Essay On Critical Thinking Skills

1070 Words5 Pages
Kids attend school to learn how to read, do math, write and an array of other subjects. However, in my opinion the most important lessons students learn are in the hidden career, one of the most important being critical thinking skills. But first you might ask, what exactly is critical thinking, and why is it so important? The Oxford dictionary describes it as “the objective analysis, and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgment. (Oxford English Dictionary)” Critical thinking allows people to listen to a problem, and use logic and prior knowledge to answer the question. Critical thinking and Problem Solving skills often go hand in hand. Problem solving skills help students find solutions to difficult problems whether in school or…show more content…
In my opinion to complete a worksheet, or a test all you’re doing is memorizing. Worksheets and test imply there is just one simple answer for everything, which is not always the case. My second grade teacher on the other hand was just the opposite! She never gave worksheets, she preferred to get us writing and hear what we thought. At the time I hated it, we had book reports every week and all her quizzes and test were open ended. Looking back on it, I believe her teaching methods really helped! These are definitely strategies I plan to implement in my future class. I feel as though essays and open ended problems allow a kid to not only say their answer, but also explain why they feel their answer is correct, even if its not. I think it also helps the teacher to see what the student actually didn’t understand. I also think kids need feedback on their work. In college my English professors loved to give feedback and I found it very helpful and it often got my creative juices flowing. Their feedback never just said “good” or “expand” instead they asked questions like “how does this make you feel” or “this was a good point, I never thought of it.” Although I plan to teach at a different level, I do feel like this feedback could be used at any grade
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