Hello Bonnie and Andrea:

The idea of critical thinking holds at least three aspects of thought processes:  First, a fullness of meaning-understanding; then, second, marshaling adequate, relevant, appropriate meaning that can then end in, third, a critical judgment--yes or no.  

For a critical thinker, the last two are dependent on the meaning development in the first--because we cannot be critical unless we have a vast range of prior understanding to be critical about.

Excellent examples--the direct insight is the "tipping point" that occurs between (1) the prior wonder/question for meaning and (2) the flow of meaning that is our under-standing.   The reflective insight occurs when we marshal meaningful evidence towards making a critical judgment.

In your example of the ESL student learning about metaphor, she had already had the direct insight--then she was seeking a reflective insight:  "Do you mean?"  in order to get your affirmation and make her judgment for truth:  yes or no.  Once that judgment is made, based on a set of direct insights, then she has "owned" the meaning and can now relate that understanding/judgment to many other things--apparently in her zeal, less critically than you would like her to--but so what. She was exploring her own intellectual capacities with apparent joy.  The critical judgment can come later after she has experienced that joy of learning.  And once she can develop her own evidence of how metaphor works, she won't need you anymore to affirm her own affirmation. 

Catherine

----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Bonnie Odiorne 
  To: The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List 
  Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2008 6:18 PM
  Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 2330] Re: Critical ThinkingandLearnerLeadership


  Andrea,

  I was tutoring an English 102 student, composition and literature. She is someone who must be learning disabled in some way because her spelling is erratic (she has L1 interference but speaks perfect English, has lived here in the US for many years.) Her reading comprehension was always on the literal level, and she was trying to understand the concept of metaphor in Hemingway's "The Hills are like Elephants." I made her slow down, read attentively, and notice the comparisons and how they changed throughout the story. All of a sudden she said, "You mean....?" and then she took the opposite tack, and started comparing everything to everything and completely going wild, to the point of misinterpretation. But she got it. Somehow she knew she'd gotten to some kind of different level, and it was like falling in love, a kind of infatuation with language that was a joy to see.

  Is this more what you were looking for?

  Or, in an ESOL workforce program at a factory, I was teaching a group of men "going to". Of course, I was in my perfect pronunciation mode. Then I inadvertently said "What are you gonna do after work?" Of course, that's what they would have heard among their fellow workers, so they were able to make the connection, and the light went off.

  Best of luck with your qyeries. It was fun remembering these times.

  Bonnie Odiorne, (now at) Post University, Waterbury CT




  ----- Original Message ----
  From: Andrea Wilder <andreawilder at comcast.net>
  To: Catherine B. King <cb.king at verizon.net>; The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List <professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov>
  Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2008 4:52:46 PM
  Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 2326] Re: Critical Thinking andLearnerLeadership

  Hi Catherine,

  Thank you very much for your full example and explanation.

  What I had in mind was some examples from your classroom or any  
  teacher's classroom--empirical descriptions which would give me a  
  clearer idea of what is being discussed.

  If anyone has that, I would appreciate it.

  However, what I have gotten in your extended discussion is a  
  fascinating reflection on learning.

  Thanks!

  Andrea


  On Jul 16, 2008, at 10:43 AM, Catherine B. King wrote:

  > Hi Andrea:
  >
  > The study of cognitional theory and surrounding philosophical  
  > meaning comes
  > from the work of Bernard Lonergan's Insight:  A Study of Human  
  > Understanding
  > (1958 & 2000) and a massive collection of other related works.
  >
  > However, do you mean by "useful examples," more ideas of questions  
  > to pose?
  > As far as examples of insights is concerned, I use my own examples  
  > where I
  > have had "aha" moments--but a common example is when we finally  
  > "get" a joke
  > we didn't understand before but that everyone else understands.    
  > And all
  > adult students have minds and, thus, have had various kinds of  
  > insights
  > about concrete events in their lives over the years.  The "insight"  
  > is a
  > general/universal term for what everyone has in the particular case as
  > experience.
  >
  > But in this arena of learning, the point to stress in reading--for  
  > instance,
  > stories, novels, poetry, etc.,--is not to objectify-to-analyze what  
  > the
  > meaning of the writing is (a valuable thing to do in its own  
  > right), but
  > rather to self-reflect--to consider what the poem or story brings  
  > to mind in
  > my own life--how does it relate or inform my own experience, what  
  > did I
  > learn from it?--and we can note how such stories, etc., can inform  
  > our own
  > depth of thinking and our critical judgments (critical thinking)?  
  > This is
  > besides just the joy of reading.
  >
  > As an aside, I am myself a "late" adult learner.  All through K-12  
  > I thought
  > school was a horrible thing--socially and educationally (a later  
  > insight).
  > I never experienced it as being for me.  What caught me onto my own
  > education was my realization of how good I felt when I really  
  > understood
  > something well (had insights).
  >
  > It's a great feeling to really grasp something--and that  
  > experience--now
  > reflectively understood itself as something valuable FOR ME--was  
  > what gave
  > me the impetus to want more--learning and reading and studying  
  > became a real
  > discovery process for me instead of something boring and horrible to
  > memorize and spit back--I learned to love learning, as it were--I  
  > felt my
  > mind breathing--quite literally; whereas my own K-12 background was  
  > a horror
  > story of not only neglect of learning potential, but actual  
  > quashing of that
  > potential by teachers and others who either didn't know what they were
  > doing, or teachers who had 36 kids in a classroom for 55 minutes at  
  > a time.
  > Shuffled from room to room with no connection between rooms or my past
  > experience. Enough.
  >
  > If I missed what you meant by "example," let me know?
  >
  >
  > Catherine
  >
  >
  >
  >
  >
  > ----- Original Message -----
  > From: "Andrea Wilder" <andreawilder at comcast.net>
  > To: "The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List"
  > <professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov>
  > Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2008 7:16 AM
  > Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 2316] Re: Critical Thinking
  > andLearnerLeadership
  >
  >
  > Catherine--
  >
  > Do you have any useful examples of this?  it's a lovely idea.
  >
  > Andrea:)
  >
  > On Jul 16, 2008, at 9:27 AM, Gabb, Sally S. wrote:
  >
  >> I agree absolutely, Catherine - we use such exercises on a regular
  >> basis in college developmental reading, to enable students to
  >> reflect on their own knowledge and thinking process. Thanks for a
  >> clear explanation of this kind of exercise.  Sal
  >>
  >> -----Original Message-----
  >> From: professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov
  >> [mailto:professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of
  >> Catherine B. King
  >> Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2008 8:37 AM
  >> To: The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List
  >> Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 2314] Re: Critical Thinking and
  >> LearnerLeadership
  >>
  >> Hello Sally:
  >>
  >> One way to distinguish merely memorizing for a test, and the more
  >> remote
  >> development that will help open horizons and create the basis for
  >> more and
  >> better understanding (and critical thinking)--is to focus a session
  >> on the
  >> activity of understanding itself.  One way to "focus on understanding
  >> itself" is to have them do some self-reflective exercises, for
  >> instance,
  >> where they locate and write about (or talk about) having had an
  >> INSIGHT (an
  >> Aha! moment) in a real-life situation (we've all had them), or
  >> where they
  >> discovered they had been on the wrong track, and righted their
  >> view, or just
  >> didn't see the whole story or problem, and then REALIZED it, and that
  >> realization sent them off in a different direction.
  >>
  >> What was the experience like?  What were the circumstances? What
  >> made them
  >> have the insight?  What changed because of it?  How does it feel to
  >> have
  >> such an insight?
  >>
  >> Part of the "self-esteem" problem (across the board in education)
  >> is that
  >> such moments of clarity and sometimes-critical judgment AS
  >> EXPERIENCED are
  >> taken for granted, not reflected on, and not valued by the learner
  >> themselves.  This judgment is fostered by our sometimes-obsessive
  >> assessments environment and by us, the educators, who continue to
  >> give the
  >> implicit message through our focus on testing, that such learning
  >> is really
  >> not that important--wink/wink, nod/nod.  And yet, these moments
  >> are the
  >> substantial internal movements, without which, all education is
  >> "rote" and
  >> meaningless.
  >>
  >> In my view, it's not that testing and assessments are bad; it's
  >> rather that
  >> an over-focus on assessments has erased its own substantial
  >> center.  If we
  >> cannot directly test for it, then it must not be important?
  >>
  >> Catherine King
  >> Adjunct Instructor
  >> Department of Education
  >> National University
  >> San Diego, CA
  >>
  >>
  >> ----- Original Message -----
  >> From: "Gabb, Sally S." <Sally.Gabb at bristolcc.edu>
  >> To: "The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List"
  >> <professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov>
  >> Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2008 5:04 AM
  >> Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 2313] Re: Critical Thinking and
  >> LearnerLeadership
  >>
  >>
  >> Great answer as always Wendy!  Since being able to think
  >> 'critically' is
  >> indeed 'on the test', you have hit the nail on the head (great
  >> metaphor or
  >> cliché??) Thank - and an important part of 'transition to college'
  >> learning
  >> as well.  Sally Gabb, Developmental Reading, Bristol Community
  >> College, Fall
  >> River MA
  >>
  >> -----Original Message-----
  >> From: professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov
  >> [mailto:professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Wendy
  >> Quinones
  >> Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2008 5:36 PM
  >> To: professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov
  >> Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 2312] Critical Thinking and Learner
  >> Leadership
  >>
  >> David and all,
  >> Anyone who's ever taught a GED class will tell you that English
  >> language
  >> learners aren't the only ones with opinions about how their classes
  >> should
  >> be taught -- "Is this going to be on the test?" is the mantra of
  >> the GED
  >> student.  Their assumption is that the GED  consists of discrete
  >> items that
  >> can be taught, and on that basis they want to learn "stuff" rather
  >> than the
  >> habits of thought that will benefit them both on the test and in
  >> future
  >> life.  How do we challenge that assumption when it is precisely that
  >> challenge that a great many GED students want to avoid?  In my
  >> experience,
  >> telling students that the GED is not about content is a lost cause;
  >> at least
  >> at first, they simply don't believe it.  I'm afraid I have taken to
  >> abusing
  >> my position as an authority figure, and I simply answer "Yes" to that
  >> question whenever it's asked, no matter what crazy (to them) thing  
  >> I'm
  >> asking them to do.  My reasoning is simple:  most haven't had the
  >> experience
  >> of being in a situation where they are valued as thinkers, so they
  >> don't
  >> know what that kind of classroom environment looks like.  Without  
  >> that
  >> experience, how can they make informed judgments about how they
  >> best learn?
  >> If telling them that everything in the class will be on the test
  >> will open
  >> them to new methods that do value their thinking, I will certainly
  >> do it.
  >> Eventually we do get to practice on GED test items, but by then
  >> they have
  >> learned that getting the "right" answer (and what is more
  >> discouraging to
  >> critical thinking than that!?!?!) is more a matter of critical
  >> thinking and
  >> clear reasoning than of memorizing "stuff."
  >>
  >> Wendy Quinones
  >>
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