Have you ever tried to incorporate habits of the mind in your classroom?
We do this so that our students can really become more efficient in asking better questions. A Habit of Mind is a pattern of intellectual behaviors that leads to productive actions. The overall intent of schools in general is to change the world while developing intellectuals. We want our students to learn from each individual experiences, reflect on it, while modifying behaviors for future experiences.There are certain attributes or habits of mind that intelligent learners need to have in order to help them be successful throughout their lives. Educators need to understand these habits in order to teach students how to learn.These 16 habits of mind were first introduced by Arthur Costa, Emeritus Professor of Education at California State University, Sacramento. A description of each are listed below:
Despite the difficulty in attaining knowledge, a learner needs to persevere in order to reach their final goal.
Managing Impulsivity. Taking time to reflect on an answer before giving it.
Listening to others, without rehearsing what we are going to say when the person talking is finished.
Thinking Flexibly. Being able to change your mind as additional data is received, using a novel approach and being open to another person's point of view.
Thinking About Your Own Thinking. Planning for, reflecting all, and evaluating the quality of their own thinking skills and strategies.
Striving for Accuracy and Precision. Taking time to check over your work, wanting to produce exceptional results.
Questioning and Posing Problems. Knowing how and when to ask questions for better understanding to become effective problem-solvers.
Applying Past Knowledge to New Situations. Learning from experience.
Thinking and Communicating with Clarity and Precision. Making it a goal to communicate effectively in oral and handwritten form.
Gathering Data Through All Senses. Gathering data from many different senses and experiencing a student's world through as many different ways as possible.
Creating, Imagining, and Innovating. Developing creativity in order to create novel, original and ingenious products.
Responding with Wonderment and Awe. Curiosity and a passion for learning new things is one of the assets that intelligent learners have.
Taking Responsible Risks. Taking educated risks drawn from past knowledge. Considering consequences and what is appropriate and accepting confusion, uncertainty, and the risk of failure as part of the learning process.
Finding Humour. Having humour and initiating humour, as well as being verbally playful with others.
Thinking Interdependently. Realizing there is power in numbers by willing to be open to accept constructive and critical feedback.
Learning Continuous. Striving continually for improvement and viewing obstacles in life as opportunities to learn.
A good way for teachers to start these habits of mind is to reflect on their own attributes first and see how they affect their own attitudes towards learning.These attributes of mind can then be incorporated into lessons, so that students can begin to understand the benefits of learning how they learn. The habits of mind have been researched and tested in schools over the years, and beneficial effects have been found in many ways. Some are anecdotal and others are researched-based, with highly controlled groups.When teachers observe students in the classrooms, when they've learned the habits of mind, we find that the students learn and utilize the terminology, they apply it to their understanding and they recognize it in others. They use it as a basis for their own work, using it for a task. School staff, when utilizing habits of mind, work together more and share a common vision. Teachers using habits of mind become more efficient, they ask better questions and they monitor their own clarity and precision of language. The universal consistency makes the habits of mind powerful in that various schools all over the world have documented anecdotal research which is consistent. Students all over the world will see how important and significant it is to use the habits of mind in their lives. As they go from class to class, teacher to teacher, it is a way to think about the way they would like themselves and others to be.[embed]https://youtu.be/VMK87G_JQ9o[/embed]