CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF MY CRITICAL THINKING DEVELOPMENT

Taylan Hayes

I remember in school, whenever there was any sort of critical thinking portion of an
assignment or activity, I always felt resistant and unenthused to participate. I now understand
that I felt that way because I knew it was not a skill I had easily developed; therefore, it was not
something I was exceptionally good at. Since I believed I was not any good at thinking critically,
I constantly shied away, shut down, and disengaged because I was not used to not being good at
something, especially in school. My first reaction to deep thinking was to separate myself from
the thing that was interfering with my confidence in my intelligence, therefore I never pushed
myself to develop the ability to think beyond that first level of thinking. I was trained by the
education system to do what was required of me to complete the course work and get the A. But
critical thinking was like producing your own thoughts, and I simply had not been taught how to
cultivate the capacity to think about and question things on my own; fact was fact, and I merely
had to meet the requirements asked of me.
Looking at two of my reflections from the semester, I am recognizing that the two differ
greatly in that one falls short, lacking that critical analysis piece within the observations of what I
saw, liked, and did not like. I also recognize that even my better reflection could have gone
deeper and been much more thorough. In retrospect, knowing what I know now about critical
analysis, synthesis, reflection, and seeing the bigger picture, I am increasingly aware of my
surface level thinking of what I thought it meant to reflect on an assignment or an experience.
While I am appreciative for the great deal of learning and progress I have made on the concept of
reflection and analysis, I wish I could go back to those different reflections and think a bit more
critically on my experiences and observations and make more in depth big picture connections to
our overall learning goals for the semester. Furthermore, I would like to circle back to the
momentous realization I had whilst doing this analysis. The whole concept of thinking critically
is something I have struggled with since I was in elementary school. I could clearly identify steps
and processes to get to the big picture, but I have always wrestled with the “why?”. My inability
to recognize and identify thought-provoking questions that came from genuine curiosity and
wondering followed me throughout my years as a student to present day. However, through all
the time spent in Ed Block being stimulated by my professors and listening to my peers, I can
confidently say that I have progressed significantly in my capacity to think critically beyond the
obvious surface level view or observation.

This reflection was

from around the
middle of the
semester when Billy
Miller came to talk
to our class about
inclusive education. I
am delighted to see
the deeper questions
here in my reflection,
demonstrating my
growth and transition
from a student lens to an educator lens in which to view education. I am noticing specifically the
language used here that demonstrates the lens switch as I am not focused on my education and
how I am affected, I am questioning and thinking about the education I have to offer to students
and how I can affect them in the most inclusive and positive way. I believe that this was one of
my better reflections from the semester because it embodied many of the tough topics we were
grappling with all semester. I was making big picture connections to exterior knowledge and
thinking in terms of the future. And the wonderful think about critical thinking and questioning is
that you can keep going and going. Thoughts lead to questions and questions lead to more
questions and you can answer those questions to spawn new thoughts and wonderings and
solutions!

Next, I went into my

internship with all these
concepts and theories from Ed
Block for progressive
teaching which was great in
terms of pushing the
boundaries of a classroom.
However, the dangers of
wearing this single lens of
reformed education were that
I went in thinking that was the
only way a classroom should
be led. I became very critical
of the traditional methods my
placement teacher was
practicing, not realizing that
they were not necessarily
wrong practice. This singular
lens acted as blinders for all
the good that more traditional
practices bring. While
analyzing my week 1
reflection of my internship,
through the language and
phrasing I used and my
negative feedback on my
placement teacher’s
methodologies, my
progressive blinders are
clearly notable. My reflection appears to be based on negativity and all things I was not fond of
in the classroom. Rarely did my reflection go beyond that surface level complaining, for lack of a
better word, into a deeper analysis of the “why?” or “what impact is this practice having on the
classroom/students?
 The sequence of synthesis and reflection that I noticed was that I started off with a
general practice of my knowledge of a reflection; general, what you noticed, what you liked or
didn’t like, et cetera. Subsequently, with the first reflection I chose to include, I can tell I am
beginning to understand what it means to reflect in a meaningful and intentional way. I am
asking questions and being okay with the fact that I might not be able to answer them right away.
Before, I would have an answer and formulate a question to coincide with the premeditated
answer. Now, I am content with leaving questions unanswered for now to discover the answers
later. Then, with my most recent reflection, it gave the impression that I had regressed in my
ability to purposefully analyze my experiences and observations. I am confident that this
regression had much to do with the progressive tunnel vision I entered my internship with. I was
being exposed to real world experiences and examples after being immersed in a completely
different environment of open-minded, progressive education; so, it took me a week or so to
adjust and recognize the value within aspects of a more traditional style of teaching. Through
that moment of seeming regression, I feel that I still learned a great deal from the experience
because of the experience I am currently having; reflecting on it and critically analyzing the
“why?” honestly and effectively. These critical skills I have obtained through just one semester
in Ed Block have enabled me to make up for all those years of educational development I lacked
growing up.