This article describes a book review assignment that is an application of enlightenment practices to a modern learning environment. This paper encourages both student learning in the content of enlightenment ideas and the methods of critical, accessible writing. Students engage in metacognition by using the critical reasoning capacities of their…

Writing from sources is an important academic skill but students find it a difficult skill to learn. The lesson study method was used to design and evaluate learning and teaching strategies aimed at improving students' writing from sources skills. The team developed a seven-part lesson plan and associated learning activities and practice…

One of the challenges that many gender studies instructors face is making complex topics--such as gender identities, political theory, and media criticism--current, interesting, and relevant to students' lives. In order to help students connect feminist theory to their own experiences, the author suggest incorporating "zines" into gender…

"Teaching for Joy and Justice" is the much-anticipated sequel to Linda Christensen's bestselling, "Reading, Writing, and Rising Up." Christensen is recognized as one of the country's finest teachers. Her latest book shows why. Through story upon story, Christensen demonstrates how she draws on students' lives and the world to teach poetry, essay,…

Teachers and students can use color to identify different types of writing. This article describes using color to highlight annotations, identity, topic sentences, thoughts and emotions, logical arguments, advertising and selling, showing and telling, and looking and seeing. Includes sample assignments for identifying emotional content, topic…

Encouraging students' use of satire, irony, and parody in college writing assignments is recommended to help students voice their concerns, think critically, and discover how a form of discourse contributes to both form and substance of the writing. Samples of student work illustrating the effectiveness of this approach are offered. (MSE)

This paper describes how a language teacher educator guides her students through a particular literacy research project, with the goal of helping students to enjoy their research experience. It outlines two stages to make up the entire assignment--the interview and the paper. It describes the development of questions for the purpose of gaining…

Social Studies teachers need to emphasize reading instruction across the curriculum; they can consider 11 selected methods to assist pupil progress in reading social studies content. Recommendations include introducing new words from the reading; initiating peer reading and tutoring; having an aid read orally; tape recording the selection to be…

Emphasizing real-life communication skills, this book offers cooperative activities to help teachers supplement their writing programs with easy-to-use critical thinking activities. The activities in the book are suitable for grades 4 through 8, for gifted younger students, or as a remediation tool for older students. The activities are aimed at…

Increasingly, national stakeholders express concern that U.S. college graduates cannot adequately solve problems and think critically. As a set of cognitive abilities, critical thinking skills provide students with tangible academic, personal, and professional benefits that may ultimately address these concerns. As an instructional method, writing…

Emphasizing real-life communication skills, this book offers cooperative activities to help teachers supplement their writing programs with easy-to-use critical thinking activities. The activities in the book are suitable for grades 4 through 8, for gifted younger students, or as a remediation tool for older students. The activities in the book…

Emphasizing real-life communication skills, this book offers cooperative activities to help teachers supplement their writing programs with easy-to-use critical thinking activities. The 16 activities in the book are suitable for grades 4 through 8, for gifted younger students, or as a remediation tool for older students. The activities expose…

Describes a teaching exercise in an undergraduate psychology course in which students read a book with unconventional perspectives on the field of study. Maintains that the activity develops critical reading and thinking skills by confronting students with controversial views. Identifies some of the books selected to fit the criteria of this…

The importance of using effective communication and writing skills in science is discussed. Outlets for student essays are presented. Writing about hands-on experiences in the science classroom can improve science vocabulary as well as comprehension and critical thinking. (KR)

Integrating up-to-date composition theory with pedagogical research in critical thinking and inquiry, this book presents a flexible organizational structure to accommodate a range of freshman composition course designs and to engage students intellectually in problem-centered writing activities to prepare them for academic tasks across the…