WHO NEEDS TO READ THIS BOOK? Teachers and parents of K-12 students. That’s really all you need to know. Here’s why I so highly recommend this book.
I taught 8th-grade English and Literature for three years, and -hands-down- my students’ favorite activity was a mock trial we did after a reading of the story “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe. Even my most reluctant learners were engaged, motivated, and intrigued. I assumed it was because they were critically reading and thinking like lawyers.
But the critical thinking framework explained in Thinking Like a Lawyer and central to the thinkLaw curriculum considerably expanded my understanding of the ways lawyers actually learn to think.
The story of Colin Seale’s personal journey from “recovering underachiever” to teacher to attorney to education innovator is compelling. He attended law school while he was employed as a secondary math teacher at “one of the toughest schools in the city.” As a law student, he was empowered by the rigorous thinking strategies required in his classes and it transformed his teaching. He began designing lessons that incorporate real court cases and teach students key critical thinking strategies, habits, and mindsets.
Five powerful thinking strategies make up the framework. Specific applications of these strategies at all grade levels and across disciplines are also described with sample lesson ideas. The award-winning thinkLaw curriculum strives to “close the critical thinking gap” and addresses underachievement, inequities in education, and social-emotional learning.
The final chapter of the book offers tips and strategies for parents to use in promoting critical thinking at home. I want to share these with every parent! We need to “encourage productive struggle” in children, to use questions to make them think, and to help “without being too helpful.”
I encourage you to check out the free resources available on the website and in the thinkLAw TPT store. Do you use the thinkLaw curriculum with your students? If so, please feel free to add your comments below.