Teaching OF Habits of Mind
This facets address the need to teach the Habits of Mind
explicitly to students and suggests some strategies and frameworks to assist
teachers doing this. This is not to suggest that the Habits of Mind should be
kept in isolation from the rest of the curriculum, but rather they should be
taught explicitly first and then applied to other contexts.
Stages of Development
We find that students tend to progress through several identifiable
stages of development (1)
as they learn about and begin to use Habits of Mind. This short article
identifies these stages and suggests strategies that are relevant to students at
each level and that may help them progress.
Originally published in, Owen, C (Ed),
(2004) Habits of Mind – A Resource Kit for Australian Schools, Australian
National Schools Network,
Sydney
, 2004.
This grid allows students to select
activities that may reflect the stage of development they are at. (5)
Strategies for the Explicit Teaching Of Habits of Mind
Teachers often ask how can they teach a Habit of Mind in their specialist
class. This short article (How Can I Teach a Habit of Mind in My Classroom?)
(1) looks at three
facets of understanding a Habit that can be taught in any classroom -
Sensitivity to when to apply a habit. The inclination or why you
would choose to use a Habits, and the skills of how to use a Habit.
Originally published in, Owen, C (Ed),
(2004) Habits of Mind – A Resource Kit for Australian Schools, Australian
National Schools Network,
Sydney
, 2004.
Sample Activities (General - applicable to all Habits)
This card game has been very
useful in quickly giving students a broad understanding of the Habits. After
about 50 minutes at this, students tend to know the Habits well enough for the
teacher to use the language of the Habits in the classroom.
(1)
These HOM Strips are
essentially the same as the card game above, just simplified. (4)
This chart helps students
define a Habit of Mind (2)
This example uses cinquain
poetry to help teach the meanings of Habits of Mind. (4)
Here Cathy Marks has put the Habits of Mind to the tune of Jingle
Bells to help students remember them.
Habits of Mind can be used to create successful characters, like in this
Medieval activity, (3)
or from the same unit this story of crusaders
using the Habits.
Looks Like, Sounds Like
activities are useful in helping students lean about the Habits. (2)
These rich images of Whinny the Pooh
and friends are a useful and fun starting point for looking at the Habits of
Mind portrayed.
Quotes can be used
to help students identify and become familiar with each Habit. (7)
In a similar way this word list
can also be used. (2)
This Quizzmo (game1
game2) (like Bingo) can be used
to help students learn similes for the Habits.(2)
Debating Habits of
Mind has been used to help students gain a deeper understanding of the Habits.
(5)
Sample Activities (Specific to individual Habits)
This PowerPoint Presentation
and Notes discusses
Wait Time in relation to the Habits of Mind. Thanks Alan Cooper
These activities uses song lyrics to teach about Persistence. Born To Try
(5) and others
set in the context of public speaking.
This activity, incorporating song lyrics focuses on persistence
(6)
Design an advertising strategy to encourage students to Managing Impulsivity
(6)
A detailed and extensive lesson sequence teaching about persistence
(6)
