PARENTS: ARE YOUR STUDENTS THINKING ABOUT THEIR THINKING?

Are your students thinking about their thinking, delving into metacognition, or deep-thinking in their classrooms or classroom assignments?

Is THIS how you want your child to LEARN?
from the "Metacognition and Learning" webpage

Are they writing “Reflective Papers” to help them think about their thinking? This entails talking about one’s self-awareness, feelings, thoughts, and emotions. Are your students developing “Habits of the Mind”? If so, this jargon is surely meant to be part the “critical thinking” of Progressive Education for 21st century thinking skills.

Much of this sort of mind-processing was developed by Marxist psychologists such as Lev Vygotsky to radically rewire the brain for Socialism.

What do all these terms really embrace? Probably the old “Values Clarification” process, now “souped-up” and on steroids to transform your student’s’ opinions and behaviors. These powerful and controlling psychological methods having been perfected and updated by modern educators and applied to the classroom and your student. Such methods to rewire and realign your student’s brain can be considered a part of Progressive Education and “Transformative Learning.”

Here’s how to recognize “Progressive Education” in the classroom:

• Emphasis on learning by doing – experiential learning.
• Thematic - throughout all subjects.
• Strong emphasis on problem solving and critical thinking.
• Group work and development of social skills.
• Understanding and action as the goals of learning, as opposed to rote knowledge.
• Collaborative and cooperative learning projects.
• Education for social responsibility and democracy.
• Highly personalized education accounting for each individual's personal goals.
• Integration of community service and service learning projects into the daily curriculum.
• Selection of subject content by looking forward to ask what skills will be needed in future society.
• De-emphasis on textbooks in favor of varied learning resources.
• Emphasis on lifelong learning and social skills.
• Assessment by evaluation of child’s projects and productions.

In addition, look for terms like "vertical and horizontal learning" and “self-analysis.”

Any classroom using educator Robert Marzano’s learning techniques will be participating in Metacognition and other such tactics described above. Dr. Marzano was the featured speaker at the National Catholic Education Association (NCEA) in April of 2014.

OR is THIS how you want your child to LEARN?

Resources:
“Progressive Education” 
Vygotsky, Lev, The Socialist Alteration of Man, 1930.
“Transformative Learning” 
“Metacognition and Learning”