While driving at
T junction today, I found myself behind a youngster in a red convertible. Like
many others, I have certain expectations about people in convertibles, but this
youngster surprised me. While at the T junction, he was painfully careful. He
slowed down as he approaches the intersection. The closer he got to the intersection,
the slower he became. At this point, with great care, the youngster looked to
the left and then looked to the right. No vehicles were coming. Satisfied with
his safety, he started his engine and crossed over to the other side of the
road and sped off. The youngster was careful – and yet he wasn’t. Surely the
middle of the intersection is not the best position from which to scan for oncoming
vehicles! What about crossing over to the other side?
This youngster’s
behavior provides a kind of metaphor for the purpose of the review session we
had for our management meeting yesterday. When on the road of life, we ought to
be thoughtful about what we are doing which was clearly shown through some of
the presentations. Many departments highlighted thinking as important part of
learning – good thinking I might add enhanced learning. For example, we ought
to manage students’ study skills and strive to enable thinking (creative
thinking was common) of our students. Yet if good thinking is to help us out in
life, it has to go on the road with us – a journey which I believe must start early
when schooling. The trouble is, good thinking often gets left behind
altogether, or it is exercised in flawed ways and so does not do quite the
right job – like not implementing reviews and sharing during departmental meeting,
as this youngster has shown.
How can then we
encourage ourselves and others of our charge – teachers and particularly our
students – to take good thinking on the road when we are not thoughtful ourselves?
Learning and leading in thinking, is a task I believe all teachers are already
doing it in their classrooms (using tools such as mindmap, star method: 5W +
1H, SCAMPER and following structures such as the Bloom’s taxonomy, UbD) – is the
answer to the challenge. The idea from many experts is that thinking should be
like brushing our teeth – a habit. Habits are not behaviors we just pick up arbitrary.
Instead, they are behaviors that we exhibit consistently on appropriate times,
and they are triggered unconsciously as a response without painstaking
attention.
Thinking is routine,
but good thinking is not. The youngster who looks for vehicles from the middle
of the intersection is a good example. Some may ask: Can one have good thinking
that truly works? I believe strongly in it. Why? I see the difference in thinking
and good thinking. Thinking involves using our mental capability, which
everyone is capable of doing but good thinking requires management of our
mental capability and more importantly involves mental process so as to enable
the appropriate behavior.
In all fairness,
the youngster in the convertible displayed good thinking too. It was good that
he looked both ways with care. No doubt his scan of the road was precise and sensitive.
The issue was that his thinking included a bug, like a bug in a computer
program. Although his thinking had a thoughtful phrase (carefully looking out
for vehicles, slowing down his vehicle when approaching the junction), he was
not thoughtful about his behavior (choosing the point where to look out for
vehicles, speeding off to the other side of the road).
So, the idea of
good thinking versus thinking is not contradictory. Good thinking requires
management and such processes can be taught in our classrooms and can be
managed well by the students… To be continued.
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