Critical Thinking: Rigor
Another major skill that is needed to be successful in the 21 st century
workplace is the ability for students to make judgments, plan, evaluate, and question by
critically thinking (Perkins, 2008; Wagner, 2008). Even though each teacher was able to
verbally share the importance of incorporating high level questioning and skills into their
lesson planning, the researcher saw little evidence of this in the classroom observations or
in the lesson plans themselves. It is important to note that the teachers explained to the
researcher in informal conversations that they are not expected to submit lesson plans nor
is there a school wide format with essential components required. This information shed
light on the extremely basic lesson plan designs that were provided.