Critical Thinking and Professional Development
From LiteracyTentWiki
Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 2265] Critical Thinking in Professional Development
From: Taylor, Jackie jataylor at utk.edu
Date: Fri Jul 11 15:09:10 EDT 2008
Dear Colleagues,
This has been a fascinating discussion and I am working on a draft
compilation of the wide range of ways we've said that we understand
critical thinking, strategies for critical thinking and student
involvement, along with links to threads of discussion sorted by theme.
In the meantime I'd like to call our attention to a point Phillip made
and a question Cynthia raised:
What are the implications are for professional development? Do we
promote critical exploration of issues in professional development and
if so, how?
I welcome your thoughts.
Best, Jackie
Jackie Taylor, List Moderator, jataylor at utk.edu
Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 2270] Re: Critical Thinking in Professional Development
From: Alpha Computer Training and COnsulting alphact at eastlink.ca
Date: Fri Jul 11 15:41:22 EDT 2008
Hi Jackie,
Very interesting discussion. As trainers, or even mentors, I wonder how
much we really influence others in the process of critical thinking. I
suspect that we can greatly influence how people think, and not just at the
emotional side. I think of the farmer who sends his son out to do a task,
knowing that it is not the task that he is interested in seeing done, but
seeing how the son will use problem solving and critical thinking to get the
job done. As instructors, we can not control how a person will think, but
can we influence their thinking for the better? What about multiple input
to insure that a bias is not imposed? Maybe professional development should
focus on the influence we can have in the process of critical thinking?
What do you think?
Jeff Brown
Alpha Computer Training and Consulting
(902)956-2600
E-mail: info at alphacomputer.ca
www.alphacomputer.ca
Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 2273] Re: Critical Thinking in Professional Development
From: Bonnie Odiorne bonniesophia at sbcglobal.net
Date: Sat Jul 12 21:31:45 EDT 2008
In my PD role of training Writing Center tutors, I have to make sure they learn to ask questions, and not assume they know what the student wants to say. To ask a student to articulate meaning when s/he hasn't stated it clearly is a step to clear writing, but also clear thinking. I caution them about imposing their own interpretation--even grammatical--on a student's work, and ask the student to find what might have gone wrong and try to correct it. In other words, I try, as much as possible, though not as often as I'd like in my own tutoring one-on-one practice, especially erlectronically, when I'm crunched for time and deadlines (theirs and mine) to ask the student to generate the ideas if they're not stated correctly, clearly, or more strategically.
Most faculty when they see a badly written paper just assume the student doesn't know how to write, and dismiss it. To tease the underlying thoughts out through an entire writing process (from brainstorming on) or form a draft is the ideal Writing Center relationship.
The students think they're just learning to write correctly, but they're really learning to pay attention to their thinking. I also teach that in reading comprehension: ask the students to pay attention to how they read--even if it is still on the level of comprehension. Could they learn more effective strategies? How could this help them understand and be more actively engaged in what they're reading, and not just dismiss it as "boring." Again, they're learning how to think, not "just" to read.
In other PD roles as tutor trainer my biggest battle was to caution tutors against unconscious bias, and we had exercises for that, as well as active listening. Brookfield, in his article on assessing critical thinking, has a situational format of story-telling, detectives, and an umpire to detect unconscious bias in any or all of the participants, contending that critical thinking
cannot be assessed in a standardized but only a situational way.
Enough from me before I become more incoherent than usual.
Bonnie Odiorne, Post University
Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 2278] Re: Whatdo wemeanbystudentinvolvement and critical thinking?
From: Jane Greiner jgreiner at proliteracy.org
Date: Mon Jul 14 09:19:28 EDT 2008
Hi Cynthia and all,
Thanks for the question about PD that supports teachers' critical thinking skills. My concern is not that teachers do not think critically, but that the time and institutional support available for critical reflection on practice is not always available - for myriad reasons.
Study circle, action research, and peer mentoring all seem to be ways to do this, but all require lots of back-up from the organizations.
I'm particularly interested in how technology and onine forums can be used to support teachers' critical thinking about their practice.
Jane
Jane Greiner
Professional Development Coordinator
ProLiteracy
