Unit 3

This is my response to Rob Tegelberg’s Rank-Talk-Write Activity on Kathleen A. Cahalan’s Integrative Knowing and Practical Wisdom. 

Hi Rob, your summary and points on this Kathleen Cahalan’s article is very insightful. I really appreciated the discussion of critical thinking in leadership in this article. When I was doing research on this critical thinking for this week’s assignment and learning activity, I found it difficult to find articles that related critical directly to leadership so I am so happy to be able to read this article. Thanks for posting the link to it!

Point 6, “To be a successful leader, one must be strong enough in one’s sense of self that one can recognize others are better suited to certain tasks” (Cahalan as cited by Tegelberg, 2017) really spoke to me. As someone who generally likes to be in control of a situation, it is often hard for me to let go and allow someone else to step in. I did not consider this poor critical thinking before but I can definitely see the connection now since critical thinking is processing and analyzing situations fairly and without bias – even when it comes to evaluating your own abilities! This related to what Northouse (2016) is describing when he states that servant leaders have an awareness that “includes understanding oneself and the impact one has on others” and that servant leaders need to be able to “step aside and view themselves and their own perspectives in the greater context of the situation” (p. 228).

References

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Tegelberg, R. (2017, October 14). Unit 3 Activity 2: Rank-Talk-Write. Retried from https://create.twu.ca/robtegelberg/2017/10/14/unit-3-activity-2-rank-talk-write/

This is my response to Tim deHaan’s Rank-Talk-Write Activity on Integrity: The Courage to Meet the Demands of Reality, by Dr. Henry Cloud

Tim, thank you for your summary of Dr. Henry Cloud’s book Integrity: The Courage to Meet the Demands of Reality. Your summary paragraph was very clear and your points were succinct and informative. I know that it is the format of the assignment to list the points first and then the summary, but I found it much easier to first understand the summary of the book, and then to go back and review the important points.

I have always regarded integrity as a characteristic that affect our choices and actions in life, but I have never thought about it in such depth as to break it down into the six defining characteristics (Cloud as cited by deHaan, 2017). Breaking it down into separate, applicable steps and processes definitely makes living with integrity more approachable. The points in the book seem to describe living with integrity as a lifelong learning process rather than as a goal to be accomplished.

Thank you for your insightful post!

References

deHaan, R. (2017, October 9). Read-Rank-Write-Integrity (Dr. Henry Cloud) Un3-LA2-BP1. Retrieved from https://create.twu.ca/nocontest/2017/10/09/rank-tank-write-integrity-dr-henry-cloud-un3-la2-bp1/

Critical Thinking: What It Is and Why It Counts by Peter A. Facione

Here are the summary points that I collected for this article. They are listed in order of importance according to me:

1. Critical thinking consists of 2 aspects: cognitive skills and disposition (Facione, 2011, p. 5).
2. Core of critical thinking is interpretation, analysis, evaluation, inference, explanation, and self-regulation (Facione, 2011, p. 5).
3. The ideal critical thinker not only has strong cognitive skills, but also has an inquisitive and fair-minded nature (Facione, 2011, p. 11).
4. Strong critical thinking is separate from ethical or moral beliefs because the commitment is to seek the truth with objectivity, integrity, and fair-mindedness (Facione, 2011, p. 14).
5. Critical thinking is just one part of “good thinking”. Other aspects of good thinking include creative or innovative thinking, meditative thinking, instinctive thinking, and kinetic thinking (Facione, 2011, p. 14).
6. Critical thinking is essential for societal progress and human development (Facione, 2011, p. 23).
7. Self-regulation is consciously monitoring one’s cognitive activities and to evaluate one’s own biases or judgements when forming a view in an argument or perspective (Facione, 2011, p. 7).
8. Explanation is being able to present the results of one’s reasoning in a clear and logical way. This means being able to support your reasoning with logical arguments (Facione, 2011, p. 6).
9. Evaluation is finding the credibility of statements or representations made by someone based on their perception, experience, or belief. It is to evaluate the legitimacy of the rationale behind the different statements. (Facione, 2011, p. 6).
10. Interpretation is to understand and express the meaning or importance of a variety of experiences, situations, rules, beliefs, etc. Interpretation also includes being able to categorize, find significance, and clarify meaning of different situations or criteria (Facione, 2011, p. 5).
11. Analysis is to examine ideas, find arguments, and analyze arguments. Analysis is finding the connection and relationship between different statements or descriptions used to express beliefs, judgements, or opinions. (Facione, 2011, p. 5).
12. Inference is to draw reasonable conclusions based on the different pieces of information collected (Facione, 2011, p. 6).
13. Critical thinking is a pervasive and purposeful human phenomenon (Facione, 2011, p. 10).
14. Integrative model of human decision-making indicates there are 2 systems at work. System 1 is quick and intuitive while system 2 is a more reflective system based on planning and reasoning. Both systems work together during every decision but one will overpower the other depending on the situation (Facione, 2011, p. 16).
15. Critical thinking is essential for liberal education, which is learning to learn (Facione, 2011, p. 22).

In his article, Peter Facione (2011) discusses the thinking and decision-making processes of the human mind while focusing on critical thinking. Facione (2011) discusses the findings and results of a study done by a panel of experts that included forty-six professionals from the United States and Canada (p. 8). The experts, as discussed by Facione (2011), concluded that critical thinking is made up of two aspects – cognitive skills and individual disposition (p. 5). The cognitive skills needed for critical thinking are interpretation, analysis, evaluation, inference, explanation, and self-regulation (Facione, 2011, p. 5). However, a person’s disposition and attitude towards thinking is just as integral to the critical thinking process as their cognitive skills. Facione (2011) discusses the importance of a critical thinker to be inquisitive, fair, honest, and flexible in their thinking (p. 11).

In the second half of his article, Facione (2011) analyzes critical thinking as just a part of the thinking processes of the human mind. He mentions other types of thinking processes such as creative thinking, kinetic thinking, instinctive thinking, and meditative thinking (Facione, 2011, p. 14). He also discusses an integrative model of human decision-making where there is an instinctive and reactive system that works together with a reflective and computational system (Facione, 2011, p. 16). Facione (2011) ends the article with a short discussion on why critical thinking is imperative for human development and societal growth (p. 23).

References

Facione, P. A. (2011). Critical Thinking: What It Is and Why It Counts. Insight Assessment. Retrieved from https://www.insightassessment.com/Resources/Importance-of-Critical-Thinking/Critical-Thinking-What-It-Is-and-Why-It-Counts/