- Discuss and demonstrate the Habits of Mind required to care
for living creatures. Allow elementary students to take turns caring for
class pets, or allow secondary students to care for lab animals in biology
class. Also allow students to take the animals home over weekends and
holidays. - Invite student volunteers to build a playground, pick up litter,
plant trees, paint a mural, or remove graffiti. Before and after the event,
discuss how the Habits of Mind play a part in accomplishing a task. - Invite students to take responsibility for maintaining and beau-
tifying the school. For example, a class might “adopt a hallway,” shelve
misplaced library books, or plant flowers. Post signs identifying these spe-
cial caretakers, and discuss the Habits of Mind required to accomplish
these tasks. - When forming cooperative learning groups, review the Habits of
Mind. Ask groups to select one habit to become the focus of group work.
To w a r d t h e e n d o f t h e w o r k t i m e , s t o p a n d r e f l e c t o n h o w t h i s H a b i t o f
Mind affected the group members’ interactions. Such reflection will also
require group members to name indicators that they are using the Habit
of Mind. - Invite students to write thoughtful letters that include explana-
tions of how they use the Habits of Mind. Examples are thank-you notes,
letters to public officials, and letters to the editor. - Set up a buddy reading system between an older class and a
younger class. Teach the older students Habits of Mind that will make
their teaching experience successful. - Set up a metacognitive journal for the whole class in which stu-
dents can record observations of the Habits of Mind. - Role-play a student-led conference, and emphasize which Habits
of Mind students would use to describe their work to their parents. - Role-play a field trip, and emphasize which Habits of Mind
would be used on the trip. - Ask students to create a way to communicate the Habits of Mind
at back-to-school night.
382 Learning and Leading with Habits of Mind