behaviors.” During the 2006 school year, we convened a committee of
parents and district educators to review our district’s student profile and to
update the learning goals to reflect current thinking regarding 21st cen-
tury skills. The committee reaffirmed our belief in the original six out-
comes and our emphasis on developing thinking skills and Habits of Mind
by revising the indicators for each of our district outcomes (see Figure
22.1). The new language is even more congruent with the Habits of
Mind, and we are restructuring our district leadership model to achieve
full implementation.
What have we learned on our journey? What adventures have we
encountered, and what are the next best steps to support our students?
Three themes have emerged for us. The first is the importance of struc-
tures; the next is the power and influence of leadership; and the final
theme is maintaining the persistence to stay the course.
The Importance of Structures: Nested Objectives
Our district adopted the model of nested objectives (Costa & Garmston,
1998) as a way to focus on process-based learning and to develop our cur-
riculum units. This model incorporates thinking skills, Habits of Mind,
and universal outcomes as curriculum goals. Students use content knowl-
edge as a vehicle for developing thinking processes. We have created ele-
mentary curriculum units with clear outcomes and guiding questions that
incorporate content, activities, themes, thinking skills, Habits of Mind,
and our district outcomes and indicators. These units have provided our
teachers with lessons that focus on process-based learning and not just
knowledge acquisition. Figure 22.2 shows an overview of the unit on
Puget Sound Communities.
We c o m mu ni c a t e t h e g o a l s o f e a c h e l e m e n t a r y u ni t t h r o u g h a p a r e n t
letter that emphasizes the thinking skills, Habits of Mind, and district out-
comes and indicators that are developed using social studies and science
content (see Figure 22.3). Reading, writing, and communication skills
are integrated with the content, and students participate in rich activities
to internalize an understanding of the various learning objectives.
Integrating the Habits of Mind: A District Perspective 363