Habits and Mindsets
Students reference their teacher’s guidance in organization, study habits, character traits and values. They have internalized these traits beyond just talking about them, which has led to personal growth on the part of the student.
Introduction
Developing habits and mindsets—such as the 16 Habits of Mind identified and defined by Arthur Costa and Bena Kallick—in our students is one of the most critical tasks for educators. While we are teaching our students content knowledge, we are also tasked with helping students develop into well-rounded citizens of the world that can succeed in life beyond our classroom walls. Habits and mindsets can be applied and practiced to school and classroom activities as well as to life outside of school. Developing these habits and mindsets at a young age can have a profound impact on students’ organization, study habits, development of character traits, and their system of value. To develop various habits and mindsets in our students, educators should aim to implement a mix of explicit instruction—to allow students to become familiar with the concept and determine that there is value in investing their time and effort—followed by consistent and frequent reinforcement activity. I strive to incorporate all 16 of the Habits of Mind into each of my classes. However, there are two particular Habits where I have seen the most significant level of personal growth within my students—the Habit of Persisting and the Habit of Managing Impulsivity. Please click on the links below to see how these Habits have become an integral part of my classroom and a cornerstone of my instruction.
Pre-Assessment
At the beginning of each new class, I implement a Habits of Mind pre-assessment with students. When I first entered the classroom, I used a pre-assessment designed by the assistant principal of the school for which I worked. However, this assessment did not provide the level of data I desired. For this reason, I switched to a pre-assessment retrieved from the article Habits of Mind: A curriculum for community high school of Vermont students approximately a year ago.
In the document on the left, you will find a student sample of the pre-assessment I give at the start of every year or semester. This assessment asks students several questions relating to each Habit of Mind. Students are asked to identify the response of “most of the time,” “frequently,” “sometimes,” or “not yet” for each question. I then go through and find the most common and least common answer—for each item—for each class and across all levels I teach. I can then use this data to identify any specific Habit that needs to be targeted or that requires additional support for any given class period for development.
Habits of Mind pre-assessment student sample
The table on the left shows the most and least common answers for the pre-assessment at the start of the school year when I first started teaching in Indonesia last fall. This data is what led me to determine the need for additional focus and support for the Habits of Persisting and Managing Impulsivity. Please click on the links below to see the explicit instruction, reinforcement activities, as well as the personal growth experienced by students as a result of this data.
Data from the Habits of Mind pre-assessment
Focus Habits and Mindsets
Click on the images below to learn more about the Habits of Mind of Persisting and Managing Impulsivity in my classroom.
Persisting
Managing Impulsivity
Post-Assessment
Recently, I gave my students the post-assessment in the document on the left as a pulse check for their development and personal growth for each of the Habits of Mind. This post-assessment is the same template as the pre-assessment given at the beginning of the year to allow me to compare data. Students will take this assessment a final time at the end of the year.
Habits of Mind post-assessment student sample
Based on this data, the explicit instruction and reinforcement activities have achieved their desired outcome. At the start of the school year, the most common answer for questions relating to the Habit of Persisting and the Habit of Managing Impulsivity was “not yet,” and the least common answer was “most of the time.” In the most recent assessment, the most recent assessment these answers were flipped with the most common answer being “most of the time” and the least common answer being “not yet” for both of the focus Habits discussed in the sections above. It is clear through this data that the explicit instruction and reinforcement activities for these Habits has led to personal growth on the part of my students. Moving forward, based on this most recent data, it appears students could use the most support developing the Habits of “Responding with Wonderment and Awe” and “Creating, Imagining, and Innovating.” These will be the new areas of focus for my classes moving forward.
Data from the Habits of Mind post-assessment
Conclusion
Development of habits and mindsets is a continuous and life-long process—there is no endpoint. We can all strive to be better versions of ourselves by growing and improving as individuals. However, while there isn’t an endpoint regarding this development—everyone has to start somewhere. Through the above-outlined classroom experiences and activities, I have identified what my students view as the Habits of Mind where they need the most support to develop. I have then implemented a system of explicit instruction and frequent reinforcement to assist students in the development of these habits and mindsets. I am pleased with the progress and personal growth I have witnessed in my students, and I look forward to continuing this process moving forward.
References
Johnson, B., Rutledge, M., Poppe, M., & Vermont Consultants for Language and Learning. (2005). Appendix C: Pre- and post-assessments of Habits of Mind. In Habits of Mind: A curriculum for community high school of Vermont students(pp. 101–104). Retrieved
from http://www.chsvt.org/wdp/Habits_of_Mind_Curriculum_VT_WDP.pdf.