October 2012

HAND-OUT DEVELOPING CRITICAL AND CREATIVE THINKING SKILLS

Class Hand-Out: Developing Critical and Creative Thinking Skills Post-Reading Activities

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I. DEFINITION OF TERMS

Critical Thinking Analyze and evaluate information and ideas to determine appropriate actions or develop a point of view Is the active and systematic process of Communication, Problem-solving, Evaluation Analysis Synthesis Reflection Purposeful reflective judgment concerning what to believe or what to do

Creative Thinking Generate original ideas, unique skills and associations of existing ideas of an aesthetic or practical purpose Is all about being able to come up with ideas and thoughts that are not something the average person would come

up with. Critical Thinkers

A person who uses broad in-depth analysis of evidence to make decisions and communicate his/her beliefs clearly and accurately

Creative Thinkers A person who uses the mind creatively

II. DISCUSSION Nature of Critical and Creative Thinking Skills

High cognitive skills Very inquisitive of many things Very creative in finding answers to their queries Hypothesize, experiment and attempt to feed their curiosity Participating in adult conversations Emulating actions and speech Browsing and scrutinizing pictures in books, magazines and other print materials Inquire a lot about “how’s” and “why’s” Not satisfied with simple affirmative or negative response

Barriers to Developing Critical and Creative Thinking Skills

Inquisitiveness and creativity are not nurtured Not exposed to challenging activities Contented with simple answers Confined to easy activities Allowing children to believe in something that is not true Attitudes

Benefits

Allows a person to come up with multiple ideas Can make a person a perfect problem solver Can give a person a completely new outlook Can change a person's whole attitude Can be a ticket to success and great accomplishment

III. ACTIVITIES – Figure out your thoughts

Activity 1

Identify specific barriers to children’s critical and creative thinking. Indicate home and classroom situations that may impede their development. Give concrete solutions.

Home Classroom

1. 1.

2. 2.

Indeed, emergent learners are critical and creative; therefore they must be

developed through the support of the family and other literate adults.

Literate adults can do instead to promote the critical and creative thinking of young learners is to guide their thoughts, reasons, ideas and opinions and to enrich them with substantial literacy materials and appropriate literacy situations.

Problems: Solutions: Problems: Solutions:

Class Hand-Out: Developing Critical and Creative Thinking Skills Post-Reading Activities

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Post-Reading Activity Post-Reading activities encourage student to reflect upon what they have read. For the information to stay with

the students, they need to go beyond simply reading it to using it. Using it can involve answering questions, summarizing main ideas, drawing conclusions, or applying the information to a new situation.

The activities in post-reading can extend student’s reading experiences; comprehension,appreciation, and social interaction develop children’s love for reading.

Is not strictly limited o another reading activity,instead,these would depend:on the kills bing developed in the reading process,on the grammar points introduced in the reading text,on the theme emphasized o the kids,on the elements of the genre presented such as characters an plot, specially t ginning readers.

Activity 2 Post-Reading

Questions: 1. If you were given a chance, will you exchange your family to a person who can give all your wants and needs? 2. Do you consider wealth as a source of love, happiness and fulfillment? Why or why not? 3. Which do you prefer; a big but an empty house or a small yet a happy home?

“The Boy and the Mermaid” Maximo Ramos

It happened once that a boy, while playing on a riverbank, saw a beautiful woman

bathing in the water. She smiled sweetly at him and said: “Come here, son. I shall tell you a wonderful story.”

The boy was attracted by her long curls and her charming smile and he walked to her. No sooner had his feet touched the water and then the river rose and the woman caught him in her arms.

Let me go! Let me go!, screamed the boy. But the woman held him firmly and said, “Be quiet son, and I shall take you to my home.”

“My father and mother will be looking for me!” said the boy. The woman replied, “You will forget them when you see my wonderful home.” “Please let me go!”

After they reached the sea, they came to a beautiful house with a golden door and a gorgeous hall. They sat down and the woman asks the following questions:

“Tell me what vegetables you love to eat?” “Do you eat fish?” The boy replied, “We never eat those things at home. I never eat fish. We eat nothing but

rice and tomatoes.” Suddenly, while hearing those questions, the boy remembered that the woman asked

those questions to test people. “That’s alright!” said the woman with a smile. “He who eats fish is my enemy.” The

woman showed him rooms with silver and gold furniture. All rooms contained treasures. Left alone the boy tried to enjoy himself, but he kept yearning for his parents, friends, his

real home. He pretended to enjoy all the luxuries and wealth, but his heart was not there. This went on day after day, but the longer he stayed in this house, the more he longed for his parents.

“Please tell me how soon I can get back home,” the boy said. She replied. “Forget about home. This is your home now. Call me mother.” Everyday, the woman would leave the house and returned home at the end of the day. But the boy began to wonder why the woman always went to the back part of the house before leaving.

As he was looking this way one day, he suspected that there might be some passage that she kept from him, till he found out that it was a secret door, a door well hidden.

The following morning, as soon as the woman was gone, the boy opened and entered the secret door. There he found a large jar of shining gold, with golden liquid. Then the boy remembered that since he came into woman’s house, he had not taken a bath yet, so he poured the golden liquid into his body.

Then a strap door opened beneath his feet. He ran down and followed a sandy path with bright sunlight. Soon he found himself back to the river where the woman had caught him. The whole village rejoiced, specially his parents for his return. Everyone was overjoyed and amazed at his story.

For many nights after that, the villagers heard the voice of the woman crying in the river.

Class Hand-Out: Developing Critical and Creative Thinking Skills Post-Reading Activities

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Questions: 1. What can you say about the behavior and attitudes of the characters in the story? 2. Will you able to predict the outcome of the characters’ behavior? 3. What are your conclusions?

Activity 3 Connecting the dots

Your task is to go all through the dots using only four lines.

The next line has to start where the last one ended! IV. EVALUATION Evaluating the students’ critical and creative thinking skills is through the activities to be conducted. The results will be compiled and the reporters will identify which group/participant has higher order thinking skill V. RESOURCES Developmental Reading 2 Servillano T. Marquez Jr., Ph.D.; Neliza C. Casela, MAT; Bryan Eli Sadorra, MAT Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_thinking Foundation for Critical Thinking www.criticalthinking.org

***end of report*** Hand-out prepared by: DGM

“Creative thinking can be defined as thinking outside

the box, which means thinking beyond the normal

scope.”