Critical Thinking practice with any text By Will Rixon from Cambridge University Press You may well have some techniques that work with multiple texts already, but here are some ways of expanding on various texts, depending on its type, in a nice, neat little cheat sheet:
Post-Reading
Pre-Reading
SUBJECTIVE/OPINION What’s the writer’s opinion, based on the title alone/ at a glance? What is your evidence for that?
OBJECTIVE/FACTUAL
FICTIONAL
PERSONAL
What do you know about the topic already?
Using the title, share ideas about what the story might be about.
What type of communication is it? How do you know?
Write a story of your own based on the final paragraph/title/middle paragraph.
What might it be about, only looking at the punctuation? Layout? Sender/receiver’s name?
Add another chapter to the beginning, middle or end of the story.
Respond as if the writer is your mother/teacher/best friend.
Write an alternative ending.
Analyse the structure of the letter/email/ message and discuss why they used that structure, or how it might be improved.
Research the topic online in advance (for homework).
What is your opinion on the subject?
Write an opposing/ supporting response to the article. Identify X number of arguments and their examples.
Check the facts online. Design your own quiz based on the information in the text. Expand on the text with more information.
Write a review.
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