LEARN NC

K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

Goal 4

The learner will refine critical thinking skills and create criteria to evaluate text and multimedia.

Objective 4.03

Develop the stance of a critic by:

  • considering and presenting alternative points of view or reasons.
  • remaining fair-minded and open to other interpretations.
  • creating a critical response/review of a work/topic.

Resources aligned to this objective

What do you see? (pre-visit)
This lesson introduces students to the importance of making accurate, detailed scientific observations, and the value of learning about others' views and perspectives regarding a specific topic or event. It also serves as an activity to prepare students for a visit to the Ackland Art Museum in Chapel Hill, NC (or any museum, real or virtual). This lesson is the first of three lessons that build upon each other, using the Ackland Art Museum as the focus.
Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 English Language Arts)
By Reagan West.
TV careers: Reality vs. fantasy
In CareerStart lessons: Grade seven, page 1.6
In this lesson for grade seven, students discuss compare television portrayals of careers with reality.
Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 English Language Arts and Guidance)
By Jen Presley.Adapted by Kenyatta Bennett and Sonya Rexrode.
Interdisciplinary Integrated Unit on DNA/Genetics Part C: Language Arts
The third lesson of an interdisciplinary integrated unit on DNA and genetics, focusing on language arts. The first two lessons in the unit focus on science and math.
Format: lesson plan (grade 7 English Language Arts and Information Skills)
By Jane Lentz, Jimmy White, Marlene Smith, and Tori Goldrick.

Resources on the web

Reciprocal revision: Making peer feedback meaningful
This lesson from ReadWriteThink is designed to help middle school students develop more constructive peer feedback on writing through the use of reciprocal teaching strategies. Students observe online examples of artwork, and use the strategies of predicting,... (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 English Language Arts)
Provided by: ReadWriteThink
Points of view in the news
Students will read articles from National Geographic News and answer questions describing each article's source, purpose, and viewpoint. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 7–8 English Language Arts)
Provided by: National Geographic
Leading to great places in the middle school classroom
This mini-lesson examines types of leads in prominent young adult literature and challenges students to search for great leads and then write original examples. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 English Language Arts)
Provided by: IRA/NCTE
Inventing and presenting unit 2: Effective speeches and building the invention
Students read about inventors, propose inventions to solve problems they have identified, and build and test their inventions. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 6–7 English Language Arts and Science)
Provided by: IRA/NCTE
Finding the science behind science fiction through paired readings
In this lesson, students explore the genre of science fiction, while learning more about the science integrated into the plot of the story using nonfiction texts and resources. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 English Language Arts)
Provided by: IRA/NCTE
Expository escapade-Detective's handbook
In this lesson, students combine reading the detective fiction genre with expository writing. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 English Language Arts)
Provided by: IRA/NCTE
Critical media literacy: Commercial advertising
Conducting an evaluation of television and magazine advertisements, students critique the effect mass media has on American culture. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 7–8 English Language Arts)
Provided by: IRA/NCTE
Critical literacy: Point of view
Students learn to look at texts from different viewpoints. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 6–7 English Language Arts)
Provided by: IRA/NCTE
Creative communication frames: Discovering similarities between writing and art
Students will build a comparative frame to explore the creative processes of writing and art as communication. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 7 Visual Arts Education and English Language Arts)
Provided by: IRA/NCTE
Analyzing advice as an introduction to Shakespeare
Students read and analyze the advice given in Mary Schmich's 1997 Chicago Tribune column “Advice, Like Youth, Probably Just Wasted on the Young,” as an introduction to studying the advice that Polonius gives to Laertes in Shakespeare's Hamlet. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 7 English Language Arts)
Provided by: IRA/NCTE