Teaching Your Students to Think
21 January 2023 Leave a comment
Dear Teacher,
You want your students to think for themselves. Try this:
Student action | Required thinking | Example |
Find a question in the world. | Engages observation and pattern recognition | “Why are so many cooks and bus-people in Minneapolis Latino?”[1] |
Consider why it needs an answer? | Engages contextualizing[2] | “To determine if Minneapolis restaurant hiring practices are discriminatory” |
Refine the question. | Requires research skills and actions[3] | “What is the usual ethnic makeup of Minneapolis restaurant staffs?” |
Formalize the question. (the research question) | Engages observation and pattern recognition. Engages contextualizing and analysis[4] | “What are the characteristics of jobs dominantly held by each ethnic group in a variety of Minneapolis Restaurants?” |
Answer the “Why ask” question. (the thesis of the report) | Engages analysis and evaluation[5] | “Depending on how one defines discrimination, one may or may not see the ethnic imbalance in Minneapolis restaurant jobs as discriminatory.” |
Defining all terms and using the evidence collected, state and explain a “thesis.” | Engages composition skills | Carefully and clearly explain the above statement, i.e., write a research report |
The examples given in this chart work well with upper class (juniors and seniors) high school students and above, where I have used them, but the process can be adapted to earlier grades. I have used something along these lines with students in what was then junior high school (7 and 8). I can fairly easily imagine it being adapted to younger students, but it would need major reform to be used with students who had only begin using abstract thinking – probably about 8 or 9 years of age. It is the thinking process that is the focus, not the inputs or outputs, which we are usually expected to score as a measure of the students’ learning. Using pre-writing work, we can assess the amount and depth of the thinking, and design activities to strengthen shortcomings.
If one internalizes thoughtful processes in early and frequent use, one may find good thinking becomes automatic. For that reason, it is helpful to begin building students’ thinking-framework early. Thinking may seem threatening to some in a conformist world, but it is necessary, if uncomfortable, to innovation, and that generates forward movement in all fields, as it has in the technical fields. Economic, social, governance, even math and science fields can all benefit from the ideas of those who see, question and postulate change. We must teach the whole person for life in the whole world.
[1] This is by far the hardest part. One must always be observing what is going on around them, noticing and recognizing patterns. In this table, for instance, a pattern is defined by the header row of terms. Look for some more patterns.
[2] Contexts may be wide ranging – economic, ethical, legal, success based, etc.
[3] This will require a range of question situations, in this case restaurants, possibly involving first hand visits, phone calls and letters. Cover different ranges of situations – location, economic, variety – such as cuisine, and other possibly impactful variations. There may be organizations that have already collected some or even all of the information you are seeking. Search the question on the Web.
[4] Keep accurate records of from whom, about what, where, and/or when information was found. These references should be cited in any writing that calls on any of this information. This may be the longest and most complex part of the process. Good research is work. It comes with asking a good research question, and then constantly asking yourself, “am I really getting answers to my research question?”
[5] Analysis is non-judgmental. Evaluation is the comparison of substantiated conclusions with some set of standards. Analysis must be included in a research report, but a value-based conclusion may be included or left clearly open-ended.
Follow-up footnote
It has come to my attention that there is more to the process that I have laid out here. Two areas, in particular, that are not detailed here are process assessment and research journaling have been noted and I would love to discuss them with anyone interested. I realize there are other things to apply here too, action research being but one of them. Action research is a teaching process that parallels this observation-relevance learning process.
I can be emailed at Jay@jaezz.org. For those looking to advance the process, we can talk about how to customize for specific foci. For those who find this process too overwhelming for their students, we can talk about how one might step into the process rather than taking it on whole right out of the box. And I would be more than interested in hearing your ideas to make this more adaptable and richer. My goal is to do something to staunch the bleeding of critical and creative thought from the American educational system.
The ‘New Far-Left Fascism’?
4 July 2020 Leave a comment
Let’s see. Go to Wikipedia and look these things up.
Fascism is a form of far-right, authoritarian ultra-nationalism characterized by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition, and strong regimentation of society and of the economy which came to prominence in early 20th-century Europe. The first fascist movements emerged in Italy during World War I, before spreading to other European countries. Opposed to liberalism, Marxism, and anarchism, fascism is placed on the far-right within the traditional left–right spectrum.
Wikipedia
So, under a fascist government, the people are all responsible to the state. Right?
Ed.
Anti-fascism is opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. The anti-fascist movement began in a few European countries in the 1920s, and eventually spread to other countries around the world.
Wikipedia
It was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were opposed by many countries forming the Allies of World War II and dozens of resistance movements worldwide. Anti-fascism has been an element of movements holding many different political positions, including social democratic, nationalist, liberal, conservative, communist, Marxist, trade unionist, anarchist, socialist, republicanist, pacifist and centrist viewpoints.
Wikipedia · Text under CC-BY-SA license
So, that’s pretty clear; over the last hundred years, anti-fascism has meant opposing anything in the “far-right” fascist camp, making anti-fascism to the left of fascism. Right? Fascism’s as far right as you can go; so anything else is to its left..
Ed.
Socialism is a political, social, and economic philosophy encompassing a range of economic and social systems characterized by social ownership of the means of production and workers’ self-management of enterprise as well as the political theories and movements associated with such systems. Social ownership can be public, collective or cooperative ownership, or citizen ownership of equity. There are many varieties of socialism and there is no single definition encapsulating all of them, with social ownership being the common element shared by its various forms.
Wikipedia
So, socialism is just about how the people are invested in everything, or at least most things. It’s about sharing the wealth of the state (Ouh, the workers owning Amazon?), but not about how the government is run. Right? So, are the people responsible to the state then, or is the state responsible to the people.
Ed.
Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on liberty, consent of the governed and equality before the law. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but they generally support free markets, free trade, limited government, individual rights (including civil rights and human rights), capitalism, democracy, secularism, gender equality, racial equality, internationalism, freedom of speech, freedom of the press and freedom of religion.
Wikipedia
So, this sounds a lot like the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights in the first ten Amendments. But the “limited government, and individual rights” part sounds like 20th Century Republicans, while the “civil rights and human rights” sounds like 21st Century Democrats. It sounds like the government is responsible to the people, but not so much about protecting them from the differences the people see among themselves. Right? Sounds like the Tea Party folks.
Ed.
Left-wing politics supports social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. It typically involves a concern for those in society whom its adherents perceive as disadvantaged relative to others as well as a belief that there are unjustified inequalities that need to be reduced or abolished.
Wikipedia
The political terms Left and Right were coined during the French Revolution (1789–1799), referring to the seating arrangement in the French Estates General. Those who sat on the left generally opposed the monarchy and supported the revolution, including the creation of a republic and secularization, while those on the right were supportive of the traditional institutions of the Old Regime.
Wikipedia · Text under CC-BY-SA license
So, that doesn’t sound so awful, and it seems as if leftists would have the state actively support civil rights and human rights as well as individual rights. Right? And the Constitution says that the exercise of one right may not impinge on the rights of another.
Ed.
Okay so what the hell is the president talking about when he “…Warns Of ‘New Far-Left Fascism’ At Mount Rushmore…?” (NPR) He seems to count on people’s inability to understand what they hear as long as it has a good beat and you can dance to it. (Who remembers Dick Clark?) I can’t believe Trump is as ignorant as he assumes his audience to be.
Meanwhile, back in the good old District (not state) of Columbia (not Capital), is Mopey Barr setting up a Putinesque take over of the presidency, based on the extreme emergency of Covid-19? Perhaps we could have Donald Trump as president for life with extreme emergency powers – our own Führer. What’s that brown stuff on your nose Bill?
jay@jaezz.org
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Filed under Critical thinking, Politics, Social Commentary Tagged with Far-Left Fascism, Rushmore