Let's Reflect For A Moment

How often do we take time out of our busy schedules, to sit and reflect on our lives? We get caught up in our hurried pace world of work and school, that we feel we don’t have the time. If we, as adults, cannot find the time to think deeply about our actions, then how should we expect teachers and students to have the time to do the same in the classroom?

The process of reflection is a time consuming and difficult process. It can often bring up our past mistakes and failures. But, through failure we can understand what we did wrong and correct that mistake from happening again. Sadly, in our current school system this process of critical thinking is not taught. None of the standardize tests they will take, such as Iowa Test of Basic Skills, ACT, or SAT, will ever ask them to reflect or critically think about an answer. Therefore, why should valuable classroom time be spent on that if they will not use it on the exams that matter?

It has been proven, however, that the memorization of facts does not lead to actual learning. It is through the process of reflection and critical thinking does a student actual learn. A perfect example is in the history classroom. It is easy to memorize dates and names, but to actually question why a war started or why an economy failed is a much difficult task. But, it is through this process of thinking that one can help prevent it from happening again. Critical thinking will not only benefit the students’ learning, but it will also benefit our futures. We need to get students contemplating why this subject is important and how it impacts their lives.

How do we create mindful students? We not only ask them the right questions, but we get the students to ask the right questions. A perfect example would be in my Statistic 115 course I am taking at Luther, my professor told us that if we only take one thing away from the class he wants it to be this, “When presented with statistical data we need to ALWAYS ask where and how was this data collected?” My professor is getting us to think outside of what is presented to us and to question what is given to us, instead of simply accepting it as fact and memorizing it.

Students should be asked to reflect daily, because if it does not become a habit then they will become adults who do not question the world they live in. They will simply go through the motions of life, never fully thinking about the environment around them -- missing opportunities that could change their lives and make the world a better place all because they were not taught how to actually think in the classroom.