Spectrum Education

Habits of Mind Bootcamp Sydney

3 August 2010 The children we teach today may live to be 110-140 years old (that means that they

will be alive in the 22nd century!!!. What does that mean for us as teachers? The Habits of the Mind helps set the children up for skills that will equip them for

the future What are we doing to prepare these children for the future that they will face (21st

and 2nd century) What is thinking?- Using your mind, processing, drawing on prior knowledge, applying

what you know and have, an awareness, connecting, reflecting, analysing, looking at different ways to do things

When you ask children to think, what do you actually want them to do? “Thinking is when your mouth stays shut and your head keeps talking to itself”

~Dennis the Menace

Think, pair, share Allow time and tools to think

The average teacher waits one second after asking a question before

moving on (this is not enough time for thinking to occur) Give students time to think! Give between 7-10 seconds What is it about your students that makes you think they need to learn how to

think? What do you see them doing? What do you hear them saying? How are they feeling? How would you like them to be?

- They seem to have everything done for them - They don’t take the time to work things out - I want them to use ingenuity, think through things and be creative - I want them to think outside the box - Everything is too accessible - Independent, engaged, interdependent (work together to collaborate on thinking and ideas), safe, motivated by a challenge, wanting to learn and think and question, confident

16 Habits of Mind

Compare this list above with the 16 Habits of Mind; These are all skills and things that the children need to think creatively

They help you solve problems and know what to do!

It’s about sharing the vision (throughout a school) “A habit is a cable; we weave it each day, and at last we cannot break it!”~ The more

you use the habits, the stronger they get Why habits of the mind? Transdisciplinary, good for adults and students, for

lifelong learning

1. Persistence- Sticking to it with a basketful of strategies and looking at different ways to do things

2. Managing Impulsivity- Retraining themselves, Proverbs 19:2, traffic lights (stop, think, go)

3. Listening with Understanding and Empathy- The queen of the habits, 55% of our lives is spent listening (but how often is it taught?), silent and listen are spelt with the same letters, truly hearing what the other people think

4. Flexibility in thinking- Looking from different perspectives and try different ideas, if you never change your mind, why have one? (Changing pictures- old lady and young lady within a picture)- search illusions on the internet (‘The True Story of the Three Little Pigs’)- Introducing this habit from the perspective of the wolf

5. Metacognition- Thinking about your thinking (in the frontal lobe), when the mind is thinking it is talking to itself, to read without reflecting is like eating without digesting

6. Striving for Accuracy- Striving to be the best you can be- C3B4ME (before handing work in they have to have three other children check it), ‘Never work harder than your students’ (Should this be how it is?), scan marking; if you can see three errors, write ‘There are three errors on this page, please find them’. Learning is learning what you don’t know (not revising what you do know), it’s the things you get wrong that should help you to know what you need to learn

7. Questioning and Problem Posing- Question and look for problems to solve, what is the real problem? What is the TRUE problem and how do we go about solving it?

8. Applying past knowledge to new situations- Using what they know and applying it to a real life situation, making the links between subjects and lessons, make learning integrated

9. Thinking and communicating with clarity and precision- Thinking is clear and easy to understand, create clear language (‘Fancy Nancy’)- builds language and vocabulary with children, video clip; Berlitz; the language of thinking (German Coastguard)

10. Gathering Data through all the sense- Look, feel, hear, smell, see, touch, teach children about their brains and how they learn (The Brainy Bunch) in the first few weeks of learning at school, teach them about the different lobes and how they work and what they are for, understand how they think and learn (colours, learning styles etc)

11. Creating, Imagining, Innovating- www.ted.com, ‘Creativity is not the finding of a thing, but making something out of it after it is found’, Sir Ken Robinson (‘Creativity is the Gold of the 21st Century), use analogies, mind-maps,

metaphors, Describe the characteristics of a detective if he is like chocolate

12. Responding with Wonderment and Awe- “Wow, that’s pretty neat!”, WOW (with fingers in ‘W’ and open mouth), have a wow moment!

13. Taking Responsible Risks- Step outside your comfort zone, trying something you haven’t tried before, risk failure, ‘Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go’ (The rock face at Outward Bound!), we learn by making mistakes (or learning experiences), create a culture that it is ok to make mistakes

14. Finding Humour- Resilience, find humour at a situation, laughing at ourselves, put-downs are NOT humour

15. Thinking Interdependently- Working together as a TEAM, co-operation 16. Remaining open to continuous learning- we can always learn more and

improve! Live above the line; Be in the learning team (ownership, accountability, responsibility) rather than the victim team (blaming, denying and making excuses) Don’t stop, thinking about tomorrow- Fleetwood Mac!!! (Song!) Switching off the brain- “Woosh”- I know and I understand (comes from a traditional Japanese word) Thinking through problems, go from easier to harder and let your brain think in its subconscious Switching on the brain- Stretch Graham Watts PHD Question- What is the effective practice in the teaching of thinking? Thinking and learning curriculum ‘Developing Habits of Mind’ for Secondary and Elementary Schools

5 Dimensions for Internalising the Habits of

Mind: BRIDGE Model- from a teacher-led model to student-led, mindful learning Children using the habits as first nature (a habit!)

1. Exploring meanings- teacher introducing the habit, suggesting a habit Teacher understanding, direct teaching of HOM, posters, word splashes, picture splashes (lots of pictures related to the topic), book and movie clips, classroom displays, examples from current events, people in the community of people

exemplifying the HOM, giving the strategies for children to become ‘unstuck’ on their own (if they are stuck and going off-task), explicit teaching of the HOMs 2. Expanding capacities- expanding understanding Activities for students to recognise the HOM and make judgements on their purpose and use, case studies of famous individual who have effectively displayed the HOM (i.e. Thomas Edison displaying persistence), Y Chart (look like, feel like, sound like when the HOM is active) activities for students to analyse HOM in relation to the scenarios, rubrics (for self-assessment of the HOM in terms of novice, apprentice, practitioner and expert), guidance for teachers and students on writing their own rubrics Sailing to Success- (a large sailing boat with the children’s photos of the children sailing), thinking desk to adjust sails! 3. Increasing alertness- the student alert to why they need the habit and why it

is useful to them (The crucial moment from taking from teacher-led to student-led)

Activities for students to interalise the importance and potential of the HOM, series of self-reflective questions, action-planning templates for future development of HOM, modelling by teacher, ‘Catch them being good’ (identifying children who are using the HOM) Reflecting on HOM: - Which HOM did we intend to use? Why? - Take these HOM in turn, what worked well? Why? - What didn’t work well? Why? 4. Extending values- Walking with the students to apply the habits as ‘this is the way

we do things around here’, an internal compass Curriculum planning templates to infuse HOM into teaching and learning, HOM selected by teachers and students as appropriate to learning and topic, HOM discussed and referred to beyond the classroom, students designing own rubrics and increasingly able to plan own improvement Persistence Mountain- Different levels climbing the mountain with the children’s names climbing onwards and upwards (students are in control of this movement) 5. Building commitment Learning and living with HOM, examples of school’s common thinking languages, examples of teacher modelling of HOM in their day-to-day work, examples of assessing habituation in self and others, goal setting for further habituation Analogies for the development of the HOM: Tool belt on the wall and each tool representing a different habit to become a master craftsman! – Targeted tool box Rocket ship shooting for the moon (but landing in the stars if missed) A journey with a map, itinerary Adrian Rennie Ice-breaker: A ship came into port filled with cargo beginning with the letter ‘T’ (things that are beautiful, things that add to 20, things that are annoying, things that

begin with the sound ‘tr’ etc). Children have to list all of the things they can think of starting with the letter T and they can’t repeat the same object (always original). Ice-breaker: Three things, two are true, one is false. Which one do you think is false?

Activating the Language of Habits of Mind in your Classroom

Record and identify the big ideas Define them Talk about them often Build them into lessons The big ideas in my classroom: Communities are important,

kindness, we are fortunate, learning is fun, lifelong learning, respect (backpack)

Internal voice- tell yourself you are a legend EVERY DAY! (In your head!). Use this for thinking about what they need for an activity in their head.

Applaud children who make mistakes (learning opportunities!).

Common language that is used in my classroom: “Are the words that I speak, true, kind and necessary?”, “Treat others as you would want to be treated”, “Be Kind!”, “C3B4ME”, “MYOB!” (Are the children linking these to habits of the mind in my classroom?), “Be Awesome”, “Leading the Way”, “Be a lifelong learner”, “Talk in Turns”

Other Language: “Always do your best”, “Be loyal”, “Be honest, courageous and loyal”, “You are successful”

Wait 7 seconds, give thinking time, no hands up; just ask someone!!

CREATE LANGUAGE POSTERS FOR YOUR CLASSROOM!!! Alter classroom instructions and rules with the language you use to include a HOM.

E.g. Instead of “Head the date and underline it with a ruler”, you could say, “Strive for accuracy in making your headings neat”.

“Go and line up outside the hall quietly”, instead say, “Use your past knowledge, we have done this many times before, to line up outside the hall”.

Cool Monster vs. Victim Monster (living above the line!). Teach children to tell themselves off: “Crikey, (insert

own), talking like that is hassling others. For goodness sake manage your impulsivity and focus on the challenge!” (Metacognition, finding humour, managing self)

Advantages: A fun way to correct behaviour, student suffers no attack, students will begin telling each other to tell themselves off, students will begin to spontaneously tell themselves off aloud and in their mind

Think of a famous person, then yourself, what HOM do you both use? What HOM do famous people, scientists, researchers etc use? The biggest, positive changes a teacher of the Habits of Mind must make are: to

see HOM in action around the room, to include HOM in classroom language, live the HOM in your own life!

The language of the HOM is the foundation to success in implementing this HOM programme! Sandra Grey Sparkle hands (if you know the answer, if you think it is true etc) 21st Century Student: Creative, innovative, critical thinker, problem solver, communicator, collaborator,

flexible thinker, adaptable The performing arts has power to help create 21st century thinkers we need “I can!” Statements “Happy Check!” – think of something and how happy you feel inside (1-10) about it

and then share it with your fingers “One for All, and All for One!”- Consensus Decision Making Humour and Joy Redefine success for our kids!

SUCCESS Teach the different habits using a range of the senses (dance and drama), responding

with wonder and awe (hearing beautiful music or watching an incredible dance)

4 August 2010 - I have a fear of peanut butter - I performed in a musical last year and was an elf - Both my parents have dark hair and dark skin

Thinking Responsible risks (video clip; not extreme enough)- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enqh9Oc-qQc Q. To what extent is this is a responsible risk? Q. What made it a responsible risk? Planned, helmet, parachute, waited until the weight was up (the timing was right) Ask the ‘What if?’ questions when deciding if it is a responsible risk! Classroom Application: Rank the Habits of Mind for the people around you MY Personal Habits of Mind Strengths and Weaknesses

Strength O.K Weakness Persisting Striving for accuracy Thinking and

communicating with clarity and precision

Creating, imagining, and innovating

Responding with wonderment and awe

Taking responsible risks Finding humour Remaining open to

continuous learning

Listening with understanding and empathy

Thinking about your thinking (metacognition)

Questioning and problem solving

Applying past knowledge to new situations

Gather data through all the senses

Thinking interdependently

Thinking flexibly

Managing Impulsivity

Linking to Curriculum Areas: What’s a good habit in Maths? Persisting Creating, imagining, and innovating Questioning and problem posing Taking responsible risks What’s a good habit in Literacy? Thinking and communicating with clarity and precision Persisting Striving for accuracy Creating, imagining, and innovating Habits for ‘communities are important’ and ‘Business communities’ learning: Poverty, Communities, Gratefulness Listening with Understanding and Empathy Creating, imagining and innovating Thinking interdependently Metacognition Brain-break- STRETCH your body! Implementing the Habits of Mind Doodle challenge- closed or open curve

Practical Ideas to Develop the Habits of Mind in my Classroom Great Ideas Adaptable

Ideas Ideas for Others

Doodle challenge Start by modelling HOM in my own classroom (displays etc) Posters of the HOM (make your own for ownership!) Create a team secret handshake (be aware of which HOM

you are using) Display HOM creatively (i.e. on a big box (that can be spun

around) four HOM posters on each side Class Mascot (that has all the values of the HOM)-

brainstorm all the things he does to be successful (relate to HOM)- “What would Terrance do?”- create a poster for ‘thinking about thinking’ with the question on it

HOM Bookmarks Success-o-meter (wooden cut-out of a thermometer);

outstanding success, groovy success, luke-warm success, jube success- children take completed work up to the meter (co-constructed with the kids) and they can grade it themselves

Autograph collection (or other) of things during the year

Create a new class name (Terrific Ten)

HOM Caterpillar HOM Tree

(thinking tree) HOM Honours

board (children who are achieving the HOM)

Trading cards

The HOM are all about everyone learning to behave intelligently when they are faced with a problem where the answer is not immediately known. Success-o-meter ideas (road, mountain, rocket, sweets, dial, hamburger (remember the sauce!), hive) The Power of the Dramatic Arts Develops communication skills Risk-taking opportunities Transformation Role-playing Collaborative learning Experience based learning Activating the Habits of Mind There are 16 habits (maybe more). Tell children there are 16 and we are working on… They will need to know that they are link and make those connections. Teaching the skills of listening 3 Ps (Pause, paraphrase, probe) Listen to a partner talk about something (i.e. Finsih the sentence, “This term I am

most excited about…”. The other person listens and then pauses before paraphrasing and then probing for more information.

Talk about the skills needed to listen and retain what they have heard, what do they do in their mind to remember, what HOM are being used (managing impulses), talk about skills of effective listening

Activity: A line, at one end a lego sculpture and at the other end a bag of lego of the same kind. People have to try and construct the lego based on their skills of listening and passing instructions along the line (without looking at the sculpture). Compare results at the end. Why did communication break-down? First team finished wins! In what ways did your team communicate well?

WOOSH!

Success Icebreaker: Tell the people at your table your favourite holiday location, brand of

toothpaste, number of siblings, middle name, favourite movie, favourite book etc Successful people have goals and know where they are going (have a VERY strong

WHY!) S.M.A.R.T (a formula for goal-setting) S- be Specific M- measureable A- achievable R- realistic (or unrealistic if you’re a risk-taker!!!) T- time frame Self-Talk and Belief The belief systems hold us back. Our sub-conscious brains do not know the difference between what is true and untrue. It only believes what you tell it. Strong vs. Weak (arm up and creating resistance) Be aware of negative beliefs and how they may be affecting you (deal with negative

self-talk and say “thank you for sharing!”) Have self-affirmations What’s stopping me from achieving my goals? Your body language is important (non-verbal communication) Your tone is also very important Thursday 5 August

Thinking maps Round of applause- Clap in a circle! 8 Popular thinking activities we ask our children to do: 1. Context/frame of reference 2. Analogies 3. Cause and effect 4. Sequencing 5. Whole/part 6. Classification 7. Compare and contrast

8. Describing qualities

Don’t limit children with the number of bubbles given; start with a blank piece of

paper and build up ideas from there

Used as a basis for inquiry

learning and thinking

A step up from the venn-diagram (a data catcher rather than a

thinking tool) Comparing and

contrasting beginning with a blank piece of

paper

Begin without lines, just the brainstorms

and then compare and contrast and create the

links (solid or broken lines to determine strength of

link)

A school-wide thinking

language

Thinking Map Examples Circle Map Brace Map

Bubble Map Flow Map

Double Bubble Map Multi-Flow Map

Tree Map Bridge Map

http://frankley.school.nz/index_files/putting_the_pieces_together/thinking_maps.html

Music

12121234 54545432 12345678987654321 The Mindful Song There is a way for minds to come together There’s a way for us all to get along And that way begins and ends with thinking Thought has the power to make right every wrong. The mindful way takes courage and commitment The mindful way makes excellence the call The mindful ways achieved through perseverance It’s the way to victory for all. - Champion vs. Champion; two lines facing each, leader calls out maths question, first one to answer goes to back of line and loser goes back to seat

Building resilience in youth Prepare kids to learn What is resilience? Adjectives that Describe your School/Class Culture Fun Friendly Approachable Creative Happy Positive Active Safe Noisy Learning “To alter my classroom culture next week I am going to…” (Self talk!) Be enthusiastic even if I am feeling tired Feature lessons- Dress up and be a character and teach the children (make learning

exciting!!!) Computer vouchers or class cash- rewards for great behaviour Everything you do sends a message and creates a class culture for the students Take time to create a colourful environment What’s the best/worst part of your room? Thinking Wall- helps children to have resilience against other children hasseling

them. The words bounce off the wall, land on the floor and give the children time to think about their reaction and say, “Yeah whatever…” and walk away.

Teach children to get the finger out, “I don’t like the way you <insert problem here>, please stop it!”.

Friday 6 August Brick wall metaphor (Building a strong foundation with the mortar between the

curriculum area with the HOM) Showing the links to the curriculum and how they fit with the HOM

Sustaining a Mindful Culture Induction of new staff- in staff handbook, in recruitment policy, on website Connect with someone who can get on board with the ideas really quickly and is

excited about it (a thinking and learning buddy) Senior leadership commitment- get management on board (especially the principal)-

make sure they understand their value and all of the layers (not just for creating school culture)

Performance management/appraisal- within your appraisal system, observations across the school

Linked to ‘school improvement plan’ Ross Kennedy- HOM school

http://www.c21learning.com/cms/page.php?view=key_competencies Link to the Key Competency Teaching Managing impulsivity (Frog vs. Owl to help children to understand this habit)

Remember the Mortar

Implementing the Habits of Mind in the Classroom http://www.c21learning.com/cms/page.php?view=hom Trudy Francis Synopsis of the last four years Our learning journey in relation to the HoM began in earnest in 2003 after Art Costa came to our school for two days. As Ross has mentioned this was the catalyst for considerable change. The workshop Art ran established a foundation from which our newly perceived ideas could be tested in the classroom. We have felt, and often referred back to this time as critical, in terms of buy-in of a new initiative due to the respect Art gained from most, if not all our staff and the research based evidence that the HoM truly make a difference in relation to being successful life-long learners. Art met with the parents and quickly established with them the perception that the HoM are of great value in relation to their children's learning not just at school, but for their out-of-school lives too. Later on, Ross included in our school newsletter a description of one HoM each week. Parents became more familiar with them and were encouraged to notice these dispositions in themselves and their children. There are many times when student's samples of learning in relation to the HoM are included in the Newsletter and as assembly items. Ross gave us (the staff and in particular the Senior Management) the freedom to take risks in our classrooms and to pilot new ideas. As a staff, we had the opportunity to ask questions like, "so what - will the HoM really make a difference for our learners"? In our experience, resistance to change occurred when there was limited understanding of the value, lack of shared professional development experiences and little chance to try things without too much pressure. Making links to what we were already doing helped, for example encouraging students to persist and strive for excellence, problem-solve, set goals and reflect. These links built our confidence as we recognised that some of the Habits were already valued. Art suggested some ways to heighten awareness of the HoM. Names of texts (for a variety of levels), posters and quotes were the first resources we used in our classrooms. For ongoing support and to deepen our understanding the internet and conferences like the HoM expo provide teachers with new ideas, resources and contacts with colleagues from other schools. During this trial period which lasted at least a year, we played with big ideas about how to implement the Habits. We tried to organise them into 'Terms' to ensure we 'covered' all of them and we discussed age appropriate Habits (which ones were more

developmentally appropriate for junior children compared to senior)? We discussed natural fit with content and processes (e.g. thinking) and should the HoM be assessed; if so: why, how, and for whom? As a consequence teachers created generic matrices using Georgette Jenson's rubrics and our fledgling ideas based on experiences we were having in the classrooms. We felt challenged by our limited expertise, it was like being in a fog - our impression was that this was very different from teaching, assessing and evaluating subjects like reading and maths or the essential skills (which was part of the New Zealand curriculum). There were many times when teachers said, "Just tell me what to do". Our 'early adopters' became very passionate about the impact the HoM were having in terms of learning attitudes and dispositions of their students; they (the students) liked them, they seemed to relate to them and as a result a new HoM vocabulary became part of the culture of our school. Every junior-class student knew the difference between being a blurting frog who cannot manage his/her impulsivity and a wise owl who can. It was noticeable that students developed a pride in themselves as they took more and more responsibility for their learning and consequently were more successful. Walls soon became covered with posters describing the HoM, characters from story books reminding students of desired learning behaviours and rubrics defining criteria for success. Goal setting books became a reference for students to set personal and meaningful HoM goals in conjunction with content goals. The 'talk' of these teachers had a very positive ripple effect among staff. Curiosity and competition (to a degree) caused more teachers to 'jump on board'. It was about this time (2003) that ERO (Education Review Office) came. We were nervous as we had made some significant decisions about how to deliver our curriculum to students (refer to handouts and PPT for curriculum model), we were no longer interested in coverage and we had taken some things 'off our plates' in order to accommodate our new initiatives. We needn't have worried as they were impressed by the enthusiasm of the students and the teachers and assessment data proved that their learning was not being compromised - quite the contrary, it was enhanced. "Teachers are reflective practitioners, impacting positively on the quality standards achieved by students. The content and delivery of programmes are closely monitored and modified to ensure programmes challenge students and encourage deeper levels of understanding. The board's resourcing of high quality professional development supports teachers' commitment to on-going professional growth and effective practice. Students benefit from new initiatives developed as a result of professional development". Co-construct the rubrics/matrix with the children for assessment of the learning

based on the big idea and success criteria Talk to Karen Boyle re: work in India (what did this look like???) NING websites FREE for schools ! (More like a website rather than a wiki but with

wiki/blog capabilities!)

The Institute for the Habits of Mind: http://www.instituteforhabitsofmind.com/ www.teachersmatter.com.au Facebook: Teachersmatter and Studysmart Class collection (creates classroom culture)- stamps, photos, bugs, autographs etc