Continuing to utilize critical thinking in relation to entrepreneurship, Bobby spent time on Habit 1 of the Covey system of Seven Habits: proactivity. We talked about the PURPOSE of this "habit" and how it will be vital in his company and in maintaining an effective team. Bobby took notes as we reasoned through this in his dedicated CT notebook. We watched a short film from the Covey website on proactivity and the circle of influence where you focus energy on things you can change for the better, rather than on the outer circle of things you can do nothing about -- so as not to waste time or take energy from what you can do. He learned that proactivity includes "resourcefulness" -- identified this as a "concept" (element of CT), and found a clear definition. The purpose of this ability to find quick and clever solutions to problems is to bring this into his circle of influence where it will make the most difference. Secondly, this habit includes "initiative." We discussed this concept in depth and decided to think of it as taking steps first before others begin to work on something -- it is to move quickly with resourcefulness. The purpose of all of this is to overcome barriers or obstructions, and change the paradigm (new word he learned) of team members who may be voicing negativity or an "it can't be done" attitude to one of vision and how things should be.
Bobby met with me by Skype. We first reviewed items from the past two weeks since beginning to use critical thinking with the Covey materials in preparation for his business career. Then we went to the app we both have to complete his "mission statement." There are ten very thought provoking questions that took two sessions to think out and answer fully and fairly. His mission statement is being generated via the app and will be written on the whiteboard. Next week will be session one on Leadership -- leading a team with 'highly effective habits.'
We began today by reviewing the critical thinking intellectual traits on the whiteboard. Then we erased the right column containing opposites that we had used to further clarify the meanings, and instead drew the chart for the eight elements of critical thinking. Charlie could fill in about half of the chart without prompting. By questioning and hints, he completed writing all eight elements. Then we picked up on the film (Lone Ranger) that we are using to identify the traits and elements in action, and to ask questions about character and plot.
Charlie added four intellectual traits to his list from last week. To use these for character analysis, problem solving, and for recognition of these things in simulated situations, we continued watching some of the remake film of "The Lone Ranger". This keeps Charlie's attention and my insistence on intellectual, academic work and thinking is effective because it is tied to the film and to get back to watching! He has learned to use a thesaurus to get antonyms as we list the opposite characteristics to the intellectual traits. When a character displays an opposite -- such as fearfulness and withdrawal from a challenge -- Charlie can point out lack of intellectual courage. We discussed the inferences, motives, and feelings of characters, their interactions, and the reasons behind their words, actions, and decisions. Charlie is excellent at predicting possible outcomes.
Kate and I launched into some close reading with an eye on descriptive writing using the first chapter of The Hobbit. She learned four new intellectual traits and assigned these to the three characters that were presented, reasoning from the evidence, situation, and dialogue. She identified lack of these traits as well as their presence. Today Kate added the traits of intellectual humility, fairmindedness, intellectual curiosity, and intellectual courage.
Elle had class on Skype with me today. I posed several questions that I reinforced by typing them on the Skype chat. We discussed the responses, and I illustrated critical thinking moves in possible answers. Elle typed the responses. Doing this type of Q&A with discussion culminated in talking about possible career choices Elle could explore. Her high energy became evident when the focus turned to makeup, she even showed me her very organized collection. Then we began to research various careers available to makeup artists. She chose one that is most appealing at the moment, and we began some research on it.
Bobby began working with Stephen Covey's Seven Habits for Highly Effective People today. We are using critical thinking skills that were learned the first semester to work through this comprehensive leadership program online, and we have the app on our cell phones. Bobby explored the concepts (terminology) concerning people who work for a company -- should you call them employees or a "team"(connotation and response). He decided "team" was best -- like a basketball team, and when he is the boss, he is more like the coach that they love and respect. He will learn the seven habits and impart them to his team. On the app, Bobby is working through creating his "mission statement," thinking deeply about the questions posed, such as, "I am my best when..."and for homework: "If time and resources were unlimited, what would you do?" We reviewed the seven habits and wrote them in a list to be taken up over the next seven weeks with critical thinking as the basis to deeply thinking everything through. This is great leadership training.
Elle has not yet completed her book, The Red Queen. We had a reading session sprinkled with critical thinking questions and comprehension inquiries. We discussed the characters and their relationships to one another, and how these relationships, as in real life, become quite complex.
Today we worked on four of the intellectual traits in critical thinking: intellectual curiosity, fairmindedness, intellectual humility, and confidence in reason. These are written on the whiteboard. In the column next to this list, Charlie found antonyms to each, opposites that help clarify what the terms mean. After we worked through this, Charlie set up a paper in MLA format and prepared to write four sentences to illustrate the Intellectual Traits. For content we watched about ten minutes of a movie and Charlie was able to identify curiosity, the opposite of humility (pride) in one of the characters, humility, and confidence. He wrote four sentences in a list on his MLA prepared paper.
Building on last week's session on concepts in critical thinking, and as a review of narrative writing, Kate and I built two fictional characters. We discussed how individuals may be primarily good or mostly bad, so that to create a believable character there needed to be a mixture of the negative and positive concepts that we had written all over the board last week. After building the characters we reviewed the narrative graph and labeled it. This was a guide to write a story and build in action for the characters using logic, problem-solving, and thought to implications and consequences of the character's decisions. Kate crafted the story, we typed it up in MLA format, and it is on the board in her room!
