Reading as Thinking:

Enhancing literacy instruction using a framework for critical thinking

Reading as Thinking:

Enhancing literacy instruction using a framework for critical thinking

Usha James

OISE/UT (seconded fromEmily Carr S.S., York Region D.S.B.)

Usha.james@utoronto.ca

Usha JamesOISE/UT (seconded from

Emily Carr S.S., York Region D.S.B.)Usha.james@utoronto.ca

Explain the imageUse visual clues to develop an informative explanation of image.

$2.00 Summary

Write a $2.00 summary: What is critical thinking?

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What is critical thinking?Write ideas in your quadrant

A B

C D

A Definition of Critical ThinkingA Definition of Critical Thinking

TC2 defines critical thinking as the thinking through of a problematic situation about what to believe or how to act where the thinker makes a reasoned judgment that reflects competent use of the intellectual tools for quality thinking.

TC2 defines critical thinking as the thinking through of a problematic situation about what to believe or how to act where the thinker makes a reasoned judgment that reflects competent use of the intellectual tools for quality thinking.

Are the following literacy tasks critical thinking tasks?

Literacy Task Types of critical challenges

Summarizing Inferring Determine the main idea Record the most

important ideas Write from a particular

perspective Determine author’s

message

1. Critique the piece2. Judge the better or the

best3. Rework the piece4. Decode the puzzle5. Design to specs6. Perform to specs

Are the following literacy tasks critical thinking tasks?

Literacy Task

• Write a concise and informative summary.• Make a powerful inference• Determine the main idea• Record the most important ideas• Write authentically from a particular perspective

TC2 Model of Critical Thinking

Community of Thinkers

Critical Challenges

Teach and Assess the

Intellectual Tools

Background Knowledge

Criteria for Judgment

Critical Thinking Vocabulary

Thinking Strategies Habits of Mind

Topic Critical challenge Sample criteria

Titles, headlines

or captions

Create a great headline.Which of these is the best title for the paragraph?Revise the supplied caption for the picture.

•informative•catchy/intriguing•concise•playful

Main idea What are the five most important ideas in this paragraph?Which of these is the best plot summary of this story?Prepare an effective précis of the chapter.

•relevant to the topic or issue•contains key ideas•concisely noted•written in own words

Literacy tasks framed as critical challenges:

11

More challenges …Perspectivetaking

Rewrite the story from anothercharacter’s point of view.

Draw the picture (describe the situation)from another point of view.

• true to the facts• plausible• shows insight into

characterInferring What can we conclude about the object

from the clues?What can we conclude about the

character from her actions?

• consistent with clues• plausible given other

information

Problems Which of the two ways of solving theproblem is the better?

Which method of estimation is superior?

• efficient• effective• reliable/ sustainable• ethical

Questions Ask a powerful question of a fictionalcharacter or of an historical figure.

Which question asked of the guestspeaker was the most effective?

Create a great exam question.

• informative• relevant/timely• probing/insightful/

requires thinking

Comparisons What is the biggest dif ference betweenour community and a past (or other)community?

Which of the listed effects has been themost signifi cant?

• magnitude (howdeep/significant)

• frequency (howoften)

• scope (howwidespread)

1212

Instructional Challenge

Mr. Shah asks his class to read a chapter in the text and take notes on the most important ideas for homework. The next day, he checks their homework and finds that many students did not do their homework. Frustrated but interested in understanding their reasons, he asks students to submit an anonymous note to hi m explaining why their homework was not completed. He finds that many of them did not do it since they felt overwhelmed by the amount of information and couldn’t figure out what to write. It all seemed important; after all, if it was in the textbook, it must be important. The next day, Mr. Shah decides he needs to do some explicit teaching around how to identify the most important id eas in a piece of text. He has copied a page of the text onto an overhead. He reads the text aloud and thinks aloud, sharing with students his thinking about what the most important ideas are. After thinking aloud and modeling the task, he asks students to try again. Some of the students seem to be more comfortable identifying the main idea, but many of them are so concerned that they might be leaving something important out, they have just resorted to writing out almost everything. He’s suggested that they highlight the most important things in the text but finds that they c ome back to class with their pages covered in yellow highlighter! He’s not sure what do next.

• Strengths of his approach - check mark• Opportunities to tweak and fortify - question mark

Mr. Shah has noticed that his students are having difficulty identifying the most important ideas in a text. He recognizes that identifying the most important idea is a mini-critical challenge so he decides to try to help students uncover criteria for “most important idea”. He provides each student with a photocopy of a text. He invites them to independently read the first 3 paragraphs and highlight the most important ideas. However, he frames the task as a challenge: they can only highlight one sentence in each paragraph. Once students have completed reading the first 3 paragraphs, he invites them to share the sentence they highlighted with a partner and discuss why they thought it was the most important. Then, he solicits answers from various pairs and records their reasoning on the board. Their answers include the following responses:

ÿ “without this sentence, the rest of the paragraph wouldn’t make sense” ÿ “all the other sentences seem to have words that j oin them to this sentence –

e.g. however, therefore, in addition, etc.” ÿ “the other sentences seem to be examples of this idea” Mr. Shah rephrases their ideas to draw out the criteria for “most important idea” and posts these criteria on chart paper on the wall. Next he invites them to test their criteria by reading the next paragraph. He asks them to rate each sentence in terms of its importance on a scale of 0 to 3 based on the criteria they have come up with as a class. He invites them to share their rating with a partner and to decide whether their criteria resulted in them choosing the sentence they intuitively felt was the most important. As a class they decide if they need to add to or refine their criteria. As the year progresses, Mr. Shah often asks them to identify the most important idea but, before they commit to what they think the most important idea is, he requires them to check their selection against the criteria they developed as a class. He provides many opportunities for them to discuss their selections with their peers and orally justify their selections in light of the criteria. He has also started providing them opportunities to assess their ability to identify the main idea when examining a number of different text forms.

Simon’s first response to hearing about the spirit bear suggests he thought that

a)there was little time to waste on talking. b)the best course of action was to raise funds.c) he should first gather information from a variety of sources.d)he should go to observe the Kermode bears in their coastal habitat.

What evidence shows that the work of the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition was effective?

a)Simon joined the coalition while in high school.b)Almost half the habitat of the bears was protected. c)Decision-makers invited Simon to their meetings about forests.d)Over 700 letters of support were sent to the British Columbia government.

Critically Thoughtful

Readers

Activate

AnticipateExtract

Challenge

Deliberate

•Personal knowledge and experience

• knowledge from other sources

• Micro level: next events in the text

• Macro level: text organization and structure

• Draw out the details of the text and the overall meaning

both explicit and implied

• Question emerging

interpretation and understanding of

the text• Question the

merits of the text given its purpose.

•Explore the ideas and issue presented in the

text and their implications beyond

the text .

© The Critical Thinking Consortium, 2009

Critically ThoughtfulReaders

Activate

Anticipate

Extract

Challenge

Deliberate

infer

Skimming and

scanning

Word Sort

Brainstorming

What, So What,

ThereforeLiterature Circles

placematsStoryboarding

Mindmapping main ideas and details

Marking or coding the

text

Talk to the text

Questioning the text / raising doubts

Reading Competencies

© The Critical Thinking Consortium, 2009

infer

Skimming and

scanning

Sort and predict

Brainstorming

What, So What,

Therefore...Literature

Circles

placemats Storyboarding

Find main ideas

Marking / Coding the

text

Talk to the text

Questioning the text / raising doubts

© The Critical Thinking Consortium, 2009

Critically Thoughtful

Readers

Activate

AnticipateExtract

Challenge

Deliberate

Each reading competence requires critical thought

supported by thinking tools

© The Critical Thinking Consortium, 2009

Teaching Reading as Thinking

Teaching Reading as Thinking

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