Too Fluid

Dawn Beck, Peggy Turlington, Farid Matuk

While our group believes in the need to incorporate critical thinking, imagination, and empathy into our instruction of English across all grade levels, we found these categories to overlap in ways that made the exercise nearly impossible to complete. This may be because the ideas generated last year speak to a different prompt (“how to prepare our students for a changing world”) and so do not lend themselves to being grouped under the three headings of critical thinking, imagination, and empathy. Those items listed by groups in the 2008-09 school year that address discerning between values and organizing information into structures, etc., were easy to label “critical thinking”. One example of this would be “How to structure an essay”. Yet even this concept is potentially something that would be classified under “Imagination” because, of course, structuring an essay requires that a writer project or imagines the perspective of her reader.

So, while we recognize that the boundaries between critical thinking, imagination, and empathy are porous, we also understand the importance of making judgment calls that will allow us to discuss a given assignment or teaching strategy as particularly beneficial to the development of one of these modes over the others. Ultimately, our group thought it would be best to spend time in each other’s classrooms during the 2009-10 school year and blog about the ways the given activities and teaching strategies we witness lend themselves most to the development of one or another of the three modes/aspects of literature.

It seems to us that a conversation about the inclusion and balance of these attributes in the classroom, done after the classroom visits are completed, would be beneficial. A fluid conversation might fit the flexible nature of teaching a little better than a chart. Such a conversation may not quantify these qualities, but we are not sure that quantifying critical thinking, imagination, and empathy is the point; balancing and reflecting seem more relevant to us.

Per Linda's Instructions

Judy Campos, Paula Hall, Marilyn Stewart, Blake Harkey:

In the absence of our list from the previous year, we began our small group’s meeting by discussing a few ways we might effectively address various strategies, characteristics, and traits of excellent writers, especially with a mind towards emphasizing how all of these might be sorted into the 3 categories from today’s meeting. Fairly early in our discussion, we determined that we all felt that each of the qualities of “enhanced literacy” helped to ensure the next; for instance, imagination begets critical thinking begets empathy. From here, we started sharing a few lesson plans that we felt illustrated this notion. The teaching techniques (effective or otherwise) and student skill sets (those that were a stated objective and those that were an unforeseen result) we discussed all demonstrate, to various degrees, critical thinking, imaginative involvement, and empathetic reactions.

Paula and Judy discussed a lesson wherein teachers read aloud to their lower school students a book about the San Francisco earthquake of the early 20^th century. They pointed out that there was a deliberate emphasis on critical thinking, as the students were encouraged to put the event into a historical perspective as well as compare and contrast these events to other epoch-making moments in history, especially current events that the students might encounter while watching the news or looking at a recent newspaper. Imaginative involvement came about when the teachers encouraged the students to imagine themselves in a similar situation, asking what sorts of things from their own homes they might save if they were forced to leave in an extreme hurry. They also looked at various authorial techniques, especially alliteration and hyperbole (complimenting their unit on figurative language, generally), and asked the students to think about how these strategies of effective and evocative writing enhanced the experience of hearing this story and then emulate these techniques in their own composition. Empathy was achieved not only in imagining themselves in this sort of experience, but also examining the ways in which one’s cultural position in the early 20^th century might have colored their individual experience; a person in Chinatown, for instance, would have had a very different experience from a person from the shipping district or a wealthy suburb.

Marilyn discussed how her daily discussion about literature at the secondary level generates questions and discussion points that are not meant to be conclusive, forcing interested students to dig deeper to arrive at a meaningful relationship with a certain work. She mentioned that she really feels that one of the most empathetic parts of her class often comes about in the conclusion paragraph of any given paper, where the student is forced to concisely determine and compose a “so what” closer that demonstrates true analysis and a deeper understanding. My own experiences complimented this, as I reflected how, so often while reading Romeo and Juliet, students find themselves not entirely clear on simple plot points of an assigned scene in the play, but can very accurately characterize the emotional quality of that particular section. This suggests to me that “enhanced literacy” is, quite naturally, deeply tied to a basic understanding of any text, but is not exclusively dependent upon an ability to comprehend difficult vocabulary and lengthy dialogue. Sometimes, I guess, you can really feel it, even if you don’t fully understand it.

So, here’s a list of skills and strategies I think we covered during our discussion, and perhaps a categorization based on our parameters of today’s department meeting:

1. Working in both large and small groups: Empathy. This forces students to consider others’ viewpoints. Also critical thinking, as students are able to listen to a variety of opinions as they form their own.

2. Reading aloud to students: Imagination. We all agreed that this technique should not be in any way limited to the Lower School.

3. Asking open-ended questions: Critical Thinking. Hopefully, this is learned and experienced early, so that when students arrive at each successive grade, their curiosity will compel them to reach beyond the in-class lesson.

4. Following up on previous discussions: Empathy. Even if you’ve changed your mind about something, remembering past circumstances that compelled a certain sentiment or idea can only help your ability to “put yourself in someone else’s shoes.”

5. Establishing a Collective Vocabulary: Critical Thinking.

6. Taking advantage of “teachable moments: Critical Thinking, Imagination.

August Group Meeting: Linda, Adam, Yun, Jen, and Beth

CRITICAL THINKING
Problem solving
Reflection
Collaborative work
Flexibility
Cross-curricular work--the concept of patterns

IMAGINATION
Inspiring curiosity
Asking open-ended questions--"What if?" "I wonder..."
Asking questions that will challenge or change a student's paradigms

EMPATHY
Peer conversations, converences
Curiosity about others (situations, lives, thought process)--"Everything is not me."
Awareness of the power of words within the context of a community

Linda's Task - Susan B, Trey, Betsy, & Carla

· Imaginative: Expose them to wide, wide world of literature – especially with vast outside reading possibilities
· Empathy: Explore enduring themes of humanity through use of literature
· Empathy: Introduce to serious topics (Holocaust for example) but in a thoughtful, sensitive way – using literature to think about the world around them and how it has changed
· Empathy: Help them figure out their place in the world as it pertains to what has come before them
· Imaginative & Empathy: Validate them as authors – even little ones get this
· Critical Thinking: Texts encourage open-minded thinking, looking at various viewpoints : Inherit the Wind, Fahrenheit 451, Of Mice and Men…
· Empathy: Reading selections are relevant to their world, their lives
· Imaginative: Inspire a sense of wonder as we help them see the relevance of classic literature
· Empathy: “Text-to-Self” connection – a term first graders use and understand!
· Critical Thinking: Incorporate responsible use of technology into learning·

Jante, Lisa, Tracey, and Mark's List Breakdown

Critical Thinking

• Flexibility
• Adaptability
• Discipline
• Responsibility to Process
• Humor
• Synthesis
• Evaluation
• Inference and Deduction
• Forming Meaningful Questions
• Reflection

Imagination

• Creativity
• Originality
• Resourcefulness
• Risk Taking
• Acceptance and Value of Imagination

Empathy

• Tolerance
• Responsibility to Purpose
• Global/Environmental Awareness
• Sensitivity
• Compassion
• Exposure/Experience

Critical Thinking - Rachel Brodie, Kat Lewis, Dan Kasten, Chloe Bade

To consider the ramifications of an idea.
To look beneath the surface of an argument.
To evaluate subjectively as well as objectively.
To build a case for subjective evaluation with objective evidence.
To reflect meaningfully about the connections between a text and themselves
To separate fact from opinion or bias when reading or listening.
To challenge assumptions, particularly popular sentiments or "givens."
To assess the originality, quality, and relevance of a personal project based on criteria.
To examine personally held biases or tendencies to side with a particular group or party.
To extract themes or "so-what"s from a text.
To identify abstract concepts such as symbolism, imagery, metaphor in both verbal and visual mediums.
To recognize historical context or commentary in a text.
To appreciate the distinction between the rational, emotional, and numinous ways of engaging with the world.

and sometimes....

"Over-analysis causes paralysis." ---Rachel Brodie's mama!