Use this thread to put your comments on "Binary Thinking" and other miscellaneous thoughts coming from today's discussions.
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The Raccoon Slayer
She wants to be an honorary wild thing
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12 comments:
I think I understand a little bit about the binary reading. I did have the idea that binary was NOT the same as dichotomy. Binary, to me, connotes "two" with some sort of relationship - opposites included, while dichotomy connotes opposites that are mutually exclusive. I'm not sure if I've adjusted my thinking much; I'm on the continuum somewhere, I guess.
I think I understand a little bit about the binary reading. I did have the idea that binary was NOT the same as dichotomy. Binary, to me, connotes "two" with some sort of relationship - opposites included, while dichotomy connotes opposites that are mutually exclusive. I'm not sure if I've adjusted my thinking much; I'm on the continuum somewhere, I guess.
Today's discussion was great. I can tell the group as a whole has really gelled. Give us a topic and we can talk, boy.
I really appreciated the dialectic which sprouted from this conversation regarding "speaking for another" as opposed to "speaking with another" in the dialectic sense.
It's more than just a word, to me. That discussion was just getting started...wasn't allowed to play out...has such fruit at the end of the vine...that I hope we can return to it somehow and try to clarify what was going on.
Can someone explain to me how Aristotelian dialectic differs from the Platonic use of the term. Elbow doesn't cover this (this is not his project, per se) but I want someone (Don, Sherrie, Talinn someone else) to explain Aristotle's use.
Binary thinking as Elbow describes it, is a bit of a misnomer. Perhaps Elbow needs to create a new word to describe binary thinking because the word "binary" in and of itself sets up the win/lose situation. Perhaps a good way to describe Elbow's theory would be multi-layered or unilateral thinking. This suggests that the thinking and writing can go in lots of different directions.
Another thought I had about this today was Elbow's discussion will force many of us to rethink how we introduce a writing topic to our students. For example, often students are given a persuasive writing prompt and asked to choose a side or a situation and write persuasively about the topic. My students will often say, "I feel strongly about both." Teachers will need courage to say it's okay to be in a dissonant state. We will have to be able to accept the student's writing. I think this chapter in the text really forces us to accept a little disorder in writing. I often say to my colleagues that teachers can be the greatest control freaks. Accepting this disorder may be tough for some; for our students I think accepting this disorder may be pretty easy.
I think this is my favorite Elbow essay so far. Binary thinking and the idea of diffusing that either/or relationship has always been interesting to me. I love this new take on it. That we both can completely disagree and both be right and both be wrong at the same time. It's fantastic. I just get so excited when we all jump in an debate and argue. Point of view this and lens that. :-)
I also really liked the idea that everything is constantly moving toward becoming what it is not. I feel that way. Life is constantly in motion. :-)
I learned a lot about Binary Thinking. I also didn't learn as much as I thought I did.
Ok, just one more, because I love what Susan said, having the courage to allow students to argue both points, strongly passionately and articulately. It brings up such fascinating changes in perception. While we all sometimes have to choose a side, why should we always have to do so?
I know that Elbow was not trying to equate the feminine with dark, night, moon, passion as opposed to reason, day, sun etc. but he does shed some light (he he!) on the binary thinking applied to gender associations. It really bothers me, not that I really want to be thought of as Little Miss Suzie Sunshine, (nothing personal Sue) because I am sure that I am probably more aligned with those dark moon passion things, but the generalization offends me. Maybe it shouldn't. Maybe I am just too sensitive. Rant over!
Defending binary thinking in an attempt to get around the harm of binary thinking is deep and hard to grasp, but summarizing each section by group helped to uncover what Elbow was really trying to get at and it made a muddy topic clear for me. Great Activity!
Rich - I agree or not.
While reading last night so much of this did not make sense to me. Dividing the reading into sections and then discussing it by parts, really helped me, discover a better understanding I think the main thing that I got from this today is that both parties can be right about something, despite the disagreement. From this I have realized letting children try somethings on their own, giving them more ownership of their own writing, is the best thing we can do to help keep them writing. Sometimes things are handled better if no one wins, just that there is success. Generating is far more important than revising- they have their places, and they can even cross and in the end there will be a better result for everyone.
In his book Rhetoric, Aristotle says that "Dialectic is the counterpart of Rhetoric." For Aristotle, "rhetoric" was the area of discourse that dealt with the probable and "dialectic" was the are of discourse that dealt with "certain truth." Thus, the goals of Philosophy and Rhetoric were divergent. Philosophy was the type of thinking that dealt with the eternal types of truth that could be known and Rhetoric represented was could be said when decisions had to be made on matters (such as politics)which could not be based in certainty.
I did learn a lot about Binary thinking. I have found there is a deeper level of understanding that I am not quite getting too. I feel that I am scratching surface level understanding.
I like the idea of what we were reading. That there are two sides to every continuum. Also that there is an idea of meeting some middle ground. I think that I already knew these things but had never commented or knew how to comment on them.
I am finding that there is a lot of vocabulary that I am working really hard at trying to understand.
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