Introduction

This chapter analyzes the particular ways the critical thinking approach develops in NewsHour Extra, and it places particular emphasis on the suggested language activities described in the lesson plans about the Iraq War. Harris and Hodges define critical thinking as the process of making judgments in reading by "evaluating relevancy and adequacy of what is read". Martin criticizes critical thinking for its exclusive and reductive nature, and argues that it is a highly normative and "logistic" model that claims objectivity and rationality. A basic element of the critical analysis in NewsHour Extra materials is "balanced argumentation", which requires that the same topic be treated from different viewpoints. The curriculum students experience is based on a critical thinking approach that deals with the development of rational and argumentative skills. Discursive pedagogic identities examine the effects of the informal curriculum on the "imagined pedagogic identity" and the future lives of the students.