Critical Thinking Assignment: Analysis of Readings and Course Content

Reading Analysis: Mental Health Issues and Solutions

This assignment asks that you think critically about the content (posted on SLATE) and readings that we have completed of the course. The assignment requires that you answer three questions (each in paragraph form)

The assignment will be graded as follows using the rubric (marking guide) posted on SLATE.

1. Reading Analysis (question 1) = 6 marks

2. Course/Content  Connections (question 2) = 6 marks

3. Personal Connections (question 3) = 5 marks

4. Discussion Participation (question 4) = 5 marks

5. Appropriate use of examples and APA citations = 4 marks

6. Grammar, Style and Organization = 4 marks

Readings :

-“Mad Woman’s Lament” blog 
-“Hyperbole and a half” blog  
-Article “A Memoir is not a Status Update,” Shapiro (2014)

-Banks: “My Mother’s Memoirs, My Father’s Lies”
-Gates: “What’s in a Name?”
-Gregory: “Shame”
-Dillard: “So This Was Adolescence”

1.Reading Analysis: 
a.What are the mental health issues addressed in the “Hyperbole” and “Mad Woman’s Lament” blogs? What solutions are proposed by both? 

b.What is Shapiro message his own experience writing a memoir and his parent’s accident? How does he explain writing from a distance? 

2.Connections To Course Content: 
a.What does Shapiro mean when he writes, “We live in a time in which little is concealed, and that pressure valve the one that every writer is intimate with rarely has a chance to fill and fill to the point of explosion.” Connect your observations about the nature of the memoir to online Blogs we looked at in the course or some online memoir-like content from your own experience.  

b.Explain the nature of false memory or questionable truth as it is presented in two (2) of the readings (Banks, Gates, Gregory, Dillard). Use at least one specific example from each of your readings. 

3.Personal Connections: 
a.If you had the opportunity and inclination to write a memoir – which mode (digital or written) would you select? Why?  Be sure you are connecting to Slate notes.  Would you make it written or visual? Why? (Short explanation 3 to 5 sentences). Use course readings to support your answers. 

b.Write a paragraph / or make it visual  (150 to 200 words max) describing a single personal childhood experience of triumph or fear that connects to one of the Week 3/4 readings – identify the reading.  Highlight the FACTS in yellow and add setting, character, event descriptions
and dialogue that might be questionable. 

Discussion Participation (required)  

In addition to the responses to the 3 questions above, you must also engage in the Discussion Boards in SLATE. Refer back to the Content pages for Weeks 1 and 2 to find the Discussion questions that you must reply to. When writing your answers, make sure that you follow the guidelines posted in the GenEd Online Orientation (posted in our SLATE section). 

Your Journal Responses should be critical in nature and contain the following:

1. Analysis of the course reading(s)
2. Specific examples from reading(s) to support ideas
3. Link to greater meaning/idea/message/big picture/
4. Connections to course themes and concepts
5. Insights/personal impact/self-reflection (what I’ve learned from reading this text)