A hallmark of Sacred Heart education has always been to develop thinkers. You have heard us say this before; we want our education to be less about merely memorizing and more about engaging our students in capturing underlying concepts. You will often hear us talk about wanting to develop analytical and critical thinkers. Perhaps less discussed, but just as importantly, we want children of the Sacred Heart to be reflective thinkers!
The process that our 1st–8th Class students are beginning to engage in as they prepare for their Student-led Parent-Teacher Conferences, is a formal way to invite them into some reflective thinking practice. At times, it is not easy to be reflective—especially self-reflective. Yet, that is what we are asking our children to do. We are inviting them to ask themselves questions about themselves.
The gift for parents is to see the development of the depth of their reflections over the course of eight years. Eventually, we hope that our oldest students, through their reflective practice, can begin to articulate the gift they are to the world and, from that perspective, to begin to think about their direction on the journey of life and their growth into Life and Love (which is growth into God).
We hope you enjoy the fruit of their reflective process!
—Maureen Glavin, rscj
