Improving our Critical Thinking Skills for Analyzing Culture

Posted on December 12, 2013 by Bill Sullivan


To support how well we picked up on Wharton’s use of “hieroglyphics” motif in The Age of Innocence, I found this video last night on Twitter. I think this will help us appreciate even more the nuances of double standards that Newland, Ellen, and May navigate the 1870s/80s of New York Society. Though I hesitate a little to promote this video because it is a commercial, enjoy training your critical thinking skills to demystify double standards in our culture so that you may analyze them more effectively in Wharton’s world. Let’s also enjoy how she deftly uses them to develop character, situation, and plot.

Though I doubt that I will harvest any leads for more content on #whipit, I do appreciate the discovery from Jim Burke. Back in 2000, I bought and read his book, The English Teacher’s Companion. Now I can follow his microblogs on Twitter.

About Bill Sullivan

I am an English teacher working with great students at Suffield Academy. I also teach seniors in various project-based learning environments. Some of the #PBL topics included global issues, such as Pandemics, Climate Change, and Water; more recently I have asked students to research and identify topics important to our school community and their generation. We curate these topics with a #StudentCenteredPBL. For the past eleven years, I also created a driving question for a class to research a local history mystery and present their findings in a community program partnering with our local historical society. These topics encompass researching the lives of enslaved individuals who were contributors to the foundation of our community.
This entry was posted in American Literary Studies, AP Mindset, Disposition of a Critical Thinker, Feminism, Twitter and tagged . Bookmark the permalink.

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