[Tea] Developing Critical Thinking Skills

Welcome to "Tea with Julie," a weekly missive by me, Julie Bogart. My wish is to give you food for thought over a cup of tea to enhance your life as an educator, parent, and awesome adult. Glad you're here. Pinkies up!
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Cincinnati, April 22, 2023

Hi Friend,

It’s not personal. It’s brain development.

The first way your kids will start to differentiate themselves from you is by sharing a conflicting opinion. Whether it's about a book, movie, or current event—they want to show you that they are thinking for themselves.

Remember, that’s what we want!

Let children develop their critical thinking skills. They’ll do it on their own if we let them. Truly!

Provide environments where they can be CURIOUS about their own thoughts!

For instance, asking questions about the books kids read, the movies they watch, or the music they listen to spurs thinking that will lay the foundation for well-supported arguments in essay writing.

The writer:

makes an assertion,
looks at the facts,
and offers a reasonable explanation (interpretation) of the facts that supports the assertion.

This doesn’t need to be combative!

Discussion gently invites students to turn their sweeping statement into a supported one, by sharing their reasoning.

Their reasoning might be emotional or surface-level at this stage, and that’s okay! The casualness keeps one opinion as one of several possible interpretations of the facts.

It’ll pay off when they get to essay writing!

Warmly,

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