Fall 2010 Critical Thinking First Field Notes
Post Field Observations Here:
Contents
- 1 Mark Alfino
- 2 Jeff
- 3 Yesterday, my friends and I were having a conversation about movies. One of my friends announced that he liked the movie Up. I then agreed with him but added that I thought the movie was really sad. He asked "why" which turned our conversation into a reflective situation. I then made the claim that Up was a sad movie because the little old lady (who shares the same name as me) dies in the beginning. He critically responded with his point of view, which was the complete opposite of mine. He thought that that part of the movie was extremely boring. As the conversation ended we both came to an agreement that the beginning of the movie isn't very good and it's a good idea to skip that part altogether when watching the movie.
- 4 Ellie Toscan
- 5 Ian Bickel
- 6 Yesterday as I was on the phone with my dad, the subject of buying a new phone came up. In this conversation, I gave my explanation as to why I needed to buy the Droid 2. By stating that my phone's vibrate mode does not work and that it duplicates texts, I transformed our phone call into a reflexive situation. He quickly turned this conversation into an argument when he asked me why I could not simply wait until my phone plan was up to get a new one. At this point in the conversation, it was clear that we had two clashing opinions on the topic of buying a new phone. Unfortunately for me, I was not fast enough to reply to what he had stated because I was using my critical thinking skills to come up with a well thought out response. Also, I had to keep in mind that my choice of words was crucial while talking with my dad being that he grew up in a poor neighborhood in Chicago. He knows the true value of a dollar and of hard work. His past experiences as well as the social norms that he abides to effects the way that he thinks leaving me with very few options to win my side of the argument. I was not able to get out one legitimate rationale to end the argument before my dad said, "deal with what you have, end of story." Although I was not able to immediately buy a new Droid 2, we agreed upon buying one for me as soon as my plan is up.
- 7 Megan Sewright
- 8 Today my roomate and I got into a discussion over the pattern of arm chairs we were planning on ordering. The discussion became heated and I know this would be a reflective situation. There were two different patterns; a grey and purple floral pattern and a red and yellow floral pattern. My roomate said, "We should get the red and yellow pattern because it is way cuter!" I new that was true but I knew purple and grey would just look better in our room. I said, "I agree that when standing alone the red and yellow chair is cuter but in the long run I believe the purple and grey pattern is going to look better." My roomate gave me a crazy look and asked why. I just said, "Well most of our room is cool colored themes, and we have a purple rug that matches the purple in the chair. Also I think the purple chairs will just be more aesthetically pleasing." We decided my points were much more valid and decided to order the purple and grey floral patterned chairs.
- 9 This morning my friends Joe and Jon were talking about how awesome the John Mayer concert was that they went to a week ago and I let it slip that I hated John Mayer. You would've thought they were staring into the eyes of pure evil when they both looked at me and shouted, "Why?" I simply told them, "I believe that his obnoxious personality outweighs his musical talent. His music really only consists of a vast variety of different pretentious sounds mixed with pointless lyrics." They completely disagreed but at least I said my personal views.
- 10 Gordon Warlaumont
- 11 Gordon Warlaumont
- 12 Gabriel Sedberry
- 13 Yesterday my wife and I were packing our storage unit. I was stacking boxes in a certain manner and my wife had an idea for a better way to do it. The job was almost done but I stopped to listen to her thoughts on how best to arrange the boxes and after a series of inquiries from me and explanations from her I realized that her argument was sound and I decided to rearrange the boxes.
- 14 Yesterday I had to arrange a meeting with someone and needed to decide before calling this person back when it would be best for me to meet them. In my mind I ran through the various options before me, thought through the pros and cons of each approach, and eventually came to a conclusion on a meeting time that seemed to be supported by the best rationale.
- 15 Kelly Kim
- 16 Lauren Hajnos
Mark Alfino
Jeff
Today my roomate asked why I liked the show Entourage so much, after seeing that I had the entire show on DVD. I realized right away that this would be a definite "reflective situation" in my day. I then thought about the five disciplines of thought and tried to go over them in my head. Although I wasn't totally succesful doing this, I was able to remember some of the disciplines. My personal "voice" has always been natural to me, so I found it very easy to tell him that the reason why I love Entourage so much is because it is extremely funny, very entertainiing, contains great characters, as well as having extremely great writers. I expected a response from him, remembering how important it is to respect and understand others' "critical responses" and personal "views." We were able to agree that he could watch the show at some point, seeing as how we respected each others views.
Ellie Toscan
Ian Bickel
Yesterday as I was on the phone with my dad, the subject of buying a new phone came up. In this conversation, I gave my explanation as to why I needed to buy the Droid 2. By stating that my phone's vibrate mode does not work and that it duplicates texts, I transformed our phone call into a reflexive situation. He quickly turned this conversation into an argument when he asked me why I could not simply wait until my phone plan was up to get a new one. At this point in the conversation, it was clear that we had two clashing opinions on the topic of buying a new phone. Unfortunately for me, I was not fast enough to reply to what he had stated because I was using my critical thinking skills to come up with a well thought out response. Also, I had to keep in mind that my choice of words was crucial while talking with my dad being that he grew up in a poor neighborhood in Chicago. He knows the true value of a dollar and of hard work. His past experiences as well as the social norms that he abides to effects the way that he thinks leaving me with very few options to win my side of the argument. I was not able to get out one legitimate rationale to end the argument before my dad said, "deal with what you have, end of story." Although I was not able to immediately buy a new Droid 2, we agreed upon buying one for me as soon as my plan is up.
Megan Sewright
Today my roomate and I got into a discussion over the pattern of arm chairs we were planning on ordering. The discussion became heated and I know this would be a reflective situation. There were two different patterns; a grey and purple floral pattern and a red and yellow floral pattern. My roomate said, "We should get the red and yellow pattern because it is way cuter!" I new that was true but I knew purple and grey would just look better in our room. I said, "I agree that when standing alone the red and yellow chair is cuter but in the long run I believe the purple and grey pattern is going to look better." My roomate gave me a crazy look and asked why. I just said, "Well most of our room is cool colored themes, and we have a purple rug that matches the purple in the chair. Also I think the purple chairs will just be more aesthetically pleasing." We decided my points were much more valid and decided to order the purple and grey floral patterned chairs.
This morning my friends Joe and Jon were talking about how awesome the John Mayer concert was that they went to a week ago and I let it slip that I hated John Mayer. You would've thought they were staring into the eyes of pure evil when they both looked at me and shouted, "Why?" I simply told them, "I believe that his obnoxious personality outweighs his musical talent. His music really only consists of a vast variety of different pretentious sounds mixed with pointless lyrics." They completely disagreed but at least I said my personal views.
Two nights ago I was looking at google news and noticed an article stating Obama has decided to pull out the troops in Iraq. Knowing my roommate had just joined the ROTC here at Gonzaga I asked if he had heard about it. The one question I asked developed an argumentative conversation. My roommate argued that just because he is pulling the troops doesn't mean there are still thousands of soldiers over in Iraq still and will still be there for some time. However, I think this was a good move because we have spent countless amounts of money on something that seems to be going no where.
Gordon Warlaumont
We also had a discussion yesterday about a Bob Marley poster I hung on the wall. I am a fan of reggae music and enjoy to listen to Bob Marley, so I thought it was appropriate to put him on my wall as a symbol of relaxation. He was very confused on why I would put such a poster on my wall. It's only a head shot of Bob Marley, nothing wrong with that right? We have many similarities and but some of our ideas seem to be completely opposite. We have many conversations about music preferences. It is good to be bale to argue my point of view to someone who has another point of view. It seems as though after every conversation we have I go through a period of reflective context where I think about everything I said and what I wish I would have said
Gordon Warlaumont
Gabriel Sedberry
Yesterday my wife and I were packing our storage unit. I was stacking boxes in a certain manner and my wife had an idea for a better way to do it. The job was almost done but I stopped to listen to her thoughts on how best to arrange the boxes and after a series of inquiries from me and explanations from her I realized that her argument was sound and I decided to rearrange the boxes.
Yesterday I had to arrange a meeting with someone and needed to decide before calling this person back when it would be best for me to meet them. In my mind I ran through the various options before me, thought through the pros and cons of each approach, and eventually came to a conclusion on a meeting time that seemed to be supported by the best rationale.
Kelly Kim
Last night I was talking on the phone with my sister and the talk about our room came up. She and I share a room back at home, however, now that I live in the dorms, she believes that the room is now her's and wants to decorate it any way she wants. I explained to her that even though she may be using the room by herself now, I am still going to go back and use the room with her. I told her that she couldn't decorate it without having my consent too. She, on the other hand, argued that I would only be there for 4 months max out of a year and that our room was too plain right now and needed a make-over. Before I could state a rationale, she said that I wouldn't know that she changed the room unless I visited home, by which it would be too late.
Lauren Hajnos
1. Yesterday afternoon I was reading my communications book, when my roommate walked in. I made the claim that when I have kids, one day, I am going to limit the amount of time they spend watching television and playing video games. She asked me why and I offered various reasons that the book had brought to my attention. I also added that kids do not spend enough time out doors now days and that personally, the summer days and nights I spent outside when I was younger are some of the greatest memories I have.
2. I was watching a movie with my roommate a few nights ago and made the claim that the book was a lot better than the movie. She had never read the book so I offered arguments about details that the producer had left out and why I thought the book was much better.
