Lesson Plan of Critical Thinking
English Grade VI, VII
Students’ Learning Outcomes
· Apply critical thinking to interact with the text and use intensive reading strategies(while reading):
v Scan to answer short questions.
v Make simple inferences using context of the text and prior knowledge.
v Deduce meanings of the difficult words from context.
v Read silently with comprehension and extract main idea and supporting details.
Information for teacher
· Critical thinking is the ability to think clearly and rationally about what to do or what to believe.
· Critical thinking is an active, organized, cognitive process used to carefully examine one’s thinking and the thinking of others.
Concept Map
Material / Resources
Headlines cuttings from English newspapers or magazines, selected paragraphs from books or internet, chalk/marker, board, duster, textbook
Worm up activity
· Write the following short passage on the board.
· Ask whole class the question given under the passage.
· Encourage each student to express his/her opinion or idea.
It’s a rainy day at my house. It’s rainy and windy. The pretty fallen leaves are flying in my yard. They are beautiful. They are orange, red, brown and gold. They are falling off the trees in my yard. I like to watch the leaves fly. The rain and wind make the leaves came off the trees. Soon the leaves will be all on the ground. I can help my mother and father gather them up. I like this time of year.
Questions:
1. Who do you think is telling the story, a boy or a girl?
2. Where do you think the boy or the girl is when he/she is watching the leaves?
3. What colors of leaves did the boy or the girl see?
4. What season is it?
5. What made the leaves come off the trees?
6. The boy or the girl likes to watch the leaves fly. What is making the leaves fly in his/her yard?
7. What is the boy or the girl going to do when all the leaves are on the ground?
8. What do you like best about this season?
Development
Activity 1 (Grade VI, VII)
· Divide the whole class into groups of three or four students.
· Give each group one headline clipped from an English newspaper or magazine.
· Tell students to discuss amongst them the possible meanings of difficult words.
· Help students in deducing meaning.
· Ask the group to read the headline and guess what the news/story/article is about.
A sample headline with multiple answers is given below
Mr. Adnan is under fire in the house
a. A man getting shot at home.
b. A fire at house.
c. A new law getting attached.
d. Mr. Adnan getting fired from work.
Activity 2 (Grade VI)
· There is one sentence in each of the following paragraphs that doesn’t belong to the paragraph.
· Ask the students to underline the sentence that should be removed from each paragraph.
1. Scientists are learning a great deal about the aging process. This knowledge will allow doctors to help their patients live longer and better lives. They will be able to defeat diseases associated with aging and perhaps even delay the onset of old age. Many doctors would agree that some medicines are much too expensive.
2. I am looking forward to Election Day. It’s fun to vote and exciting to watch the election results. I’ll be rooting for my candidate to win and enjoying the suspense if the vote is close. The following day will be good time to play video games. No matter who wins, an election is a special occasion.
Activity 3 (Grade VI, VII)
· Ask the students to read a short extract about a man who is waiting for an important letter.
· Read the text quickly and answer the following questions.
· It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand every word of the text; just try to get general idea.
It was approximately fifteen minutes past eight the following morning when Ahmed, lying in bed, heard the plaintive whistling of the postman as he came sauntering up the lane, followed by the tantalizing flap of the letter box. Within seconds, he found himself bounding down the stairs, falling upon his knees in the hallway and opening up letters in what can only be described as a ‘near-frenzy’. His heart sank as Reader’s Digest fliers, electricity bills and HP hover* offers followed assorted tax communications in their hurried brown envelops and the realization slowly dawned on him that there was in fact nothing from the ‘acting school’. This procedure was repeated, with startling exactitude, the following morning – indeed the one after that, also- with Ahmed on broken knees in the hallway surrounded by ‘scrunched-up’ balls of unwanted missives, but nowhere near him the one his heart so urgently desired.
*a hoover is the British English word for a vacuum cleaner
Now re-read the text and answer the following questions.
First try to guess the meaning of any difficult words from the context. If you still don’t understand, use an English dictionary to help you.
1. How did Ahmed go down the stairs?
2. What was in the letter box that day?
3. How did he open the letters?
4. What were his emotions when he opened the mail the first day?
5. What was he waiting for?
6. What did the hallway look like after a couple of days?
Sum up / Conclusion
· Conclude the lesson by repeating the main points of the lesson.
Assessment
· Ask the students to read the passage carefully and tick the correct option of the MCQs given at the end.
Hama gets ready for his job interview. He takes a shower. He shaves. He brushes his teeth. He cuts his fingernails. He combs his hair. He puts on the new suit he bought just for today. Hama feels confident. He is also very nervous.
Hama graduated at the top of his class in college. Still, Hama knows the economy is bad. His dad just lost his job at the bank a few weeks ago!
Many people are interviewing for the very same job. There is a lot of competition. Hama is still positive. He thinks he has a good chance of getting the job at the technology company.
Hama arrives at his interview at 9:45. He is 15 minutes early. “Have a seat, Mr. Sagged will be right with you”, the receptionist says. Hama sits. He thinks about what he has learned to do in an interview. Look people in the eye. Give a firm handshake. Speak clearly. Hama feels ready.
“Mr. Sagged is ready to see you now”, the receptionist says.
Hama takes a deep breath and walks into Mr. Sage’s office.
“Good to meet you, sir”, Hama says and gives Mr. Sagged a firm handshake and a smile.
Questions:
1. What kind of job is Hama interviewing for?
a. A college job
b. A banking job
c. A technology job
d. A receptionist job
2. What is one thing Hama does to get ready?
a. He talks to his dad
b. He calls Mr. Sagged
c. He eats breakfast
d. He cuts his fingernails
3. What time is Hama’s interview?
a. 9:30
b. 9:45
c. 10:00
d. 10:15
4. What does it mean to be confident?
a. To be early
b. To be sure
c. To be worried
d. To be nervous
5. Why might Hama be nervous?
a. He didn’t do well in school
b. He isn’t a very good speaker he doesn’t like to wear suits
c. He isn’t very good speaker
d. Many others are interviewing for the same job
6. What is competition?
a. When people get ready to go out
b. When people go for a job interview
c. When people feel they aren’t good enough
d. When many people are going after the same thing
7. Why is it good that Hama gets to his interview early?
a. It gives Hama time to think
b. It helps Hama speak clearly
c. Mr. Sagged likes people to be clearly
d. The receptionist asks him to be there early
8. What has Hama learned to do in an interview?
a. Be positive
b. Tell good jokes
c. Talks about college
d. Look people in the eye
9. Why might Hama be positive about getting this job?
a. The economy is bad
b. He did well in school
c. Hama’s dad lost his job
d. He knows Mr. sagged well
Follow up
· Answer the question listed below:
Jamal licked the final square, posted it at the top corner of the envelope and dropped it in the large blue box. He hoped it would get there in time. Nobody likes a late birthday message.
Q. What is Jamal doing?
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