If you’re anything like me, you’re always looking for ways to sneak in more meaningful thinking during your language arts block—especially the kind that gets students thinking beyond just plot points and vocabulary definitions.
The truth is, we can (and should!) use our everyday reading and writing routines to strengthen critical thinking skills in students. It doesn’t have to mean more prep or more stress—just a few thoughtful tweaks to the kinds of questions we ask and the activities we choose.
In this post, we’ll walk through some simple but powerful ways to build critical thinking into your classroom using reading comprehension strategies, writing prompts, inference practice, and novel study activities.
Ask Better Questions to Spark Bigger Thinking
One of the easiest ways to grow critical thinking skills in students is by asking better questions. Instead of only focusing on who, what, when, and where, we want to guide our readers into the how and why.
Try this: Use Thick vs. Thin Questions
This is one of my favorite teacher tricks! When crafting questions, use the “thick vs. thin” filter.
Thin questions are surface-level:
-
Who is the main character?
-
What is the setting?
-
What did the character do first?
These are fine for quick checks, but they won’t stretch your students’ thinking. They have short answers that are either right or wrong.
Thick questions, on the other hand, require interpretation, evaluation, and deeper understanding:
-
Why do you think the character made that choice?
-
What lesson is the author trying to teach through this event?
-
If you were in the character’s shoes, what would you do differently?
The answers to thick questions almost always have a wide variety of possible right answers and require longer explanations. When students answer thick questions, they’re analyzing, connecting, and defending their ideas—all signs of critical thinking in action!
To really stretch your the critical thinking skills in students, have them generate questions for each other focusing on thick questions.
Use Writing Prompts That Go Beyond Summary
Writing about reading is another effective way to nurture critical thinking skills in students—but only if those writing tasks go deeper than just “Tell what happened in the story.”
Use creative and open-ended writing prompts like:
-
Write a letter from one character to another. What might they say that wasn’t in the book?
-
Rewrite the ending of the story and explain your changes. How would that affect the theme or message?
-
Pretend you’re a news reporter covering a major event in the book. How would you report it?
These types of prompts give students a chance to interpret character motivations, evaluate decisions, and synthesize their own ideas—all excellent ways to build those critical thinking muscles.
Teach Students to Read Between the Lines
Inference skills are essential for readers who want to understand the text, not just read the words on the page. And the good news? Inference activities are a goldmine for practicing critical thinking skills in students.
Try some of these activities with your next class read:
-
Have students choose a character and write what they think the character is feeling—and explain why using text evidence.
-
Ask students to make predictions about what might happen next. What clues from the text support their ideas?
-
Explore character motivation: Why do you think the character did that? What might they be hiding? What are they not saying?
Or make inference practice a special treat:
One of my students’ favorite ways to practice inference and critical thinking is by using no words at all. Head to YouTube or Disney+ and search for Pixar shorts. These are great little movies, about 5-10 minutes long each, and most of them have no words at all. Not only are they fun to watch, but it forces students to infer everything just from the visuals. Follow up with some thick questions and enjoy the great conversations that follow!
Inference invites students to analyze, draw conclusions, and justify their thinking. Yes, please!
Dive Into a Novel Study for Deeper Thinking
Short passages and films are great for focused practice, but if you really want to take critical thinking skills in students to the next level, it’s time to dive into a full novel study.
A full-length novel gives students the opportunity to:
-
Track character growth over time
-
Identify and analyze themes
-
Understand the author’s purpose
-
Evaluate choices made by the author and characters
One of my favorite novels for building critical thinking skills in students is Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin. It’s packed with rich characters, layered themes, and beautiful writing that invites deep discussion.
Looking for the right book for your next novel study? I’ve put together a free leveled book list for upper elementary that includes titles perfect for building critical thinking skills in students—grab it here!
Let’s Recap: Build Critical Thinking Without the Overwhelm
To wrap things up, here’s how you can intentionally develop critical thinking skills in students—without completely overhauling your lesson plans:
✔ Use thick questions that make kids think
✔ Try open-ended writing prompts connected to your reading
✔ Incorporate inference activities that go deeper than surface-level comprehension
✔ Add a novel study to give students the time and space to really analyze a text
By weaving these strategies for building critical thinking skills in students throughout your language arts block, you’ll be setting your students up for stronger comprehension, better discussions, and more thoughtful writing—and isn’t that what we’re all aiming for?
Grab Your Free Book List!
Want help picking the perfect novel for your next reading unit? Download my free leveled list of novels perfect for upper elementary classrooms. You’ll find titles that are just right for building critical thinking skills in students and sparking amazing classroom discussions.
👉 Click here to download your free book list!
Get 4 Free Resources Every Month!
You read that right! I’ll share an easy-to-use and engaging upper elementary resource straight to your inbox every week along with a fabulous classroom idea or two to make teaching a little less work and a lot more fun!
Here’s the first freebie (perfect for testing out these morning work ideas) to get you started!
CLICK HERE TO GRAB YOUR FIRST FREE RESOURCE TODAY!
Looking for more great ELA ideas for your upper elementary classroom? Try one of these articles: