Critical thinking assignment
How is this assignment related to the course learning outcomes?
Through this assignment, you will be assessed on your critical thinking skills and writing skills.
Scenario 1
Imagine that someone you are mentoring shares with you something along the lines of:
“My birthday is coming up, and I’m feeling really home sick. I wish I could be with my family and friends, and enjoy food together like we used to.”
Your mentee has reminded you of 2 articles you recently read: Scacchi Koul’s 2016 personal essay for Buzzfeed, “There’s No Recipe for Growing Up,” and Neha Tadepalli’s 2020 article for CBC, “What I Learned by Learning My Family’s Recipes in the Most Trying of Times.”
Create an organized, coherent, and concise response to your mentee. Your response should have a distinct introduction, body, and conclusion. Your response should be between 400-500 words double spaced. In your introduction, you should have a clear and logical thesis/ main message. In your body, you should have relevant supporting points, logical reasoning, and appropriate examples to back up your points and overall main message. Do not forget to cite your sources of information and examples. Use the following 2 quotations (or other quotations from the 2 articles) to support your main message and supporting points:
· “When you emigrate, you end up the last person to touch a lot of your family history. Somewhere along the line, we’ll forget my mom’s maiden name. We’ll forget what her actual name was before she changed it when she moved. We’ll lose language and the way to make a candle from ghee and a cotton ball. I can’t pull all of this information out of her, and I can’t carry all of it after she’s gone, and I panic when I think about how impossible it feels to one day not need her. But at least I can try to cook.”
— From Scacchi Koul’s 2016 personal essay for Buzzfeed, “There’s No Recipe for Growing Up”
· “For me, my family’s recipes constitute an oral history, covering their personal journey from southern India to Iraq, Ireland and eventually rural and urban Canada. Our identities are not linked to them specifically, but they are a point of connection to our histories and communities. The importance of this was brought into sharper focus in recent weeks with increasing conversations around the co-opting of BIPOC food and traditions by white chefs, who have been accused of stripping away the history of dishes when presenting them to a white audience. Yet these recipes can’t truly exist apart from culture and history; they are a product of a people, a time and place. This is why the successful recreation of traditional dishes can be a tangible comfort for immigrants, especially in challenging times. Food is a way to transport and preserve our culture — a great stabilizer when it is needed most.”
— From Neha Tadepalli’s 2020 article for CBC, “What I Learned by Learning My Family’s Recipes in the Most Trying of Times”
Scenario 2
Imagine that someone you are mentoring shares with you something along the lines of:
“My cousin the other day was telling me how happy they finally are. I couldn’t help but feel jealous. I don’t think I’ve ever felt as happy as they feel. I think the thing that’s holding me back is that I don’t let myself ever be completely happy and carefree. There’s always a part of me that’s worried that something bad is going to happen.”
Your mentee has reminded you of 2 articles you recently read: Brock Bastian and Ashley Humphrey’s 2021 article for The Conversation, “How to Avoid ‘Toxic Positivity’ and Take the Less Direct Route to Happiness”, and Scott Barry Kaufman’s 2020 article for The Atlantic, “The Opposite of Toxic Positivity.”
Create an organized, coherent, and concise response to your mentee. Your response should have a distinct introduction, body, and conclusion. Your response should be between 400-500 words double spaced. In your introduction, you should have a clear and logical thesis/ main message. In your body, you should have relevant supporting points, logical reasoning, and appropriate examples to back up your points and overall main message. Do not forget to cite your sources of information and examples. Use the following 2 quotations (or other quotations from the 2 articles) to support your main message and supporting points:
· “People who expected to feel happy (scoring high on valuing happiness), also tended to see their negative emotional states as a sign of failure in life and lacked acceptance of these emotional experiences. This discomfort with negative emotions partly explained why they had lower levels of well-being. On the other hand, people who pursued happiness indirectly (scoring high on prioritising positivity), did not see their negative emotional states this way. They were more accepting of low feelings and did not see them as a sign they were failing in life. What this shows is when people believe they need to maintain high levels of positivity or happiness all the time to make their lives worthwhile, or to be valued by others, they react poorly to their negative emotions. They struggle with these feelings or try to avoid them, rather than accept them as a normal part of life. Pursuing happiness indirectly does not lead to this same reaction. Feeling down or stressed is not inconsistent with finding happiness.
— From Brock Bastian and Ashley Humphrey’s 2021 article for The Conversation, “How to Avoid ‘Toxic Positivity’ and Take the Less Direct Route to Happiness”
· ” The antidote to toxic positivity is “tragic optimism,” a phrase coined by the existential-humanistic psychologist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl. Tragic optimism involves the search for meaning amid the inevitable tragedies of human existence, something far more practical and realistic during these trying times. Researchers who study “post-traumatic growth” have found that people can grow in many ways from difficult times—including having a greater appreciation of one’s life and relationships, as well as increased compassion, altruism, purpose, utilization of personal strengths, spiritual development, and creativity. Importantly, it’s not the traumatic event itself that leads to growth (no one is thankful for COVID-19), but rather how the event is processed, the changes in worldview that result from the event, and the active search for meaning that people undertake during and after it.”
— From Scott Barry Kaufman’s 2020 article for The Atlantic, “The Opposite of Toxic Positivity”
Step-by-Step Instructions:
Step 1. Make sure that you understand what has been said by the person you are going to respond to. In your own words, paraphrase what the person has said.
Step 2. Use critical reading strategies to accurately comprehend the 2 articles you have been reminded of.
Step 3. Use the following “Critical Thinking Brainstorming Questions” to think critically about what the person has shared and what you want to share with them in your response:
Critical Thinking Brainstorming Questions:
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What are your thoughts and/ or feelings on what the person has shared? Can you relate or empathize with the other person? Are you frustrated, angry, annoyed, or disturbed by what the person has said? Why or why not?
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What are other points of view that the person you are responding to might not be considering?
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What would the person you are responding to gain or lose from considering these other points of view? What are the implications for them and our community more generally?
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How do the articles you read relate to what the person has shared?
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Why should the person you are responding to consider what these 2 articles (specifically the 2 quotations above) have to say? What are the implications for them and our community more generally?
Step 4. Use this outline to organize your ideas into a coherent and logical response.
Step 5. Create a rough draft of your response.
Step 6. Use editing and revision strategies learned in class to polish up your response.
Step 7. Submit the final version of your response on Blackboard as a Word document.
