Critical Thinking is self-guided, self-disciplined thinking which attempts to reason at the highest level of quality in a fair minded way. It’s a mode of thinking about any subject, content, or problem in which the thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully taking charge of the structures inherent in thinking and imposing standards upon them. It’s the ability to analyze and evaluate information objectively, considering different perspectives and drawing logical conclusions, rather than accepting information at face value.

My approach to critical thinking is to establish a mindset first (a habitual or characteristic mental attitude that determines how you will interpret and respond to situations) through small discussion groups before taking on critical thinking skill methods, especially at this age group of 11, 12, and 13 year olds.

The brain of a middle schooler is rapidly developing, especially in the prefrontal cortex. This period of development is marked by physical, social, and emotional changes. This is when children develop abstract thinking and begin transitioning from concrete to thinking about ideas, concepts, and objects that are not physically present.

My group style is following two methods…

‘The KISS Method’ (Keeping it simple & silly) but we may go a little deep at times, and ‘The SELFS method ( self-awareness, self- talk, and self-motivation = Self-Control.