Dr. Johnson created a modified version of the WSU rubric to assess student papers in her ENG/LAS 254, Latino/a Literature and the Americas, course.  The students bring to the course a wide variety of skills and experiences and for many it is their first intellectual exploration of a culture other than their own.  She wants the students to “think critically not only aobut the literary texts but about dominant cultural stereotypes, prejudices, and assumptions about U.S. Lation/as and U.S. Latino/a literature and culture.”  She found that the process of developing the rubric and discussing critical thinking with her learning community caused her to alter teaching practices and assignment design in order to teach critical thinking as a skill.  She used the rubric to assess three papers.  After the first paper, she had a general class discussion on critical thinking and saw some improvement in the rubric scores on the second paper.  Prior to the third paper, she “led a more directed discussion of critical thinking, giving both advice about and examples of the patterns and connections that often characterize critical discourse in literary and cultural study.”  Significant improvements in critical thinking were seen on the third paper.

Assignment

Johnson Assignment

Rubric

Johnson Rubric