creating trust and rapport, and they have developed the skills to lead the
most reticent guest to reveal that person’s deepest emotions and secrets.
Te a c h e r s , t o o , c a n u s e i n t e r v i e w s t o l e a d s t u d e n t s t o s h a r e t h e i r r e f l e c t i o n s
about the Habits of Mind. Here are some examples of interview questions:
- As you reflect on this semester’s work, which of the Habits of Mind
were you most aware of in your own learnings?
•Which Habit of Mind will you focus your energies on as you begin
our next project?
•What insights have you gained as a result of employing these Habits
of Mind?
•As you think about your future, how might these Habits of Mind be
used as a guide in your life?
Interviews provide teachers with opportunities to model the habits of
listening with understanding and empathy, thinking and communicating
with clarity and precision, and questioning and posing problems. Teach-
ing students to conduct interviews provides situations in which they must
also practice these Habits of Mind. The ultimate purpose of interviewing,
though, is to lead students to another powerful strategy: the self-interview.
Journals and Logs
Consciousness about the Habits of Mind often begins with journal entries
designed to help students focus on how they are developing. Learning
logs and journals are a way to integrate content, process, personal feel-
ings, and the Habits of Mind. They are especially powerful in engaging
metacognition and helping students to draw forth previous knowledge.
Before or directly after a unit, a project, or an area of study, invite stu-
dents to make entries in their logs or journals. Short, frequent bursts of
writing are sometimes more productive than infrequent, longer assign-
ments. Teachers, too, can join in the writing process by reflecting on their
teaching, analyzing learners’ learning, preserving anecdotes about the
class interactions, and projecting ideas for how they might approach a
unit of study differently in the future.
Sometimes students will complain, “I don’t know what to write.” To
stimulate thinking, post questioning stems on a chart or in the front of the
216 Learning and Leading with Habits of Mind