Most high school students and remedial college students lack the critical thinking skills necessary to write substantively in response to an expository writing prompt.

By substantive writing, I mean what critical thinking gurus Richard Paul and Linda Elder define as

the art of saying something worth saying about something worth saying something about.

All too often, students' substantive writing failures may be our fault.

We should not be surprised that students cannot do the kind of thinking and writing colleges and employers expect if we do not:

• Teach students strategies for critical thinking,

• Give writing prompts that require more than recall or invention.

• Model attitudes that foster critical thinking, such as curiosity, interest in solving problems, and flexibility.

Critical doesn't have to be negative

To get set for teaching critical thinking, we first need to know what we're talking about. I find knowing what I'm talking about a tremendous help in teaching, don't you?

The word critical has a Greek root that meant to sort things in order to make a decision about them.

Today the most common use of the word critical is the negative one meaning faultfinding. The sorting in such cases results in a big pile of rejects.

However, in the phrase critical thinking, we are using the term in its second most common meaning. In this usage, critical means using skillful judgment in determining the truth or value of something.

Critical thinkers do not just reject things that are inferior; they try to come up with ways of using what is good and improving what is amenable to improvement. They solve problems rather than simply identifying problems.

Critical thinking is aware thinking

Philosophers and educators define critical thinking in various ways, all of which boil down to being conscious of what thought processes you are using when you are thinking.

When people engage in critical thinking, they use the full range of skills shown on Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives. They don't just recall or recognize information; they manipulate information in various ways. Ultimately they may make value judgments about it or even develop it into something entirely different. It is not a stretch to say that critical thinking is the foundation for creative thinking.

Strategies aim at achieving goals

When educators talk about teaching critical thinking strategies, they are talking about teaching students to employ procedures that lead to the activities that Bloom calls higher level thinking. Their hope, of course, is that doing more than just remembering stuff will become a habit.

You and I know that for something to become a habit, it has to be practiced regularly for a period of time.

Our job is to set tasks that train the brain.

If our students are to get into the habit of thinking critically, they will need many opportunities to perform authentic thinking tasks. (In educationeze, authentic means "gotta do it." Authentic tasks are inherently part of the field of study.)

Teachers' role in strategy acquisition

For students who struggle with writing, strategies provide the structure and security they need to be successful in making the multiple decisions required in writing.

However, you cannot just give struggling writers a strategy and expect them to use it. If you are going to get Caitlin and Joshua to employ critical thinking strategies habitually, you must make sure that they:

• Memorize the strategies.

• Understand the strategies.

• Can use the strategies.

• Do use the strategies in their work.

• Have regular opportunities to practice the strategies.

• Recognize the strategy's impact on their writing and their grade.