Instead of saying... Use mindful languageby saying...
“For our field trip, remember “What must we remember to
to bring spending money, bring with us on our field trip?”
comfortable shoes, and a
warm jacket.”
“The bell has rung; it’s time “The bell has rung. What must we
to go home. Clear off your do to get ready to go home?”
tables, slide your chairs under
the table quietly, and line up
at the door.”
“Get 52 cups, 26 scissors, and “Everyone will need two paper cups,
78 sheets of paper. Get some a pair of scissors, and three sheets
butcher paper to cover the of paper. The desktops will need
desks.” to be protected. Can you figure out
what you’ll need to do?”
“Remember to write your “So that I easily can tell who the
name in the upper-right- paper belongs to, what must you
hand corner of your paper.” remember to do?”
“You need to start each “This sentence would be complete
sentence with a capital with two additions. Figure out
letter and end with a period.” what they are.”
Metacognition
Thinking about thinking begets more thinking (Costa, 2001). When
children describe the mental processes they are using, the data they
are lacking, and the plans they are formulating, they think about their
own thinking, or metacogitate. When teachers use mindful language,
they cause the covert thought processes students experience to become
overt. Whimbey and Lochhead refer to this as “Talk Aloud Problem
Solving” (Lochhead, 2001; Whimbey, 1985). Consider the following
examples:
128 Learning and Leading with Habits of Mind