Critical Reading & Critical Thinking Angela Steinberg Hill Hall 219 steinbergac@wssu.edu 336-750-2728

Recall (saying text as it was given) Mary had a Little Lamb Remembering the poem… Mary had a little lamb, Its fleece was white as snow, And everywhere that Mary went The lamb was sure to go. Mary had a lamb, Its fleece was white as snow, And everywhere that Mary went The lamb was sure to go. My 2 year old

Restatement (reading what the text says) Mary had a Little Lamb Re-stating the poem… Mary had a little lamb, Its fleece was white as snow, And everywhere that Mary went The lamb was sure to go. Mary had a lamb that followed her everywhere. My 6 year old, he’s thinking about figuring out the words and what they mean,

Description (describing what text does) Mary had a Little Lamb Describing the poem… Mary had a little lamb, Its fleece was white as snow, And everywhere that Mary went The lamb was sure to go. The rhyme describes a pet that followed its mistress everywhere. More involved, thinking beyond the text, looking at rhyme in addition to restating (in different words)

Interpretation (critically reading & thinking about meaning) Mary had a Little Lamb Interpreting the poem… Mary had a little lamb, Its fleece was white as snow, And everywhere that Mary went The lamb was sure to go. An image of innocent devotion is conveyed by the image of a young lamb. By making it seem that this is natural and good, the rhyme asserts innocent devotion as a positive relationship. Critically thinking, going beyond the words

Pre-Read Look over text before reading. What is the title? Who is author? Qualifications? How is text organized? Read over headings, captions and charts/graphs Predict main ideas, read the first and last paragraphs Make more predictions This allows your brain to get focused on the reading. Before you read….this is important!

Outline Create an outline of text using your own words This outline helps you see the basics of the text and makes it easier to go back and find information in the text Can be informal and quick, written as notes in margins or more formal using Roman Numerals As you read, a version of annotating, can be in margins or in an outline…also can be used if article does NOT have headings and isn’t already separated into sections for you. If it is separated, just use the margins

Summarizing Ideas Briefly summarize sections of text Analyze and evaluate essential information while condensing longer passages Ask yourself the following questions: What is this section about? What is the author saying? Account for key terms and/or ideas As you read…

Contextualize Think about…. When was text written? Where was it published? Does this information change your views of the article? Look at text through your own experiences, connect it to information you already know. Incorporate information into your own sphere of knowledge. After you finish reading….think about what you read…

How does this fit into the rest of the course? Does the new information add to or detract from the course? How does it compare/contrast to earlier information presented? How has your knowledge been changed? How has your thinking about the topic changed? After you read….

To review…. To find out more….. Ask How or Why something happens Requires application of details to a larger context Goes beyond ‘facts’ to constructing a rationale To find out more….. Criticalthinking.org Criticalreading.org