Learning & Leading With Habits of Mind

Developmental

Dimension

Learning Tasks

Teacher Facilitation

Assessment of Desired Results

FIGURE 4.2

(continued)

Framework for Teaching and Assessing Growth in Dimensions of the Habits of Mind (HOM)

BuildingCommitment

• To “internalize” the HOM asa way of life.• To become increasingly moreautonomous in the improveduse of the HOM.• To become more effective atreflecting, self-evaluating, self-modifying, self-prescribing.•To set goals for self-improvement and more skill-ful use of the HOM.• To experiment with ways toimprove use, to continuouslylearn more about the powerand effects of the HOM.•To model the HOM to others.• To employ the HOM as alens to analyze, understand,and resolve world problems.


• Provide appropriate scaffolding and assessmentstructures that move learners toward self-directedness and qualitative assessment.• Apply the HOM in many rich, challenging tasks thatengage the learner’s intellect, imagination, andmetacognition.•Apply the HOM in interdisciplinary learnings atschool, at home, and in the community.Sample questions:• As you reflect on this situation, which of the HOMserved you the most?• What were some of the effects your use of (HOM)had on __?•As you anticipate future situations,what commit-ments or action plans do you have in mind toimprove your use of (HOM)?•What are some of the ways your use of HOM haschanged in the past year?• How have the HOM influenced your decisionsabout ?• As you envision your future, which of the HOMmight you work on in your personal growth plans?•What strategies of self-improvement might youdesign?

Individuals are characterized by the HOMwhen they are empathic, continual, creative,persistent learners who are willing to takerisks and to admit they don’t know butwant to find out.To b e c h a r a c t e r i z e d a s s u c h , e v i d e n c e i sgathered through observation of patternsof behavior in numerous settings over anextended period of time.Growth in this dimension will be recog-nized by learners increasingly being able to.. .• Self-report the effective or ineffectiveuse of the HOM.• Admit that the HOM are never per-fected or developed fully.• Employ the HOM without reminding orprompting.• Become more self-directed in choosingto evaluate and extend their use of theHOM.• Choose and apply increasingly qualitativestrategies to evaluate their use of theHOM.• Express criteria for choosing a course ofaction based on the HOM.

68 Learning and Leading with Habits of Mind