1. Types of Critical Thinking Questions -Basic (boring) -Accelerated (better) -Advanced (your future)

2. Basic (boring) Who…What…Where…When… ◦ All ideas that can simply be answered by looking back upon the text and finding the answer directly. Other cue words: arrange, define, duplicate, label, list, memorize, name, order, recognize, relate, recall, repeat, reproduce, state

3. Accelerated (better) Comprehension: Demonstrate understanding of facts and ideas by organizing, translating, interpreting, giving descriptions, and stating main ideas. Cue words: classify, describe, discuss, explain, express, identify, indicate, locate, recognize, report, restate, review, select, summarize, translate

4. Accelerated (better) continued… Application: Solve problems to new situations by applying acquired knowledge, facts, techniques and rules in a different way. Cue words: apply, choose, demonstrate, illustrate, interpret, practice, schedule, sketch, solve, write

5. Advanced (sweet!) Analysis: Examine and break information into parts by identifying motives or causes. Make inferences and find evidence to support generalizations. Cue words: analyze, appraise, categorize, compare, contrast, criticize, differentiate, discriminate, distinguish, examine,

6. Advanced (sweet!) continued… Synthesis: Compile information together in a different way by combining elements in a new pattern or proposing alternative solutions. Cue words: arrange, assemble, collect, compose, construct, create, design, develop, formulate, organize, plan, propose, write

7. Advanced (sweet!) continued… Evaluation: Present and defend opinions by making judgments about information, validity of ideas or quality of work based on a set of criteria. Cue words: appraise, argue, assess, choose, compare, defend, estimate, judge, predict, rate, support, value, evaluate

8. Additional techniques I can apply to studying literature and incorporating within my questions: Additional techniques I can apply to studying literature and incorporating within my questions: Info about the author Purpose Connections Relations Similarities/Differences Modifications Citations Justifications ***Get creative and have fun. Integrate ideas used in other classes.

9. Sample Questions Basic Question—Who leaves gifts in the tree for Jem and Scout? Answer --Boo Radley Accelerated Question– Discuss the lesson Miss Maudie teaches the children about mocking birds, and explain how that lesson connects to the novel as a whole. Miss Maudie teaches the children that mocking birds are meant to sing and make beautiful music and that a mocking bird does no harm to anyone, and because of this, one should never kill a mocking bird. ****NOTE****You can easily extend this question to advanced by asking the reader to make further connections and identify the “mocking bird” type characters in the novel and how they “sing” for others.

10. Advanced Question—Choose two of the gifts Boo leaves in the tree for the children, and analyze what these gifts reveal about Boo Radley. How does this understanding of Boo contradict all the stories the children hear about him? Answer—Boo leaves the children soap carvings that look exactly like the children, right down to the smallest detail. This tells us that Boo watches the children, studying their actions and appearance. These soap carvings have taken a long time to perfect. One who is said to be mean and a monster of sorts would never take such time and care to create such delicate work. Answer—Boo leaves a ball of string in the tree. It’s never really stated what the significance of that ball of string is, but he connects the string to Scout and her nature to investigate and “scout” things out before making decisions and judgments. In earlier times scouts would tie a piece of string to their starting place and unwind it as they investigated. The string allowed them to find their way back to camp.