Learning & Leading With Habits of Mind

Checklists

It is important for students to know what to look for as they target
their goals for improvement. Checklists help to develop a set of indicators
that can guide many strategies for assessing growth. (In Chapter 10 we
provided a set of indicators that might serve as the basis for two such
checklists.) In some classrooms, teachers have students develop these lists.
In other instances, groups of teachers gather and develop indicators that
they then bring to the students so that students can provide examples and
definitions about what these indicators might look like and sound like in
the classroom. If these indicators are to provide data for assessing growth
in the use of the Habits of Mind in a school, they must be agreed upon
so that information about progress is consistent. Figure 11.3 shows
an example from Sunrise Valley Elementary School in Fairfax County,
Virginia. Representative teachers from each grade worked together to
develop the set of indicators to use as a checklist for the habit of listening
with understanding and empathy. Teachers assess students by using this

Assessing Habits of Mind 199

FIGURE 11.3

Te a c h e r - D e v e l o p e d I n d i c a t o r s f o r a H a b i t o f M i n d

Habit: Listening with Understanding and Empathy

Demonstrating Understanding Showing Empathy

• Making connections between what
  you say and what the person directly
  before you (and before that person)
  has said.
  •Asking relevant questions.
  •Agreeing to disagree and justifying
  your answer with reference to the
  text.
  •“I was thinking ...”


• Paraphrasing.


• Asking clarifying questions.
  •Using feeling words to show you
  understand:“I understand,” “I feel sad.”
  •Using hand signals—signing,thumbs
  up, and thumbs down.

•Showing that you’re listening with

eye contact.

•Showing that you’re listening by

nodding or shaking your head.

• Allowing only one voice at a time.


• Turning body toward the group
  and the speaker.