Greg's English & Music Pages
  • Home
  • Blog Articles & Posts
  • Music & Song
  • My Recordings
  • Learn
    • Learners' Wall
    • Learning Help
    • Play
    • Read
    • See
    • Study
    • Talk
  • Teach
    • Teaching Ideas
    • Teaching Help
  • Portfolio

“The domain of like-minded desires” – Critical Friendship

19/6/2010

0 Comments

 
June 19th, 2010 at 3:17 am Said:

Like Mark, I feel MM’s definition of friendship is too narrowly focused. If you consider your own friends for a moment, or how you act as a friend to others, you will quickly see my point – they offer companionship, warmth, support, an occasional home, understanding, loyalty, and sometimes love. In other situations they offer criticism, warning and downright disagreement without holding back the punches.

Additionally, I agree that not every friend is able to be all of these all of the time. Nor is assuming the role of ‘critical friend’ a simple matter. Many lack the skills to balance genuine criticism against unquestioning support. For this, one has only to watch ‘friends’ allowing others to act irresponsibly and even dangerouly.

What I would add is that the role of ‘critical friend’ tends to happen when one is invited to be such, when one’s opinions are highly regarded by the other person or the population at large, or when one has earned such a role after proving oneself over time as a ‘regular friend.’

Is critical friendship necessary? That depends on the individual. Some of us are good at self-criticism, so having an additional external source might not be appreciated in this circumstance. However, the differing insights and perspectives such a friendship offers, provide the opportunity to take us out and beyond our own limiting views.

Is critical friendship desired? The answer to this will determine whether or not it will happen. Imposing such a friendship may not have the results desired, and could lead to a violent physical response. That is where a combination of diplomacy, a preparedness to receive criticism back in return, and a genuinely caring attitude will enoucrage the process.

So, Barbara, to answer your initial question, in my opinion not everyone can be a critical friend, but they could do worse than learn the skills for becoming one.

Posted at http://tdsig.org/2010/06/frequently-asked-questions-and-provoking-answers-2/comment-page-1/#comment-121

0 Comments

The Domain of Like-Minded Desires - Critical Friendship

19/6/2010

0 Comments

 
Greg Quinlivan, on June 19th, 2010 at 3:17 am Said:

Like Mark, I feel MM’s definition of friendship is too narrowly focused. If you consider your own friends for a moment, or how you act as a friend to others, you will quickly see my point – they offer companionship, warmth, support, an occasional home, understanding, loyalty, and sometimes love. In other situations they offer criticism, warning and downright disagreement without holding back the punches.

Additionally, I agree that not every friend is able to be all of these all of the time. Nor is assuming the role of ‘critical friend’ a simple matter. Many lack the skills to balance genuine criticism against unquestioning support. For this, one has only to watch ‘friends’ allowing others to act irresponsibly and even dangerouly.

What I would add is that the role of ‘critical friend’ tends to happen when one is invited to be such, when one’s opinions are highly regarded by the other person or the population at large, or when one has earned such a role after proving oneself over time as a ‘regular friend.’

Is critical friendship necessary? That depends on the individual. Some of us are good at self-criticism, so having an additional external source might not be appreciated in this circumstance. However, the differing insights and perspectives such a friendship offers, provide the opportunity to take us out and beyond our own limiting views.

Is critical friendship desired? The answer to this will determine whether or not it will happen. Imposing such a friendship may not have the results desired, and could lead to a violent physical response. That is where a combination of diplomacy, a preparedness to receive criticism back in return, and a genuinely caring attitude will enoucrage the process.

So, Barbara, to answer your initial question, in my opinion not everyone can be a critical friend, but they could do worse than learn the skills for becoming one.

Posted at http://tdsig.org/2010/06/frequently-asked-questions-and-provoking-answers-2/comment-page-1/#comment-121
0 Comments

    Tweet

    Archives

    April 2020
    February 2019
    September 2017
    January 2017
    May 2016
    March 2016
    July 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    June 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    February 2013
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    May 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010

    Categories

    All
    Assessment
    Bali
    Blog
    Book
    Buddhism
    Celebration
    Chicken Little
    China
    Christmas
    Classrooms
    College Quals
    Colour
    Computer
    Computers
    Co-teacher
    Countries
    Courses
    Creativity
    Critical Analysis
    Criticism
    Culture
    Curriculum
    Drawings
    Earth Day
    Education
    Efl
    Elementary
    Elt
    English Name
    Esl
    Essay
    Exams
    Expectations
    Facebook
    Feedback Validation
    Feel
    Flow
    Flowers
    Forums
    Friendship
    Games
    Glbt
    Goodbye
    Grammar
    Harpsichord
    Height
    Identity
    Ideology
    Ielts
    Interactive
    Ipa
    It
    Iwb Training
    Korea
    Learn
    Learning
    Leaves
    Lesson Plans
    Life-long
    Links
    Literacy
    Location
    Me
    Mothers Day
    Motivation
    Murphy's Law
    Music
    Myspace
    Needs
    New Year
    Online
    Opening
    Organ
    Paper Planes
    Paragraph
    Pd
    Performance
    Phonics
    Photos
    Pln
    Programs
    Pronunciation
    Publishing
    Punctuation
    Reading
    Referencing
    Resources
    Shape
    Size
    Skills
    Smartboard
    Smell
    Socialnetworking
    Social Networking
    Song Contest
    Speaking
    Speed
    Spelling
    Student-centred
    Taboo
    Tai-an
    Taiwan
    Teach
    Teaching
    Teaching Music Education
    Technology
    Testing
    Textbooks
    Textbooks Taboo
    Toefl
    Toeic
    Tools
    Training
    Trees
    Twitter
    University
    Unplugged
    Vegetarianism
    Verbs
    Vocabulary
    Web 2.0
    Web2.0
    Whiteboard
    Word Clouds
    Writing
    Young Learners

    Blogs I Read

    #ELT Chat
    ABC Teach Blog
    An ELT Notebook
    Angela Maiers
    Breaking News English
    Buddha,Dharma, Sangha & Me
    ED Compass Blog
    Educating Her World
    EFL Teaching Recipes
    Emerging Ed Tech
    Free Technology for Teachers
    Heads Up English
    IH Journal
    Jeremy Harmer's Blog
    Kalinago English
    Literacy, Languages & Leadership
    Maria Constantinides
    Nik's Learning Tech Blog
    Nik's Quick Shout
    Online Learning Insights
    OUP ELT Global Blog
    Sean Banville's Blog
    Some Random Thoughts
    Stephen's Web
    Storynory
    Teacher 2.0
    Teacher Reboot Camp
    Teachers' Tech
    Teach English Brit Council,BBC
    Teaching Life
    TEFL Clips
    The e-Learning Industry Blog
    The Innovative Educator

    RSS Feed

    FIND E-BOOKS

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.