Primary Lesson Review

This chapter gives a detailed lesson plan that illustrates how primary students can be engaged and systematically supported in thinking critically about the effects of their actions. The lessons focus specifically on a critical challenge where students must choose and perform an act of kindness towards someone and have them then pass it on. It reminded me a lot of the movie “Pay it Forward”. The novel that this activity is based off is called “Because Brian Hugged his Mother,” by David L. Rice. The lesson is meant to help students experience the power of setting in motion a series of positive actions by showing kindness to others. In order to achieve this level of critical thinking the chapter states that students must first poses the relevant “tools”. First they must know and understand the background knowledge, then they must develop a series of criteria for judgment as well as thinking strategies such as mind maps or webs and finally they must identify the habits of mind. This chapter continues to go into depth on how to set up for a lesson such as this. I really liked how this chapter brought to life the concepts that were discussed in the “Embedding critical thinking throughout social studies” presentation by Ronald Case. It helped me visualize what consisted of making a child think beyond a test or quiz. I really liked the way this chapter broke down this lesson into multiple steps that could be spanned over a few classes. It showed how the teacher could bring in other aspects of learning beyond social studies; this allows teachers to keep a common theme among different disciplines so children maintain their enthusiasm even though now the focus is on the mathematical aspects. This chapter really peaked my interest because it gave a concert way of working through an activity that allows children the opportunity to think and develop their own feelings and thoughts. It makes working outside of the “box” more conceivable.

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