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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