Synopses & Reviews
The need for faculty to teach writing and thinking in every course across the curriculum has never been more crucial. Fortunately, there is a book that can guide your efforts and contribute to your and your students' success.From the Foreword by Maryellen Weimer
Teaching for critical thinking, especially in a way that fosters student engagement and active learning, is even more important today than when the first edition of this best-selling classic was published. In this thoroughly revised and updated edition, John Bean offers a practical guide for designing writing and critical thinking activities and incorporating them into courses across all disciplines in ways that stimulate inquiry, exploration, discussion, and debate.
In this second edition, Bean integrates recent pedagogical research, brings rhetorical theory to bear on writing in the disciplines, addresses quantitative and scientific literacy, advocates a new approach to the research paper, includes activities for online and blended learning environments, and offers new ideas for transformative assessment of student learning.
Praise for the Second Edition
"The first edition of Engaging Ideas quickly became the 'faculty development bible'; believe it or not, this new edition is even better. Refreshed by current research, new practical examples, and theoretically sound pedagogical principles, this is a book for teachers of all subjects, regardless of level or institution. Faculty who dip into these engaging ideas will find dozens of ways to promote their students' success as thinkers and writersand have fun doing so."Carol Rutz, director of the Writing Program, Carleton College
"The book is both conceptually rich and wonderfully practical. Bean gives straightforward and concise advice for thinking through what writing means for students in any field of study, and instructors will continue to find this a primary guide to serious thinking about learning and teaching."Dan Bernstein, director, Center for Teaching Excellence, University of Kansas
Synopsis
Learn to design interest-provoking writing and critical thinking activities and incorporate them into your courses in a way that encourages inquiry, exploration, discussion, and debate, with Engaging Ideas, a practical nuts-and-bolts guide for teachers from any discipline. Integrating critical thinking with writing-across-the-curriculum approaches, the book shows how teachers from any discipline can incorporate these activities into their courses. This edition features new material dealing with genre and discourse community theory, quantitative/scientific literacy, blended and online learning, and other current issues.
About the Author
John C. Bean is professor of English at Seattle University. He is the author of numerous scholarly articles and the coauthor of several leading composition and argument textbooks.
Table of Contents
Foreword by Maryellen Weimer vii
Preface to the Second Edition xi
About the Author xxi
1 Using Writing to Promote Thinking: A Busy Professor’s Guide to the Whole Book 1
PART 1 UNDERSTANDING CONNECTIONS BETWEEN THINKING AND WRITING
2 How Writing Is Related to Critical Thinking 17
3 Helping Writers Think Rhetorically 39
4 Using a Range of Genres to Extend Critical Thinking and Deepen Learning 52
5 Dealing with Issues of Grammar and Correctness 66
PART 2 DESIGNING PROBLEM-BASED ASSIGNMENTS
6 Formal Writing Assignments 89
7 Informal, Exploratory Writing Activities 120
PART 3 COACHING STUDENTS AS LEARNERS, THINKERS, AND WRITERS
8 Designing Tasks to Promote Active Thinking and Learning 149
9 Helping Students Read Difficult Texts 161
10 Using Small Groups to Coach Thinking and Teach Disciplinary Argument 183
11 Bringing More Critical Thinking into Lectures and Discussions 202
12 Enhancing Learning and Critical Thinking in Essay Exams 211
13 Designing and Sequencing Assignments to Teach Undergraduate Research 224
PART 4 READING, COMMENTING ON, AND GRADING STUDENT WRITING
14 Using Rubrics to Develop and Apply Grading Criteria 267
15 Coaching the Writing Process and Handling the Paper Load 290
16 Writing Comments on Students’ Papers 317
References 337
Index 353