| This descriptive qualitative study examined the impact of culturally relevant strategic teaching on the higher order thinking skills of Spanish-speaking bilingual high school students. The teacher-researcher utilized culturally relevant strategic teaching to develop students' higher order thinking skills during an ESL class. The ESL class was part of a double instructional period with U.S. history taught by the bilingual social studies teacher.;Students read narrative and expository text to augment their understanding of United States history, a content area which is particularly challenging for bilingual learners. Response journals were used as an opportunity for students to elaborate on their higher order thinking skills surrounding the literature. Students engaged in readings, discussions, construction of graphic organizers, group work, and presentations. Students were encouraged to substantiate their arguments, judgments and evaluations with evidence from the text.;There were trends of improvement in students' higher order thinking skills as evidenced in pre- and post-study NAEP writing prompts and common writing prompts related to the readings. T-tests for paired data conducted on students' higher order thinking skills proved statistically significant at p > 0.043. In addition to students' higher order thinking skills development there was evidence of trends of improvement in reading and writing ability, engaging in class discussions, using graphic organizers, working in groups, working in pairs, and presenting to an audience.;The higher order thinking skills development of 12 Spanish-speaking bilingual high school students is presented in time periods over the 26 week study. The teacher-researcher utilized different teaching strategies to improve the higher order thinking skills of students who were showing progress and in students with particular needs. The teacher log, videotapes, response journals, and student feedback in focus groups were analyzed for the impact of culturally relevant strategic teaching.;The study concludes by indicating the importance of culturally relevant strategic teaching in the academic functioning of bilingual students. Spanish-speaking bilingual students who were learning English were able to engage successfully in higher order thinking skills surrounding high school academic content. |
