Embarking on a journey to integrate the 16 Habits of Mind can be transformative. These habits, when fully embraced, can significantly enhance decision-making, problem-solving, and life management skills. Let's delve into the process of making these habits an integral part of our lives.
Learning Habits of Mind
In outcomes-based learning environments, we generally see three elements in play:
- Learning objectives or targets are created from given standards
- Instruction of some kind is given; and then learning results are assessed
- These assessments offer data to inform the revision of further planned instruction.
- But lost in this clinical sequence are the habits of mind that (often predictably) lead to success or failure in the mastery of given standards.
Applying Past Knowledge to New Situations
Use question stems like “What do you remember about…?”, “When have you ever seen anything like this?” to get students more comfortable and in tune with what they already know
- This activating schema can be a huge boost to the learning process
Thinking and Communicating with Clarity and Precision
Avoid the vagueness and abstraction of terms like always, never, all, everybody, teachers, celebrities, etc.
- Post these kinds of words or phrases where students can be reminded of them so they know to avoid them and hopefully know why they should avoid them.
Thinking About Our Thinking (Metacognition)
Map out your own thinking process
- Make it simple at first
- Then make it complex
- How characters from books or thinkers in history might have arrived at certain starting or stopping points in thought
- Think about how you might think
Learning
Continuously revisit old ideas, writing and projects to identify areas for development, improvement or revision
Questioning and Posing Problems
Create a “parking lot” area in the classroom where students can post questions that may not fit into the pace or format of a given class.
- Highlight the better questions periodically, or use them as jumping off points for discussion or lesson planning.
