Using Critical Thinking In A Writing Class

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Beliefs, attitudes and values are three little words that have and make a massive impact on who we are as individuals, who we are as people, and even how the world is viewed by ourselves and others. A belief is something that individuals or groups think, such as believing in a god. Where a Value would be the living life in the ways a religion expects, this value will be made from the belief that the person or group has in their God. The attitude towards this would be the feelings, beliefs and behaviour tendencies towards this, for example praying, reading the holy book,

In today’s current school systems, the question of whether or not schools are correctly teaching students the right curriculum is coming up for debate. In the Article,"Teaching Critical Thinking by Marcia Clemmitt, she goes into extensive research of the U.S. Department of Education’s crisis of standardized testing. Most learning activities include standardized testing which lacks many students to express creative and critical thinking. Critical thinking is defined as the examination and evaluation of ideas, events and arguments in their contexts which introduces students to interrogate assumptions and identifying biases (Clemmitt)Pure critical thinking involves investigating a text more than just memorizing, but to apply theirself in other ways of techniques, meaning schools should stimulate more analytical methods of teaching. This would not only free students from a sheltered test culture,but will allow students to think in a deeper,more passionate way than before.

"The objective of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives" as told by Robert Maynard Hutchins, an American educational philosopher. The American academic system is very different from those in other countries. That is among the many reasons why our public K-12 schools are under such an oppressive curriculum. In an effort to embark on this undertaking it is necessary to at first assess the curriculum as presented within the K-12 school system. The K-12 educators are held to certain expectations. In K-5 the instructor is tasked with the responsibility of ensuring children leave elementary schools with the basic knowledge and social skills necessary to the next level in their education. During this time, children are thinking a lot more critically than those of an older age, because as bell hooks has said "children are predisposed critical thinkers" which I think to be unquestionably true. Children are always finding new ways to

​As time went by and I took different types of writing assignments, I improved the structure and organization of my writing. I learned the use of Standard English rules and styles in constructing sentences. I also learned how to organize my thoughts, ideas and experiences. Furthermore, I learned how to construct and maintain a coherent transition of paragraphs, as well as, how to select words, idioms, sayings and phrases that best suited the topic or purpose. With time, I even started to use diagrams to help organize my thoughts, ideas regarding the intended topic even before I write it. Learning how to remain relevant to a topic has enabled me to improve my grades.

In this semester I have improved my writing skills. At the beginning, I didn’t know much about writing. Since English isn’t my first language, I had lots of errors in my essays. Writing in MLA format was one of the things I learned. Also, organizing my ideas, and then, write them in a draft, so my paper would end up worth of reading. Before turning the paper in, searching for errors was other thing I learned, because at the beginning, when I was done with an essay I would turned it in without looking twice, searching for mistakes. Now, I always double check to see if I made a mistake. Likewise, I used many common words to describe an idea or a person, I’m getting better on it, but I still need to work on finding new words to make my essays

During this semester of English 112, I have learned a lot about different research techniques as well as different writing strategies. Although, I feel that I have grown as a writer this growth did not lack growing pains. This course differed greatly from the English 111 and 113 courses that I have taken in previous semesters. It proved to be one of the most challenging English classes that I have taken so far in my academic career. There were many elements of the pre-writing process introduced during the past sixteen weeks, such as writing a preliminary draft and annotated bibliography, that I have never been exposed to before. The critical reading, critical thinking, and critical writing process in this course definitely stretched me as a writer and student. There were three writing styles practiced during this course along with three different genres. The first paper written was in the MLA (Modern Language Association) writing style coupled with the humanities genre, the second was written in the APA (American Psychological Association) writing style coupled with the social science genre, and the third paper written was in the CSE (Council of Science Editors) writing style which was coupled with the sciences genre. These different genres gave great insight as well as a different perspective to my chosen topic, pregnancy. Although, I feel I have a better knowledge of these different types of writing styles and critical writing procedures, I still have room for growth as I

The quote from Dr. Parker I have chosen to write my essay on is one that I hold very close to my heart, “Do you realize that as a Christian you have some talent to use for the Lord?” For a long time I had the same thoughts regarding that sentiment as many people do. I had been jaded and saw that as nothing more than an overused, deceptive, superficial phrase friends or family members would use to pacify those of us struggling to find our place in the world. Even though I had achieved many things I always saw myself as less than average. I had an academic scholarship but I wasn’t valedictorian. I wasn’t obese but I didn’t look like the models plastered all over magazines. I obtained my Bachelor’s of science in nursing but I wasn’t the super hero always able to save the day like depicted on television.

Critical thinking involves evaluating and analyzing data in order to form a reasonable judgment about a particular topic or idea. It is not simply believing a subject matter because someone in authority or expertise said it, but challenging those arguments in order to form a well thought out conclusion. A critical thinker will normally not accept an answer without reasoning; they require evidence to validate or prove their conclusion. The ability to reason logically is a fundamental and disciplined skill that can be learned over time.

I learned a lot about writing and reading from this course, writing became more easy, even my fear of writing essays has been diminished. I learned to be a critical reader to write better. I started to read more and look at different topic, although not much as I wish, but still it enhanced my writing. I now take notes more often than before. I no longer judge a writing by my emotions instead by what it presents of ideas and facts, I keep in my mind that it just reflects the author’s ideas and opinions not necessary the truth, and that my reflection and response of a writing may be the same or differ from others. Using a double journal became the better tool to capture all my thoughts with the ideas of

I believe it is important for any student who wants to do their best in a class to take a moment to evaluate their own work to determine the rate their writing is progressing and how they can continue to advance their writing. When I looked through my own work I asked myself “what have I learned this semester?” and “what do I still need to learn in order to improve my writing?”. Answering both these questions will help me with my last step of my self-evaluation, developing a plan to learn new skills.

The concepts of critical thinking and creative thinking are both gaining increasing importance in the world today. Critical thinking allows people to understand difficult concepts in a manner that is clearer and more defined. They can more readily understand those concepts if they employ critical thinking. In all portions of everyday life, a person is expected to make independent judgments. Those judgments are based on experience and knowledge. Without the ability to think critically, every situation that a person comes across would have to be considered in isolation from all other situations. When a person encounters a problem that is a new one, he or she may be able to use critical thinking to solve those problems.

When defining the term “critical thinking” it can seem overwhelming and daunting, especially for young learners. In laments terms, you are teaching your student how to think for him or herself when it comes to problem solving. Instead of giving the student the answer, you give them the tools to discover the answer him/herself. Critical thinking is an important component of any classroom. No matter the age group, these skills stay with a child for the rest of his or her life. As a teacher, it is important to understand what critical thinking pertains to and how to structure part of your lesson plan around developing critical thinking skills.

Knowledge is generated through critical and creative thinking. Creative thinking is something new or original that is created with value. Critical thinking is a type of thinking that questions assumptions and validates or invalidates a current belief or something that is said to be previously true. Knowledge is created through the culmination of generally accepted assumptions and creativity. How do you separate general assumptions and creativity? These two types of thinking can be easily separated in regards to concrete or realistic ideas compared to abstract or original ideas however to generate new, acceptable knowledge critical and creative thinking must interact together. The questioning of established beliefs with the creation of

My hand was moving fast across the page checking things about myself that I didn't even need to think about. Personally I stop checking boxes and my left hand started to absentmindedly fingle with the freshly sharpened pencil in my hand. A question that came naturally to most people What is a critical thinking question in my eyes.