Blog #1 Vent My Thoughts

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AMissingLinguist

[Not Here][Blank Sect][Nuffian #N], Male
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Pay no mind to this blog. It's just to keep track of what I thought in class. This will be used to help my review of the class at the end of the semester.
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My critical thinking class is lacking in terms of creating a space for critical thinking. Each student is required to present a card that tells everyone what the purpose of their thought was. A card could be an explanation, restatement, comparison, challenge, question, clarifying/clarification, support, etc. The problem here is that this limits what a student can actually THINK. Also, each student is responsible for themselves, so there's no reason to go out of their way to actually think about what another student thinks. As long as the teacher accepts a card, a student is guaranteed a good grade. This method of thinking critically will also damage the grade of students who don't do well in public speaking, though I understand the purpose of the GER is to increase a student's skills in public speaking. I believe that public speaking can be left to presentations.

Also, students can choose their own groups. The problem with this is that people tend to stay in the same group and agree to the same idea. A better method for critical thinking in groups is to assign a new group every 2-4 weeks, and have each student grade the others on their performance as well as their own performance.

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You, TokioftheBel, Bad Storm and 6 others like this.

Comments

    1. AMissingLinguist Sep 11, 2019
      @Cascadian Rex

      I will give an example, but let me first explain the cards. Each student in class has 10 cards. Each card has a different label: Explain Idea, Restate Idea, Clarify Idea/ Ask for Clarification, Compare/Contrast Idea or Connect Idea, Support Idea, Build or Add to Idea, Question or Challenge Idea, Shift idea due to new info, Wild Card, and Collaboration card.

      For example, the topic of class could be about Microaggressions. Microaggressions are words people say that can be offensive or taken to be offensive to a group of people. Student Bob can talk about what microaggression is, and that's an "Explain card" and points for a grade. Student Aka then plays her "Restate idea" card to say what she thought Bob said. I just want to point out that explaining or restating an idea is good for thinking critically, but neither Bob or Aka dealt with the how microaggression should be handled.

      I will admit that the cards are a handy tool to show what students can be doing to think critically, but making them required to use to get good grades sounds like critical thinking is only important when grades matter. (Sorry for the long example.)

      Also, the semester's not over yet, so I may change my opinion of the class.
      Cascadian Rex and TokioftheBel like this.
    2. Cascadian Rex Sep 11, 2019
      "A card could be an explanation, restatement, comparison, challenge, question, clarifying/clarification, support, etc"
      Do you mind giving an example? that sounds interesting... or sounds like a good party game
    3. Nefasdetestasti Sep 11, 2019
      Hmmmmm
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