JHMS Literacy Coach: Habits of Mind and/or Discipline Specific Thinking/Speaking

“A Habit of Mind is knowing how to behave intelligently when you DON’T know the answer." - Costa and Kallick

"The only reason to teach any habit of mind is so that kids will learn to self-initiate it in their own lives." ~Donna Santman, Shades of Meaning

**A new kind of rigor becomes possible when the teacher focuses not on the excellent elements of a shared text but on the habits of mind that are characteristic of excellent readers. ~Donna Santman

Habits of Mind are dispositions that are skillfully and mindfully employed by characteristically intelligent, successful people when they are confronted with problems, the solution to which are not immediately apparent. (from Institute for Habits of Mind, link below)

Venn Diagram showing all the HOM recommended by the CCSS and Next Gen Standards.

DBQ Project - their write up about Habits of Mind ....Horace Mann once observed that “habit is a cable; we weave a thread of it each day, and at last we cannot break it.” They go on to use the research of Costa and Kallick (below).

The Habits of Mind as identified by Costa and Kallick at Institude for Habits of Mind are:

Persisting
Thinking and Communicating with Clarity and Precision
Managing Impulsivity
Gathering Data Through all Senses
Listening with Understanding and Empathy
Creating, Imagining and Innovating
Thinking Flexibly
Responding with Wonderment and Awe
Thinking about Thinking (Metacognition)
Taking Responsible Risks
Striving for Accuracy
Finding Humor
Questioning and Posing Problems
Thinking Interdependently
Applying Past Knowledge to New Situations
Remaining Open to Continuous Learning

Habits of Mind for Thinking, Speaking/Listening, Reading, and Writing

~From the Center for Educational Leadership~

Student persists through difficult tasks (thinking, speaking, reading, writing, etc.)
Students are aware of their metacognitive processes. Access higher level thinking processes.
Students think and communicate with clarity, precision, and accuracy.
Students are self-advocates and take responsible risks with learning.
Students manage impulsivity. Students think, speak, read, write with intention and purpose.
Students are able to justify and defend their own thinking process.

Habits of Mind

Linda Nathan

1.     Invention: What is my passion and how do I use it in my work? Do I take risks and push myself? What makes this work special? How do I nourish my creativity? How can I extend or play with what is given to me? What further questions could I pursue? What further possibilities could I see? How inventive am I when challenged by something difficult?

2.     Connection: Who is my audience and how do I connect my work to my audience? What am I trying to say? What can I draw from in my own personal experience? What else does this work connect to? How could I interpret or analyze this work? Why does this work matter? When is work “good”? Is this approach the only one possible? What are the implications of this approach? What is the work’s purpose or importance?

3.     Refinement: What tools do I need? Have I demonstrated good craftsmanship? What are my strengths and weaknesses? When is the work finished? What further skills do I need? Have I demonstrated understanding? Have I conveyed my message?

4.     Ownership: How does this work affect others? What or whom is this work for? How do I find the drive to go on? What do I need to be successful? How do I approach a project and follow through? How do I advocate my work and the work of others? What am I working for? How do I cope with frustration? How do I know when to ask for help and what is the most effective way to ask? Am I proud to stand behind my work? Am I committed to my work?

CONTENT SPECIFIC:

Habits of Mind for Science

~ From the National Science Education Standards (National Research Council) ~

Skepticism - recognize the importance of legitimate skepticism
Respect for Data - engage in consideration of the alignment between the data and conclusions that are made. (C: CD/CMs)
Limitations of Science: Acknowledge the limitations of scientific techniques.
Considerations of Consequences: Explore wider implications for the results of investigations.

History's Habits of the Mind

The perspectives and modes of thoughtful judgment derived from the study of history are many, and they ought to be its principal aim. Courses in history, geography, and government should be designed to take students well beyond formal skills of critical thinking, to help them through their own learning to:

understand the significance of the past to their own lives, both private and public, and to their society.
distinguish between the important and the inconsequential, to develop the "discriminating memory" needed for a discerning judgment in public and personal life.
perceive past events and issues as they were experienced by people at the time, to develop historical empathy as opposed to present-mindedness.
acquire at one and the same time a comprehension of diverse cultures and of shared humanity.
understand how things happen and how things change, how human intentions matter, but also how their consequences are shaped by the means of carrying them out, in a tangle of purpose and process.
comprehend the interplay of change and continuity, and avoid assuming that either is somehow more natural, or more to be expected, than the other.
prepare to live with uncertainties and exasperating, even perilous, unfinished business, realizing that not all problems have solutions.
grasp the complexity of historical causation, respect particularity, and avoid excessively abstract generalizations.
appreciate the often tentative nature of judgments about the past, and thereby avoid the temptation to seize upon particular "lessons" or history as cures for present ills.
recognize the importance of individuals who have made a difference in history, and the significance of personal character for both good and ill.
appreciate the force of the nonrational, the irrational, the accidental, in history and human affairs.
understand the relationship between geography and history as a matrix of time and place, and as context for events.
read widely and critically in order to recognize the difference between fact and conjecture, between evidence and assertion, and thereby to frame useful questions.

Habits of Mind taken from:
Bradley Commission on History in Schools. Building a History Curriculum: Guidelines for Teaching History in Schools. Westlake, OH: National Council for History Education, 1995. p. 9.
National Council for History Education, Inc.

Habits of Mind for Good Readers:

Strategic readers possess and apply productive mental habits. They are aware of their thinking, feelings, and behaviors as they complete a task. They know how to manage, monitor, and modify their thought patterns. Art Costa suggests that all readers must develop three broad reading comprehension habits: self-managing, self-monitoring, and self-modifying (Billmeyer, 2004).

Strategic readers are self-managing. They approach their text as a form of problem solving; the problem is to create meaning from the text. They come to the task equipped with a purpose for reading, questions in mind, a flexible plan, data drawn from past experiences, anticipation of success, and creative alternatives for constructing meaning. Key Habits of Mind that help readers self-manage are applying past knowledge to new situations and questioning and posing problems.

Strategic readers are self-monitoring. Metacognition, thinking about one's own thinking, occurs when students are aware of what goes on in their minds as they read. They monitor their thinking before, during, and after reading. Strategic readers establish metacognitive strategies such as making connections to previous learning, visualizing scenarios, and comparing with other resources. They monitor their own comprehension, conscious not only of the meaning they are making but also of the adequacy of the processes they are employing to construct that meaning. Specific Habits of Mind that help readers self-monitor are thinking about thinking and thinking and communicating with clarity and precision.

Strategic readers are self-modifying. They reflect on, evaluate, analyze, and construct meaning. They are open to altering their perceptions, biases, and conclusions, and to synthesizing new learning and applying it to future activities, tasks, and challenges. Strategic readers view each reading task as a skill-building experience—an opportunity to continually evaluate and improve meaning. Specific Habits of Mind that help readers self-modify are thinking interdependently and remaining open to continuous learning.

The key habits are the following:

Applying past knowledge to new situations
Questioning and posing problems
Thinking about thinking (metacognition)
Thinking and communicating with clarity and precision
Thinking interdependently
Remaining open to continuous learning

Using Habits of Mind to become a Better Writer

~PowerPoint~

Mathematician's Habits of Mind:

One source (article that describes it more):

Learning mathematics is not just about knowing, understanding, and applying its concepts, principles and all the associated procedures. It’s not just even about acquiring the capacity to solve problem, to reason and to communicate. It is only when these capacities become part of students’ thinking habits that one can be said to be mathematically literate.

The test for example that solving problem is no longer just a skill but has become part of students thinking habit is when students are doing it without the teachers still having to ask “Can you explain why you solve it that way?” or “Can you do it another way?” Those should be automatic to students.

“A habit is any activity that is so well established that it occurs without thought on the part of the individual.”

Here’s is a list of important mathematical habits of mind that I believe every teacher should aim at in any mathematics lesson.

Habit #1: Searching for Patterns