Finding an Internal Compass
In teaching toward the Habits of Mind, we are interested in not only how
many answers students know but also how students behave when they
don’t know an answer. We are interested in observing how students pro-
duce knowledge rather than how they merely reproduce it. A critical
attribute of intelligent human beings is not only having information but
also knowing how to act on it.
By definition, a problem is any stimulus, question, task, phenome-
non, or discrepancy, the explanation for which is not immediately known.
Intelligent behavior is performed in response to such questions and prob-
lems. Thus, we are interested in focusing on student performance under
those challenging conditions—dichotomies, dilemmas, paradoxes, polar-
ities, ambiguities, and enigmas—that demand strategic reasoning, insight-
fulness, perseverance, creativity, and craftsmanship to resolve.
Te a c h i n g t o w a r d t h e H a b i t s o f M i n d i s a t e a m e f f o r t. B e c a u s e t h e
acquisition of these habits requires repeated opportunities over a long
period, the entire staff must dedicate itself to teaching toward, recognizing,
reinforcing, discussing, reflecting on, and assessing them. When students
encounter these habits at each grade level in the elementary years and in
each classroom throughout the secondary day—and when the habits also
are reinforced and modeled at home—they become internalized, gener-
alized, and habituated. They become an “internal compass” to guide and
direct us toward more efficacious, empathic, and cooperative actions.
We n e e d t o f i n d n e w w a y s o f a s s e s s i n g a n d r e p o r t i n g g r ow t h i n t h e
Habits of Mind. We cannot measure process-oriented outcomes using
old-fashioned, product-oriented assessment techniques. Gathering evi-
dence of performance and growth in the Habits of Mind requires “kid
watching.” As students interact with real-life, day-to-day problems in
school, at home, on the playground, alone, and with friends, teaching
teams and other adults can collect anecdotes and examples of written and
visual expressions that reveal students’ increasingly skillful, voluntary, and
spontaneous use of these Habits of Mind in diverse situations and circum-
stances. This work takes time. The habits are never fully mastered, though
they do become increasingly apparent over time and with repeated expe-
riences and opportunities to practice and reflect on their performance.
xxii Learning and Leading with Habits of Mind