Crtical thinking course reflections

Even though we always use critical thinking through our life, because it’s almost impossible not to use it, but still learning it I consider as absolutely useful.
First of all, I found the course of Critical Thinking to be definitely important not only theoretically, but especially in practical way. Of course, some principles we learned were familiar to me, I would better say they were obvious, because people use them in communication every day, and our oral language would sound weird without using basic logical principles and critical thinking as basis. But because of the course I understood how to speak logically, argumentative and noticed some of my rhetoric mistakes I’ve never thought about. In addition, I understood the importance of using evidences and got the point of reasonable way of thinking and using language, which made me openminded and practical in communication.
The most difficult for me were to start using the principles of critical thinking, because sometimes it’s hard to remind yourself that you should keep a logical line while speaking and argumentation. Probaby, this skills will authomatic after some time of constant using them. All the problems in learning this course I see in myself, because the information I learned requires to continue working on it and practicing all the time while communicating. But at least I started noticing that I’m progressing.
The most important thing I learned is how to reason persuasively: a constructions of arguments, logical including them in my use, an adpatation of arguments according to an audience, and how to present evidences. The second important thing is that I learned strategies and roles in communication, which make me more efficient and help me not only influent on people, but also to consider communicative situations more soberly, to analyse. Actually, so far as this course is a kind of compilation of logics, philosophy of language and rhetoric, it is primarily important for general development of thinking, which helps to look differently not only at language or communication, but at the way how both people and yourself consider an incoming information. So I think this the very last thing is even more important than the skills I acquired during the course. So now I can see a key concepts and ideas of both what I want to say and what people tell me, I see how important arguments are, and how convincing they may be, or how to formulate definitions, which is often very useful in explanations and clarifications. And many views like these, which I started to use unconsciously. Anyway, even if I can’t practically use all the skills and information I’ve learned yet, but still it is a great pleasure to feel that you’ve become more reasonable human being.
Still, I would add some more communicative practice into this course. For example, more frequent argumentative debates or some kinds of communicative challenges like case studies or even games for communicative skills and logic. Because I believe that to develop such skills of communication and thinking, a studying process must be predominantly practical than theoretical.
Works cited:
Inch, Edward S. Critical Thinking and Communication: The Use of Reason in Argument. San Francisco: Pearson, 2011.