Clued in to Politics Author:Christine Barbour, Matthew J. Streb Instructors frequently worry that their students are simply parroting lines from the previous nights reading, and not thinking critically about important topics. Nowhere is this more important than for students just learning the ins and outs of American government. So how do you get students to move beyond merely describing an authors point of v... more »iew? How do you get them to dig deeper, to actually uncover evidence and evaluate conclusions? The answer is to model critical thinking and close reading.
Barbour and Streb have created an effective and simple device that pushes students to actively engage with readings and tease out each writers argument. Through a series of probing questions, students are trainedsystematicallyto read through a selection and: