Action Research Habits of Mind

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Action ResearchHabits of Mind

• Henrica Schieving
• Port Chalmers School

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Habits of Mind

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

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Habits of Mind

• Persistence
• Managing impulsivity
• Listening to others with empathy and
  understanding
• Thinking flexibly
• Thinking about our thinking
• Striving for accuracy and precision

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Habits of Mind

• Questioning and posing problems
• Applying the past to new situations
• Thinking and communicating with clarity and
  precision
• Gathering data through all the senses
• Creating, imagining and innovating
• Responding with wonderment and awe

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Habits of Mind

• Taking responsible risks
• Finding humour
• Thinking interdependently
• Learning continuously

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Broad Aim

• To develop life skills which
• are known to be characteristics of
• successful people.

• Action Research
• Henrica Schieving
• Port Chalmers School
• Broad aim
• Specific Aim
• Students will gain an awareness of and use the
  Habits of Mind within the classroom.
• Research questions
• Does the awareness of, and use of Habits of Mind
  in the classroom help children succeed?
• Baseline data
• Children will complete a self-assessment of their
  opinions about what values that they think are
  important to become successful adults (Worksheet
  1).
• Methodology
• During handwriting time, children will engage in
  Oral language lessons related to each of the
  Habits of Mind. Each handwriting lesson will
  relate to a specific Habit of Mind and will
  explain the Habit of Mind in appropriate language
  the age group understands. During other lessons
  when it is apparent that a Habit of Mind is being
  used or needing to be used, oral language
  discussion will be used to let the children see
  the significance of Habits of Mind in many facets
  of life. Rather than accept a child parroting the
  Habit of Mind we will ask for what the Habit of
  Mind meant and when you will need it, hoping to
  stop the learning of the Habits of Mind being
  simply the recall of a list.
• Resources
• Professor Arthur Costas books
• Habits of Mind overview
• Laminated Habits of Mind framed templates with
  Habits of Mind explained (created myself -
  attached).
• Time Table
• Baseline data collected April 2006
• Teach the Habits of Mind in handwriting lessons
  and Oral discussion April October 2006.

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Specific Focus

• Students will gain an awareness of and use the
  Habits of Mind within the classroom.

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Research Question

• Does the awareness of, and use of Habits of Mind
  in the classroom help children succeed?

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Baseline Data

• Children will complete a self-assessment of their
  opinions about what values that they think are
  important to become successful adults (Worksheet
  1).

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Methodology

• During handwriting time, children will engage in
  Oral language lessons related to each of the
  Habits of Mind. Each handwriting lesson will
  relate to a specific Habit of Mind and will
  explain the Habit of Mind in appropriate language
  the age group understands. During other lessons
  when it is apparent that a Habit of Mind is being
  used or needing to be used, oral language
  discussion will be used to let the children see
  the significance of Habits of Mind in many facets
  of life. Rather than accept a child parroting the
  Habit of Mind we will ask for what the Habit of
  Mind meant and when you will need it, hoping to
  stop the learning of the Habits of Mind being
  simply the recall of a list.

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Resources

• Professor Arthur Costas books
• Habits of Mind overview
• Laminated Habits of Mind framed templates with
  Habits of Mind explained (created myself -
  attached).

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Timetable

• Baseline data collected April 2006
• Teach the Habits of Mind in handwriting lessons
  and Oral discussion April October 2006.
• Assess students at end of October 2006
• Written up by November 1st 2006

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Conclusion

• The baseline data showed that most of the
  children had initial ideas of co-operation and
  self control and being sensible. The children who
  were most able academically were able to be more
  specific as to which values adults need. The
  children least able academically often listed
  things adults actually did, such as making beds
  or cooking rather than the values behind the acts
  or they made statements using a double negative
  such as, dont be lazy..

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• As the action research time went on I found the
  class more and more able to discuss why we were
  learning something and what value it had for
  them. An example of this was in our health unit
  the children became more able to articulate the
  big ideas behind the unit and how the choices
  people make affect their lives. Many of their
  answers related to the Habits of Mind.

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• Two whole class assessments were carried out to
  ascertain the differences in the childrens
  responses. One was an exact replica of the
  baseline task to check for changes in depth of
  responses (worksheet 2). The other was the
  question, How has learning about the Habits of
  Mind helped you in the classroom? (worksheet 3).
  Three interviews were also conducted with
  randomly chosen children. These were informal
  dialogues about the Habits of Mind.

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• Worksheet 3s responses were extremely positive
  in how Habits of Mind have helped each child
  learn. The main perceived benefits was the use of
  persistence in the tasks that they did. The
  following quotes represent some childrens ideas.
• They helped me get more interested in writing.
  It has helped me want to be more successful when
  I grow up. Aranae
• Persistence has helped me to keep trying and not
  give up when Im doing Marimbas. Managing my
  impulsivity has helped me think before I act and
  to think if it were a good or bad thing to say
  before I say it. Emma

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• It has helped me with my persistence in
  spelling. It has made me motivated to move up a
  spelling group and to focus my reading. It has
  made me think flexibly Angus
• I am better at maths because I use persistence
  and I use persistence if its a hot afternoon and
  I just want to stop working. If I find humour in
  work then it makes stuff more interesting, then I
  learn more. Learning logs are getting easier
  because of habits of mind. I feel more better
  about maths than ever before. Eliza

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• Persistence helped me in athletics. I had to try
  my hardest and never give up. I have to listen
  more harder. Josef
• Each childs Worksheet 2 was compared to
  worksheet 1 to check for changes in
  understanding. The November worksheets all showed
  an obvious change in thinking. The children were
  more in touch with the link to their learning now
  and how it relates to their future. They were
  able to articulate the skills and values adults
  need to be parents.
• All children showed an improvement in awareness
  of what adults need to become successful.

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Interviews with Reuben, Kieran and Samantha

• Question 1 Do you think the Habits of Mind have
  been good to learn about?
• Yes, it helps in the future and for now. S
• Yes, it helps me manage my anger. K
• Yes, if you know what you need then youll
  probably start trying to do it, and then youll
  get into a habit of doing them. R

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Question 2 Which Habit of Minds do you feel are
the most important for you at the moment?

• Responding with wonderment and awe, and
  persistence. R
• Managing my impulsivity and persistence. K
• Finding humour and persistence. S

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Question 3 Do you feel that Year 56 is a good
time to learn Habits of Mind or should you have
learned it earlier?

• Year 5 6 is a good time. If we were younger we
  would not understand. S
• We should start earlier to get used to them. K
• Year 56 is a good time. If we were younger we
  might have learned them but not do them and if
  older it would be too long. R

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Question 4 Do you think you have enough
embedded in you that if you didnt get taught
them again you would still have the habits?

• I would still like to have them taught to me
  again as a reminder but I think I would still
  have them if I didnt. S
• I think we would probably need more of the ones
  we didnt really do much. The ones we really
  focused on will stick. R
• It would probably be easier if you did it every
  year. K

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Question 5 Was handwriting time a good time to
learn Habits of Mind?

• Good, but maybe we didnt do as well in our
  handwriting because we were focused on Habits of
  Mind. S
• If you are good at handwriting, maybe you could
  focus better. K
• It doesnt make you worse at handwriting it
  might stop you improving. R

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Question 6 Is 16 habits of mind too many?

• A wee bit less would be good. K
• Maybe split into two years. S
• Split into two years. R

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• My original question was Does the awareness of,
  and use of Habits of Mind in the classroom help
  children succeed?
• All children in Room 4 showed progress
  academically during this time, however it cannot
  be absolute that the teaching of the Habits of
  Mind was the reason for this progress. I believe
  that the childrens statements about how Habits
  of Mind have helped them in the classroom show
  the children attributing work habits and
  attitudes to the Habits of Mind.
• Therefore the answer to my question appears to be
  yes.
• I intend to keep using the Habits of Mind in my
  classroom as a result of this action research. I
  feel the use of Habits of Mind blends well with
  the independence building of the Inquiry
  approach.

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Habits of Mind

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