Critical Thinking: English 12 THY World Literatures

The purpose of this site is to provide my students with an audio download of my classroom lectures as soon as the students have reached home. The students can then listen to them on the same day they were delivered.

These classroom lectures have been recorded live in order to walk the student step-by-step through the course s/he is enrolled in. They are also meant to help supplement, focus, and organize the student’s efforts in reviewing for the final examination. Although these audio lectures are not meant to substitute for the classroom experience itself, which cannot be replaced even in an on-line age like ours, they are made available here to help maximize the student’s learning experience in an efficient, time-saving way.

I have tried my best to record these lectures in such a way that when listening to the audio, the student will feel like I’m right there with him in the study room. I am confident this will help the student concentrate better.

I am also providing an MS-Word file of every course I am teaching this semester, and the student may choose to download it. The MS-Word file buttresses the lessons with extensive added materials like glossaries, biographies, bibliographies, links to related websites, as well as suggestions for further study. The student may find it beneficial if she read the particular lesson while listening to the audio lecture at the same time. In this manner, two senses—sight and hearing—are maximized.

Among the benefits you may find in this strategy are the following:

A better focus.

A more organized and time-saving review.

The freedom to study anywhere and at any time. (You may choose to transfer the audio lectures to your mp3 player and play it while on the jogging lane, while travelling, while waiting your turn at an office, etc.)

A word about Critical Thinking, and why it is the banner of our site:

Critical thinking is not about “criticizing” other people. Nor is it about passing judgment on anybody. My premise is that we all make mistakes and we appreciate it when someone helps us see them. We appreciate it if someone on the highway, for example, points out that our car has a flat tire. In that sense. Likewise, we appreciate it if someone tells us that our theory or claim is unfounded. Your friend will not be doing you a favor if s/he told you your theory is brilliant when in fact s/he thinks it is actually rotten. Critical thinking is about learning and understanding; it is about helping each other, not about winning or putting down somebody else and coming out on top.

Why do we make mistakes? Because we are human, and as humans we are prone to misjudgment, to oversight, to ignorance, and in my case, to stupidity. It’s a safe bet that the majority of other human beings do not have a right view of things as they are. Failing to understand things as they are is no crime. The problem arises when people with un-theorized and mal-informed opinions poorly thought out, people full of dead theory sanctified by time and naturalized by indolence, people who are jaundiced, bigoted, biased and naive, act on those opinions.

College education addresses these problems and hopes to remedy them. College thinking IS critical thinking. In college, learning is reached through right reason and proper investigation, not through authority. We find out for ourselves whether or not a thing is true on the basis of evidence supported by right reason.

Although I have crafted this project to serve my students, first and foremost, I have designed it in such a way that anybody may hop in and join the fun. I believe in education for all. Like Professor Louis Markos of Houston Baptist University, I believe that “knowledge must not be walled up in the academy, but must be freely and enthusiastically disseminated to all those ‘who have ears to hear.’” Learning is fun. We should not say “I am going to study.” Instead, we should say “I am going to have fun!”

So hop right in.

Your friend,

Carlos Aureus
coaureus@yahoo.com

Critical Thinking

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Sunday, March 14, 2010

English 12 THY World Literatures

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