Compulsory English Grade 12 || Language Development || Unit 1 Critical Thinking || Know Thyself || NEB

 

 

 

GRADE 12

UNIT-1, CRITICAL THINKING

What is critical thinking?

·        Critical (vital/decisive/important) Thinking (view/judgment/belief/opinion/idea)

·        To make reasonable/logical/rational judgment/decision/conclusion base of the analysis and evaluation of sources such as fact/phenomena/research etc.

·        Being able to distinguish between useful and useless details to solve problem/decision making

·        Problem – thinking- solution

·        Practical strategy for better decision making, problem solving and goal setting

Critical thinking skills:

1.       Analysis- examine something carefully through     

·        Understanding the meaning of the problem

·        Properly explain to others

·        Asking thoughtful questions, data analysis, research, interpretation

·        Skeptical evaluation

2.           Communication

·        Able to communicate to share ideas effectively

3.           Creativity

·        Find out something new which no one has ever found out

4.           Open-mindedness

·        Objectively evaluating ideas/biasness evaluation

5.           Problem solving

·        Analyzing a problem and generating a solution

 

Critical thinking support:

v Always thinking critically

v Argue and debate on everything,

v different reading,

v claim- evidence

v learn from everything,

 

Steps of Critical thinking:

·        Remembering- factual concepts, principles of the subject,

·        Understanding situation – finding main idea/summarizing/explaining

·        Application of theories- using ideas in new ways/applying theories

·        Analyzing –examining the reasons for theories/finding evidences/relations

·        Evaluating-comparing ideas, finding out strength and weakness

·        Creating- synthesis of a new idea/new perspective

·        Communication – share you idea

 “Know Thyself”

The text entitled “Know Thyself” is extracted taken from children’s novel “Wonder” written by R.J. Palacio. Raquel Jaramillo Palacio (born July 13, 1963) is an American author and graphic designer. She is the author of several novels for children, including the best-selling Wonder. This text is about August Pullman, a fifth grader having disfigured face attending an English class. A home schooled child by his mother, is admitted in the fifth grade in a private school. Here he narrates an English class by his teacher Mr. Browne who teaches them what “Precept” is in an interesting and creative way.

 

Glossary:

Shuffling – walking by dragging one's feet along or without lifting them fully from the ground.

Homeroom – a classroom in which a group of students assemble daily with the same teacher before dispersing to other classes

Zoomed out – to leave or exit from something or someplace very rapidly or hastily

A Wrinkle in Time – a novel

Shen of the Sea – collection of short stories

Doddling – to draw or scribble idly

Sneak – move or go in furtive or stealthy way

Precept – a general rule intended to regulate behavior or thought

Nodded – made a slight, quick downward bending forward of the head as in assent

Motto – a short ideal sentence or phrase

Fortune Cookie – a biscuit containing a message about your future (Chinese meal)

Ground rule – a basic principle

Motivate – provide with a reason for doing something

Plaque – an ornamental tablet, typically of metal, porcelain, or wood that is fixed to a wall or other surface in commemoration of a person or event.

 

Working with Words

A. Find the words from the text that match with the following meanings.

a. Shuffling         Walking by dragging one’s feet along or without lifting them fully from the ground

b. Doddling         drawing pictures or patterns while thinking about something else

c. Plaque             a piece of flat metal with writing on it

d. Precept           a general rule intended to regulate behavior or thought

e. Sneak              move or go in a furtive or stealthy way

 

B. Consult your teacher and define the following thinking skills.

a. convergent thinking: Convergent thinking is the process of coming up with the best answer to a question using our memory, resources around us, or logic. A convergent thinker simply needs to apply already established procedures and memory recall to reach the ‘correct’ answer. Convergent thinking is very commonly used for standardized and multiple choice tests. These sorts of tests simply assess our knowledge and ability to apply knowledge to simple and logical situations.

 

b. divergent thinking : Divergent thinking is the exact opposite of convergent thinking. It involves coming up to solutions, paths forward or new ideas when there is no single correct answer. To come up with solutions to questions without clear answers, you need to break down the possibilities and analyze each part. You might create a pros and cons list, a Venn diagram or a table to lay out your options and consider each one in turn.

 c. Critical thinking: Critical thinking skills involve analyzing something in order to form a judgment about it. A critical thinker does not take the assumptions of a topic for granted. Instead, the critical thinking involves ‘critiquing’ what your are viewing using your available intellectual knowledge. People who think critically can use three processes to develop critical insights on a topic: deduction, induction and abduction. Deduction (general to particular) includes the critical thinking skills that involve drawing conclusions based on the facts at hand. Induction (Particular to General) includes the critical thinking skills that involve drawing conclusions based on a generalization. Abduction includes the critical thinking skills that involve coming to a conclusion that is the most likely or logical based on the small amount of knowledge that you have. We can’t be sure on our conclusion.

d. Creative thinking: Creative thinking involves thinking about a topic in unusual, unconventional and alternative ways to generate new ideas about an established topic. A creative thinker will try to address an issue from a perspective that hasn’t been used before.

Comprehension:

Answer the following questions.

a. Who was Jack? How did he make children laugh?

Ans:- Jack was one of the friends of the narrator studying in the same grade. He makes his friends/children laugh cracking jokes at classroom.

b. Why are “Sharks” important to Reid?

Ans:- “Sharks” are important to Reid because they eat dead thinks in the ocean.

c. What does Mr. Brown think about the most important thing?

Ans:- According to Mr. Brown the most important thing is “knowing our inner self”, or precept.

d. What is that has not been noticed by the student?

Ans:- The students have not noticed the plaque next to the door of the school yet.

e. How did Jack make fun of the English class?

Ans:- Jack made fun of the English class by cracking jokes with his friends.

f. What were the students going to do at the end of the month?

Ans:- At the end of the month, the students are going to write an essay about the precept introduced by Mr. Brown at the beginning of the very month.

g. What particular act of students surprised a girl student?

Ans:- The teacher asks the students to come up with own personal precept written on a post card after summer vacation and before they leave for vacation they have to mail their own percepts, but one girl student surprised on that act of students.

Critical Thinking

a. Have you made your own precept after you read this lesson? What is it? Share it with your friends.

Ans:- This lesson makes me understand what “precept” in an interesting way. I have also made my own precept after reading this lesson. My precept is “Don’t talk, just act. Don’t say, just show. Don’t promise, just prove.”

b. According to Josh Lanyan, “If there was one life skill everyone on the planet needed, it was the ability to think with critical objectivity.” Justify this statement.

Ans:- The precept “If there was one life skill everyone on the plant needed, it was the ability to think with critical objectivity” by Josh Lanyan talks about the most important life skill i.e. critical thinking ability. There are many life skills such as self awareness, empathy, critical & creative thinking, decision making, problem solving, effective communication, interpersonal relationship etc. Among them critical thinking skill is the most important skill. This skill is acquired through either learning or direct real life experience, which enables us to handle issues and problems encountered in daily life through grave thinking. Critical thinking is to analyze different sources of information without any biasness for making a reasonable, rational, and logical decision, conclusion or judgment. This skill includes analysis, communication, creativity, open mindedness and problem solving following the steps such as identifying the problem, gathering information, analyzing them, interpret, establishing new idea and finding and communicating suitable and profitable solution. This skill gears human mind making us apt for acting as a rational being. In every area, this skill is needed such as in reasoning, evaluating, problem solving, decision making, and analyzing something. It enables us to observe anything beyond the normal level. It bring positive changes in our life, it is a key to career success, makes us give better and well formed decisions, improves relationship, makes us more informed citizen etc. 

Writing

Write an email to your friend explaining an interesting class you had.

What is an email?

·        Electronic mail or digital letter or paperless letter

·        A method of exchanging messages between or among people using electronic devices (Cell phone, Computer, Laptop with internet service) and email service providing platforms such as hotmail, yahoo, Gmail etc.

·        It is the most commonly used method to convey formal or informal message to people,

·        Sent both personally and officially (informal and formal)

·        Easy to send and instant delivery and receiving