RATIONALE

Critical thinking is a term used by

educators to describe forms of learning,
thought, and analysis that go beyond the
memorization and recall of information
and facts. In common usage, critical
thinking is an umbrella term that may be
applied to many different forms of learning
acquisition or to a wide variety of thought
processes. In its most basic expression,
critical thinking occurs when students are
analyzing, evaluating, interpreting, or
synthesizing information and applying
creative thought to form an argument,
solve a problem, or reach a conclusion.
Critical thinking entails many kinds of
intellectual skills, including the following
representative examples:
 Developing well-reasoned, persuasive
arguments and evaluating and
responding to counterarguments
 Examining concepts or situations from
multiple perspectives, including different
cultural perspectives
 Questioning evidence and assumptions
to reach novel conclusions
 Devising imaginative ways to solve
problems, especially unfamiliar or
complex problems
 Formulating and articulating thoughtful,
penetrating questions
 Identifying themes or patterns and
making abstract connections across
subjects.

Critical Thinking
Objectives
 Apply critical thinking skills to support
inferences and draw logical conclusions
based on textual features. Through verbal
response, the student will seek evidence
in text, format, language use, expository
structures and arguments. After working
on the modules listed below, students
should be able to meet the following
objectives:
 Understanding Poetry 1: Believe that
nothing in a poem is accidental.
 Understanding Poetry 2: Be willing
(and with additional practice able) to
understand a poem by analyzing its
imagery, sound effects--including
rhythm, rhyme, and repetition--and
context in history and the poet's life.
 Understanding Fiction 3: Determine
how ideas, issues, and/or subjects
developed in specific short stories
apply to your own life.
 Understanding Fiction 4: Determine
similarities and differences between
reading stories, poems, and plays.
 Understanding Fiction 5: Analyze the
concepts of "truth" and "imagination" in
literature.
 Understanding Drama 2: Analyze the
structure of a play, using various
critical approaches.
 Understanding Drama 4: Identify the
theme of a play and support your
interpretation with specific evidence
from the text, including a consideration
of visual and structural elements.
 Studying A Farewell to Arms: A101:
Contrast "Hills Like White Elephants"
vs. "A Farewell to Arms" in terms of
the greater complexity of the novel.
 Studying A Farewell to Arms: A108:
Judge whether a character in the novel
is in love, lying, or afraid.
 Studying A Farewell to Arms: A112:
Discuss the impact of mass
movements on individuals.
 Studying A Farewell to Arms: A114:
Apply the concepts of character
 motivation (especially cynicism),
allusion, plausibility, and irony.
 Hamlet 1: State an overall organization
for the play.
 Hamlet 2: Analyze a scene from a
movie version to show how it is well
crafted
 Hamlet 3: Summarize ideas about
several issues about the play in order
to plan and write an essay
 Oedipus 1: Determine pros and cons
of Oedipus's personality (or see his
personality traits as double-edged).
 Oedipus 2: Determine what aspects of
Oedipus's fate were set by his own
actions and which were set by the
gods.
 Oedipus 3: Determine the relationship
of Oedipus with Jocasta, with the
citizens of Thebes, with the gods.
 Oedipus 4: Settle reasons why
Tiresias (and the herdsman) did not
reveal Oedipus's identity decades
before the time of the play's action.
  Oedipus 5: Assess whether Creon
seems ambitious or should be taken at
his word.
 Oedipus 6: Assess how much Jocasta
knew and when, as well as what blinds
her to the truth for decades (if blind
she was).

Contents
* PPT
* Research Materials
* Five(5) Frequently asked
questions per assigned topic
with answers
* Quiz
* Learning Journal