June+25

Names A-ha's Continue vertical work Personal search time (how does this work connect to ACPS work previsously done?) Shift into level-specific content groups for alignment Lunch

Landing pad: Parameters for assessments set Individual/group assignments

Notes: Chris: While we are looking at individual critical thinking skills, it is important to remember that critical thinking in the classroom combines all of the skills simultaneously and it is the charge of the child to use them appropriately. Melissa: It would valuable for teachers to be given support and scaffolding for the types of questions that would elicit critical thinking in the classroom. Paula: I have set up a backchat for us to keep a constant conversation going and enable collaboration rather than parallel play. Jen: The work needs to connect to work already done in the Division Paula: What if we made this for us? What if we make it as if we are the only people going to use it? Jen: Making those connections can be a check for the work. Chris: Good curriculum is good curriculum. We need to develop good work, and that will connect to the good work that has already been done. Teachers who are not familiar with the FQL may still be doing the best practices contained within because they are good teachers who are teaching good curriculum. Jen: That is how we have sold the FQL. Trevor: He read Gardner and saw much of the stuff we are already doing and he was glad to see that we are on the right path. Melissa: I dreamt about art all night. Sherica: I think we need to think about including art because that is how some kids process. Harri: A lot of the literature on crtical thinking skills incorporates art and she didn't think it fits, but maybe it does. Paula: I read a blog about how students working in their area of weakness are more collaborative and engaged and least engaged when working in their area of strength. Jen: It is important for students to feel cognitive dissonance because that will make them ready for future skills (i.e. college). Students need to be able to channel their areas of weakness into their areas of strength. Jon: A lot of this work is like trying to nail jello to the wall. Sherica: Area seems to be a skill that threads through all the curriculum. Paula: We need to get away from the research and present focus and have students doing the work. Melissa: The biggest functions of on-line research are research and present. Lisa: The internet also lets you connect and lets kids connect to the world. Brian: Modeling is really important. We should collaborate with students to do the work. Melissa: You have to lay the groundwork over and over. Jeff: Technology allows us to be lazy because it allows us to do the minimal amount of work. We need to challenge students to develop the skills they really need. Susan: We can force students to collaborate by giving students something they are not good at, so they cannot rely on their stengths or preconcieved notions of what students can or cannot do. Paula: It could be finding the tasks that connect to the content and habits of mind. How do we find questions that make kids use habits of mind in ways they have used them before? Susan: Maybe we should get students' perspectives on critical thinking, it maybe different than what we are thinking about critical thinking. Paula: What happens for students who shift from inquisitive teachers who are challenging them to work with critical thinking to teachers who are the source of information for students? Sherica: Some of these skills are natural, and during the process of school we might be stifling them.

Group 1: Practical - Brainstorming assessments? Group 2: Analytical - How is critical thinking embedded in the Division work? Group 3: Creative - What is the philosophical imperative driving critical thinking?
 * What are possible topics or ideas?
 * Connections to: FQL? Habits of Mind? LLLS? Curriculum Framework?
 * Connections to the literature? Five minds?
 * What are the cultural shifts that might occur?

---Lunch--- The groups have started working on their tasks and will keep up with other groups' progress via tinychat.

---Assignment--- Reflect on how our "thingies" should be organized k-12 and by discipline. Write a "This I Believe" statement about how you think the organization should be arranged. We will start on the 15th with our statements and attempt to sort out the organization as appropriate for disciplines and school levels before we build the first "thingy". We will all build one together to figure out the process and establish norms. After the first "thingy" is built, we will spread out and build our own "thingies".