Thinking Literature: Using Higher Order Thinking Skillsby Jeff Lilly

Following the successfulThinking Shakespeare Using Higher Order Thinking Skillsseries, the author Jeff Lilly brings the Blooms Taxonomy approach to great works of literaturet in this series.

John Steinbecks works, although acknowledged to be brilliant, were often surrounded by controversy and some were even banned by schools overseas who believed his work to be obscene and misrepresentational. However, Steinbecks works are featured regularly in international curricula.

The Thinking Literature series is designed as a resource to help students approach novels in a structured and logical manner. Using Blooms Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, students are presented with a sequence of exercises and activities which begin with events and characters and progressively become more demanding. Teachers may pull pages and ideas from the series to complement their own programmes. The activities may be used for individual, home, group or whole-of-class work. Because the sections are broadly similar throughout the series, similar lines of enquiry may be embarked upon across several novels by an author, or even used to make comparisons with other writers. Broadly, students will begin by remembering details and end by developing and expressing their own ideas. The structure of the series also means that there is plenty of work for younger readers, as well as more advanced students. Never far away is the intention to foster a sense of enjoyment in Steinbecks work and appreciation of his genius.

The four books in this Series are are all based on the works of John Steinbeck and are:

• Of Mice and Men
• Catcher in the Rye
• The Grapes of Wrath
• The Pearl

About the author:

Jeff majored in English and history and is a qualified teacher with some thirty years of experience at primary, secondary and tertiary levels. He is the author of a childrens novel, has edited a variety of educational texts and now works as a feature writer for a major newspaper. As an alternative to a random approach he sees Blooms Revised Taxonomy as being extremely useful in structuring activities and questions in texts, so that there is a natural and logical progression therefore a better and more satisfying understanding.

[Extent: 4 Photocopiable Resource Books approximately 60 Pages per book]

[Author: Jeff Lilly]

[Age Suitability: 12+]

[Published: 2010]

[CODE: UF-669]