Becoming Critical

"Life is hard for Anne and her father under Cromwell's harsh rule, which has reduced them from wealth to poverty. With one friend fearing for his life and another apparently lost to her, a man she hates sees her as a way of fulfilling all his ambitions. Will she have to surrender to him or lose everything?"--EBL.

Becoming a critical thinker is a straight-forward, reassuring, and complete guide to critical thinking - one that helps you to understand critical thinking and develop the skills needed to employ it. This book supports the reader to not only think critically, but to do so independently, as a student, professional, and global citizen.The book has a clear three-part structure: firstly, examining what critical thinking is; secondly, exploring the three overarching aims of critical thinking; and finally, focussing on how to develop the essential tools to support those aims. This text assumes no prior knowledge or understanding: it has been developed to gently guide the reader from school-level education to university-level thinking in a clear and engaging manner.This is the only critical thinking skills text to offer insights and advice from professionals and students, helping the reader learn from the experiences of others in a range of contexts. Each chapter also offers guided exercises, checklists, and further reading to encourage the reader to apply techniques learnt to real situations. It is also the only text to offer chapters dedicated to listening and speaking, which are often overlooked, but are vitally important skills.This is the ideal introduction to critical thinking for students across all disciplines. Digital formats and resourcesBecoming a Critical Thinker is available for students and institutions to purchase in a variety of formats, and is supported by online resources. - The e-book offers a mobile experience and convenient access along with functionality tools, navigation features, and links that offer extra learning support: www.oxfordtextbooks.co.uk/ebooks- The book's online resources include: For students: - Additional 'student say' features - Links to additional resources - Downloadable Tools Matrix - Downloadable checklists - Fully-customisable argument map - MCQs - Flashcard glossary For lecturers: - Tutorial suggestions - PowerPoint slides

Presents the key experiences of a diverse group of teachers and students in their journeys of becoming social justice educator/scholars. This innovative book is a collection of autoethnographies by a diverse group of contributors who describe and theorize about the critical moments in their development as social justice educator/scholars in the face of colonizing forces. Using a rhizomatic approach, the editors’ meta-analysis identifies patterns of similarity and differences and theorizes about the exercise of agency in resistance and identity formation. In our increasingly diverse society, Becoming Critical is a wonderful resource for teacher education and sociology of education as it presents an alternative methodological approach for qualitative inquiry. The book contributes to students’ understanding of the development of critical theories—especially as they pertain to identities. The contributors make use of the work of critical scholars such as Collins, hooks, Weber, Foucault, and others relevant to the lives of students and educators today.

Becoming Critical Researchers analyzes the findings of a two-year ethnographic study of the apprenticeship of urban youth as critical researchers of popular culture. Drawing on new literacy studies, critical pedagogy, and sociocultural learning theory, this book documents the changes in student participation within a critical research-focused community of practice. These changes include the acquisition and development of academic and critical literacies and the resulting translations of these literacies into increased academic performance, greater access to college, and commitment to social action. This book inserts critical and postmodern theory into the conception and evaluation of classroom practice and its findings suggest that programs centering on the lived experiences of teens can indeed achieve the goals of critical education, while also promoting academic achievement in urban schools.

The personal and professional are woven together in this collection of scholarly narratives by teacher educators who share their early critical experiences and model teaching practices to support continued resistance and possibilities in teacher education. Representing myriad contexts where teacher education takes place, the range of scholars included represent diverse racial, gendered, linguistic, economic, and ethnic intersectional perspectives. Each chapter suggests practical tools and encourages readers to reflect on their own journeys of becoming transformational teacher educators. This book adds an important dimension to the field with a new and generative approach to the introduction of critical literacies and pedagogies, and offers a potentially powerful way to explore theory, methodology, and social issues. Readers will enjoy the compelling storytelling of these powerful and vulnerable memoirs.

For one semester courses in Introduction to Logic and introductory courses in Critical Thinking. Becoming a Critical Thinker: A Guide for the New Millennium provides a clear and useful set of tools for evaluating the probability of claims presented to students in their daily lives. In this new millennium, as the power and influence of the mass media continues to grow, students need to develop both fundamental critical thinking skills as well as specific skills that focus on the issues and obstacles particular to our times. Thus, much of this text aims at honing skills useful for separating the probable from the improbable in the daily barrage of claims hurled at students from newspapers, magazines, television, movies, radios, CDs, and the Internet.

Many American educators are all too familiar with disengaged students, disenfranchised teachers, sanitized and irrelevant curricula, inadequate support for the neediest schools and students, and the tyranny of standardizing testing. This text invites teachers and would-be teachers unhappy with such conditions to consider becoming critical educators - professionals dedicated to creating schools that genuinely provide equal opportunity for all children. Assuming little or no background in critical theory, chapters address several essential questions to help readers develop the understanding and resolve necessary to become change agents. Why do critical theorists say that education is always political? How do traditional and critical agendas for schools differ? Which agenda benefits whose children? What classroom and policy changes does critical practice require? What risks must change agents accept? Resources point readers toward opportunities to deepen their understanding beyond the limits of these pages.