Responding with Wonderment and Awe
The real mark of the creative person is that the unforeseen prob-
lem is a joy and not a curse.
—Norman H. MackworthStudents who respond with wonderment and awe display an attitude that
says “I can” and “I enjoy.” These students seek out problems to solve for
themselves and to submit to others. They make up problems to solve on
their own, and they request them from others. These students solve prob-
lems with increasing independence, without the teacher’s help or inter-
vention. We hear their growing autonomy in statements such as “Don’t
tell me the answer! I can figure it out by myself!”
Students who have developed this habit are curious, and they derive
pleasure from thinking. Their environment attracts their inquiry as their
senses capture the rhythm, patterns, shapes, colors, and harmonies around
them. They will stand transfixed by the beauty of a sunset, study with fas-
cination the geometrics of a spider web, or be charmed by the opening of
a spring bud. They can’t help but exclaim their exuberance: “Wow!”
“Cool!” “Awesome!” “All right!”
Students who have developed this habit also display compassionate
behavior toward other life forms. These students understand the need to
protect the environment. They respect the roles and values of other
human beings, and they perceive the delicate worth, uniqueness, and rela-
tionships of everything and everyone they encounter.
Taking Responsible Risks
There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the
long-range risks of comfortable inaction.
—John F. KennedyAlthough students learn to manage their impulsivity, at the same time
they also begin to show evidence of taking more risks in their work. Maybe
they write dialogue for the first time in their stories. Perhaps they use
humor to make a particular point, or they throw out an idea in a discus-
sion without qualifying it by saying, “I might be wrong about this... ” or
“I know this may not be what is called for, but... .”
186 Learning and Leading with Habits of Mind