Critical Reading Critical Thinking Focusing on Contemporary Issues

            Dr. Gretchen Starks-Martin is a professor emerita at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota and a part-time professor of reading/writing at the College of St. Benedict in Collegeville, MN and online at Bethel University in Nashville, TN.  She has taught reading in middle school in Michigan before teaching reading at the technical college, community college, and university levels in Minnesota and New York.  She was involved in a NY State Learning Disabilities Teacher Training Grant and in National Institute for Literacy Learning Disabilities training. She is a certified online evaluator for Quality Matters, which certifies online courses at the college level. She has co-authored a textbook, “Critical Reading, Critical Thinking: Focusing on Contemporary Issues,” which is in its 4^th edition for Pearson Education. In 2009 she received a Fulbright Specialist Scholarship to South Africa, focusing on literacy. She has served on the Minnesota State College and University Committee on Assessment of College Readiness and on a team evaluating “First Generation Student Programs” for the Institute of Higher Education Policy in Washington, D.C.  Currently she is a QEP Evaluator for the Southern Commission on Colleges and conducts internal and external reviews and training workshops in reading and writing.

Julie Dziewisz  

Teacher, Reading Consultant, Adjunct instructor in Masters Reading program, Director of Language Arts/Compensatory Education, Assistant Superintendent, Independent Educational Consultant, Assistant Professor

Julie has presented at several conferences and seminars in the field of reading, educational administration, library media, technology and TESOL.

She has been an active member in several local, state, and national organizations in the field of reading, educational administration, library, ESOL, technology and curriculum instruction.

Julie was the recipient of the NYS TESOL James Lydon Distinguished Service Award at the 2011 NYS TESOL annual conference, for her 10 year service as a NYS TESOL Executive Board Member and Idiom Editor.

Her work in northern New York State earned her special awards and recognition for programs-she supervised in the late ‘90s:

·   She was presented the Beatrice E. Griggs Elementary Administrator Award –presented at New York State School Library Media Section Annual Conference

·   District recognition in national publication for exemplary practices and policies in technology- “Making Technology Happen”

·   State and National recognition of ESOL program as exemplary program through National Research Center on English Language Learning and Achievement, University at Albany

Every chapter begins with To Think About! and ends with Think Again! And Looking Back…Looking Forward features.  Every chapter includes two to four Mastery Tests.

PART ONE B A C K T O B A S I C S

CHAPTER 1 Understanding Vocabulary: A Review

The Power of Words

Using Context Clues

Using Word Parts: Roots, Prefixes, Suffixes

Recognizing Word Denotation and Connotation

Using a Glossary

Using the Dictionary

Learning and Reviewing Vocabulary Words

WSI: Web Site Investigation: Critical Reading

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

CHAPTER 2 Understanding What You Read: A Review

Distinguishing Topics, Main Ideas, Major Details, and Minor Details

Recognizing Patterns of Organization

Uncovering the Central Message of a Longer Selection

Summarizing and Paraphrasing

WSI: Web Site Investigation: Critical Reading

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation: The Fair Evangeline

CHAPTER 3 Getting the Most Out of Your Textbooks: A Review

Overviewing Your Textbooks

Previewing Textbook Chapters

Reading a Textbook Chapter Critically: Questions and Answers

Textbook Reading Strategies: SQ4R, Concept Mapping, and KWL

WSI: Web Site Investigation: Critical Reading

LSI: Listening Springboard Inquiry

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation: Witness the Cat

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson

PART TWO D E A L I N G W I T H C O M P L E X I T Y

CHAPTER 4 Critical Thinking and Contemporary Issues

Critical Thinking Versus Random Thinking

Benefits and Uses of Critical Thinking

Characteristics of Critical Thinking

Critical Listening

What Is a Contemporary Issue?

Eye on Vocabulary

WSI: Web Site Investigation: Critical Reading

LSI: Listening Springboard Inquiry: Listening Comprehension

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson

CHAPTER 5 Basic Problem Solving

Problem-Solving Exercise

What Is a Problem? 2

What Is a Solution?

How Do You Solve Problems?

Problem Solving and Critical Thinking

A Basic Method for Personal Problem Solving

Applying the Method to a Typical Problem Situation

Eye on Vocabulary

WSI: Web Site Investigation: Problem Solving

LSI: Listening Springboard Inquiry

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson

PART THREE C R I T I C A L R E A D I N G : E V A L U A T I N G  W H AT  Y O U R E A D

CHAPTER 6 Using Inference

Problem-Solving Exercise 2

What Is Critical Reading?

Drawing Inferences

Looking at the World with a Questioning Mind

Using Inferences with Contemporary Issues and Problem Solving

Eye on Vocabulary

WSI: Web Site Investigation: Critical Reading

LSI: Listening Springboard Inquiry: Listening Comprehension

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

CHAPTER 7 Distinguishing Between Facts and Opinions

Problem-Solving Exercise

What Is a Fact?

What Is an Opinion?

Distinguishing Between Facts and Opinions

Facts and Opinions in Combination

Relating Facts and Opinions to Problem Solving and Contemporary Issues

Eye on Vocabulary

WSI: Web Site Investigation: Fact and Opinion

LSI: Listening Springboard Inquiry: Listening Comprehension

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

CHAPTER 8 Recognizing Purpose and Tone

Problem-Solving Exercise

The Importance of Recognizing Purpose

Eye on Vocabulary

The Importance of Recognizing Tone

Eye on Vocabulary

WSI: Web Site Investigation: Critical Reading

LSI: Listening Springboard Inquiry: Listening Comprehension

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

CHAPTER 9 Looking at Advertisements and the Internet with a Critical Eye

Problem-Solving Exercise

Advertisements and Critical Thinking

Evaluating an Advertisement

WSI: Web Site Investigation: Advertisements

Evaluating E-Mails

Evaluating Web Sites

Eye on Vocabulary 427

WSI: Web Site Investigation: Critical Reading

LSI: Listening Springboard Inquiry: Listening Comprehension

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson

Solving One More Mystery

WSI: Web Site Investigation

Glossary

Credits

Index

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