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# Are They Prepared? A Review of the Documentary ReThinking

## Details

**Authors** Hayzler R

**Year** 2018

**Publisher** Blog

**Kind of work** press

**Discipline** Media & Communication

**Secondary disciplines** Education

**Kind of engagement** press

[Read it](https://richardhayzler.weebly.com/blog/are-they-prepared)

## In authors' words

### What they set out to do (purpose)

Hayzler reflects on the documentary RE:THINKING, which followed the work of Derek and Laura Cabrera across four school districts over three years as schools attempted to meet public-education requirements while emphasizing thinking over memorization. He uses the documentary to examine whether schools are truly preparing students for an uncertain future and whether current educational practices sufficiently develop critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, curiosity, and independent thought.

### What they found (results)

Hayzler argues that schools should prepare students to think carefully, thoughtfully, and critically for the rest of their lives, rather than primarily teaching them to succeed within school routines. He emphasizes that learning how to learn is transferable, that relationships and culture are essential to student success, and that students must be able to articulate their thinking, examine different perspectives, question their own worldview, evaluate evidence, and distinguish fact from fiction. He also argues that productive struggle, curiosity, personalization, and teacher learning are necessary parts of creating a culture in which thinking can flourish.

## Commentary

### In short

Coverage of the work in Blog.

### In more detail

Hayzler, a school principal, watched RE:THINKING and organized his response around ten educational lessons he drew from the film. These include preparing students for uncertainty, building school culture, teaching students how to learn, making curriculum relevant to students’ lives, encouraging curiosity, emphasizing relationships and communication, allowing productive struggle, personalizing learning, strengthening professional learning among teachers, and avoiding the production of students who are merely “good at school.” He repeatedly compares these ideas with his own school-leadership experience and uses them to reconsider priorities for curriculum, instruction, and school culture.

**Patterns it shows** R, P

**How to cite this** Hayzler R (2018). Are They Prepared? A Review of the Documentary ReThinking. Blog.