Mind Mirror Projects: A Tool for Integrating critical Thinking into the English

Language Classroom

Identifying a point of view can be a complex task in any language. By

analyzing what characters say, think, and do throughout a story, readers can observe
how points of view tend to change over time. Easier said than done, this ability to
climb inside the mind of a character can help students as they analyze personalities
found in literature, history, and the world around them.
In an English as a second language class for adults, I observed that my
students had difficulty reading between the lines of a short story to analyze a
character’s point of view. In response, I used a mind mirror project to help students
synthesize key story elements to create a visual representation of the character’s
perspective. My goal was to lead students to develop critical thinking skills.
Towards this end, student feedback suggested that mind mirror projects can help
students become self-aware, confident, and autonomous critical thinkers.
This article will outline the steps used to facilitate a mind mirror project that
analyzed characters from the short story, “The Lottery” (Jackson 1982).
Additionally, this article will describe reflective activities that enabled students to
monitor and improve critical thinking skills throughout the project and will conclude
by offering insights for teachers interested in using mind mirror projects in their
classrooms.

Mind mirrors as teaching tools

In guidelines provided by Delli Carpini (2006), students create a mind mirror

by analyzing a poem and identifying the following key elements that represent the
speaker’s point of view:
• two quotes
• two original statements
• two images
• two symbols
Students work in groups to create a poster that illustrates the key elements on
an outline of the speaker’s head. Groups then present their posters to the class.
The project described in this article builds on Delli Carpini’s work.

Improving critical thinking skills

Mind mirror activities enable language teachers to integrate target language
objectives with the development of critical thinking skills. According to Facione
(2007), critical thinking is defined in terms of six cognitive skills: interpretation,
analysis, evaluation, inference, explanation, and self-regulation. Although mind
mirrors can enable learners to develop all of these cognitive skills, students used
interpretation, inference, and self-regulation skills most. Thus, these skills are
discussed in greater detail below.

1. Interpretation skill.Facione (2007) defines interpretation as comprehend ing

and expressing meaning based on experiences, situations, data, and beliefs. The
interpretation skill is comprised of two sub-skills: categorization, used when
students locate appropriate key elements from the story and apply them to the ind
mirror poster; and clarifying meaning, demonstrated when students review and
discuss the connection between key elements and character identity.

2. Inference skill. Inference means considering relevant information and

determining the consequences resulting from data, statements, beliefs, or other
forms of representation (Facione 2007). As a sub-skill of inference, students had
to draw a conclusion to identify characters based on elements exhibited on posters.

3. Self-regulation skill. The self-regulation skill is perhaps the most remark

able critical thinking skill because it enables critical thinkers to improve their own
thinking. Self-regulation occurs when we self-consciously monitor and evaluate our
own work with a view toward questioning, confirming, or correcting either our
reasoning or results (Facione 2007). Self examination and self correction are two
sub skills of self-regulation. Students used self examination to remind themselves
that viewers should be able to see a clear and obvious connection between the
character and corresponding mind mirror elements. As a result, students used self-
correction skills to revise mind mirror elements to better reflect the character
represented. Additionally, students used self-examination
skills by reflecting on the connection between tasks and critical thinking skills used
throughout the project (Appendix 1).

Facilitating a mind mirror project

Selecting an appropriate text is the first requirement for a successful mind

mirror
project. For the project discussed here, the teacher chose “The Lottery” because:
• themes clearly supported the overall unit focus on traditions.
• vocabulary and grammatical structures were appropriate for the students in the
class.
Day 1: Preparing students for a mind mirror project
Before beginning the mind mirror project, the teacher facilitated pre-reading
activities to familiarize students with key themes and vocabulary from the story. In
order to bridge major themes from “The Lottery” to students’ prior knowledge and
experience, students completed a brief survey about the popularity and ffects of
lotteries in their community.
After reviewing the survey responses as a class, students worked in groups
and used context clues to define key vocabulary in the
story.
After processing the vocabulary activity, students read “The Lottery” for the
first time and completed discussion questions for homework.

Day 2: Providing clear instructions, examples, and support

After reviewing the homework questions in class, the teacher distributed the
Mind Mirror Worksheet (Appendix 2). In order to supplement the written
instructions, the teacher displayed a sample mind mirror of someone that all students
could identify himself. The poster consisted of the following items:
• two symbols a book and a stack of homework papers
• two background images students working in groups and a classroom
• two adjectives that describe the person’s feelings or actions dedicated
and energetic
• two sentences in the character’s own words:
1) “I don’t expect students to be perfect, but I expect students to improve.”
2)“You can do it.”
• two original statements that describe how the reader feels about the character:
1) “I think that this character enjoys his job.”
2) “Even though this character is sometimes strict, I think that he cares about the
students.”
The students were immediately able to see that the mind mirror was about
the teacher. While identifying various poster symbols and phrases, one student said
“I know it’s the teacher because he always says that he expects students to
improve.” Another student shared that she knew it was the teacher because he is
dedicated and he lets students work in groups. Once the class identified and
discussed the parts of the example mind mirror, the teacher orally emphasized that:
• When choosing and applying mind mirror items, remember that classmates
should be able to identify your character without seeing a name.
• Mind mirrors are not comic strips. Instead of creating separate pictures, work as a
team to provide one outline of your character’s head.
• Students should not view the mind mirror project as an art contest. Instead, the
poster is a product of creativity and teamwork. When creating the poster, students
should feel free to use their symbols and text to make facial features like eyes, lips,
nose, ears, and hair.
After the teacher reviewed the instructions for creating a mind mirror, each
student pulled the name of a character from a hat. (Characters were from “The
Lottery,” and each character’s name was written on more than one piece of paper so
that there were enough characters for each student in the class to draw one.) The
teacher reminded students not to share their character names with classmates. This
technique encouraged students to work individually before sharing their findings
with classmates who had picked the same character.
For the remainder of the class, the teacher circulated around the room to
support students as they read “The Lottery” for a second time to fill in the Mind
Mirror Worksheet (Appendix 2) with information about the character they had
picked. Students completed the mind mirror worksheet individually for homework.

Day 3: Sharing, reviewing, and applying information

The teacher began class by asking students to sit with classmates who had
also picked their character. Group members reviewed their homework and decided
on which elements from their worksheets they would use to create one group mind
mirror poster for their character.
Following DelliCarpini (2006), the teacher provided a marker of a different
color to each student in the group. The teacher told students to use only their color to
illustrate their items and to sign their names on the poster. In
addition to enabling the teacher to view each student’s work, this color coded
method promoted equal participation and accountability among all group members.

Day 4: Poster presentations

Groups posted their work on the wall, and everyone walked around the room
discussing and identifying poster characters. Additionally, students completed
feedback cards (Appendix 3) and placed them in envelopes attached to the posters.
While observing the activity, the teacher could see that students
were comfortable, confident, and continuously engaged. For instance, students who
were normally quiet in front of the entire class were much more talkative as they
gathered around the posters in small groups.
After reviewing poster feedback cards, each group member described his or
her poster contribution in front of the class, and the teacher used a rubric (Appendix
4) to assess students’ grammar, fluidity, and reasons for choosing specific elements.

Day 5: Identifying thinking skills

Students used a worksheet (Appendix 1) to reflect on and discuss thinking
processes used throughout the project. Making connections between critical thinking
skills and project tasks, one student said that she used categorization skills when
classifying mind mirror elements that best described her character. Another student
pointed out that groups practiced inference skills when they used the symbols,
background images, and quotations to figure out which characters were represented
on the posters. Several students shared that they used self examination skills when
checking their illustration to see if others would be able to identify their character.
Providing feedback about the project, all of the students commented that
discussing the cognitive processes used in the mind mirror project made them feel
more confident as critical thinkers. In many instances, students expressed that they
had used critical thinking skills in the past but had not been aware that
they had. After identifying the connections between project tasks and thinking skills,
students shared that they felt better prepared to monitor and improve their critical
thinking skills.

Points for teachers to consider

Insights gained from conducting this mind mirror project can help teachers
design their own projects. Some suggestions are discussed below.

Managing time
This mind mirror project took five different class sessions that lasted ninety minutes
each. Selecting an appropriate text and preparing students for the project was critical
for time management. Facilitating pre-reading activities helped familiarize students
with themes and key vocabulary needed for timely completion of mind mirror tasks.
Instead of having students complete the mind mirror worksheet for homework,
teachers may choose to provide more class time so students can complete the
worksheet in pairs with teacher support. additionally, setting clear deadlines for each
part of the project helped the class to remain on schedule.

Keeping students on task

Mind mirror projects require a great deal of focus and teamwork. By
Requiring each group member to make his or her contributions in a distinct color,
the teacher was able to monitor both individual contributions and group teamwork.
Additionally, teachers are encouraged to provide clear directions, models, regular
feedback, and opportunities for collaboration throughout the project.

Building awareness of critical thinking skills

By providing opportunities for students to reflect upon and discuss the
thinking processes used to complete tasks, teachers help students to become self-
aware, confident, and autonomous learners. Appendix 1 contains an activity that
helped students identify and discuss thinking skills used to complete this project.
Additionally, Appendix 4 provides a rubric that the teacher and students can use to
assess performance in selected skills areas.

Adapting mind mirror projects across content area

Although this mind mirror project analyzed characters from a short story,
teachers can adapt this framework, following the steps outlined in this article, to
encourage their students to analyze the experiences and perspectives of family
members, friends, athletes, film characters, musicians, historical people, ethnic
groups, video game characters, political leaders, and more.

Conclusion
The mind mirror project described in this article offered students a variety of
opportunities to demonstrate their critical thinking skills. Calling to mind the
popular saying that “You can’t judge a book by its cover,” this project showed
students how to read between the lines in order to describe a character’s point of
view in terms of what that character says, thinks, and does throughout a story.
Moreover, by increasing student confidence, self-awareness, and autonomy,
this project prepared students to monitor and improve their critical thinking skills in
future academic tasks. On a larger scale, as students take these lessons outside of the
classroom, mind mirror projects can prepare them to better identify and understand
the many points of view that exist in the world around them.

References

DelliCarpini, M. 2006. Scaffolding and differentiating instruction in mixed ability

ESL classes using a round robin activity. The Internet TESL Journal, 12 (3), March
2006.

Facione, P. A. 2007. Critical thinking: What it is and why it counts. Millbrae, CA:
California Academic Press.
www.insightassessment.com/pdf_files/what&why2007.pdf

Jackson, S. 1982. The lottery and other stories, 291–301. New York: Farrar, Straus
and Giroux.

Ma t t h e w M. tully is a trainer of trainers at the American Center in Rangoon,

Burma, where he taught English for Academic Purposes as an English Language
Fellow. Previously, he taught ESL in New York City and taught EFL as a Peace
Corps Volunteer in Cameroon. He earned his MA TESOL from Teachers College,
Columbia University.

Identifying Thinking Skills

By using this table (adapted from Facione 2007), students analyzed the connection
between tasks and critical thinking skills used throughout the mind mirror project.
Below are sample directions:
• Circle one activity in the left column that you did during the project.
• Match your activity with an item used or created during the project.
• Discuss your answers with a partner. Provide examples.
 Thinking Skills Items Used or Notes / Examples
Activities Created
Categorization Character’s Identity
Classify Direct Quotation
Sort Symbols
Group
Images
Clarifying Meaning
Adjectives
Straighten Out
Make Plain Body Language
Clear Up Illustration
Inference Text
Figure Out Point of View
Assume Results
Derive Causes
Self-Examination
My Thinking
Question
Monitor My Performance
Check Poster
Self-Correction Worksheet Answers
Improve
Revise
Edit