My response on R-Directed Thinking

Reshaping Our Thoughts to make a Better and more Ethical Generation
( A response on Daniel Pink article: Introducing Six Senses, in A Whole New Mind, 2006)

Being an Asian woman I could say that I am very lucky to be in community that teaches me to always live in Harmony. I was taught that life was never find a meaning if you live with no balance between thought and feeling, between ethic and logic. We can see how many people who were very clever at school, with no ethics at all, taking advantages from somebody’s mistakes and weaknesses for their own purposes. Before I continue my reflection, The following will be the excerpt I am trying to conclude from the article.

Daniel Pink in his article mentioned above, talked about the R-Directed Thinking, that is, the six senses to compliment the L-Directed reasoning to make a harmony in someone’s mind. The six senses he mentioned are Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, Play, and Meaning.
In teaching and Learning Process, we can describe Design as how we, as teachers, create materials or lesson plans which not only has a function, that is achieving our goal, but also how we can create it emotionally engaging. The lesson should make the students feel engaged and tied up with the lesson. We are not only “teaching” but also”educating”.
In teaching, it is not merely only on how good your argument on one topic. It is more on how you deliver it, communicate it, persuade it, how message is narrated, the STORY, so that students will get in touch and get connected to it. I remember my friend from Tennesse once said about her restaurant. “It is not a matter how good your food in the restaurant, but how can you attract people when the server offer the food with such a beauty of language, so that people will try to eat… and come again next time” It is all about story.

The next sense is Symphony. Talking about Symphony, you will talk about how things run smoothly and simultaneously and in harmony at the same time. Like when you hear a symphony in an orchestra, all instruments plays simultaneously and yet we can hear it beautifully. When we teach usually we need to be focus on particular topics. In fact, it is not the only thing that matters. We should also combine it with different elements, different perspectives, so that our lesson will bring a more thorough lesson. For example we teach about technology. Besides teaching how to use technology, we should also give the ethics of using it so that it will bring goodness to mankind.

Nowadays, people tend to think and see things whether it’s rational or irrational; logic and not logic. This is L-Directed thinking only. We should start teaching our student to have empathy to others. Teaching understanding towards others is difficult. Because before we teach it, we are supposed to apply it first so that we can feel and understand our students better. By trying to understand our students, we will see things on their view, and in the end we can give them direction to feel empathy to others. Teaching empathy require us to see beyond the problems, beyond what it is seen. By then, we could see reasons behind things other people say illogical or irrational.In short we can say about empathy is putting yours before mind, thinking yours before mine.

The next thing that Pink mentioned is Play. By Play he meant that we treat problems and see things seriously and yet, laughter at the same time. Teaching should be treated and delivered seriously in achieving the goals. At the same time, we can do it in a fun way so that the students will catch the lesson more thoroughly. It can apply to any level. For example, teaching history. Instead of using “sage on the stage” method, we can create discussion, role play and socio drama. My history colleague teacher usually uses socio drama and cartoon sketches to tell about events or history of nations. And it worked. My 13-15 year old students enjoy the role play when they had to act in front of the class.

The last sense is Meaning. When gaining something are not only, Pink said, doing accumulation, but also meaning. It mean nothing if we can accumulate many materials in the world if there is no meaning inside. We may be rich by then, but will feel so empty. So back in teaching, it is very useless that we give lots and lots of materials to students just to get the curriculum done. It will be meaningless if they graduated with nothing that can bring into life and apply things they have learned so far.

In teaching our next generation where money and materials are almost becoming a GOD for many people, those six senses will at least give an impact, if we cannot make a change, and shape their personality. Before doing and teaching six senses, I believe we have to shape our thoughts and personality with the senses first. Because a role of a teacher is not only giving or directing to knowledge but also ethics. And how can we teach something that we know nothing and no experience in it? In Indonesian language, called Bahasa Indonesia, teacher means GURU. GURU has a philosophical meaning in Javanese language, my native ethnic language. It is derived from two words diguGU (is listened) and ditiRU (is followed). According to Javanese Philosophers, a teacher should act gracefully and in harmony to make the teacher is listened and is followed by the students. I completely agree on that. I see so many teachers, anywhere in this world, are not listened by their students because they lost the meaning of being a teacher. Teacher for them are only a “job” for making money, the more hours they teach, the more money comes. And I see, or read about successful persons, always mentioned their teachers that were shaping their personalities. I never find myself a good teacher yet. But I always try my best, thriving to be a better teacher than I was before, for the sake of my students. Shaping their thoughts to be the better next generation is something that I always put in my mind. Last thing I could say to all my friends is that shaping our thoughts before shaping the students’ then the greatest men will come from your hand.