Is Critical Thinking about Being Critical?
Mod 6, CC
Wow. A whole week in August has already gone by and I can hardly believe it. August!!!
This week I thought about critical thinking a lot and why the term is so popular in education circles. I didn't understand at first because of course you're critical in your thinking but isn't it nice to sometimes not be so critical? Like, as in non-judgemental? That can be a refreshing change, eh? (Except for editing, where it's really fun to be critical. 8-D)
So because of my intent to discern rather than judge, I kind of dropped the term "critical" from my vocabulary and thus had forgotten why it might be such a critical term! (In this case, it means important.) And this week I realized why critical thinking is used.
The reason it's such a popular term, I believe, is because it's a misnomer. I figured out that what people really mean when they say "critical thinking" is actually "thinking for yourself" -- but "critical" sounds so much more critical, doesn't it?
I have been wishing for my impact on education to be facilitating kids and grown-ups to think for themselves; to adopt a concept and make it their own, in their own way. This is really what is so exciting and creative about education, isn't it? The Joy of Learning! And now I know how to make "thinking for yourself" sound pedagogical or androgogical (adult learning): use the term "critical thinking"!
I've also been learning about making mistakes in public. I've worked with two groups this week; one my Skype buddies to create the tip sheet and the other my small group discussion buddies. Whatever mistakes I made with my Skype team was sorta public, and I lived through it. (I find with this being human thing that it's very easy to make mistakes; do you find this to be true?) And this upcoming week it's my turn to be a team leader, as we're all taking turns facilitating our small groups. I had to learn some new technologies, though, to implement my facilitation starting tomorrow, which meant familiarizing myself with the new tech this weekend. I tried three times and I think I got it right! The trouble is, each time I tried I involved four other people in my efforts! So each time I made a mistake it affected them -- I hope in extremely minor ways 8-).
My habitual inclination is to apologize profusely for causing any possible inconvenience, frustration, harm, or time lost because of my mistake. But this past week has been a doozy and I am changing this deep-seated habitual inclination. For a very long time I have believed that all kinds of things are my fault that simply aren't. Therefore, whenever I made a mistake where something actually was my fault, I would feel terriblehorribleno-goodawful because I was adding all this history of self-blame onto whatever teeny-tiny (or huge) mistake I had just made. My mistakes would loom above me like a tidal wave, threatening to rob me of my well-being, peace, and even my life. But the doozy of this week was that I finally realized how much I blamed myself -- even for things I didn't do -- and how much deep "trouble" (;-) this has caused me. This week, being such a doozy, was my opportunity to learn how to finally release all this self-blame so I can move into the world minus this catastrophical burden I've been carrying on my shoulders all this time.
And so, making these mistakes in public in my roles as team member and future facilitator has given me plenty of material to work with in terms of practice in dropping the self-blame of the past and just simply working with what really happened this week, which definitely wasn't catastrophic!!! I acknowledged my mistakes but did not apologize too profusely or take responsibility for something I didn't do (I don't think). Progress, not perfection! -- which is real progress!
My favorite time management techniques from Time Management Strategies for Online Instructors* were answering emails that require an answer when I open them, unless they can be set aside for later, and providing a multi-media explanation for how to do new tech things! I love the idea of immediately responding to emails when I open them, unless I can put them off, because I am one of those people who saves a lot of emails. Developing the discipline with my teaching email files of answering them directly is an excellent idea which I feel I could definitely do when I am an online teacher - and enjoy doing, because I would have time set aside specifically for that. Then I could file them neatly away -- and save them, too! Setting aside emails involves putting them in a file to do later, and then following up with them, which seems very wise, sound advice that I plan to follow.
I would personally LOVE to have a Jing video available for all the new techy things I need to learn to do in eLearning! I have used films such as these in my classes and have found them very useful and helpful. As an audio and visual learner, it is wonderful to have both going on at the same time, as with a movie! Knowing how useful this technique is will definitely inspire me to do the same for my future students. Great idea!
Retrieved 8/9/15 from https://www2.uwstout.edu/content/profdev/rubrics/time_management.html.
*University of Wisconsin-Stout. Time Management Strategies for Online Instructors.
