Reflections of Valuable Information Received From Critical Thinking
Skills for critical thinking.
The foundational elements of my expectations were greatly met as a future Post-secondary Teacher, because the author makes it very clear of the skills teachers need to acquire, possess, have the abilities needed, and possess critical thinking skills themselves in order to effectively teach students critical thinking skills and make positive application in order to become productive citizens and make valuable contributions to society by being able to apply reasoning skills in every circumstance in their life.
To think critically, you must be willing to examine your own thinking and put it to some stern tests. You must be willing to take your thinking apart. You must be willing to identify weaknesses in your thinking. I’ve learned that it so critical and important to take ownership, and realize that you have problems in your area of thinking and take steps to correct these weaknesses in order to be an effective teacher and to teach students these principals of critical thinking skills. Taking ownership is the first step in being healed. Once you identify within yourself that there is a problem, one has to “reconstruct” ones thinking pattern in order to produce change and acquire critical thinking skills.
The best thinkers pay close attention to thinking. They analyze it. They evaluate it. They improve it. The best thinkers use their ability to think well in every dimension of their lives. This is what I want to be able to do as a teacher, parent, and grandparent, is to make application by practicing what I’ve learned and apply critical thinking skills, in order to be an effective professor and a productive and empowering member of society invoke critical thinking skills. If I take what I’ve learned and allow these powerful and empowering thoughts of critical thinking skills to root deeply in my mind, my life will have substance and I will be a better person by making application of what I’ve learned from this course into the field of education and other areas of my life.
The following are vitally important in applying critical thinking skills:
- A unique kind of purposeful thinking – any subject area or topic whether academic or personal. (The best thinkers think for some purpose).
- Intellectual traits: Perseverance, intellectual humility, intellectual empathy, and fair-mindedness.
- Take charge of the construction of thinking – such as information, concepts, inferences, assumptions, implications, and point of view.
- Imposing criteria and intellectual standards on the thinking – such as clarity, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, breadth, logic and fairness.
- Continually improving the quality of the thinking – making it more clear, accurate, and precise; with greater depth and breadth; more logical, more relevant and significant, and more fair.
True leaders are visionaries, dreamers, and faith walkers. “Leadership is an action, not a title, and the ability to lead can be found in every person.”
My goal, as an educator will be “to influence thinking and contributing to improving best practices in the field” of Post-secondary education, by empowering students to take advantage of learning, being intellectually informed and being able to apply what they have learned to everyday life. Particularly, being able to “think” for themselves. In order to be a great debater – one has to be able to “think” intellectually on his feet and not depend on anyone else to do their thinking for them.
The “clear leader”, as stated in a previous discussion, has the ability of “mastering the disciplines of managing and leading” and they are as follows:
- Leaders are compelled by the future.
- Turn anxiety into confidence.
- Be clear about whom you serve.
- Be clear about WHY you’re going to WIN.
- Keep your core score.
- If you wan to be clear, ACT
Action speaks louder than words and one should not be complacent.
Final analysis, as stated previously, but I feel need repeating, “believe in mind over matter, believe in the human spirit to prevail, believe in miracles and blessings; both great and small, believe in possibilities, believe that hurdles in life are meant to be jumped over, not as something to stop us”. But most and importantly of all, they believe in themselves.
The only thing I feel was not met, was not met on my part, because I wish I had been able to better organize my work and apply what I knew the instructor was looking for, but being pressed for time and everything that could possibly happen, happened. But through all of the adversities and disappointments – I’ve pressed my way through.
The most valuable tool that I feel any instructor or professor can have is the ability to empower his students and to encourage them, push them, and pull out the best in them.
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