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Developing Minds 2019
Critical Reading and Writing
Speakers
Dr. Deanna Reder
Reading the Indigenous Archive
Deanna Reder (Cree-Métis) is Associate Professor in the Departments of First Nations Studies and English, where she teaches courses in Indigenous popular fiction and Canadian Indigenous literatures, especially autobiography. She is Principal Investigator, in partnership with co-applicants Dr. Margery Fee and Cherokee scholar Dr. Daniel Heath Justice of the University of British Columbia, on a five-year Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) funded project for 2015-2020 called "The People and the Text: Indigenous Writing in Northern North America up to 1992". She is a founding member of the Indigenous Literary Studies Association (ILSA) and served on the ILSA council from 2015-2018; currently she is co-chair, with Dr. Sam McKegney from Queen’s University, of the Indigenous Voices Awards. She also is the Series Editor for the Indigenous Studies Series at Wilfrid Laurier University Press.
Dr. Peter Cramer
Rhetorical Games, Critical Writing and Composition
Peter Cramer is an Associate Professor in the Department of English. He teaches courses in writing, discourse analysis, argumentation, and the history and theory of rhetoric. His research examines how writers and speakers shape controversy and consensus in discourse. He has analyzed cases in a number of public and professional domains, and published his work in Written Communication, Argumentation, Rhetoric Society Quarterly, Rhetoric Review, and Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice. His monograph Controversy as News Discourse was published by Springer in 2011.
Abstract
Let’s take part in a game from Roman rhetoric pedagogy to discover how it can foster "invention”, the most important and most overlooked skill of composition for critical writing skills.
Dr. Azadeh Yamini-Hamedani
On Drake: Designing Simple Exercises to Stimulate Critical Reading
Azadeh Yamini-Hamedani is an Associate Professor in the World Literature Program within the Department of Humanities. Her teaching interests involve interconnections of literature and philosophy, with particular emphasis on the semiotics of translation. Her current research includes Goethe's conception of World Literature in light of his reading of Hafez. She also explores Nietzsche's understanding of Zoroastrianism as it appears in his notations and in Thus Spoke Zarathustra.
Abstract
Critical thinking challenges the mind to question, debate, contemplate, argue, and overcome obstacles. It does this by identifying and analyzing vital details to aid interpretation and judgement. In assuming ambiguity, interpretation invites the critical thinker to be a meaning-maker.
Using Drake’s “In My Feelings” as test piece, we explore a set of ten simple exercises that will get your students in the habit of thinking critically to enable deeper reading.
Dr. Sean Zwagerman
"I just don't believe it": the problem of conviction, and some possible remedies
Sean Zwagerman is an Associate Professor in the Department of English, and an Associate Dean in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. He is interested broadly in rhetoric and writing, in the compositional relationship among the word, the self, and the world. His particular interests include the intersections of rhetorical theory and speech-act theory, the rhetoric of humour, and public outrage about plagiarism and student literacy. Forthcoming work includes contributions to a collection of essays on the rhetoric of oil and to a collection on transgressive women’s humour, as well as a book-length project using speech-act theory to define the limits of rhetoric and clarify criteria of success and failure.
Abstract
What it means to have a "conviction" has changed over the centuries, from knowledge one has come to via persuasive discourse and evidence to a firm personal belief that resists persuasion and rejects evidence. We can see the latter in the refusal to believe Brett Kavanaugh's accusers, in the persistence of the belief that vaccines cause autism, and in the denial of climate change. Since convictions are resistant to persuasion and evidence, how can we engage with them in the classroom? And what current theories of meaning and practices of writing might actually be making matters worse?
Presenting together:
Dr. Joel Heng Hartse
Critical Thinking in a Second Language
Joel Hartse is a Lecturer with the Faculty of Education, and is a second language writing specialist. He teaches subjects in writing, applied linguistics, and education. His research interests include the interface between the globalization of English and internationalization of higher education, language variation in academic writing and publishing, and the role of student/instructor language ideology and metalinguistic knowledge in university writing pedagogy.
Website: www.joelhenghartse.com
Dr. Jiang Dong
Critical Thinking in a Second Language
Jiang Dong is a lecturer at Yuanpei College, Shaoxing University, where he has been teaching English as a foreign language for eleven years. His academic interests are English language literacy and research, translation studies and intercultural communication. He is now collaborating with Dr. Joel Heng Hartse on the project of English education in the Republic of China (1912-1949). He has his works published by TESOL Press, the Journal of Liaoning Normal University, etc.
Abstract
Common stereotypes about “ESL” and/or “international” students lead some teachers to assume that students whose language or national backgrounds are non-North American may face “cultural” challenges in critical thinking. Here we tackle simplistic dichotomies (ESL/native speaker, East/West, collective/individual, etc.) and offer practical suggestions on how to help students engage with critical thinking when writing in English as an additional language.
Moderators
Dr. Gillian Judson
Dr. Judson is Executive Director of the Centre For Imagination In Research, Culture, & Education (CIRCE). Her research and teaching are primarily concerned with the role of imagination in all learning. She also investigates how an ecologically sensitive and imaginative approach to education can both increase students’ engagement with, and understanding of, the content of the curriculum but can show it in a light that can lead to a sophisticated ecological consciousness.
Dr. Marela Dichupa
Dr. Marela Dichupa recently completed training in somatically oriented psychotherapy. As a result, she is reframing concepts in her earlier work where she builds on the notion of the gaze, conceptualized as an aspect of dialogue that ascribes value on to persons, objects, practices and ideas.
Because the gaze is an undercurrent to surface communication, she considers it one of the tasks of the educator to elicit the countergaze-a moment of insight when the student recognizes the gaze and its action. To extend this work, Dr. Dichupa is investigating the effect of the gaze on somatic experiences of persons.
Dylan Flint
I received my BA in philosophy from the University of Washington in 2015. I am currently an MA student in philosophy at Simon Fraser University. When I am not reading and writing, I enjoy skiing, hiking, traveling and generally being outdoors. Right now I am mostly interested in early modern philosophy, especially Kant and Leibniz, the history of ethics, philosophy of religion, and the occasional debate in contemporary meta-ethics or moral epistemology. I also enjoy classical Chinese philosophy, especially Confucius.
Dr. Valia Spiliotopoulos
My current research interests focus on how instructional/teacher development and curriculum innovation (i.e. content and language-integrated learning, intercultural competency development) can improve teaching and student learning, particularly in a multilingual and multicultural K-12 and university environments. Given my current leadership role, I am also interested in broader questions of systemic educational change that supports inclusion and student success of multilingual learners, with a particular focus on the development of professional learning communities, and the nature and impact of interdisciplinary collaborations. In addition, I have been engaged in projects related to educational assessment and evaluation at the course and program levels in various disciplinary contexts.
Dr. Zuzana Vasko
I teach in two main areas – Foundations of Academic Literacy and Arts Education, and my research focuses on how human expression, most notably writing and visual art, can enable a sense of personal meaning, self-knowledge and connections to the world around us. Broadly speaking, I am interested in engendering the expression of values – personal, cultural and ecological – in a clear, nuanced and articulate voice. This includes bringing personal narratives into learning, writing process, creative inquiry and the ethical implications of aesthetic education.
More specifically, I am interested in how narrative writing and visual art can enable deeper connections with the natural world, which in turn help bring about cultural change with regard to environmental stewardship and care. Among my current research foci is the engendering of empathy with, and understanding of, others (including other life forms) through the practice of writing. My visual art practice examines how we interact with natural ecologies close to home, with a view to drawing connections between human forms of communication and those that exist within the dynamics of nature.
Fatima Jalali
I am a bilingual language instructor and curriculum developer, coming from a multicultural background. In my research, I look into the relation of language acquisition and identity in multilingual communities. I also focus on the use of cognitive tools to better engage teachers and learners in a multicultural classroom. My goal is to help refugee and immigrant population to better define their new identity in the host culture through an effective language curriculum design.
I did my MEd program in Curriculum and Instruction at Simon Fraser University. The rich and engaging academic environment in the Faculty of Education at SFU encouraged me to look for more and further my research. My desire to make a positive change in my community, the society and the world. I also see myself evolve and grow as I continue to study and this growth inspires me to take further steps.
About Developing Minds
Recent changes in the BC education curriculum established 'Critical Thinking' as a core teaching approach throughout K-12 classrooms. Students benefit from a rich community of inquiry that promotes deeper understanding of curriculum content and equips them with valuable life skills. School systems already using this approach have documented success using a number of outcome metrics.
Critical thinking skills transfer readily from the classroom into post-secondary education, and beyond. Not only do they enhance learning outcomes but students also gain a competitive advantage in the job market by acquiring skills in critical, creative and collaborative thinking frequently sought by modern employers.
The Developing Minds conference seeks to open up discussion among provincial education stakeholders keen to explore how teaching critical thinking in K-12 classrooms transfers into post-secondary education for student benefit.
Simon Fraser University presents a day of roundtable discussion and keynote presentations on teaching critical thinking within BC’s education system, with a focus on connecting creative thinking with critical thinking skills in the classroom. Attendees will hear from keynote speakers with direct experience, and then collaborate to build a provincial framework of reference.