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Cross Creek 




Early College
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Book Study

Published on
Greetings Cross Creek Educators,

In this hybrid book study teachers will earn a total of 12 hours (1.2 ceu's) for reading each chapter, responding to discussion prompts online, and sharing application of ideas.  You will be given no later than (NLT) dates for completing chapters.  

I want to thank Melissa Storms for giving me much needed help with this study.  In growth mindset fashion, I had to experience a little failure in order to become a better blogger.  ​

Instructions: 
Read chapter four, click on "comments" to answer.  Number your answer to correspond with the question.  You will be asked to 1. Describe a critical thinking activity that you use in your classroom.  You will then look at your assigned colleague's entry and 2. respond, summing up why their activity employs the elements of critical thinking (Pages 55-56).

It doesn't matter who responds first. 
*Reynolds responds to Merritt, Merritt responds to Reynolds
*Hasapis responds to McGinnis, McGinnis responds to Hasapis 
*Hosking responds to Huffman, Huffman responds to Hosking 
*Howard responds to Little, Little responds to Howard
*Starling responds to Kerr, Kerr responds to Starling
*Rappold responds to Rivera, Rivera responds to Rappold
*Shields responds to a colleague of her choice. 

Let's aim for December 2 for the description of the critical thinking activity to be posted, and December 15th for the response. 

 A little different for Administration
*Patrick responds to Hickle, Hickle responds to Patrick to this question: Why is Critical Thinking Important in a Growth Mindset School Culture?

Remember there are cut-off limits, so brevity is the order of the day! 
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If you have questions feel free to contact me. athetford@edumentality or alisonthetford@aol.com. 
32 Comments
Gina Hickle - 9 years ago
Why is Critical Thinking Important in a Growth Mindset School Culture?

It is essential to incorporate critical thinking practice as part of a growth mindset school culture because one makes the other more easily attainable as well as sustainable in a school environment. It seems that when students are taught to trust themselves to think critically by having ample content-based opportunities to do so, they tend to automatically become more persistent and eager in their attempts at learning as well as gentler with themselves and others when they don't quite reach the mark. As a counselor, I love the fact that due to this research, some students in recent years have had the opportunity to begin their educational journeys with a growth mindset in place and are encouraged to further develop it. I am saddened at the fact that most older students, particularly those at high school age, have not had the consistent opportunity to experience this arm-in-arm practice of critical thinking development along with the belief in a growth mindset. It speaks to the fact that it is urgent that we focus attention on these "older" learners in our systems who have had many years to dwell in fixed mindsets and experience inconsistent or isolated critical thinking practice. These concepts, supported with lessons on brain research, would help many students release themselves from either the pressure of perfectionism, or fear-based under-performance before they pursue post-secondary schooling options.
Patsy Patrick - 9 years ago
After reading Chapter 4 a growth mindset culture and increased opportunities for critical thinking can make a significant impact on students and schools.
Ms. Hickle stated the major challenge is that by high school, students have bought into the fixed mindset culture and the inconsisent/or isolated critical thinking practices.
I think challenging than the mindsets of high school students, is that of high school teachers/staff. If we want the mindsets of our students to change, our mindset has to change, as well. One way to change is to incorporate more opportunities for our students of all levels to engage in critical thinking and believing that they will be successful. The author stated that she doubts that simply increasing the amount of critical thinking engagement will do anything unless it is accompanied by a growth mindset culture. So, the two must be incorporated together to make change effective.
It would be interesting to do this project here at Cross Creek and see the result. Maybe starting with the new freshman we get for the 17-18 school year.
Kelley Hasapis - 9 years ago
Describe a critical thinking activity that you use in the classroom.

One critical thinking activity I use in the classroom is a review activity I use at the conclusion of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. I place the students in groups of two. Each pair of students is given an envelope with the major events of the play cut into strips and mixed up. The students have to then work with one another and place the events in chronological order. I time this activity and the pair that has each event in the proper order first gets a prize. The students love the competition element and they have to think critically in order to get all of the events in the proper order.
Kevin R McGinnis - 9 years ago
This activity definitely demonstrates reasoning and problem solving skills. The student must be able to logically arrange events that have been placed non-chronologically into the envelope by using recall and simple logic."X couldn't have happened here because Y was dead when this happened" could very easily be a refrain of the groups as they work through the strips of paper.

As sort of a Devil's advocate - what happens once a team has the whole thing lined up correctly? Is the activity over? If I got put with a dead weight partner, what incentive do I have to even try when I know a team that cares will win?
Alison Thetford - 9 years ago
Great question, Mr. M-- perhaps making partnerships (A and B) and before the actual chronology is revealed, instruct Partner A to go to the left and review neighbor's chronology (discuss differences and justifications) and, Round 2, instruct A to the right and repeat. (forming different partnerships keeps students engaged and accountable). Reveal actual chronology and allow students to correct, if necessary.
Alison Thetford - 9 years ago
One thing- I didn't address the competition element in my response. How could we incorporate a competition within the parameters? Could you revisit the chronological strips the next day and have the competition then? There has to be enough strips so that it's clear it isn't rote memory that is being evaluated. What are your thoughts?
Kelley Hasapis - 9 years ago
I definitely add a competition element to the activity. I normally add extra credit points to the winning team for the upcoming test. Ten points to the winning team and then 5 points to each team who completes the activity in the correct order.
Tiffany Starling - 9 years ago
In a math class, students are constantly thinking critically. I try to incorporate the 8 mathematical practices in each less to enforce critical thinking. They are as follows: make sense of problems and persevere in solving them, reason abstractly and quantitatively, construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others, model with mathematics, use appropriate tools strategically, attend to precision, look for and make use of structure, and look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning. One critical thinking activity I use regularly is Grudge ball. It is a review game where the class is split into 2 teams. Both teams are given 10 black x’s to start the game. Each team member is given a number and they can only answer during their round, however the whole team can help. If they get the question right they get 2 colored x’s. Then they may shoot from the 1st line to take away 1 x from the other team, or the 2nd line to take away 2 x’s. If one team gets it wrong then the other team has a chance to answer. After both teams have went twice on one problem, then the problem is dead and nobody gets the points. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins. This game is very very competitive!! Students are thinking critically to make sense of problems and persevere in solving them, construct viable arguments for their own answer and critique the reasoning of someone else’s answer. The students are modeling with mathematics and using the appropriate tools, as well as utilizing the other mathematical practices.
Keno Kerr - 9 years ago
The activity employs the elements of critical thinking because the students have to thinking critically to make sense of problems, construct arguments for their own answer and critique the reasoning of someone else’s answer. This activity allow students to develop their reasoning skills in order to come up with one correct answer from the collective and to be able to critique the opposing team's answer. It also helps in developing decision making skills as they must decide on one answer that is most appropriate.
Jennison Shields - 9 years ago
One critical thinking activity for my class involves students finding an equation to model the changing number of tiles in a set of pictures. To do this, they must find patterns and then figure out how to explain the changes mathematically. It can be difficult to see how the pictures can be translated into numbers, and often students do struggle with it. They begin by working independently, and then they talk with a partner and/or small group. They must be able to show how their equation relates to the pictures.
Alison Thetford - 9 years ago
I really like the way you require students to work independently first and then go to partnerships. Students must be accountable for their own thinking, flawed or not. They need to feel the discomfort of not knowing and work through the feelings. Perseverance is part of the (pardon the play on words) equation when it comes to critical/deep thinking.
Julia Little - 9 years ago
1. Describe a critical thinking activity that you use in your classroom. You will then look at your assigned colleague's entry and 2. respond, summing up why their activity employs the elements of critical thinking (Pages 55-56).

A critical thinking activity that I used in my 9th grade Honors Earth and Environmental Science class is experimental design. Many high school science courses approach laboratories with a cookbook or recipe approach, followed by a list of questions to answer about the findings. Based on my experience coaching the Experimental Design Science Olympiad event, I have observed how much students' critical thinking abilities improve when they question, ponder, research on their own, and devise their own hypotheses when they are given the latitude to design their own experiments. During Q1, each class brainstormed questions about composting after completing the textbook reading, a classroom discussion, and an interactive online lab. We used the consensus protocol to narrow the class experiment down to one question, and then designed an experiment in which each group represented a change to the independent variable. One class decided to study the effect of initial water volume on final compost particle size. One class decided to study the effect of the percentage of "greens" and "browns" on the final percentage of N-P-K (nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium) in the compost. The third class decided to study the effect of percentage of "greens" and "browns" on plant growth, as measured by total biomass above the ground.
Alexis Howard - 9 years ago
This activity definitely utilizes critical thinking. From the very beginning of the lab, they are having to think on a deeper level. This also helps them to become stakeholders in what they are learning. As a professional scientist, one is not given an instruction manual breaking every detail down. By learning these skills now, they will be able to be more independent on life skills and oçupational skills.
Alison Thetford - 9 years ago
Dr. L- your words. "I have observed how much students' critical thinking abilities improve when they question, ponder, research on their own, and devise their own hypotheses when they are given the latitude to design their own experiments." are quite appropriate! If educators spoon feed students answers to questions without the work of thinking, learning is compromised. Ownership in the experiments as well as giving clear guidance is paramount to success in any classroom.
Jane Merritt - 9 years ago
One critical thinking assignment that the seniors do in ACR IV involves them budgeting their money. The students have to research the career they expect to have and the average starting monthly salary for that career. Next they have to plan a monthly family budget including housing, food, transportation, insurance, savings, medical cost, investments, etc. Students will also have to work out their budgets for different obstacles that may come along and affect their finances.
Jennison Shields - 9 years ago
I like this activity a lot because it is real world math. It is also an excellent example of critical thinking. The students are problem solving and making decisions. They must consider and plan for potential events that can, and do, occur. They must prioritize, which also requires reasoning.
Alison Thetford - 9 years ago
Students learn best and are most interested when the learning applies to them. When we get students to think about long-term (it hasn't happened yet) scenarios, critical thinking is happening! This activity covers many positives- relevance, reality, and rehearsal. The more we ask students to be critical thinkers within the parameters of their personal lives, the better they will be! Living for today is short-sighted, but giving students decision-making skills will allow them to enjoy today, but plan for tomorrow!
Tamela Rappold - 9 years ago
"Describe a critical thinking activity that you use in your classroom."
In this chapter the author divides the process of critical thinking into 3 categories: reasoning, making judgments and problem solving. In order for this process to occur, there needs to be an infusion of content.
One of my driest lessons became one of my favorite to teach once I created a problem that only the content could solve. When teaching indirect object pronouns, I set up the following scenario: One student in a group has just inherited miscellaneous items from an unknown distant relative. Among the objects inherited are a puppy, a dusty manuscript, a Peruvian gold coin, a vacation home in the Canary Islands, an obscure painting, a complete set of DVDs of Disney’s Princesses, and an urn containing the great uncle’s ex-wife’s ashes. The one stipulation is that the student may keep only one item. Everything else must be divided among those in his/her group. Everyone must agree to the disbursement of the items and must record what the heir gave to each group member on a scroll resembling a Last Will and Testament.
Milagros Rivera - 9 years ago
I have witnessed the joy that you put into your teaching and this particular activity is proof that students are using their critical thinking skills in deciding what item they want to keep for themselves and what items will be disbursed. Not an easy task because each member of the group has to be in agreement about the item they get.
Perhaps they have to explain the functionality or meaningfulness of the item they received. Why they need the item and how will they use it? Students need to think of a logical or creative use of their inherited item. Therefore, critical thinking skills are being used.
Keno Kerr - 9 years ago
"Describe a critical thinking activity that you use in your classroom."

I used an activity where the students are grouped in pairs and given two sets of questions "A" and "B". One person in the group was asked to do only questions in set A and the other set B. Questions are different in both sets however the answers are the same for some questions. Students are then forced to think and come up with reasons as to why some answers are the same and some different.
Tiffany Starling - 9 years ago
The students are thinking critically by making sense of the problems not just solving them. They have to explain and construct a viable argument to why some problems have the same answer and why some do not. This activity employs the eight mathematical practices, which was stated in the book as employing critical thinking.
Alison Thetford - 9 years ago
Probably the second hardest thing for students of math to do is to explain how they came up with an answer. (The hardest being the written explanation!) The fact that they are comparing different equations and getting the same answer is a twist. As the teacher, hovering and listening to reasoning behind answers and/or asking students to explain further will create more opportunities for them to learn. In this activity, a teacher's presence near student discussion is vital to the activity's success!
Alexis Howard - 9 years ago
One critical thinking activity I do in biology is when we are in the evolution chapter. They are grouped into pairs, and are taught about how mutations have been evidences of adaptations, as well as the different types of stabilization. They then have to pick two animals who would be natural competitors and create a scenario in which they are competing. One of them undergoes a genetic mutation in which it takes on the characteristics of its competitor so it can thrive and outcompete. Within the story, they also have to describe what type of stabilization went on in the overall community.
Julia Little - 9 years ago
This Honors Biology activity employs critical thinking in how students must apply what they have learned about mutations as adaptations in choosing natural competitors. This requires research skills. Next, the pairs must create a competitive scenario; they are not just provided one by the teacher. Students must make the leap to the stabilization at the community level. So, rather than learning and answering questions, students must create a complex story that they plan, design, create, edit, and share.
Alison Thetford - 9 years ago
When students must (as Dr. Little said) apply what they learn, real lasting learning takes place. Unfortunately, sometimes teachers go for the "easy button" and ask students to complete questions at the end of a unit/chapter. (and how many times as students we were given the choice to "skip" the critical thinking questions OR they were the "extra credit questions!" I would say let's turn that around and require students to do the critical thinking questions first!
Great submissions for both!
Kevin R McGinnis - 9 years ago
1. Description of my activity

As the study of Romeo and Juliet progresses, the students are continually guided to think and determine critically about who was most responsible for the characters ending up dead. This is a question that is posed during the reading, on quizzes, and is the essay on the unit exam.

While this is not specifically an "Activity" in the guise of a protocol or specific instructional event, I consider it an essential part of studying the play. It addresses the types of thinking Willingham identified as essential to critical thinking and growth - reasoning, judgments, and critical thinking.

Functionally, the students must make value judgements about the motives and desires of characters and whether those choices were good, bad, or a little of both. It is an "Activity" built entirely on nuance and there is no prescribed correct answer.
Kelley Hasapis - 9 years ago
I really like the idea behind this critical thinking question you pose to the students at the end of Romeo and Juliet. It definitely employs many higher thinking skills. I also ask my students this question and enjoy hearing their responses. Like you stated, there is really no wrong answer. The only parameter is that they have to defend their choices with evidence from the text.
Milagros Rivera - 9 years ago
An activity in which I feel students use critical thinking skills
is when teaching the past tense and shopping. Students were sent a gift of $100 dollars in cash and a gift card of $100 by their grandmother. Students needed to explain how they spent their money. They had to buy various items in different stores. They could not buy just a single expensive item, even tho there was a student who tried to buy a game console. They had to decide what he or she was going to buy with their gift card and make sure all the money was used. The hardest part is explaining their task in Spanish using the past participle, I went to..., I bought.... It cost... I paid with...Then, I went...
They have to plan critically what they are going to do, how they are going to do it and so forth and so on.
For the students this whole scenario is very challenging and I truly enjoy listening to them making this presentation.
Tamela Rappold - 9 years ago
The action of having to use the language to achieve a purposeful task shows that students are using critical thinking. When making their selections they are using rationality rather than emotion and judgement rather than whim. I have heard the happy noise coming from Ms. Rivera's classroom while she conducts this exercise. More than one student can be heard saying, "I wish this was for real!" The byproduct of this exercise is that students are also learning culture. They learn it not as a list of facts about a practice in Spanish-speaking cultures, but as a real life experience. Those lessons are not easily forgotten.
Rod Hosking - 9 years ago
An activity done in my class that promotes critical thinking is constructed-response writing and peer-evaluation. We practice three or four timed constructed responses in class and then via Google Classroom grade several collectively. I first grade them showing them what criteria is used in this grading process. Students are then given an opportunity to grade some on their own with my critique of their process until I can finally allow them - with absolute faith that they know what to look for - to do so in pairs where they can share scores and rationale for said scores.
Kenneth Huffman - 9 years ago
I think the critical thinking in your exercise happens once you have modeled the desired procedure and criteria. As students become more comfortable with the protocol, they will be able to develop the reasoning skills it requires. . .

In Civics, I use a city council activity have students address and solve a budgeting problem. Students have to listen to their peers and the presenting problem that each council character brings to the scenario, and then make a decision as to the best way to budget limited resources.
Rod Hosking - 9 years ago
Mr. Huffman's activity uses a great deal of critical thinking, because at its very core the assignment puts the students in the position to utilize what they have learned in advance and then apply, synthesize, and evaluate that material with a changing landscape of responses and stimuli used by a varying cast of characters played by students. This level of activity transcends the simple activities which further nothing more than memorization and comprehension. The results will be different each time.