February 2024 - Critical Thinking in the Dacula Cluster

In February, we review Critical Thinking in our Dacula Cluster.

With Critical Thinking— Team GCPS students, families, and staff consistently reflect deeply about their own thinking and the “bigger picture,” integrating feedback from others and the world around them into their evolving understandings. Our school communities consider the benefits and barriers of evolving technologies as they access those technologies to achieve their purpose, and they encourage all to become critical consumers of information. Each and every student and staff member are mindful to analyze, evaluate, and assess solutions for complexity and impact on people and situations as they create or curate workable outcomes.

In the Dacula Cluster, Critical Thinking is an instrument for establishing connections, creative decision-making, curiosity, innovation, and evaluation. Staff provide valuable hands-on learning experiences, engaging students in thinking processes and analyses that transform the classroom into an environment that mirrors the cognitive demands that are necessary for college, career readiness, and success in all future endeavors.

At Dacula Elementary, Critical Thinking means engaging students in creative problem solving and collaborative learning. Grab your scrubs, a surgical cap, mask, clamps... or even better, a pencil and some paper. It’s time to work out math and word challenges with Mabrey Bryant’s 2nd grade class. Each operating team has been assembled based on strengths and areas of growth, with students bringing their unique skills to help efficiently operate, or rather, solve problems involving decomposing numbers and decoding multisyllabic words.

Find your operating room number, put on your scrubs, and assess the scenarios presented on your surgery tray. First, decode words by carefully breaking them apart by syllable— a unit of pronunciation having one vowel sound, with or without surrounding consonants, forming the whole or a part of a word. Then, steady your hands, take whole numbers, and break them down into smaller parts— this is decomposing numbers.

“My goal [with this lesson] was that students would have a better understanding of these concepts and that it would help them understand that these skills are skills they use in their everyday lives,” says Ms. Mabrey. “My students enjoyed how interactive it was and how they could really use their imagination while learning.”

When it comes to helping students build their Critical Thinking skills during the entire school year, Principal Holly Warren says the Dacula Cluster Vertical Team (which includes one teacher per grade level from Dacula Elementary) has partnered with the Gifted Programs Office to create professional learning opportunities for those team members highlighting new instructional strategies that promote Critical Thinking. Teachers meet at the beginning of each instructional unit to discuss the student actions that need to be demonstrated by all students at the end of the lesson, and the various methods available for demonstration, such as an end project or presentation.

“By starting with the end in mind, teachers are better able to plan the teacher actions and student actions that are needed throughout the unit to arrive at that end goal,” Principal Warren adds. “This process has been built into our Collaborative Learning Sessions with grade levels to ensure a common understanding and common goal.”

Over at Dacula Middle, activities that highlight accountability, collaborative learning, practical application, and strategic decision-making define Critical Thinking schoolwide. Step into the “Falcons Nest,” and no, you won’t be taking flight anytime soon. However, this School-Based Enterprise (SBE) may help you learn a thing or two about the engineering design process.

The Falcons Nest provides valuable hands-on experiences for students in Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education (CTAE) courses and serves as a platform for applying Critical Thinking skills to real-world situations. This practical application of concepts learned in CTAE courses plays a crucial role in preparing students for future careers, requiring them to analyze, strategize, and problem solve in a business environment. Students in engineering class design and produce a range of items to sell in the Falcons Nest, including earrings, magnets, keychains, coasters, cutting boards, and more.

Dacula Middle teachers also participate in professional learning experiences to enhance their expertise in Critical Thinking. This intentional effort aims to equip educators with the necessary knowledge to effectively guide students in implementing skills like establishing connections, drawing inferences, and justifying their decision-making in classroom activities. "[Dacula Middle’s] integration of CTAE, Portrait of a Graduate framework, and emphasis on Critical Thinking fosters students' overall personal and professional growth,” says Principal Kimberly Bussey.

Flutter over to Alcova Elementary and arrive just in time to join the local school council meeting. This collaborative effort extends to various parties, including district leaders, Principals for A Day, and Local School Council Members for each cluster school. At this event, you’ll engage community members and support parents in understanding how they help cultivate Critical Thinking at home.

During the school day, students collaborate on solutions to real-world problems in literacy and math by engaging in constructive conversations with their peers. Teachers are learning to incorporate longer “thinking time” to allow students a chance to process deep thinking. Engaging students in Critical Thinking transforms the classroom into an environment that mirrors the cognitive demands necessary for college and career readiness.

When it comes to supporting the development of Critical Thinking skills in 1st grade, teachers Cheryl Darnell and Andrea Hall use concept attainment strategy, or the process of defining concepts by determining the attributes that are essential to the meaning and disregarding those that are not. It also means learning to discriminate between what is and what is not an example of the concept. One outcome is a successful and creative combination of English Language Arts lessons and a unit on birds.

Join the Alcova Elementary Robotics/FIRST LEGO League team, called the “Cybirds,” where students actively explore, skillfully apply problem-solving techniques, and leverage engineering concepts during the design phase to test and improve their competitive robots. When engaging in district-level robotics competitions, students demonstrate the ability to swiftly address challenges, while unveiling their research skills, curiosity, and creativity in the process.

“We have worked as a school to identify key teacher moves, instructional strategies, and classroom protocols that demand higher order thinking skills from our students,” says Alcova Elementary Principal Jacquetta Baldwin. “Students in Kindergarten through 5th grade participate in diverse lessons that demand the application of Critical Thinking through drawing inferences and justifying their decision-making across multiple content areas.”

Mulberry Elementary fits the frame of Critical Thinking through problem solving puzzles and math problems in its after-school Wittzle Pro club. A combination of the words “wit” and “puzzle,” the club has been around since the school’s opening and actively implements Critical Thinking skills through challenging puzzle matrixes of numbers. Participating students must be fluent in basic math facts and apply that knowledge to their puzzles. The club offers students the opportunity to reinforce their basic math skills in a competitive way. Wittzle Pro also helps 4th grade students get ahead in their curriculum by practicing proficiency in using the order of operations.

Heather Nevius and Jill Lambes, Wittzle Pro advisors, say “[We] like how Wittzle Pro motivates students to use higher-level thinking skills to compete against their peers. It teaches students how to persevere when challenged, and to be an efficient Mathematician— it reinforces Critical Thinking skills that students use in all areas of mathematics.”

At every school in the Dacula Cluster, learning and exercising the skill of Critical Thinking leads to success in, and outside of the classroom. When students and staff make space for curiosity, innovation, and collaborative learning, Critical Thinking opens the doors of opportunity.

About the Dacula Cluster