This city has such a vibrant, positive energy. People are happy. Not overly nice, just happy and pleasant. I had a three hour class today, and the time just flew by! My classmates were great, and we really enjoyed thinking with each other as we had our first philosophical inquiry. We picked and probed at philosophical issues, then gave sound reasons for our thoughts. Then we had to agree or disagree.
The discussion was about rules. We had a log sheet where we were given 5 statements about rules. [I will insert those later] Then we had to agree or disagree and give reasons for our answers. Once we did this, we voted on which rules were the hardest to decide. We eventually narrowed it down to "There is one rule that is the most important." This led into a philosophical discussion where we gave reasons for agreeing or disagreeing with it, keeping the dialogue going as we analyzed different perspectives. It was very interesting (and a little bit headache inducing--but in a good way). We broke for lunch, and at the end we had a meta talk, where we reflected on the entire process. Could I do similar things with my students? I hope so. Our teachers were prepared to give us skills, tools, and techniques for guiding these types of discussions in the classroom--working on our critical thinking and analysis skills, so vital for English and all classes.
I'm very glad I chose this course and this program. I never knew there was such a field as "Philosophy with Children" before. All Norwegian students have philosophy as part of their curriculum, and it is not a separate class.
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