Learning from busy work is easy. It doesn’t take a lot of critical thinking to fill out a work sheet on the Harlem renaissance and turn it in. What does however, take a lot of work, is making a newspaper about the Harlem renaissance, evaluating you own newspaper, and then making a PowerPoint describing your findings. At New Tech High, we did one of the two. If you guessed the latter, then you are correct. New Tech busts you chops when it comes to critical thinking. As a student, you are constantly being challenged to create new things, think in new ways, and use your head to crank out a project.
I can’t say enough on what kind the process of constantly trying to produce new ideas for the benefit of a group (and in turn, your grade) has. It helps you think quickly, on your feet. It helps you collaborate with group members in legitimate brainstorming sessions. I feel I’ve developed and honed my skill of thinking fast, thinking quick, and thinking critically. You quickly learn at New Tech, that thinking really is critical.
For my example, I have a creative writing piece that I wrote for an extra credit trip. I also submitted it to the Napa Register, where it was published.
That can be found here.