agenda today and the problem we are focused on, which of the Habits of
Mind might be most important for us to employ?” The group generates
several suggestions; for example, “We need to listen to each other, remain
open to continuous learning, question and pose problems, persist, and—
most certainly—find humor.” The leader can then invite them to pay
attention to themselves to see which they are employing.
To w a r d t h e e n d o f t h e m e e t i n g , t h e g r o u p c a n t a k e s o m e t i m e t o
reflect on how the Habits of Mind served them. Individuals can be asked
to share their observations of themselves, to reflect on which Habits of
Mind they used or should have used, and to make a commitment for
improving their own use of one or more of the habits. Members can com-
ment on what effects the use of the habits had on group productivity and,
as they consider future meetings, which ones they might want to focus
on again (Costa & Kallick, 1995).
Coaching
Roger Evered and James Selman (1989) suggest the importance of
leaders’ fostering a culture that values coaching as a key element: “The
current management culture, with its focus on controlling behavior,
needs to be replaced by a management culture in which skillful coach-
ing creates the climate, environment, and context that empowers
employees and teams to generate results” (p. 16). Coaching is one of
the most powerful means to overcome the extreme isolation that teach-
ers experience (Costa & Garmston, 2002; Ellison & Hayes, 2006).
Coaching is an intellectual activity that requires use of the Habits of
Mind. Coaching, it has been found, produces intellectual growth for a
variety of reasons:
- Coaching enhances instructional thought. The act of teaching is,
itself, an intellectual process. Jackson (1968) found that teachers make
more than 1,300 decisions a day. The behaviors observed in the classroom
are artifacts of decisions that teachers make before, during, and after
instruction. The purpose of coaching, therefore, is to modify teachers’
capacities to modify themselves—to plan, monitor, and reflect upon their
instructional decision making, perceptions, and intellectual functions.
278 Learning and Leading with Habits of Mind