Saturday, July 30, 2016

The Six Stages of Critical Thinking According to my Own Understanding



            As I mentioned in my last post, I had to read this article  for an assignment. The students were asked to summarize said article and place ourselves into one or more of the six stages and share reasons why.  This is what I came up with:

                "For this assignment, I would like to summarize the six stages of critical thinking as explained by Richard Paul and Linda Elder.   To simplify the understanding of my own mind, I will touch on just a few traits of each of the six stages of Critical Thinking. For the first stage I use some examples of characters that I think fall into that stage.  The rest of the stages I will compare to motherhood as an example.
                "The first stage is called an Unreflective Thinker.  Some of the traits of the unreflective are saying things without even thinking about them.  For this I would use the example of Rose Nylan from the television show The Golden Girls. Rose often tries to relate stories that come off as irrelevant.  Often she is treated like a ditz but does not even realize that the other three are often having a laugh at her expense.  I also believe that many hotheads and bullies fall into this category.  They act before they think.  An example of this would be Yosemite Sam from Looney Toons or the character of Biff Tanner from Back to the Future.
                "A challenged thinker becomes aware of flaws in his or her thinking but doesn't quite know what to do with it.  Children don't come with instruction manuals.  Each one is different.  A mother has to figure that out.  Putting Gary in time out may be more effective on him than with Steven - who doesn't seem to have a problem with sitting in the corner with his face against the wall.  The mother has to figure out what discipline method will work on Steven.
                "A beginning thinker recognizes flaws and becomes aware of a need for development.  The mother may go through several methods of discipline before she learns that if she will just compliment Steven on everything that he does right, she has won him over.  Steven continues to soar after each compliment.  Unfortunately, it only works on Steven.  It doesn't work on Gary.
                "A practicing thinker is one who has formed habits or is starting to form habits.  A practicing thinker has intellectual humility. I think many mother's possess this kind of thinking.  They have to.  She has one method of discipline that works for one child and another for a different child.  Oh, but then Angel comes along.  Mom has taken steps with both Gary and Steven and is learning with each of them.  She knows how to get on each of their levels - not just to discipline but to communicate and to teach.
                "An advanced thinker is one who has developed good habits and is knows that she can make improvements. Mom has taken the time to teach their habits to all of her children.  Gary and Steven have become teens and Angel has two more siblings.  Mom is skilled at cleaning house as well as her five children.  She has taught the older ones to assist with chores and one another. 
                "The accomplished thinker is one who strives to improve. She knows her strengths and weaknesses. She  includes each of her family members and listens to their opinions and gives options and will come up with a variety to help with point of view.
                "I have been in at least the first three stages.  I think I have mostly been in the challenged or beginning stage.  The way I think at church is far more advanced than how I think from day to day.  The  way I think as a student is not the same stage as my church or day-to-day thinking.
                "I think the stage that describes me the best as a student is the beginning thinker.  I have been a student before, but it has been a while. It think it takes me longer to process and understand information. I know I have flaws. I think I recognize most of them. I am not at all humble about accepting critique, but it is something that I would like to work on.  I would also like to be more observant and be aware of my surroundings rather than to always have the situations pointed out to me.  I would like to be a discoverer.
                "I know there are advantages to each stage.  I know real life people who fall into each of these categories.  I think a good critical thinker values the input and opinions of others, but will still weighs the odds before finding a satisfactory end result.  The critical thinker is concerned about team work and communication.  "A critical thinker will formulate a question, gather information, apply information, consider implications and explore other points of view" (Agoos, S. 2016).
                "It is my desire to set some goals: 1) Accept constructive criticism that I may change my flaws and improve upon my critical thinking.  2) I can train myself to become more observant that I may better analyze a given situation.  I can accomplish these long-term goals by asking more questions and form habits by being with more observant people. 
                "For the most part, I think that all people tend  to go through at least four of the stages.  Often we are going through two or three stages at the same time - as I mentioned with church and school and just day-to-day.   Before I complete my bachelor's for accounting, it is my desire to have achieved at least one of these goals. I will have moved from one stage to another and continue throughout each stage"
References

Paul, R. Elder, L. (2007, July 23). The Critical Thinking Community. Retrieved from Critical        Thinking in Every Domain of Knowledge and Belief:    http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/critical-thinking-in-every-domain-of-knowledge-     and-belief/698
 TEDEducation. "5 Tips to Improve Your Critical Thinking - Samantha Agoos."YouTube.      YouTube, 15 Mar. 2016. Web. 27 July 2016

          Our topic for this week's discussion has to do with emotions.  The research I have done thus far has given me an opportunity to work on the last goal  that I made, and that is better observance. 


          According to this emotional quiz, I do not do well at recognizing the emotions of others.  If I continue my research I can become more familiar with the signs and be able to recognize the emotions of others and thus become a better observer.

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