- At other times, teachers make primary and secondary sources of
information accessible:
•“Mary, this almanac gives information you will need for your
report on the world’s highest mountain ranges.”
•“Here’s the dictionary. The best way to verify the spelling is to
look it up.” - Teachers also respond to student requests for information. For
example, when a student asks, “What’s this thing called?” the teacher
replies, “This piece of equipment is called a bell jar.” - During some exchanges, the teacher surveys the group for stu-
dents’ feelings or to gather information:
•“On this chart we have made a list of what you observed in the
video. We can keep this chart in front of us so that we can refer to it
as we classify our observations.”
•“Let’s go around the circle and share some of the feelings we had
when we found out the school board is considering closing our
school.” - On some occasions, the teacher labels a thinking process, a Habit
of Mind, or a behavior:
•“That is a hypothesisyou are posing, Gina.”
•“Sharing your ideas like that is an example of thinking interde-
pendently, Mark.”
•“Xavier, even though it was difficult, your persistingwith this
problem really paid off.”
•“Nuyen, you strived for accuracyby providing evidence to sup-
port your theory.”
Information must be presented in a nonjudgmental, behaviorally
descriptive fashion and given only after the students have had an oppor-
tunity to recall as much as they can. Receiving information can be
rewarding in itself (Bandura, 1997) and can be the source of energy for
self-improvement (Garmston & Wellman, 2009). For example, here’s a
statement that could motivate students to improve their listening skills:
•“During the first five minutes presenting our reports, five stu-
dents interrupted the speaker.”114 Learning and Leading with Habits of Mind