1 / 31

Critical Thinking Skills and the 3 Stages of Critical Reading

Critical Thinking Skills and the 3 Stages of Critical Reading. Learning To Be Silent. The pupils of the Tendai school used to study meditation before Zen entered Japan. Four of them who were intimate friends promised one another to observe seven days of silence.

janice
Download Presentation

Critical Thinking Skills and the 3 Stages of Critical Reading

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Critical Thinking Skills and the 3 Stages of Critical Reading

  2. Learning To Be Silent The pupils of the Tendai school used to study meditation before Zen entered Japan. Four of them who were intimate friends promised one another to observe seven days of silence. On the first day all were silent. Their meditation had begun auspiciously, but when night came and the oil lamps were growing dim one of the pupils could not help exclaiming to a servant: "Fix those lamps.“ The second pupil was surprised to hear the first one talk. "We are not supposed to say a word," he remarked. "You two are stupid. Why did you talk?" asked the third. "I am the only one who has not talked," concluded the fourth pupil.

  3. Discussion • What does this parable have to do with reading? • What do you think the moral of this parable would be?

  4. Perspective v. Point of View • What is the difference between Perspective and Point of View? • Perspective: Who tells the story? • Point of View: How is the story told?

  5. Perspective v. Point of View • Perspective is a character who tells the story. • Point of View is the method by which they tell that story. • 1st Person • 2nd Person • 3rd Person, Limited • 3rd person, Omniscient

  6. Ways to Think Critically about Fiction • Multiple Perspectives • Reverse Perspectives • Shifting attention among details

  7. Multiple Perspectives • Attempt to “read” the story from different character’s perspectives. • How would you interpret the story from each monk’s perspective? • Does the moral change? Explain.

  8. Reverse Perspectives • Reverse our understanding of a certain perspective. • Dispel our own biases. • How could this be done to the parable of the monks?

  9. Shifting attention among details • Focus on smaller details within the story and expound upon their significance. • What is one small detail from this parable that may be able to focus on and expound upon its significance?

  10. Why do we read Fiction? • Think of as many reasons you can for reading fiction. (Please create a list of at least 2 reasons.)

  11. Why do we read Fiction? 2 Main Reasons • Entertainment • Imaginative worlds • Hypothetical recreations of history • Mystery/ Suspense • Enlightenment • Enlarge our understanding of ourselves • Deepen our appreciation for life • Allow us to view others’ perspectives • We learn empathy, not just sympathy

  12. 3 Stages of Critical Reading • Experience • What feelings did the story evoke? How can you connect personally with the story? • Interpretation • What is the story’s meaning? The focus is one understanding the story. • Evaluation • Assess the literary quality and consider the values (social, cultural, political, and moral) the story endorses or revokes.

  13. Types of Fiction • Parable • Fable • Tale • The Short Story • Novella (Short Novel)

  14. The Parable • Brief story that teaches a lesson, often of a religious or spiritual nature. • Moral lesson is not necessarily explicitly given to the reader. • “The Prodigal Son” (pg.27) • “The Parable of the Lost Sheep” (Lk 15:1-7) • “The Sower and the Seeds” (Lk 8:4-15)

  15. “The Prodigal Son” (Lk 15:11-32), pg. 27 (Lit.) 11Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. 12The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them.  13"Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.  17"When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' 20So he got up and went to his father. "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

  16.  21"The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.[b]'  22"But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. 24For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.  25"Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.'  28"The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!'  31" 'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' "

  17. The Parable of the Lost Sheep (Lk 15:1-7) 1Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him. 2But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."  3Then Jesus told them this parable: 4"Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.' 7I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

  18. The Parable of the Sower (Lk 8:4-15) 4While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable: 5"A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. 6Some fell on rock, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. 7Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. 8Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown." When he said this, he called out, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear.“   9His disciples asked him what this parable meant. 10He said, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, 'though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.'

  19. The Parable of the Sower (Lk 8:4-15)  11"This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. 12Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. 14The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. 15But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.

  20. The Good Samaritan (Lk 10: 25-37) 25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" 26 He said to him, "What is written in the law? How do you read?" 27 And he answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." 28 And he said to him, "You have answered right; do this, and you will live." 29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" 30 Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was; and when he saw him, he had compassion, 34 and went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; then he set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, `Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.' 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?" 37 He said, "The one who showed mercy on him." And Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."

  21. Fable • Brief story that points to a moral • The difference between a parable and a fable is that the moral of a fable is directly stated. • Often highlight human failings • Often include animals as characters • Tone is often satirical

  22. The Wolf and the Mastiff • A Wolf, who was almost skin and bone – so well did the dogs of the neighborhood keep guard – met, one moonshiny night, a sleek Mastiff, who was as strong as he was fat. Bidding the dog goodnight very humbly, he praised his good looks. "It would be easy for you," replied the Mastiff, "to get as fat as I am if you liked." "What shall I have to do?" asked the Wolf. "Almost nothing," answered the dog. They trotted off together, but as they went along, the Wolf noticed a bare spot on the dog's neck. "What is that mark?" asked he. "Oh, the merest trifle," answered the dog; "the collar which I wear when I am tied up is the cause of it." "Tied up!" exclaimed the Wolf, with a sudden stop. "Can you not always then run where you please?" "Well, not quite always," said the Mastiff; "but what can that matter?" "It matters much to me," rejoined the Wolf, and, leaping away, he ran once more to his native forest. • Moral: Better starve free than be a fat slave.

  23. The Lion and the Mouse • Once when a Lion was asleep, a little Mouse began running up and down upon him; this soon wakened the Lion, who placed his huge paw upon him, and opened his big jaws to swallow him. • "Pardon, O King," cried the little Mouse, "forgive me this time, I shall never forget it. Who knows but I may be able to do you a turn some of these days?" • The Lion was so tickled at the idea of the Mouse being able to help him, that he lifted up his paw and let him go. • Some time hunters who desired to carry him alive to the King, tied him to a tree while they went in search of a wagon to carry him on. • Just then the little Mouse happened to pass by, and seeing the sad plight in which the Lion was, went up to him and soon gnawed away the ropes that bound the King of the Beasts. • "Was I not right?" said the little Mouse. • Moral: Little friends may prove great friends.

  24. “The Ant and the Grasshopper” • In a field one summer's day a Grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its heart's content. An Ant passed by, bearing along with great toil an ear of corn he was taking to the nest. • "Why not come and chat with me," said the Grasshopper, "instead of toiling and moiling in that way?" • "I am helping to lay up food for the winter," said the Ant, "and recommend you to do the same." • "Why bother about winter?" said the Grasshopper; we have got plenty of food at present." But the Ant went on its way and continued its toil. • When the winter came the Grasshopper found itself dying of hunger, while it saw the ants distributing, every day, corn and grain from the stores they had collected in the summer. • Then the Grasshopper knew... • Moral: It is best to prepare for the days of necessity.

  25. Tale • A brief story that narrates strange or fabulous happenings. • Does NOT necessarily have a moral. • Generalized depiction of characters and setting.

  26. “The Widow of Ephesus” • Once upon a time there was a certain married woman in the city of Ephesus whose fidelity to her husband was so famous that the women from all the neighboring towns and villages used to troop into Ephesus merely to stare at this prodigy. It happened, however, that her husband one day died. Finding the normal custom of following the cortege with hair unbound and beating her breast in public quite inadequate to express her grief, the lady insisted on following the corpse right into the tomb, an underground vault of the Greek type, and there set herself to guard the body, weeping and wailing night and day. Although in her extremes of grief she was clearly courting death from starvation, her parents were utterly unable to persuade her to leave, and even the magistrates, after one last supreme attempt, were rebuffed and driven away. In short, all Ephesus had gone into mourning for this extraordinary woman, all the more since the lady was now passing her fifth consecutive day without once tasting food. Beside the fading woman sat her devoted maid, sharing her mistress' grief and relighting the lamp whenever it flickered out. The whole city could speak, in fact, of nothing else: here at last, all clause alike agreed, was the one true example of conjugal fidelity and love.

  27. In the meantime, however, the governor of the province gave orders that several thieves should be crucified in a spot close by the vault where the lady was mourning her dead husband's corpse. So, on the following night, the soldier who had been assigned to keep watch on the crosses so that nobody could remove the thieves' bodies for burial suddenly noticed a light blazing among the tombs and heard the sounds of groaning. And prompted by a natural human curiosity to know who or what was making those sounds, he descended into the vault. • But at the sight of a strikingly beautiful woman, he stopped short in terror, thinking he must be seeing some ghostly apparition out of hell. Then, observing the corpse and seeing the tears on the lady's face and the scratches her fingernails had gashed in her cheeks, he realized what it was: a widow, in inconsolable grief. Promptly fetching his little supper back down to the tomb, he implored the lady not to persist in her sorrow or break her heart with useless mourning. All men alike, he reminded her, have the same end; the same resting place awaits us all. He used, in short, all those platitudes we use to comfort the suffering and bring them back to life. His consolations, being unwelcome, only exasperated the widow more; more violently than ever she beat her breast, and tearing out her hair by the roots, scattered it over the dead man's body. Undismayed, the soldier repeated his arguments and pressed her to take some food, until the little maid, quite overcome by the smell of the wine, succumbed and stretched out her hand to her tempter. Then, restored by the food and wine, she began herself to assail her mistress' obstinate refusal. • "How will it help you," she asked the lady, "if you faint from hunger? Why should you bury yourself alive and go down to death before the Fates have called you? What does Vergil say?- Do you suppose the shades and ashes of the dead are by such sorrow touched? • No, begin your life afresh. Shake off these woman's scruples; enjoy the light while you can. Look at that corpse of your poor husband: doesn't it tell you more eloquently than any words that you should live?" • None of us, of course, really dislikes being told that we must eat, that life is to be lived. And the lady was no exception. Weakened by her long days of fasting, her resistance crumbled at last, and she ate the food the soldier offered her as hungrily as the little maid had eaten earlier.

  28. Well, you know what temptations are normally aroused in a man on a full stomach. So the soldier, mustering all those blandishments by means of which he had persuaded the lady to live, now laid determined siege to her virtue. And chaste though she was, the lady found him singularly attractive and his arguments persuasive. As for the maid, she did all she could to help the soldier's cause, repeating like a refrain the appropriate line of Vergil: • If love is pleasing, lady, yield yourself to love. • To make the matter short, the lady's body soon gave up the struggle; she yielded and our happy warrior enjoyed a total triumph on both counts. That very night their marriage was consummated, and they slept together the second and the third night too, carefully shutting the door of the tomb so that any passing friend or stranger would have thought the lady of famous chastity had at last expired over her dead husband's body. • As you can perhaps imagine, our soldier was a very happy man, utterly delighted with his lady's ample beauty and that special charm that a secret love confers. Every night, as soon as the sun had set, he bought what few provisions his slender pay permitted and smuggled them down to the tomb. One night, however, the parents of one of the crucified thieves, noticing that the watch was being badly kept, took advantage of our hero's absence to remove their son's body and bury it. The next morning, of course, the soldier was horror-struck to discover one of the bodies missing from its cross, and ran to tell his mistress of the horrible punishment which awaited him for neglecting his duty. In the circumstances, he told her, he would not wait to be tried and sentenced, but would punish himself then and there with his own sword. All he asked of her was that she make room for another corpse and allow the same gloomy tomb to enclose husband and lover together. • Our lady's heart, however, was no less tender than pure. "God forbid," she cried, "that I should have to see at one and the same time the dead bodies of the only two men I have ever loved. No, better far, I say, to hang the dead than kill the living." With these words, she gave orders that her husband's body should be taken from its bier and strung up on the empty cross. The soldier followed this good advice, and the next morning the whole city wondered by what miracle the dead man had climbed up on the cross.

  29. Short Story • Differs from parables, fables, and tales that tend towards generalizing action. • Typically reveal characters in dramatic scenes, moments of action, and through dialogue. • Traditionally more concerned with the revelation of character through flashes of insight and shocks of recognition than the early fictional forms.

  30. Short Story • Typical Features of a modern realistic short story: • Plot illustrates a sequence of casually related incidents. • Its characters are recognizably human, and they are motivated by identifiable social and psychological forces. • Its time and place are clearly established, with realistic settings. • Its elements (Plot, character, style irony, etc.) work toward a single effect, unifying the story

  31. Novella (Short Novel) • Allows for a mosaic of scenes to work towards its unifying effect. • Greater efficiency than the novel. • Advantages are consistency of style and focus, as well as a concentration and compression of effect • Great examples • James Joyce’s “The Dead” • Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” • John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men”

More Related