VCCS Litonline Introduction to Literature
English 112 (English Composition II)

Critical Thinking Objectives

Below is a master list of the critical thinking objectives for the various modules in the Litonline webs which support the major competencies from the list of competencies generated at the 2003 VCCS May Symposium on Commonwealth Courses. [The link gives instructions for logging onto Blackboard.]

[ Up ] [ Reading Objectives ] [ Critical Thinking ] [ Research Objectives ] [ Writing Objectives ] [ Beliefs ] [ New Words ] [ Argument ]

Competency 101 [Critical Thinking]: Apply critical thinking skills to support inferences and draw logical conclusions based on textual features. Through verbal response, the student will seek evidence in text, format, language use, expository structures and arguments.  After working on the modules listed below, students should be able to meet the following objectives:

• Understanding Poetry 1: Believe that nothing in a poem is accidental.

• Understanding Poetry 2: Be willing (and with additional practice able) to understand a poem by analyzing its imagery, sound effects--including rhythm, rhyme, and repetition--and context in history and the poet's life.

• Understanding Fiction 3: Determine how ideas, issues, and/or subjects developed in specific short stories apply to your own life.

• Understanding Fiction 4: Determine similarities and differences between reading stories, poems, and plays.

• Understanding Fiction 5: Analyze the concepts of "truth" and "imagination" in literature.

• Understanding Drama 2: Analyze the structure of a play, using various critical approaches.

• Understanding Drama 4: Identify the theme of a play and support your interpretation with specific evidence from the text, including a consideration of visual and structural elements.

• Studying A Farewell to Arms: A101: Contrast "Hills Like White Elephants" vs. "A Farewell to Arms" in terms of the greater complexity of the novel.

• Studying A Farewell to Arms: A108: Judge whether a character in the novel is in love, lying, or afraid.
• Studying A Farewell to Arms: A112: Discuss the impact of mass movements on individuals.
• Studying A Farewell to Arms: A114: Apply the concepts of character motivation (especially cynicism), allusion, plausibility, and irony.
• Hamlet 1: State an overall organization for the play.
• Hamlet 2: Analyze a scene from a movie version to show how it is well crafted
• Hamlet 3: Summarize ideas about several issues about the play in order to plan and write an essay
• Oedipus 1:  Determine pros and cons of Oedipus's personality (or see his personality traits as double-edged).
• Oedipus 2: Determine what aspects of Oedipus's fate were set by his own actions and which were set by the gods.
• Oedipus 3: Determine the relationship of Oedipus with Jocasta, with the citizens of Thebes, with the gods.
• Oedipus 4: Settle reasons why Tiresias (and the herdsman) did not reveal Oedipus's identity decades before the time of the play's action.
• Oedipus 5: Assess whether Creon seems ambitious or should be taken at his word.
• Oedipus 6: Assess how much Jocasta knew and when, as well as what blinds her to the truth for decades (if blind she was).