IN CLASS
CRITICAL THINKING GUIDES:
For full credit, your Guides should be completed before the class for which they
are assigned. In class, you will be allowed to make changes in your Question and
Argumentation Guides for 80% credit, but they must be made in a different color ink.
The purpose of this exercise is to teach you to use class time to refine and synthesize
the critical questions and arguments you construct before coming to class and to discover
new ones. You will learn very little if you do not think actively about what you
read and hear. I will collect the guides at the end of class. When possible, I
will grade one selected question. When not, I will simply check off that you have
seriously done the assignment.
TAKING NOTES:
Taking notes in class is essential to learning from a university course. In class,
professors add comments that are not in textbooks, explain reading material, and focus in
on what they believe to be important. Student discussion adds understanding to the
material. The notes you take and the thought you give to to synthesizing these
notes enable you to think out in your own words what the class is about and focus in on
what you believe to be important for you and your future.
Taking notes in class is also essential to succeeding in a university course. Besides deciding what material is valuable to you, you can then use these notes to decide what material the professor will focus on in his or her exams and what he or she believes you should focus on in your papers.
To take good notes you must decide as you are listening which comments are most significant to the topic. In other words, you must identify the most important conclusions and the most significant reasons given in support of these conclusions.
It is not easy to decide which conclusions and reasons are most important at the same time as one is listening to someone else. Consequently, it is critical to review your notes soon after class, preferably on the same day when your memory is fresh. If you underline and rethink the conclusions and reasons that you believe to be most important in these notes, or add comments that explain your notes, you will be better able to profit from the class and better prepared for exams and papers.
Your goal in a class is to decide what conclusions and reasons are most important to
you. You can make this decision only rationally, not emotionally. Most of our
opinions are emotional and are borrowed from others (friends, parents, people we admire,
the media, etc.). It makes us feel secure to tell ourselves that what the people we
admire say is right. But we can judge whether our borrowed opinions are important to
our lives only if we judge them ourselves rationally and critically and if we open up to
new ideas.
ATTENDANCE AND PARTICIPATION:
Regular attendance is essential for success in this or any class. Some professors
require and grade attendance. I grade participation because I feel that your effort
to participate will encourage you to raise questions about your arguments and to seek to
improve your ability to make better arguments. I also think that it will prepare you
to participate responsibly in society.
You will receive a daily grade of 5 (complete credit) if you arrive on time, participate intelligently in the class discussion, and show that you are well informed (by having done the required assignments well). You will receive 0 if you are absent or disruptive, 1 point for placing your body in a chair and leaving it there for the entire class, and more points for: taking notes, raising your hand, expressing conclusions that are relevant to the assignments and subject matter, expressing good conclusions, giving thoughtful reasons, etc.
A minimum of courtesy means that students arrive to class on time. Most
professors are upset if students dribble in after the hour begins, although we generally
understand that, from time to time, a student might be unable to avoid arriving
late. If you do arrive late to a small class like ours, you should do so quietly
(without disturbing the class) and explain your lateness to the professor at the end of
the class.
GUIDELINES FOR DISCUSSION IN AND OUTSIDE OF GROUPS:
In the university as in everyday life, critical thinking and making good
arguments are both a right and a responsibility: ISU
Constitution: Student Rights and Responsibilities. In a university,
Academic Freedom gives you the right to voice your opinions in class, no matter what they
may be, if they are relevant to the subject matter and if you do not do so in a disruptive
manner. The First Amendment gives you similar rights if you are speaking on issues
of public interest outside as well as inside the classroom. It presupposes that you
will exercise this right in a manner that respects the rights of others.
Critical thinking and good argumentation are also responsibilities. According to the ISU Constitution, you have a responsibility as an ISU student to participate in class, and it is assumed by most professors that you will do so by means of critical thinking and rational arguments that are supported by good reasons. I would argue that you have an ethical responsibility to participate in the government of society on all levels through the critical evaluation of the arguments made by others (business, the media, politicians, etc.) and the construction of rationally justifiable arguments about the social, economic, and political life in which you participate.
In class, I will encourage and expect you to express your opinions, but I will also expect you to recognize that your opinions are conclusions, to provide rational and justifiable reasons for your conclusions, and to strengthen your conclusions and reasons by treating them critically, rather than emotionally.
You will be encouraged to formulate the fundamental questions to which good arguments respond in order to better understand the issues, improve your arguments, and help others improve theirs.
To make an argument for one's conclusions (opinions) does not mean that we have an
argument with someone; rather, it means that we provide thoughtful reasons and evidence
for our conclusions in a courteous manner and without interfering with the
opportunity of other students to pursue their education.
To think critically about the conclusions of others or about our own conclusions does not
mean that we criticize others or ourselves; rather, it means that we pose thoughtful
questions about these conclusions or suggest plausible alternative conclusions.
Ideally, questions and alternative conclusions are means of helping others improve their
arguments and understanding of issues.
If questions and alternatives do constitute a criticism of someone else's ideas, they are
not criticisms of that person. Respectful dialogue requires us to respect the other
person's ability and freedom to think differently than we do.
Respectful and critical dialogue require us to accept that, although we may make a good argument, it is rarely the only good argument, and that we can learn from the alternative arguments and questions of those around us. There is generally more than one good conclusion about a particular topic, but all conclusions are not equally valid.
Also see:
Rights and limits of Academic Freedom.
ISU Constitution: Faculty Rights and
Responsibilities
Class Expectations: Engagement, Respect,
Responsibility, Resourcefulness, Responsiveness
GOOD CONCLUSIONS ARE SUPPORTED BY GOOD REASONING AND GOOD EVIDENCE.
GOOD ARGUMENTS TAKE INTO ACCOUNT ALTERNATIVE CONCLUSIONS AND THE GENERAL QUESTIONS TO WHICH THESE CONCLUSIONS RESPOND