Mr. Moshé’s Critically Thinking . . . Are You?

The Visitor’s Study Hall is a place for sharing concerns (for yourself, for others, for anything) as long as they are concerns related to a class you’re taking in some practical way.

“What can a study hall be used for?” you may ask. It can serve many purposes:

• Go over vocabulary with others.
• Suggest topics for discussion.
• Share what you’re enjoying about class, a project, or a book.
• Share what you’re not enjoying.
• Post questions you have for your school mates.
• I, or other school mates, can answer your questions, give you suggestions, and keep this thing going for us all.

This Visitor’s Study Hall is a place to come together. So, if you post to Study Hall for to get help or to give it, in any way related to school, let me know.

So, if you need it. It’s here.

Study Halls have been set up for you, the visitor, too. And, students enrolled in my class(es) are encouraged to visit the Visitor Study Hall to see if they can offer help.

2007-2008 STUDENTS

Critical Thinking, or M/J Research 1 as they are calling it this year, is certainly something to think over and through.

I strongly suggest the following supplies and skills for to think with:

• You will most likely use the following supplies frequently:
  • A Personal Journal – this can be web based as long as it is accessible from school:
    • for reading-related entries;
    • for writing-related entries;
    • any other kinds of entries you can think up to include in it;
  • Some Writing Tools:
    • a pen;
    • a pencil;
    • a highlighter;
    • a marker (preferably of your favorite color);
    • an eraser;
    • skills with proofreading symbols. Getn it?;
  • Book Marks – two or three should do. It is a reading class after all;
• You will be successful in this class if you have:
  • an open mind,
  • the desire to grow,
  • the humility to take suggestions.

Throughout this school year, for this class, you will consider who you are.

So? Who are you? How have you become who you are? What life events have contributed to the kind of person you are, you want to become, and how you see the world around you? And how do you see the world around you? Does your view of the world affect how you read into the things you read? Do you understand what I’m asking?

Here’s an example: Imagine this . . . .

Alex Haley comes from a family that is eager to make sure he gets everything he needs in order to be prepared for school. Mom likes to talk about homework that he has, helps Alex with it, and even keeps in touch with the teacher about Alex’s progress. Dad gets excited about taking Alex to the store to get some cool new threads every two years, and before school each year, Alex and his father stock up on all the best and freshest new school books, binders, and such.

• How do you think Alex reacted when he read the list of strongly suggested school supplies for this class above?

Answer these questions to yourself.

Here are your 5 responsibilities (5 Grades):

Responsibility #1 – Read the Book – Daily & Weekly Check

You will have to read aloud in class. (100%) – you all have “A”s right now.

Review Reader’s Theater techniques if you like. Do what ever you have to do to become willing to read. Your participation grade for class will be determined by your willingness to read this book in class in addition to your willlingness to participate in other in-class activities.

Responsibility #2 – Chapter Summaries – Individual Work – Daily & Weekly Check

You will have to write a one sentence plot summary for each chapter. This is a challenge for the students to summarize important information in just one sentence. This is especially good for focusing on gathering important information from a reading assignment (Boyd). The sentence should include pertinent information such as who does what to whom, when, where, how, and why (WDWWWWHW).

So, answer this question in one sentence: Who did what to whom, when, where, how, and why?

For the Summary Grade:

1. You must have rough drafts of summaries. (50%)
2. You must have the final form written on one sheet entitled Chapter Summaries – Final Drafts. (50%)

Four people will check each student’s summaries. Each student will rewrite it making any corrections necessary and signing off before handing it over to another person, etc. etc.  There are five steps in the process:

1.  
   1. John writes his one sentence summary, then hands it to Alice.
   2. Alice reads it, checks it, rewrites it, signs off, then hands it to Geoffrey.
   3. Geoffrey reads it, checks it, MAYBE rewrites it, signs off, then hands it to Pauline.
   4. Pauline reads it, checks it, MAYBE rewrites it, signs off, then hands it BACK to John.
   5. John writes it onto his Novel Final Draft Summaries Page, then John gets his grade.

Responsibility #3 – Blog Discussion Interaction – Individual Work- Weekly Check

You will have to get to a computer that offers internet access somehow, somewhere – and often (pretty much once a week). I will check your participation weekly.

In my research for resources on this book, I found a discussion that completely blew me away. It seemed too awesome to pass up.

I am using the framework from a discussion that was designed by someone else (another 8th grade teacher somewhere else in the world). I am not giving you the name of that teacher, the URL of that teacher’s website, or anything else related to the discussion that teacher created. I withhold this information for one reason - I do not feel that 100% of you will practice integrity. Some of you may cheat (and you know it’s true). My apologies, but some of you haven’t earned it yet. For information on the reference (I have not created the discussion we will be using), please have your parent/guardian email me at school. Thank you all for your understanding with this.

For the discussion grade:

1. You will have to respond to the post I start. (50%)
2. You will have to respond to at least one classmate’s post. (50%)
3. You should be able to find a computer at one or more of the following locations in your local community: your house, a friend’s house, the school media center, the Tamarac Library, the Sunrise Library, and any other ideas you may be able to come up with.
4. Anyone, and I mean anyone, in this day and age can get to a computer that has internet access.

Responsibility #4 – Vocabulary – Individual Work – Weekly Check

You will have to prepare Vocabulary Improvement Startegy Sheets (VISS). The definition you supply on the VISS must match, or be appropriate for, the way the word is used in the text. I will begin a separate discussion for the vocabulary assignment when i want you to begin working on it. I will check this weekly.

For the Vocabulary Grade, the following items are required:

1. Word & Part of Speech (25%)
2. Personal Clue – Synonym, or Antonym, or Other Langauge  (25%)
3. The Word Used in the Sentence in the Book (25%)
4. The Dictionary Definition (25%)
5. EXTRA CREDIT- A definition of your own creation based on what you know about the word.

Responsibility #5 – Test Question Writing – Group Work- Weekly Check

I will be setting up new groups. Be prepared to practice acceptance, tolerance, and patience. You may not like your group (Welcome to the real world!). When writing Multiple Choice questions, make sure you follow the instructions for how to create valid distractors. This will be very similar to the assignment we were doing for The Time Machine, but with two small differences. I will check this weekly.

1. I will tell you what category you have to write questions for.
2. You will have to write 2 different types of questions for each chapter. Options are:
   1. MC & SR
   2. SR & LR
   3. MC & LR
   4. LR & MC
3. Get it? Not SR & SR, or LR & LR, eh? OK . . .

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As you can see above, I’m prepared for you.

My job will be easier this quarter than it has been my whole career. giggle.

WHY? BECAUSE I’M READY FOR YOU.

Grading will be simple and straight forward. What you see on this page is the plan for success. USE IT!

What should you look for now? Mainly, two things: Blog Posts and Vocabulary Lists. You know me, other fun stuff will occur.

Reference(s)

Boyd, Barry L., Formative Classroom Assessment: Learner Focused. The Agricultural Education Magazine, v73 n5, March/April 2001.

The BLOG Discussion Framework reference furnished to parent/guardian upon request- email me.

Thanks for everything. You are a great bunch of intellectual giants. I’m not being sarcastic.

If you have any questions about what is expected post them to this thread.

The year most commonly known as 2007 is here.

So I ask:

• What do you want of it?
• What are you willing to make happen for yourself?
• Gonna set some goals?
• Are you considering others?

I’d like you to consider this:

1. Check out the website for The Center for Nonviolent Communication.
2. Return here and post some thoughts on what you find there.
3. You will get extra credit for a substantial post.

A substantial post is

• one that allows us to really understand what you’re thinking.
• it shows us how you came to your understanding.
• it might cause a reaction in someone.
• it is thought provoking.

Do not ask if this is extra credit. It isn’t. This is an opportunity for you to have a hand in lesson plan and unit design.
Post to this discussion anything you would suggest to improve the unit for Freak The Mighty:

• In-class activities
• Out-of-class activities (field trips)
• Vocabulary words
• Blog Discussion Topics

Thanks for participating in the Freak The Mighty Discussion Series (for grades – hehe). If you participated, and you know who you are, you contributed to not only to your own growth, but to the growth of all those you interacted with.

Keep It Up!!

So, if you have any suggestions, post them here.

In 1906, William Graham Sumner said, “The critical habit of thought, if usual in society, will pervade all its mores, because it is a way of taking up the problems of life.”
What is meant by this?
You may want to have a dictionary on hand. . .

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Defining Critical Thinking

(A statement by Michael Scriven & Richard Paul for the National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking Instruction)
Summary
Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. In its exemplary form, it is based on universal intellectual values that transcend subject matter divisions: clarity, accuracy, precision, consistency, relevance, sound evidence, good reasons, depth, breadth, and fairness
It entails the examination of those structures or elements of thought implicit in all reasoning: purpose, problem, or question-at-issue; assumptions; concepts; empirical grounding; reasoning leading to conclusions; implications and consequences; objections from alternative viewpoints; and frame of reference. Critical thinking – in being responsive to variable subject matter, issues, and purposes – is incorporated in a family of interwoven modes of thinking, among them: scientific thinking, mathematical thinking, historical thinking, anthropological thinking, economic thinking, moral thinking, and philosophical thinking.
Critical thinking can be seen as having two components: 1) a set of information and belief generating and processing skills, and 2) the habit, based on intellectual commitment, of using those skills to guide behavior.

It is thus to be contrasted with: 1) the mere acquisition and retention of information alone, because it involves a particular way in which information is sought and treated; 2) the mere possession of a set of skills, because it involves the continual use of them; and 3) the mere use of those skills (”as an exercise”) without acceptance of their results.
Critical thinking varies according to the motivation underlying it. When grounded in selfish motives, it is often manifested in the skillful manipulation of ideas in service of one’s own, or one’s groups’, vested interest. As such it is typically intellectually flawed, however pragmatically successful it might be. When grounded in fairmindedness and intellectual integrity, it is typically of a higher order intellectually, though subject to the charge of “idealism” by those habituated to its selfish use.
Critical thinking of any kind is never universal in any individual; everyone is subject to episodes of undisciplined or irrational thought. Its quality is therefore typically a matter of degree and dependent on , among other things, the quality and depth of experience in a given domain of thinking or with respect to a particular class of questions. No one is a critical thinker through-and-through, but only to such-and-such a degree, with such-and-such insights and blind spots, subject to such-and-such tendencies towards self-delusion. For this reason, the development of critical thinking skills and dispositions is a life-long endeavor.
Why Critical Thinking?
The Problem:
Everyone thinks; it is our nature to do so. But much of our thinking, left to itself, is biased, distorted, partial, uninformed or down-right prejudiced. Yet the quality of our life and that of what we produce, make, or build depends precisely on the quality of our thought. Shoddy thinking is costly, both in money and in quality of life. Excellence in thought, however, must be systematically cultivated.
A Definition:
Critical thinking is that mode of thinking – about any subject, content, or
problem – in which the thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking
by skillfully taking charge of the structures inherent in thinking and
imposing intellectual standards upon them.
The Result:
A well cultivated critical thinker:
· raises vital questions and problems, formulating them clearly and precisely;
· gathers and assesses relevant information, using abstract ideas to interpret it effectively comes to well-reasoned conclusions and solutions, testing them against relevant criteria and standards;
· thinks openmindedly within alternative systems of thought, recognizing and assessing, as need be, their assumptions, implications, and practical consequences; and
· communicates effectively with others in figuring out solutions to complex problems.
Critical thinking is, in short, self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrective thinking. It presupposes assent to rigorous standards of excellence and mindful command of their use. It entails effective communication and problem solving abilities and a commitment to overcome our native egocentrism and sociocentrism.

This information is taken from:
http://www.criticalthinking.org/
&
http://www.criticalthinking.org/aboutCT/definingCT.shtml

Please check out the following websites:

The Critical Thinking Community

Mission Critical

Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Skills

Mr. Moshe’s Useful Sites to help you along the way. Follow this link to get to a list of sites that have resources you will be required to use for your assignments.

This is just the beginning. The real critical thinker will go to these sites and search out more information about critical thinking.