are super creative, and I think this would give them a great outlet and something new to try. I'm looking forward to using this tech tool in many different facets, not just for telling narratives. I think that it can be used in all my units, so it will be fun to see which ones work the best. :)

Thoughts...

For my project, I really wanted to use MovieMaker. I am having my kids take a position on a school related issue and interview peers, make a commercial, and debate about their position. I was planning on having them use Movie Maker to put all of this together, but the program has been very slow at our school lately, and I'm worried about the execution of the project. Any ideas on another program that can incorporate video, audio, and word processing? We have PCs, so iMovie won't work.

Other than that, I'm feeling really good about the project. We're almost in to our persuasive writing unit, and my kids are super excited. I can't wait to see what they come up with. They are so creative and get really into our projects, so it will be fun to see. :)

Adding Creativity

I really loved our toipc last Tuesday, because creativity is really important to me. I am definitely a "think outside the box" kind of person and always have been. I enjoy creative elements in everything, especially when it comes to the classroom. I think that in language arts students feel there is more freedome to explore creativity then in some other subjects. I believe that one can create creative elements in any area though. Isn't that the point of being creative?

In my project, I allow for a lot of creativity. Students will be making up commercials, skits, and other advertisements in order to get their positions heard on their persuasive issue. They will have to be very creative in making these advertisements appropraite while still compelling. I think it is imperative that students get to use the freedom of creativity on this project, because I don't want to hold them back from any ideas that might help to make their projects more successful. I know it will take some coaxing for some of my students, but I believe they can all pull through.