The Skull-Sized Kingdom
The other day I was listening to the Ten Percent Happier podcast, Lessons From the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness | Dr. Robert Waldinger. Dr. Waldinger referenced David Foster Wallace’s quote about being the master of “our skull-sized kingdoms”. That phrase resonated with me, so I looked up the full quote, which is part of Foster Wallace’s Kenyon College commencement speech in 2005. He said, “The freedom all to be lords of our tiny skull-sized kingdoms, alone at the center of all creation.” For me, the line conjures images of a queen on her throne, scepter in hand, commanding the intimate workings of near- and far-flung parts of her domain.
So I read the whole transcript [1] which is very intense, to say the least! It ended up being much more relevant to me professionally than I thought it would be. In it, he explores the question, “What does it mean to think?” and, as a corollary, “Why is that an important goal?” Of course, those are the questions at the core of all that we, as educators, need to answer. I would add “How can we measure/assess thinking?” which is different depending on your discipline. But is thinking just one thing?
Google it and you get the definition of thinking to be “the process of using one’s mind to consider or reason about something.”
At ChangingMinds.org, they postulate that “Thinking is the ultimate cognitive activity, consciously using our brains to make sense of the world around us and decide how to respond to it.” [2]
The seven types of thinking that are commonly used to describe the different ways that people approach problems and decision-making, can be useful in understanding individual strengths and weaknesses.
- Creative thinking
- Analytical thinking
- Critical thinking
- Concrete thinking
- Abstract thinking
- Divergent thinking
- Convergent thinking
For example, the distinction between divergent and convergent thinking is often used in discussions of creativity, with divergent thinking being associated with generating many ideas and possibilities, and convergent thinking being associated with narrowing down options to find the best solution. Critical thinking, on the other hand, is a more specific type of thinking that involves evaluating evidence and arguments in a logical and systematic way to reach a well-justified conclusion. It is often used in the context of making decisions, solving problems, and forming opinions.
Other schools of thought say there are just 4: analytical thinking, divergent thinking, critical thinking and creative thinking. Benjamin Bloom, so familiar to educators, has 6 types of thinking, organized hierarchically: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation (although a revised version switches the last two). So who is right? Does it really matter?
I think what matters is to know that there are different types of thinking. All the types of thinking need to be overtly taught, if we want students to develop multiple modes. One thing that I have learned is never to assume that students are coming to me with any particular skill, regardless of how fundamental I think that it is! I have made this mistake many, many times! If I think it is valuable, then I need to plan for it: integrate it into my lessons, design activities and assessments, and make sure that students know why it is worth learning. For example, I assumed that students know what creativity is. However, there are applications specific to my discipline that students need to experience. Creative thinking in a fashion class will look different from creative thinking in my class. Since I teach physics, I specifically target creativity during our project design, when students are trying to solve an engineering problem. What do I expect to see as evidence of this creative thought? I need to spell this out, for myself as well as for the students. It cannot be completely subjective and based on my intuition. (This is an area that I will explore further in another blog post in the near future!)
In the same commencement speech, Foster Wallace also said, “I have come gradually to understand that the liberal arts cliché about teaching you how to think is actually shorthand for a much deeper, more serious idea: learning how to think really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think. It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience.”
Later, he adds, “The really important kind of freedom involves attention and awareness and discipline, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them over and over in myriad petty, unsexy ways every day. That is real freedom. That is being educated, and understanding how to think.”
It is a constant fight to remain open and aware of others. My youthful default was to retreat into my own head, making up stories, shoring up and defending my position. It was not that I was selfish, unsympathetic, or narcissistic. I think this was just part of being human, maybe also partly due to being an introvert, maybe even part of growing up in the 80’s in the USA. Regardless, I am 100% sure that this is where I was fully grounded at the start of my teaching career. It was all about me. Students were a design flaw of my lesson plans, not an integral part of their success! Gradually, oh so gradually, I became more curious about others’ lives, able to listen and HEAR their concerns and stances, to share my love of learning with them instead of imposing it upon them.
Everything I am doing now is a choice. Choosing what to pay attention to, how to engage, who to speak to and when to speak vs. listen… how to use language, what to communicate, who my audience is… For me, there has been ongoing development, especially over the past 10 years. I have learned about the strength of my choices: what I choose to focus on matters. My focus affects my attitude, my mood, my capacity for love, my attention-span. I have observed my monkey mind bouncing from one thought to another, rapacious in its scope and nonsensical in its sequence.
Am I actually the lord of my “tiny skull-sized kingdom” or is it the lord of me? I have decided to consciously choose to “not be alone at the center of all creation,” and instead to engage with my students, my colleagues, and the global educational community.
What do you keep in the forefront of your mind? How do you stay grounded in your classroom? Please share in the comments below!
References:
1 Street, Farnam. “This Is Water by David Foster Wallace (Full Transcript and Audio).” Farnam Street, 14 Jan. 2021, fs.blog/david-foster-wallace-this-is-water.
2 “What Is Thinking?” What Is Thinking?, http://changingminds.org/explanations/thinking/what_is_thinking.htm.
