Teaching Critical Thinking: Practical Wisdom

Conversation is key to critical thinking. As an educator, hooks quickly learned that her students retain little of what she presents in a lecture. Most of what they retain comes from the rich conversations they have with their peers: “Talking with teachers and students about how and when the most ecstatic moments of learning occur, I hear again and again the primacy of conversation” (44). This shifts them from passive consumers to active participants in learning. Conversation-based models of education give room for all voices to be heard and work well in classes in which the students are diverse. Many educators worry about discussions in class veering too far away from assigned material, but conversations lead to deeper understanding of content. It is important that these conversations are positive and affirming because conflict-based conversations impede learning. These negative conversations lead to students trying to win an argument rather than participate in an exchange of ideas.

When hooks first started teaching, she was hesitant to incorporate stories into her instruction. She had internalized the belief that stories were less intellectual than hard facts and that using stories to flesh out ideas was unscientific. hooks asserts that stories are an important part of the process of building community in a classroom. An individual’s story always lacks absolute truth, but it provides information about personal perspective. Sharing stories is a form of soul retrieval and leads to healing. hooks’s students are more engaged in one another’s stories than they are in lecture, and active listening helps build a community of critical thinking: “It is a ritual of communion that opens our minds and hearts” (52).

Humans are in constant conflict between the parts of themselves that want to be well and the parts of them that are damaged. hooks suggests that the winning self is determined by how much the individual feeds either side. Stories help people feed the side that wants to be well by opening the mind.

hooks credits the feminist movement for increasing the emphasis placed on the value of personal experience in education. Educators who are critical of the incorporation of stories in the classroom believe that the practice decreases academic and intellectual rigor. Others worry that students may speak about topics or concerns that the teacher cannot address in the classroom. However, hooks asserts that stories are a powerful tool for building community and knowledge. Students are more diverse than ever, and stories help them to bridge gaps in understanding.

Asking students to write a short paragraph and then share what they have written is an uncomplicated way for teachers to give students a voice. The teacher, too, should be vulnerable and participate in story sharing. Doing so helps to alleviate some of the unequal power distribution between educators and students.

Teachers in higher education rarely talk about imagination and the role it plays in learning. Children engage their imaginations often through art and play, but older students are often required to conform to ways of thinking presented by dominator culture: “The killing off of the imagination serves as a way to repress and contain everyone within the limits of the status quo” (60). hooks suggests that this is an example of how dominator culture engages in the colonization of the mind. Imagination is a form of resistance: Oppressed individuals utilize imagination to engage with personal power and to consider different possibilities and futures. Teachers can encourage students to use their imaginations by continuously seeking new strategies to engage students and providing them with tasks that allow them to experience their work in a variety of ways. 

hooks asserts that education is moving away from lecture-style presentation. In her own teaching, she thinks of the lecture as a kind of appetizer. Authentic learning takes place after the lecture when participants can exchange ideas through dialogue. She acknowledges that many teachers feel nervous about this portion of the lesson. The unstructured time may present educators with questions for which they feel unprepared. However, learning is mutual and requires participation from everyone. The pressure is not on the educator alone to discover answers.

Lecture-style presentation encourages listeners to become passive. They do not need to participate in the learning or thinking, and they often lose engagement after a mere 20 minutes. Educators who depend on lengthy speeches are usually motivated by either a desire to show off their knowledge or fear and anxiety. hooks manages her time by preparing notes and keeping them in front of her while speaking. She also emphasizes the importance of not allowing students or listeners to monopolize time. When the learning is shared, it is more likely to be retained and to have more meaning.