When critical thinking met English literature - Belinda Hakes

This book gives teachers of English Literature an engaging new way into texts, using the skills and approaches of A level Critical Thinking. It also provides teachers of Critical Thinking with useful and stimulating resources with which to practise the skills required at A level. It will also help teachers looking for ways to engage students not drawn to literature, and any teacher trying to improve the analytical skills of their English students. Topics Include- Critical Thinking does poetry - with a little help from John Donne, Andrew Marvell and Philip Larkin - Much Ado About...the credibility of evidence- Hamlet, Cathy and Catherine try to resolve dilemmas; - Isabella, Angelo and Iago compete for the highest marks in Critical Thinking- What's the difference between a metaphor and a lie?- First person narration: who can we trust? Based on practical experience, this book explores the interface between two apparently polarised subjects, one analytical and objective, the other traditionally in the aesthetic and affective domain; one eschewing ambiguity, the other celebrating it. The progeny of this unlikely coupling provides teachers and students of each subject with a stimulating, exciting and unifying way of enhancing their learning.

Contents: Introduction; Preface - Critical Thinking and English Literature; 1. Othello; 2. Measure for Measure; 3. Much Ado About Nothing; 4. Credibility and the First Person Narrator; 5. Waiting for Godot; 6. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead; 7. Critical Thinking and Poetry; 8. The Resolution of Dilemmas; 9. Words and Meaning; 10. Critical Thinking and Other Texts; 11. Introducing Critical Thinking to an English Literature Class; 12. Using Critical Thinking Approaches to (post 16) GCSE English; Appendix; Index; Index of texts.