Supporting AIG Learners and the

SCOS through Critical Thinking

DPI RttT AIG Institute Winter 2012-13

Linda P. Robinson, CONNECTIONS-NC, Inc., Presenter

DPI ~ AIG Institutes

What Are Our Questions?BRAINSTORM WITH YOUR NEIGHBOR:

•How has the Standard Course of Study changed?

• What are characteristics of AIG learners that make their needs different?

•How should we be differentiating the Standard Course of Study for AIG learners?

•How will I present this to teachers in my school district?

Turn to your neighbor and list as many, different reasons as you can think of to justify why developing critical thinking is more important NOW than EVER BEFORE!

WHY CRITICAL THINKING?

THEN…

…NOW

What Matters in the “Real World”

Critical thinking is that mode of thinking - about any subject, content, or problem - in which the thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully taking charge of the structures inherent in thinking and imposing intellectual standards upon them.

Center for Critical Thinking

www.criticalthinking.org

WHAT IS CRITICAL THINKING?

35 STRATEGIES FOR DEVELOPING CRITICAL THINKING

Center for Critical Thinking: Sonoma State University

A. Affective Strategies

B. Cognitive Strategies –

Macro-Abilities

C. Cognitive Strategies –

Micro-Skills

 

Put a star by the affective or cognitive strategies that you and your students do well!

Walk around and share with two other people what you do well!

COMMON CORE STANDARDS

Language Arts

8. Explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support particular points in a text.

9. Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.

Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

Math

1. Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.

2. Reason abstractly and quantitatively.

3. Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.

8. Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.

• What would we have asked “before”?

• What would we ask now?

• How can we differentiate for AIG learners?

Let’s Practice Differentiating!

Characteristics of AIG Learners

• Learn more rapidly• Stronger need to know• Superior abstract thinking• Superior communication skills• Longer attention span• Perceive more unusual relationships• See and create patterns• More intense interests• More intellectually playful• Better at sensing discrepancies• Better retention of information

How does that affect how we differentiate the SCOS?

HOW IS CRITICAL THINKING DIFFERENT FOR GIFTED LEARNERS?

• More abstract

• More complex

• More advanced content

• More advanced levels of thinking

• More sophisticated real life roles

• More sophisticated products

Common Core State Standards: GRADE 8Reading Standards for Informational Text:

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas8. Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is sound and the evidence is relevant and sufficient; recognize when irrelevant evidence is

introduced.

• Read the newspaper clipping marked as “READING #5” (begins “The mayor stated that…”).

• What do you think that you could infer about the author of the newspaper article?

• In your judgment, does the author of the article include any irrelevant information in the article? Why do you think that the information is irrelevant? Why might the author have included that information?

• Even though there is very little evidence in the article, how might Alderman Von Glahn’s and Alderman Gore’s opinions differ? What were the concerns of each?

Common Core Standards: GRADE 8

Writing Standards: Text Types and Purposes 3. Write narratives to develop real or imagined

experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-

structured event sequences.

• Assume that you have been hired as the lawyer for the Syrians whose stand (probably a fruit stand) has been removed from Front and Dock Streets. Write a letter to a judge giving your reasons for why they should be allowed to keep the stand. Mention at least 3 specific details from the newspaper article in your letter.

What’s the Difference?

• Look at the “Think Tank Math” and “Think Tank Math Advanced.”

• What are the differences?

• How do those differences reflect characteristics of AIG learners?

Example of Tiered Lesson:Civil War

Not Yet Ready:

You are a soldier for either the North or the South. The date is _____________ and you have just fought in the battle at _________________. Write a letter to your mother about what happened today and how you feel about it.

Just Ready:

You are a soldier for either the North or the South. The date is _____________ and you have just fought in the battle at _________________. Write a letter to either Gen. Lee or Gen. Grant telling them your perspective about what happened today and what you think their side should do and why.

Ready to Go:

You are a soldier for either the North or the South. The date is _____________ and you have just fought in the battle at _________________. Write a letter to citizens of Iraq using evidence from this battle to suggest what they should do concerning their country’s civil war.

 Dev. By L. Robinson, CONNECTIONS-NC, Inc., 2005. Copy protected for use in classrooms.

www.learnnc.org

Product

WHAT We Differentiate:

• CONTENT

• PROCESS

• PRODUCT

• LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

WHATWILLLAST?

ARE WE STILL BLOOMING????

BLOOM’S TAXONOMY

For Those

Not Yet

Ready

BLOOM’S TAXONOMY

For Those Ready to Go

Beyond

COLUMBUS TO ISABELLA!SCOS: Grade 7: Informational Text: Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.

• Find a partner. One of you will be Columbus and the other Isabella.

• Columbus, you have 2 minutes to convince Isabella to finance your first voyage. Go!Isabella, you must respond but ONLY to the SPECIFIC reasons that your Columbus gave. Go!

What’s the TRUTH about Columbus?

• Now look at the excerpts from Columbus’ journal. (pg.10)

• What new understandings do you take away from Columbus’ own writings?

SCOS: Key Ideas and Details - Gr. 9-10

1. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

7. Analyze various accounts of a subject told in different mediums (e.g., a person’s life story in both print and multimedia), determining which details are emphasized in each account.

How Would You Modify this Activity for AIG Learners?

• More abstract

• More complex

• More advanced content

• More advanced levels of thinking

• More sophisticated real life roles

• More sophisticated products

PatternsRelationshipsPowerConflictChangeTraditionOrderMigrationOriginsExplorationExtinction

Structure

Systems

Revolution

Perception

Communication

Survival

Adaptation

Justice

Rights

Interdependence

ABSTRACT THEMES

WHAT ABOUT IN MATH?

In the past:

• Math has been taught as:

– Demonstrate

– Practice

– Review

– Test

– Repeat

WHAT’S

WRONG

WITH

THIS

PICTURE?

The findings of this study suggested that, to some extent, students' past mathematical experiences were connected with the number of approaches they used when solving non-standard mathematics problems. In particular, the findings revealed that students' most recent exposure of their then-AP Calculus course played an important role in their decisions on selecting approaches for solution. In addition, the findings showed that students' problem solving approaches were considered to be the least "beautiful" by the panel of experts and were often associated with standard approaches taught by secondary school mathematics teachers.

Which approaches do students prefer? Analyzing the mathematical problem solving behavior of mathematically gifted students.Doctoral Dissertation of Hartono Hardi Tjoe. Columbia University, 2011.

CENTER FOR CRITICAL THINKING

Math classrooms should have students divided into groups debating which math solutions are most…

EFFECTIVEEFFICIENT

Let’s see what that looks like!

SCOS: 3- Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.

MATHEMATICAL THINKING!

• Sarah wrote her name 50 times one afternoon. What was the 137th letter that Sarah wrote?

• How might you solve this? Work with a partner. Explain your thinking.

Can you think of 3 more ways to solve it? Was your method the most efficient and most effective?

Sideways Arithmetic from Wayside School

ELF E = O =

+ ELF F = L =

FOOL

_________________________

EGG E = P =

+ EGG G = A =

PAGESCOS: 1 Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.

MATH: Classifying Equations

•http://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/sorting-classifying-equations-overview

•<script src='https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/sorting-classifying-equations-overview/embed?format=js' type='text/javascript'></script>

•In what ways did the teacher address critical thinking?

DESIGNING A LESSON PLAN TO INFUSE CRITICAL THINKING FOR AIG LEARNERS

• What would you have done “before” (typical questions, activities, organization)?

•  What critical thinking strategy might you be able to use?

• How would you infuse that strategy? What questions, activities, or different organization would you employ?

• How would you differentiate for AIG learners (more abstract, complex, advanced content, advanced level of thinking, sophisticated real life roles, sophisticated products)?

Teaching:

Fractions

Columbus

Peter Rabbit

Gravity

AFFECTIVE STRATEGIES:

THREE KINDS OF THINKERSNaïve Nancy

Selfish Sam

Fair-minded FranDiscuss with your neighbors where you have seen these with AIG learners/

Responding Socratically

STUDENT’S QUESTION OR RESPONSE

ORIGINWhere did this

thoughtoriginate?

POINT OF VIEWHow would someone with

a different view thinkabout this?

IMPLICATIONSWhere doesthat take usfrom here?

REASONS/EVIDENCE/ASSUMPTIONS

What reasons or evidence canyou give to support this?What assumptions might

you be making?

Encouraging Good Thinking!!

What Are Our Questions?

• How has the Standard Course of Study changed?

•  What are characteristics of AIG learners that make their needs different?

• How should we be differentiating the Standard Course of Study for AIG learners?

• How will I present this to teachers in my school district?

Tell a child what to think and you make him a slave to your knowledge.

Teach a child how to think, and you make all knowledge his slave.

- Henry Taitt

RANK ORDER

• With a partner, rank order the THREE most important things you reflected on in this session.

• What’s ONE thing you will do as a result?

AIG: ALL DAY, EVERY DAY!

• DPI AIG WIKIhttp://ncaig.ncdpi.wikispaces.net/Home

• DPI WIKI Centralhttp://wikicentral.ncdpi.wikispaces.net/NCDPI+WikiCentral+Page

• Sneha Shah-Coltrane– DPI Director, Gifted Education and Advanced

Programs

– Sneha.shahcoltrane@dpi.nc.gov 919-8073849