Habits of Mind "Habits of Mind are the characteristics of what intelligent people do when they are confronted with problems, the resolutions of which are not immediately apparent." (Costa)

What Are They? The Habits of Mind is a collection of sixteen ways in which humans display their intelligence. The notion underlying the Habits of Mind is that intelligent behavior is not a hereditary trait but is rather, a series of behaviors that can be taught. When faced with an unfamiliar situation or problem to which the answer is not immediately apparent, an intelligent person knows how to behave intelligently and has a disposition toward behaving intelligently. Students who have been made familiar with the Habits of Mind know that it is as important to be a confident “finder-outer” as it is to be a confident “knower”.

The 16 Habits of Mind 1.Persisting 2.Thinking and communicating with clarity and precision 3.Managing impulsivity 4.Gathering data through all senses 5.Listening with understanding and empathy 6.Creating, imagining, innovating 7.Thinking flexibly 8.Responding with wonderment and awe 9.Thinking about thinking (metacognition) 10.Taking responsible risks 11.Striving for accuracy 12.Finding humor 13.Questioning and posing problems 14.Thinking interdependently 15.Applying past knowledge to new situations 16.Remaining open to continuous learning

1) Persistence Stick to it! Persevering in task through to completion; remaining focused. Looking for ways to reach your goal when stuck. Not giving up. Acting intelligently means developing and using a bank of strategies so that if the first attempt doesn’t work, knowing to pause and re-consider, then try another strategy. Students with a limited repertoire of strategies often give up because after trying the few possibilities they have they have no alternatives. –"It does not matter how slowly you go, so long as you do not stop." Confucius

2) Managing Impulsivity Take your Time! Thinking before acting; remaining calm, thoughtful and deliberative. Students who learn to reflect on the situation by suspending judgment and considering the alternatives and consequences are less likely to require as much trial and error in arriving at their solutions. Action based on forethought and deliberation avoids the possibility of starting work without having fully understood the requirements of the task. –“Before you start up a ladder, count the rungs.” Yiddish proverb

3) Listening with Empathy and Understanding Understand Others! Devoting mental energy to another person's thoughts and ideas; Make an effort to perceive another's point of view and emotions. Paying close attention to both what is said and what is being said beneath the words. By devoting mental energy to understanding the thoughts and feelings of others rather than rehearsing our response to their comments, intelligent people are able to paraphrase someone else’s ideas, build upon them, clarify their own thinking and gain a deeper understanding of how the world impacts on different people in different ways. –"Nature has given men one tongue and two ears, that we may hear twice as much as we speak." Epictetus

4) Thinking Flexibly Look at it Another Way! Being able to change perspectives, generate alternatives, consider options. Flexible thinkers can see situations from a range of perspectives and are able to examine both the big picture version of a situation and the small parts that make up the whole. They seek novel approaches and see the range of consequences. –“Continuing to cling to the patterns you know inhibits your ability to discover what you don't know." Eric Allenbaugh

5) Thinking about your Thinking : Metacognition Know your knowing! Being aware of your own thoughts, strategies, feelings and actions and their effects on others. By being aware of what they know and what they don’t know, students are well placed to consider what they are doing and why they are doing it in that way. –"I thank the Lord for the brain He put in my head. Occasionally, I love to just stand to one side and watch how it works." Richard Bolles

6) Striving for Accuracy Check it again! Always doing your best. Setting high standards. Checking and finding ways to improve constantly. Such students put energy into task accomplishment and take time to check over their work. –"It's never crowded along the extra mile." Dr. Wayne Dyer

7) Applying Past Knowledge Use what you Learn! Accessing prior knowledge; transferring knowledge beyond the situation in which it was learned. These students learn from experience and are able to carry forward what they know in order to deal with new or novel situations and/or different contexts. –"Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes." Oscar Wilde

8) Questioning and Posing Problems How do you know? Having a questioning attitude; knowing what data are needed and developing questioning strategies to produce those data. Finding problems to solve. These students seek problems to solve and realize question is often more essential than its solution matter of mathematical or experimental skill). –"Too often we give our children answers to remember rather than problems to solve” Roger Lewin

9) Thinking and Communicating with Clarity and Precision Be clear! Striving for accurate communication in both written and oral form; avoiding over generalizations, distortions, deletions and exaggerations. Effective communication is thought to be reflective of clear and effective thinking. –"If you can't write your idea on the back of my calling card, you don't have a clear idea." David Belasco

10) Gathering Data Through All Senses Use your natural pathways! Pay attention to the world around you Gather data through all the senses: taste, touch, smell, hearing and sight. Students need to be open to maximizing their skills at gathering information through all their senses rather than limiting their data collection to a narrow range where they are more likely as a result to describe than act or illustrate, taste or touch. –“Tell me, and I'll forget. Show me, and I may remember. Involve me, and I'll understand.” Native American Proverb

11) Creating, Imagining & Innovating Try a different way! Generating new and novel ideas, fluency, originality –"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up." Pablo Picasso

12) Responding With Wonderment and Awe Have fun figuring it out! Finding the world awesome, mysterious and being intrigued with phenomena and beauty. Being passionate. –"I have no special gift. I am only passionately curious." Albert Einstein

13) Taking Responsible Risks Venture out! Being adventuresome; living on the edge of one's competence. Try new things constantly. Such students realize that learning takes place at the edge of what is known, not back in the safety zone of accepted knowledge. However, intelligent people are brave enough to risk failure because they realize there is also worth in knowing whether a perception is correct or not. Intelligent people are not solely focused on finding the secure path to a predictable answer. –" Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." T. S. Eliot

14) Finding Humor Laugh a little! Finding the whimsical, incongruous and unexpected. Being able to laugh at oneself. These students initiate humor by finding incongruities, observing absurdities and laughing at situations and themselves. –"A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs—jolted by every pebble in the road." Henry Ward Beecher

15) Thinking Interdependently Work together! Being able to work in and learn from others in reciprocal situations. Team work. They utilize the knowledge and skills of the group by learning to justify ideas before others and develop a willingness to listen to others, accept and support the group efforts. –"Snowflakes are one of nature's most fragile things, but just look what they can do when they stick together." Vista M. Kelly

16) Remaining Open to Continuous Learning Learn from experiences! Having humility and pride when admitting we don't know; resisting complacency. They realize and admit that they do not know everything and they seize opportunities to gain information about the unknown. –"An expert is a fellow who is afraid to learn anything new because then he wouldn't be an expert anymore." Harry S Truman

What Can We Do? Help students develop and learn explicit strategies that inform and organize the way they do specific types of thinking. Build into instruction significant opportunities for students to reflect on, monitor, evaluate, and plan their thinking. Prompt specific engagements on the part of students in using the type of skillful thinking being taught in thinking about the content they are learning. Follow up specific lessons with opportunities for students to get more practice guiding themselves to do the same sort of thinking in new situations. Provide an environment where good thinking attitudes are modeled and where students are given opportunities to manifest those attitudes and reflect on their value.

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