Stewart Distinguished
Teaching Award Recipients,
2011
Karin St. Pierre
Nick Larocca
Teaching Critical Thinking
Through Literature
Building a Thesis
Professor St. Pierre: Teaching
Critical Thinking Through
Literature
LIT 2090 Contemporary Literature
Learning Outcomes:
Students will demonstrate improved critical thinking
skills; students will demonstrate an increased
willingness to think critically.
Lesson Plan
Stage One, Pre-Reading
First month of the semester:
a. Require students to work collaboratively and individually,
addressing questions about major life themes that appear
in the novel.
b. Train students to use a set of generic question stems (see
Wolcott; Lynch, 2001) to create their own questions
appropriate for the content to be learned.
c. Require students to answer each other’s questions in small
groups.
Lesson Plan
Stage Two, During Reading
Second Month of Semester
a. While students are reading outside the classroom,
require them to answer questions more narrowly
focused on novel.
b. Share with students previous responses generated
during stage one. Students, during this stage, should
begin to generate their own critical thinking questions
about the text.
Lesson Plan
Stage Three, Post-Reading
Third Month of Semester
a. Assign students the task of evaluating published,
critical perspectives.
b. Require students to compare/contrast the novel
with other works of fiction studied during the
semester.
c. View, in class, the award-winning, critically
acclaimed movie adaptation and encourage
discussion of the differences between the novel
and film.
Teaching Methods Used…
 Lecture
 Research
 Group Work
 Online Research
 Student Presentation
 Discussion
 Socratic
 PowerPoint
Assessment of Learning
Outcomes
William Perry, (1913-1998)
Professor of Education,
Harvard
Perry’s Stages, Simplified
Dualism
Multiplism
Relativism
Commitment
Timing and Types of Assessments
Month 1
Month 2
Month 3
LEGEND
Short Essay: Topic Choices are “The Best Class or
Worst Class I Ever Had” or “How I Learn Best”
One-Minute Essay: Topic Choices are “What’s
the Most Important Think I Learned in Class
Today? Or “What One Question Still Remains”?
“Critical Thinking Disposition Self-Rating Form”
Month 4
Evidence of Student
Learning
Brian (Pseudonym)
1/5/12 : DUALISM
1/19/12 : MULTIPLISM
Evidence of Student
Learning
Brian (Pseudonym)
1/31/12: DUALISM
2/28/12: MULTIPLISM
“I think us here to wonder, myself. To wonder. To ast. And that
in wondering bout the big things and asting ‘bout the big things,
you learn about the litte ones, almost by accident…The more I
wonder, he say, the more I love.”
Albert, The Color Purple
Alice Walker
Professor LaRocca – Building a
Thesis
ENC 1102: College Compostion II
Learning Outcomes






Demonstrate original writing using standard written English, including accepted
standards of grammar and punctuation.
Use critical thinking skills to develop a clear, focused thesis and content that are
appropriate to purpose of the assignment, including argument
Provide coherent, organized support for ideas using relevant, specific details and
concrete examples
Maintain a style, tone, and language appropriate for an academic audience
Understand and avoid plagiarism as defined in the Palm Beach State College
Student Handbook
Recognize the possibilities to strengthen writing through revision and editing
Overview of Project
Design
Four
Research
Questions
Regarding
Intended
Major
Feedback
Choose
Research
Question
Design
Working
Thesis
Statement
Feedback
Compare
Working
Thesis to
Evidence
Alter
Thesis
Statement
Draft
Essay
Utilizing
Thesis
Statement
Feedback
Bloom’s Taxonomy
Evaluation
Synthesis
Analysis
Application
Comprehension
Knowledge
Thesis Construction
Knowledge
• Multimedia Lesson on Thesis Statement
• Reading(s)
Comprehension
• Quiz
• Discussion Question
• What is the purpose of a good thesis in terms of...
• The reader
• The writer
Steps Three and Four
Application
• Weekly Assignment
• Create Thesis Statement
Analysis
• Discussion Question Two
• How do you intend to create a good, strong
thesis that can serve as the backbone for your
essay?
Steps Five and Six
Synthesis
•Alteration during Research
•Inclusion in Final Project
Evaluation
• Success of Final Project
Student Skills Practiced
Demonstrate original writing using standard written English, including accepted standards of
grammar and punctuation.
Use critical thinking skills to develop a clear, focused thesis and content that are appropriate
to purpose of the assignment, including argument
Provide coherent, organized support for ideas using relevant, specific details and concrete
examples
Maintain a style, tone, and language appropriate for an academic audience
Understand and avoid plagiarism as defined in the Palm Beach State College Student
Handbook
Recognize the possibilities to strengthen writing through revision and editing
Student Example –
Working Thesis
Nosocomial infections in hospitals develop because
of issues related to visitors and staff hygiene; the
improper handling of breathing machines and
ventilators; the improper insertion or maintenance of
catheters and intravenous lines; the failure to follow
use of sterile protocol during surgery and
transfusions; and the opportunity that bacteria
endogenous to the patient find when the patient is in
a weakened state.
Student Example – In
Essay
Hospitals are generally known as places of remedy. Persons who are
ill go there with the expectation that they will receive treatment and recover.
Unfortunately however, many of those individuals develop an infection as a
direct consequence of their stay in the hospital. Infections that are acquired
while a patient is in the hospital are referred to as nosocomial infections; a term
derived from nosos the Greek word for 'disease'. Nosocomial infections occur
worldwide and affect both developed and resource-poor countries. Even
though many strides have been made in the progress of public health and
hospital care, infections continually develop in patients admitted to healthcare
facilities.
There are many factors that promote the increase in infection rates
among patients. These include: the decreased immunity among patients that
gives bacteria endogenous to the patient the chance to develop; poor infection
control practices that facilitate transmission of pathogens to the patient and
their environment; bacteria that become drug-resistant, rendering antibiotics
ineffective; the improper insertion or maintenance of catheters and intravenous
lines; the improper handling of breathing machines and ventilators; and the
failure to follow sterile and aseptic protocol during surgical procedures.
Teaching Methods Used
Lecture
Multimedia
Video
Discussion
Research
Socratic Method Questioning
Assessments
Voice Feedback
•Thesis Statement
Voice Feedback, Rubric
•Essay