Craving Critical Thinking

This has been one busy summer so far, and we’ve only just reached the halfway mark!  In all of this business, I’ve taken an unplanned three-week hiatus from writing.  The blog hasn’t been far from my mind by any means, I just haven’t set aside the time to finish this post that was started three weeks ago, nor have I begun additional posts.

Some highlights from the past three weeks include:  The Third Annual Kruse Family Ride which included 17 motorcycles and 25 riders; taking a self-paced “Improving Reading for Older Students” course from Student Achievement Partners, led by the amazing David and Meredith Liben; traveling to Atlanta and hitting Nashville on the way home; taking LETRS Modules 4-6 training (amazing!), attending the magnificent wedding of my nephew Aaron, and his beautiful bride, Taylor; enjoying visits from family, and bike rides with my sister.  In addition, I’ve been meeting with Jordan twice a week for tutoring.  Later today, I get to head to Kansas City with 10 colleagues to attend the Open Up Resources HIVE conference.  And at the end of the week, I get to head to West Point Military Academy in New York to visit my nephew Jack!

I was fortunate enough to attend the PaTTAN Literacy Symposium in June, a three day virtual event packed with the best of the best in the world of literacy.  The state of Pennsylvania has it figured out!  With names like David Kilpatrick, Louisa Moats, Tracey White-Weeden, Dr. Anita Archer, Laura Stewart, Lindsay Kemeny, Carol Tolman, Lyn Stone, Deb Glaser, Elsa Cardenas-Hagan, Joan Sedita, Pam Kastner, Nancy Hennessy, Maria Murray, and Jan Hasbrouck (just to name a few!), you know you were in for some big-time meaningful learning!  Effective literacy instruction is so important to the PaTTAN team that they are making every presentation available on their YouTube channel.  Unbelievable!

Each presentation that I was able to attend left me with tons to think about.  The one that keeps gnawing at my brain and has led to this writing was David Kilpatrick’s “Embracing the Scientific Revolution in Reading:  And Dragging Your Colleagues Along with You!”  Dr. Kilpatrick’s demeanor struck me right off the bat.  His knowledge is shared in such a calm way.  Despite the title of his presentation which might make a participant think there would be some coercion involved in convincing colleagues of the science behind effective reading instruction, he simply stated the facts, based on current research.

In so doing, he described epistemology, the theory of knowledge, especially with regard to its methods, validity, and scope.  Epistemology is “the investigation of what distinguishes justified belief from opinion.” (as defined by Google).  Dr. Kilpatrick described “Critical Thinking” versus “Political Thinking.”   Spoiler alert:  we might be better served to lean toward critical thinking.

Critical thinking is “Using (1) the best available and most relevant information or data, (2) the soundest logic and reasoning to evaluate that data, and (3) keeping checks and balances against our biases.”  In addition, “The goal is to find out what is actually true,” and “Humility is a central tenet.”  This is absolutely where I want to land in both my thinking and in my interactions with others.  In July of 2021, I wrote a post titled, “Being a Learner and Getting it Right.”  In that post, inspired by the work of  Brené Brown, I wrote, “That’s who I want to be:  the person who is always striving to “Get it Right” through learning, right along side those I get to work with.”  Nearly a year later, that remains as true as ever… and continues to be a work in progress!

The opposite of critical thinking is political thinking, the goal of which is (as described by Kilpatrick), “…not to determine what is actually true.  The goal is persuasion, but also power… The goal is to make the world the way you’d like it to be.”  Kilpatrick went on to explain critical thinking in much more detail, but this was enough for me.  I have – we all have – participated in practices of persuasion in an effort to get others to see things our way.  The problem is that we may have fallen into using fallacies, knowingly or unknowingly, in our efforts.

As I continue on this journey of understanding the Science of Reading and assisting colleagues in utilizing best practices in literacy instruction, may I fall in the camp of critical thinking rather than that of political thinking.  It’s a challenge I continue to battle and seek clarity around:  knowing when to listen and understand where another person’s current understanding is without imposing my current understanding.  And when I do share my understanding, make damn sure it is backed by evidence, as is the body of knowledge that is the Science of Reading.

The FMCSD construction team most definitely participated in some major critical thinking as they took 2nd Place at the SkillsUSA competition in Atlanta, Georgia two weeks ago (I am SUPER late in posting!  It’s been a heck of a summer, so far!)  Thank goodness for the amazing Chuck Vandenberg, who was much more timely in his marvelous reporting of the two-day event and outcome in the June 27th issue of the Pen City Current.  The guy never fails to bring a tear to my eye and a smile to my face all within a sentence or two of each and every Beside the Point.  AND I think he has a big part in ensuring the team receives recognition, which is happening today at the Elliot Test Kitchen!  Emmett, his teammates, and instructor Clint Kobelt represented the FMHS construction team remarkably well as they placed 2nd in the nation in the TeamWorks competition.

 

 

 

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