Expanding the Horizon of
Learning:
Critical Thinking in the Composition
Classroom
Dr. Joan Kennedy
Definition of Critical Thinking
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It is the art of analyzing and evaluating thinking with a
view of improving it
Dr. Richard Paul defines it as “thinking about your
thinking so you know what it is that you are thinking”
emphasizing its self-reflective nature
It is the cornerstone of teaching composition in a college
classroom
Goal: encourage students to become “citizens of the
world” who engage in enlightened dialogue with others
Critical Thinking Requirements
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Coordinating Board mandates it as an objective
for all college courses
Students must be guided through the process to
attain higher order thinking skills
Heuristic strategy for initial stages of developing
critical thinking requires exploratory exercises,
prewriting, collaborative activities to expand
horizon of learning
Students must explore the breadth of the issue
Multiple-Step Heuristic
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To initiate critical thinking, students begin with
exploratory steps of thinking and questioning to
examine creatively the possibilities for topic
development in essays
While the creative stage is recursive, Aristotle
identified invention as the first step in his Five
Canons of Rhetoric
My heuristic employs a multiple-step plan to
explore a topic from a variety of perspectives
Initial Step
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Social issues persuasive research essay assignment
Use journal for exploratory thinking
Offers low risk space for exploration
Flexible tool for instructors to assign creative thinking
activities
Short, timed “off the top of their head” response—
Looping
Students discover what they know
Mark Twain’s Imperative: “Sail away from the safe
harbor. . . .Explore. Dream. Discover”
Next Step
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In journal make list of 4-5 items that are
of interest to student
Example: dining at a restaurant; riding a
bike; playing tennis; attending the movies
Link items on list to plausible connections
to the their topic
Examples
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Student topic: legalization of marijuana
Connect restaurant dining to question: “What
are the effects of marijuana on the appetite?”
Bike riding question: “Does routine exercise
stimulate the effects of the drug?”
Tennis playing question: “What types of rules
concerning drug use exist for professional
athletes?”
Movie going question: “How is marijuana
depicted in film?”
Result
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Lures students into a new territory of
ideas
Allows personal perspective as guide for
selecting potential areas of topic
development—student “voice” emerges
Can move topic from “boring to
interesting”
Viewpoint Wheel
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A visual diagram to explore broad
spectrum of appeals
Eighteen categories: history, music, law,
literature, drama, film, social life, future,
feminism, children, TV, people,
newspapers, morality, agriculture,
architecture, economics, health
Viewpoint Wheel
Viewpoint Wheel
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Students place subject in middle of wheel and
move around circle asking questions
Considering my subject from a historical
perspective, what could I write about?
Considering my subject from the perspective of
the future, what could I write about?
Considering my subject from the perspective of
morality, what could I write about?
Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy
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Students move into more focused, critical
thinking territory
Ask questions utilizing the six categories
of the learning pyramid
Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyze,
Evaluate, Create
Final Stage of Creative Thinking
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Document from National Collegiate Honors
Council Conference in Washington DC
Focuses on abstract concepts: Rights,
Privileges, Responsibilities
List of ten questions apply the concepts to
specific situations
Results of Creative Thinking
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Plethora of possibilities to pursue as students begin
researching their topics
It guides them into areas of discussion they may not
have considered initially avoiding “tunnel vision”
Students shift into a critical thinking mindset to sift
through the material
Provides a sound basis to begin critical thinking
Gives students confidence that they have something
significant to say
Essential to expand students’ horizon of learning
Works Cited
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Adelstein, Michael and Jean Pival. The Writing Commitment. New York: Harcourt Brace College
Publishers, 5th ed, 1993. Print.
Anderson, Lorin W. and David R. Krathwohl, ed. A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and
Assessing: A Revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. New York: Addison
Wesley Longman, 2001. Print.
Bloom Benjamin S. Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. New York: Longman, 1956; 1984.
Print.
Bullock, Richard, Maureen Daly Goggin, and Francine Weinberg. The Norton Field Guide to
Writing with Readings and Handbook. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. Print.
Channell, Carolyn E. and Timothy W. Crusius. Engaging Questions: A Guide to Writing. New
York: McGraw-Hill, 2012. Print.
Kant, Immanuel. “What Is Enlightenment?” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Ed.
Martin Puchner et al. 3rd ed. Vol. D. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2012. 3 vol.
105-109. Print.
Paul Richard and Linda Elder. The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking: Concepts and Tools.
New York: Penguin Express, 2009. Print.
Phillips, Harry and Patricia Bostian. The Purposeful Argument: A Practical Guide. Boston:
Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2012. Print.
Works Cited
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Pohl, Michael. Learning to Think, Thinking to Learn: Models and Strategies to Develop A
Classroom Culture of Thinking. Cheltenham, Vic.: Hawker Brownlow, 2000. Print.
Stolarek, Elizabeth A. and Larry R. Juchartz. Classical Techniques and Contemporary Arguments.
New York: Pearson/Longman, 2007. Print.