External Voice
Students hear an external voice of reflection in others’ comments,
suggestions, assessments, evaluations, and feedback. External sharing of
reflections is important because this kind of reflection multiplies the learn-
ing for each individual. As students review the learning events that have
taken place, they give their learning new meaning. The opportunity to
share often validates a student’s internal conversation. Here are sugges-
tions for helping students develop the capacity for sharing their reflections:
•Sit in a circle. Ask each person to share one reflection on the day’s
activities.
•Organize small-group reflections in which students share their
thoughts. Then ask a reporter to present those thoughts to the whole class.
•Invite students to share problem-solving strategies. Ask them to
focus on how many different ways they can effectively solve a problem.
•Ask students to share at least one example in which they observed
their group using the Habits of Mind.
During these classroom experiences, teachers have an opportunity to
model the Habits of Mind themselves. They can show evidence of good
listening skills, probe for clarity and understanding, ask thoughtful ques-
tions, and share metacognitive thinking. Through experience and con-
tinuous modeling, the class begins to learn how to use the Habits of Mind
in reflective conversations, which strengthens the transfer to the internal
voice of reflection.
Documenting Reflections
Many teachers document reflective conversations as a way of assessing
progress with the Habits of Mind. For example, as mentioned in Chapter
11, some teachers create a notebook tabbed with each student’s name.
They also keep sticky labels close at hand. When a student makes a sig-
nificant comment that shows evidence of using a Habit of Mind, the
teacher jots down the key words from the comment on a label and sticks
the label on the tabbed page for that student. This record provides a rich
source of information for a conference or a student report.
234 Learning and Leading with Habits of Mind