Do You See What I See?

Learning About Thinking
Observation means using the senses to gather information. Not all observations are reliable or accurate. Various obstacles may prevent people from making reliable observations.
A conclusion is a main idea formed from judgements made about stated facts and judgements made about observations. If a conclusion is not based at least partly on reliable observations, the conclusion may not be valid.
For example, different people watching the same basketball player miss a shot might observe different things and draw different conclusions.
The player's boyfriend or girlfriend might detect a distracted look on the player's face and think the player missed the shot because f being in love. The player's mother might have observed what the player ate for dinner and conclude that it wasn't enough nourishment. The player's coach might notice on the roster that the player had skipped the last practice and conclude the player hadn't practiced enough.
Each person watching the same event might observe something different and draw a different conclusion from the observation.

Thinking About the Novel
From your own observations of Animal Farm, you can decide whether accurate conclusions have been drawn.
A. "The pigs did no actually work, but directed ad supervised the others. With their superior knowledge it was natural that they should assume the leadership."
What is the conclusion?
What observation is the conclusion based on?
Is the conclusion accurate?
Why or why not?


2. "The reading and writing classes however, were a great success. By the autumn, almost every animal on the farm was literate in some degree."
What is the conclusion?
What observation is the conclusion based on?
Is the conclusion accurate?
Why or why not?


Do You See What I See?
B. In Chapter 4, the narrator relates many rumors that people outside of Animal Farm have heard about life at the farm, but none of these rumors is based n reliable observation. Think of an observation a visitor from the outside might make upon visiting Animal Farm. Then draw a conclusion from this observation.

Observation:

Conclusion:



Writing About the Novel
Using your own reliable observations about Chapters 3 and 4 of Animal Farm, conclude whether things are or are not going well at Animal Farm. Then write a paragraph that cites your observations and persuades a reader that your conclusion is valid.