Assignment 1: Habits of Mind in Education

Habits of Mind 1

Assignment 1: Habits of Mind in Education

EdSe 4501 Educational Psychology

After arriving home from school, Charles plopped his backpack on the floor and sat down at the dining room table to begin homework. To start off, he took out his math homework from that day. He felt he had understood the day’s lesson and was able to follow the teacher as she worked through examples on the board. But to Charles’ dismay, soon after he started to work on the homework, he found the problems to be nothing like the examples the teacher went over in class.

In this made-up scenario, Johnny basically has two choices before him: quit or persevere. The former demonstrates an undesirable habit of mind while the latter is considered to be a valuable habit of mind. But what exactly is a habit of mind? “A ‘Habit of Mind’ means having a disposition toward behaving intelligently when confronted with problems, the answers to which are not immediately known” (Costa & Kallick, 2000, p. 1). One of my math professors, Dr. Carmen Latterell, once told our class that the average student spends ten seconds on a problem before he or she gives up. In all likelihood, Johnny would have quit working on math and moved on to the next subject unless the valuable habit of mind of persistence had been instilled in him. But how exactly do students like Johnny develop habits of mind? Although the following is not an all-encompassing list, students develop habits of mind through personal experiences and observing the behavior of others, as implied by Costa and Kallick (2000), as well as through societal views, as discussed by David Rigoni (2002).

Societal views tend to have more of an influence on the habits of mind of today’s students than many would admit; mainly due to the unconscious assimilation of the students into the ways of this world. Due to the capitalistic, consumeristic mindsets of people today, David Rigoni (2002) observed that education has become a field “in which schools work hard to sell the idea that learning can be easy, painless, and convenient” (p.157). When one steps back to reflect on a statement of this nature, it can be seen that a large majority of students do indeed feel that school should be uncomplicated, effortless, and convenient because these are the opinions of society that many impressionable young minds are being influenced by. These opinions are found in many students who display mindsets like “we want everything and we want it fast,” “we deserve everything,” and “give less, expect more.” These mindsets can be seen everywhere in the world around us; when we turn on the television, read the paper, or pick up a trendy magazine we are bombarded with these ideas. Therefore, it is easy to see that students develop habits of mind based on the views of society, but it is also by observing the behavior of others that students are developing habits of mind.

“Do as I say, not as I do” has become such a cliché in society today since it no longer has much effectiveness on children who are continually seeing people in authority positions contradict their words with their actions. What are children supposed to do, listen to the words or watch the behavior? Parents, teachers, and other people in an authority position over students will probably make reference to this saying at some point during their interaction with the student by either actually saying the expression itself or saying one thing while doing just the opposite. Were not we also taught that “actions speak louder than words?” As Sonia Manzano (2007), also known as Maria from Sesame Street, puts it:

Kids will always mimic what we do. That's how they learn. We know that on Sesame Street. If we want to teach how to cross a street safely, we would never have a character cross against the light to show how dangerous it is. The kids would only remember and emulate that part of the scene. They wouldn't remember Maria saying, “make sure you are holding the hand of a grown-up when crossing the street” (¶ 3).

Elementary, middle school, and high school-age students are not dramatically different than little children when it comes to learning by example. Although the type of examples varies across grade levels and content areas, teachers will often give students examples of how to do something, whether it is in how to behave correctly or in how to compute a specific type of mathematics problem. It would not be very helpful if a mathematics teacher told her students to multiply polynomials together without first giving an example of how it is done. Therefore, students will develop habits of mind through observing the behavior of others, but another way they will cultivate habits of mind is through personal experience.

Personal experiences can include many different things like learning from past failures to practicing specific activities that enhance habits of mind. As Deborah Meier (1995) puts it, “in order to make such ‘habits’ habitual, they need in-depth practice. Young people need to be immersed in their use” (p. 50). But, as I have often heard it said, “Practice doesn’t make perfect. Practice makes permanent.” It is observations like the ones found in the preceding paragraphs, which makes one mindful of the fact that students are always developing habits of mind. But, are the students learning valuable or undesirable habits of mind and what qualifies a habit of mind as being advantageous as opposed to adverse?

Whether or not a habit of mind is considered valuable or undesirable will vary from person to person as some people will esteem certain habits of mind more than others. For example, flexibility can be seen as a valuable habit of mind in some circumstances, while in others it could be detrimental to progress. But, in general, the valuable habits of mind will be the ones that are called upon “in response to those questions and problems the answers to which are not immediately known” (Costa & Kallick, 2000, p. 1). So, it is through the implementation of valuable, learned habits of mind that students are then able to make intelligent decisions when faced with uncertain problems. On the other hand, undesirable habits of mind are disagreeable because they impede the process of solving the problem before us. The whole basis for the development of valuable habits of mind in students is to enable them in producing their own knowledge instead of just reproducing knowledge. As Costa and Kallick (2000) said, “the critical attribute of intelligent human beings is not only having information, but also knowing how to act on it” (p.1). In my own secondary school experience, I was able to foster, by the influence of teachers, many valuable as well as undesirable habits of mind.

There are many teachers from my high school experience that I hold in high regard, and even fewer that I do not, but through my reflections on high school, I found that the habits of mind I developed on the basketball court have been some of the most valuable to me. My senior year of playing varsity basketball was, I believe, the worst season our team has seen. In my third year as a starter, I was hoping our team would do much better than the previous two years. I put in a lot of extra effort over the summer; weight-lifting with the football players, making one hundred baskets per day, and playing in summer leagues were just some of the activities I participated in to improve my game. It was through the encouragement of my coach, Natalie Belt, that I endeavored to participate in all of these programs. These activities helped in developing the habit of mind of striving for accuracy and precision. Although I knew I was never going to reach perfection, I was constantly working towards the goal of becoming the best player I could possibly be.

Coach Belt greatly developed the habit of mind of applying past knowledge to new situations. Throughout the four years that I had her as a coach, she would constantly be referring to previous mistakes or triumphs and asking us if we “remembered when” in order to have us recall those specific instances so that she could have us learn from our mistakes and triumphs. Some days after practicing, she would gather the team together to watch videos of our latest games pointing out the things we did well in addition to things we did poorly in the game. Through this, she taught us what we should do and should not do in future situations. But probably the most important habit of mind I developed was persistence because it has allowed me to continue to press forward whenever I face an obstacle that may seem insurmountable at the time. Thus, persistence enables me to continue to learn and further develop other valuable habits of mind that I would not have been able to explore had I given up.

During my senior year we won the first game of the season and then subsequently lost all of the rest of the games. It was a season of real character building. Coach Belt never gave up on us; she wanted us to succeed and to play to our full potential and it was through this example that I developed the habit of mind of persisting. Even when the game was already lost and there were too many points to make up, I never gave up playing my hardest. Had Coach Belt, the rest of the team, and I not persisted that season, all of our opponents would have had an unearned win in their records by way of forfeit. Although Coach Belt helped to cultivate valuable habits of mind of persisting, applying past knowledge to new situations, and striving for accuracy and precision in me, she also contributed to the reinforcement of some undesirable habits of mind, one in particular being inflexibility.

Coach Belt would always stress the importance of running through the plays no matter what happened. She did not give us the freedom or flexibility to make alterations if we saw fit. Instead, it caused us to be almost afraid of not running a play exactly the way it was supposed to be done and we became very mechanical in our motions. Her not allowing us to deviate from the play caused us to be so fixed on getting to our next “spot” on the floor, that it caused us to be very predictable in our playing. Even today I still have a very difficult time being flexible and I tend to become very anxious when things do not go as planned. My inflexibility has caused much unnecessary stress in my life. But, from this experience I learned how important the habit of mind of flexibility can be and it is something that I would want to try to develop in my students someday.

As a future educator, my philosophy of education is still in development and I am sure it will continue to change and expand as I learn more about students, teaching, and learning, but I chose teaching as a profession because I am passionate about helping students learn. In order to help students learn, one must first have an understanding of where the student is in what they know and how that student best learns new things. Also, I think it is crucial that students are equipped with the necessary skills that will prepare them not just for the next math exam in my class, but for life in general. Therefore, good teaching enables students to become less dependent on their teacher. As it is, they will not have someone telling them what to do at every crossroad or obstacle they encounter in their lives, but they can be prepared to make their own decisions when the time comes. Learning and developing critical thinking skills teaches students how to construct knowledge as opposed to repeating knowledge that was lectured at them without any active engagement on their side.

My philosophy of education will assist students in acquiring valuable habits of mind by making them more responsible for what they learn, how they learn, and how much they learn. By implementing the idea of getting students to think critically, I will be promoting the developing of the habits of mind of persisting; thinking about our thinking; questioning and posing problems; applying past knowledge to new situations; and creating, imagining, and innovating. My philosophy of education allows for the developing of Costa’s and Kallick’s sixteen habits of mind through my example in behavior or by spoken words on the habits of mind. Also, students who are engaged in the learning process are more likely to retain information because they are actively making reflections and observations in their learning. Therefore, when students are “confronted with problems, the answers to which are not immediately known,” they will be able to behave intelligently since they can call on the habits of mind that they developed in class (Costa & Kallick, 2000, p. 1).

I really enjoy math and I do not really mind being lectured to, so I was not one of the students who was easily distracted or disengaged in class because of the teaching method. But as no two children are identical, no two children learn in the exact same way. In my classroom, I plan on implementing the use of discussions, group work, stations, and hands-on activities to engage the minds of students and have them gather the data through all their senses. I would then use these opportunities to ask penetrating questions that get to the core of the lessons. I want my students to understand the “why” behind the math they are doing, not just the “how.” For example, when students are learning about the relationships between fractions, decimals, and percents, I will set it in a real-life context such as shopping for the best bargain in the grocery store by calculating price per ounce or determining how much is being saved by buying a pair of jeans at 20% off. Using real-life situations that are relevant to their lives will keep them from mentally checking out in class. Also, by having students explain their thought process for solving a problem, whether it is orally in class or written down as part of the assignment, it will encourage students to think about their thinking as well as think and communicate with clarity and precision. In all that I do as a teacher, I want my students to be continuously learning something about math, themselves, or life in general. But I must do more than try and teach all of these habits of mind to my students, I must make an effort to develop and improve on them myself. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said it, “what you do speaks so loudly, they can’t hear what you say.” Therefore, in order to be an example of the habits of mind I want to see in my students, I must do what Felix Adler said, which is to “act so as to elicit the best in others and thereby in thyself.”

References

Costa, A. L., & Kallick, B. (2000). Describing 16 habits of mind. Retrieved September 9, 2007, from

Manzano, S. (2007). Do as I say, not as I do: Teaching your kids by example. Retrieved September 18, 2007, from

Meier, D. (1995). The power of their ideas. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.

Rigoni, D. (2002). Teaching what can’t be taught: The shaman’s strategy. Lanham, Maryland, and London: The Scarecrow Press, Inc.