Create a crossword puzzle for your students. This will allow students to strengthen their vocabulary and give them a chance to work independently or cooperatively. Base your crossword puzzle clues on the vocabulary words. Include references to the definition, antonyms, synonyms and connotations as possible clues. Make sure to give your students a list of the words before giving out the puzzle.
Introduce the Socratic method to your students to help build critical thinking skills. The Socratic method is a way of allowing students to arrive at their own answers. It involves guiding and directing them to an answer rather than simply providing the answer to them. For example, your student asks you, "Why did the character James decide to leave home?"
Your response could be something like:
"Do you think he left home because he got into a fight with his parents? What about how he felt after he missed his game? Did that influence his behavior?"
Train students to become comfortable with this method. Group students into pairs and, for example, when working with a text, allow students to analyze the text by asking questions of a partner who uses the Socratic method, helping the first student arrive at an answer. Have the students write down the questions, the responses and the arrived-at conclusions.
Create a word wall to introduce new vocabulary and expand upon learning. Designate a bulletin board in your classroom as the word wall. Introduce new words every week. Allow students to draw up the word on construction paper, color it and then cut around the word to paste it on the board. The word wall can focus on words dealing with a central theme, such as literary devices, or it can have a single word serve as the primary word with all other words being antonyms and synonyms.
Reading journals help build students' critical thinking skills because they force the readers to slow down and think about what they are reading. An example of a reading journal is a dialectic journal. Using a composition book, draw a line down the center of the page and title one side "Text" and the other "Reaction." On the text side, ask students to copy down an important quote that stands out in whatever they are reading. Then on the reaction side, have the students respond to the quote by answering questions like:
"What does this mean to the text?
"What do you think the author was trying to say?"
"How does this further develop the plot?"
"If the character didn't react this way, what do you suppose would happen?"
Guide the students at first when attempting this task. Then allow students to work independently.