For several years in our house, I would often respond, “Don’t make me do your thinking for you!” when one of my children would ask for help in making a decision. IEW’s theme for this year is How to Think. Defining thinking is the first step in contemplating this theme. In “How to Think” Andrew Pudewa defines thinking as “getting stuff out of your brain” through asking and answering questions. The Oxford American Dictionary offers this definition: “to direct one's mind toward someone or something; use one's mind actively to form connected ideas.” Thinking could be defined as simply having a conversation with oneself.
In order to have a conversation with oneself or others, words are needed. In a recent podcast, Andrew Pudewa addresses the connection between thinking and language. The most basic unit of thought is a word. While a picture may be worth a thousand words, most human communication takes place through written and spoken language. The more students furnish their minds with words through reading, listening, and memorizing, the more they will be able to reflect deeply. Through listening and reading, students build understanding of words in context, such as the difference between the meaning of snow as a verb, snow as a noun, or snowed under as a metaphor for being overwhelmed. They hear new words and discern their meanings through the context of the passage. Even in math, students explain problem-solving processes in words, not just numbers. In addition to a strong vocabulary, students must understand how language works (grammar) and how words are pieced together to form phrases and clauses, which then construct sentences and paragraphs. This provides a foundation for comparing ideas. Language and thinking go hand in hand.
At IEW, our logo has the words “Listen. Speak. Read. Write. THINK!” emblazoned across it. Why is How to Think the theme for this year? After all, this is the Institute for Excellence in Writing. To answer the question, Andrew points out in “Writing Maketh an Exact Man” that writing forces us to think, “to sort through the mishmash of notions that continuously storm in and out of our minds and to prioritize those thoughts which are worth our serious attention.” This is timely because educators are grappling with the explosive growth of artificial intelligence and how it impacts their instruction and their students’ learning. In requiring students to write, the goal is not to simply generate a group of words about a topic and arrange them in a readable way. AI could easily gather and present facts about who was the greatest leader. However, when students are forced to locate, evaluate, and arrange information, that process strengthens their critical thinking skills, and that information becomes a part of them, adding to the inventory of ideas in their brains.
While critical thinking skills are required in all subject areas, the foundational subject areas for practicing these skills are the language arts: listening and then evaluating what is heard, reading and reflecting on what is written and how it is written, sorting through ideas and determining the best way to communicate them. In all these ways, students can learn and cultivate thinking skills.
by Danielle Olander
