Last week I was able to attend a Habits of Mind workshop with Karen Boyes. I had a bit of an idea of Karen’s style as I had attended her Fish Philosophy workshop at ULearn09 and I subscribe to the EdTalks podcast in iTunes.

Here are my notes…

Habits of Mind are the things that will help children/adults sustain ourselves in 21st century. Rate of change is accelerating- who knows what the future will bring?

What is thinking? Cognitive brain actions- thoughts, feelings, opinions, strategising, multi-solutions, considerations, conscious, unconscious-thought.

“Thinking is when your mouth shuts down and your head keeps talking”. THINK- PAIR- SHARE. Remember the hand signals. ( I used to use the hand signals last year but forgot over the school holidays ). Time for processing- 7-10 seconds to process the question.

How would you want kids to think- risk takers, engaged, individual thoughts, justify their thoughts, curious, open to other people, links to outside the classroom text to world connections, thoughtful failure.

What dispositions do successful people have? And if so can we learn them? (Interestingly George the soccer guy came school last week and talked to the kids about the sorts of things successful soccer players do- fitted in nicely to my thinking).

“Habit is a cable, we weave a thread of it every day, and at last we cannot break it.” Horace Mann.

‘Mindful Garden of Verses‘ by Marie Ciota- poetry book about HoM- they help you solve problems and know what to do when the wings fall off. We’ll have to get a copy.

Here are the Habits of Mind– I hope I got them all!

Translate and transfer information-

Persisting- not giving up- thinking of the frog and the crow cartoon.

Managing Impulsivity- think before you act. Successful people think it through before they act.

Listening with empathy and understanding- while listening we are busy thinking about what we are going to say! I know you don’t know but if you did know what would you think/say/do.

Thinking flexibility- e.g. The Real Story of the Three Little Pigs.

Thinking about thinking- metacognition- Successful people can talk about their thinking.

Striving for accuracy- the word is striving. ‘Never work harder than your students’. C3B4ME. Say there are 3 errors in your writing rather than you got seven right, if children think they ‘passed’ they won’t bother to learn or work out what the mistakes were.

Questioning- at the end of a topic they should have more questions than when they started.

Applying past knowledge to knew situations- use what you learn.

Thinking and communicating with clarity and precision. Getting the right/differnt word when writing, avoiding generalisations, exaggerations.

Gathering data through all the senses- like they do when they are little.

Creating, imagining, innovating- we can grow creativity. TED talks. Shift happens. Creativity is our point of difference from the production capability in India or China. (This ties in nicely with what Chris was saying last week– I am triangulating my data.)

Responding with wonderment and awe. FISH philosophy. WOW moment. I love the Fish Philosophy. It’s great to show happiness and joy and magic.

Take responsible risks- be OK with failure- try new things constantly. Failure is like manure- it sticks but it makes things grow fast.

Finding humour- kiwis like to laugh- be resilient- laugh it off and move on. (Personally I find that one hard- I don’t move on easily- I fester)

Thinking independently

Remaining open to continuous learning

Now the NZ Curriculum- T.R.U.M.P– Thinking. Relating to others, Understanding symbols and text, Managing Self, Participating and contributing.

WEAVING IT ALL TOGETHER

People need to be mindful competent- not automatic- thinking about the task that needs to be done.

‘Developing Habits of Mind in Elementary Schools’ by Karen Boyes. Moving from teacher led teaching and learning to student led mindful learning.

Examples-

• Do a word splash- other ways of saying the same things- key words, synonyms, phrases that convey the same meaning Wordle
• How do we do that- what it looks like. Graphic- prove with 3 ot of evidence- Comic Life
• Ask a child who is successful what they do to be successful. Celebrate it- Y chart look like, sound like, feel like. None of the HoM stand alone.
• Pausing, probing, what do you mean?- to get more clarity of understanding.
• What habits of mind do successful people display to help them be successful- sports people, authors, role models
• Managing impulsivity. An owl or a frog- which personality type are you. Make a four part rubric co-constructed with the kids body parts of the frog.
• Success-o-meter- pudding like, luke warm success, groovy success, outstanding.  Like a growth chart on the wall 0r our traffic lights.
• Use the language of thinking- analyse, predict- use the right words, don’t dumb it down
• A thinking buddy- Tony Ryan’s idea- soft toy to do your thinking with.
• If you allow it you teach it.
• Make trading cards- make eight cards- teacher gets one and rest are traded. Like our fitness cards with a digital photo of how it looks. Each for an example of HoM.
• Bookmarks with the HoM with photos of HoM in action
• Certificates on HoM to be completed by parents
• The teacher needs to always model.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” Aristotle

www.spectrumcommunity.ning.com

Thanks Karen- a lot to go on with but good practical, real things I can do in my classroom this week and next term.