Our readings for this week have challenged and stretched my understanding of how to read, think, take notes, and write. Being high on the intuitive scale, it is often hard for me to write until I have a sense of inspiration or spark. Outlining my thoughts has always felt cumbersome and lackluster.
Several insights from our texts connected for me. From Ahrens, How to Take Smart Notes, I found the workflow concept helpful because it is organic. Ideas multiply and grow; connections are synergistic. The concept that writing is externalized thinking reframes note taking for me. No longer will I be just writing down a quote or fact. Rather, my aim will be to engage it and connect it with my project or something else significant in my life.
I used Obsidian last year for my note taking. I especially like the back links and graph view. The visual of how my notes are related to one another inspires me. The clusters help me recognize places of energy in my reading and thinking. The outliers helped me to recognize areas I either need to further explore or set aside for now. I need to further refine my practice of one note to one entry. I had too much to wade through in each entry.
I have always enjoyed talking with an author by writing in my book margins and using different symbols to note key thoughts or passages. Adler\u2019s suggestion (How to Read a Book) to include cross-references in the margins is a helpful addition to my current practices. One challenge I am facing is how to translate this kind of conversation with the author to digital material. I haven\u2019t found a satisfying path forward yet and will keep experimenting. I would value hearing what others find helpful.
The questions Adler encourages a reader to ask of the text and author through the four levels of reading will push me to analytically and holistically engage the text. The structure provided by the levels will help me to read in a more systematic and productive manner. It is going to take practice. I especially appreciate how the levels of reading will push me to engage the text and critically develop my own thinking and reasoning. I\u2019m looking forward to discovering more of my own voice on this journey.
Kleon\u2019s Steal Like an Artist was too irresistible for only an inspectional reading. His ten encouragements for unleashing creativity were winsome and motivating. The encouragement to embrace influence (and influencers) resonated. I especially valued his suggestion to steep in the work of a favorite influencer. Then, add three of that person\u2019s influencers to savor next and so on. His manifesto was also inspiring: \u201c\u2026do the work you want to see done (p. 43).\u201d
Paul and Elder\u2019s The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking helped me realize how much more I have to learn about critical thinking. I appreciated their inclusion of cross-cultural influences on how one thinks, the barriers to critical thinking they articulated, the coaching questions they posed for stretching more deeply into critical thinking, and the vision they painted of how society would be strengthened if critical thinking were more widely practiced. I am looking forward to stretching into this new season of thinking and writing.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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