1st Edition

Thinking Like a Lawyer A Framework for Teaching Critical Thinking to All Students

By Colin Seale, Colin Seale Copyright 2020
    168 Pages
    by Prufrock Press

    Critical thinking is the essential tool for ensuring that students fulfill their promise. But, in reality, critical thinking is still a luxury good, and students with the greatest potential are too often challenged the least. Thinking Like a Lawyer:

    • Introduces a powerful but practical framework to close the critical thinking gap.
    • Gives teachers the tools and knowledge to teach critical thinking to all students.
    • Helps students adopt the skills, habits, and mindsets of lawyers.
    • Empowers students to tackle 21st-century problems.
    • Teaches students how to compete in a rapidly changing global marketplace.

    Colin Seale, a teacher-turned-attorney-turned-education-innovator and founder of thinkLaw, uses his unique experience to introduce a wide variety of concrete instructional strategies and examples that teachers can use in all grade levels and subject areas. Individual chapters address underachievement, the value of nuance, evidence-based reasoning, social-emotional learning, equitable education, and leveraging families to close the critical thinking gap.

    Acknowledgments Introduction PART I Closing the Critical Thinking Gap Chapter 1 The Autobiography of a Recovering Underachiever Chapter 2 Defining Critical Thinking Chapter 3 The Critical Thinking Gap PART II Thinking Like a Lawyer Chapter 4 A Critical Thinking Revolution Chapter 5 Introduction to thinkLaw Chapter 6 Analysis From Multiple Perspectives Chapter 7 The Power of Analysis From Multiple Perspectives Chapter 8 Mistake Analysis Chapter 9 Investigation and Discovery Chapter 10 Settlement and Negotiation Chapter 11 Competition PART III Practical Considerations for a Critical Thinking Revolution Chapter 12 Making thinkLaw Work Chapter 13 Avoiding Engagement for Engagement’s Sake Chapter 14 Critical Thinking: Classroom Management’s Secret Weapon Chapter 15 Beyond Test Prep: Hacking the “Big Test” Chapter 16 Leveraging Families to Unleash Critical Thinking Potential Conclusion: Future-Proofing Students With Critical Thinking References About the Author

    Biography

    Colin Seale is an educator, attorney, and critical thinking expert. He founded thinkLaw, an award-winning organization, to help educators leverage inquiry-based instructional strategies that can close the critical thinking gap and ensure they teach and reach all students.

    What comes through on every page, unmistakably, is Colin Seale's passion that we “simply have to stop leaving genius on the table.” If more students have to look at a question from all sides, work rigorously to discover what is known, learn to analyze mistakes, including the ones they make, and to think how their solutions work in the real world, we certainly would have students equipped for whatever innovations in technology and the nature of work are thrown at them.,Robert C. Trube,Bob on Books, 7/29/20