Habits of Mind

Candidate Name: Ellie MacEwan

Date of Submission: 3/24/19

Assessment E: My Habits of Mind Journey: Part 2

Due by the end of Week 8

Reflective Summary

According to the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (2018), a

Habit of Mind is “a disposition toward behaving intelligently when confronted with problems”.

According to KIPP (2015), students “need both a strong academic foundation and well-

developed character strengths”. When I first started working at Garinger, my students did not

read any books; they were not part of the curriculum. Instead, they read a lot of short stories.

Now, they are reading Columbine by Dave Cullen, a 406-page book, without complaint (and it is

the second one of the semester). The nature of the book itself, about the full spectrum of high

school students, allows me to offer “both an instructional objective/aim and a connection to

character strengths” (Witter, 2010, p. 1). My students are exhibiting “not only an ‘I CAN’ attitude,

but also an ‘I ENJOY’ feeling” about reading, which is consistent with the Habit of Mind of

Responding With Wonderment and Awe (Costa & Kallick, 2000, p. 9). According to Kohn

(1996), as cited in Costa and Kallick (2009), “the way children act in a classroom is significantly

related to their interest in what they’ve been given to do” (p. 77). Additionally, the unit on this

book has engendered “[t]heir confidence, in combination with their inquisitiveness” (Costa &

Kallick, 2000, p. 12). Costa and Kallick (2000) define Learning Continuously as “always striving

for improvement, always growing, always learning, always modifying and improving themselves”

(p. 12). They have proven to be Learning Continuously by being “in a continuous learning mode”

(Costa & Kallick, 2000, p. 12). For example, at a staff meeting after school last Wednesday,

another teacher told me that one of our shared students had been talking all about Columbine in

Johns Hopkins University School of Education

Classroom Management II: Habits of Mind
Revised November 2018 1
her class and sharing her new knowledge with other students. According to Teaching Channel

(n.d.), “whoever is doing the talking is doing the learning…the more students talk, the more

students are responsible for their learning” (1:01-1:08). I also overheard another student asking

her classmate if she had seen the Columbine YouTube video that she had posted on her

Instagram story the night before. In fact, several of my students have expressed that they have

been researching Columbine on their own time after school since they are so fascinated with the

book. Another student told me the other day that she fell asleep halfway through the

documentary about Columbine a few nights ago so she watched the rest of it the other night. In

combination with these examples of Learning Continuously, my students are also showing signs

of Striving For Accuracy and Precision while they do so (Costa & Kallick, 2000, p. 6). Costa and

Kallick (2000) define Striving For Accuracy and Precision as “the desire for craftsmanship,

mastery, flawlessness, and economy of energy to produce exceptional results” (p. 6). Before

class started the other day, one student was showing another student a YouTube video that she

found that was supposedly footage from Columbine. But I overheard her say that it must be fake

because the timestamp on the video said 2001 but the shooting happened in 1999.

I have also noticed a big improvement in my students in the Habit of Mind of Thinking

and Communicating with Clarity and Precision (Costa & Kallick, 2000, p. 8). Costa and Kallick

(2000) define Thinking and Communicating with Clarity and Precision as “striv[ing] to

communicate accurately in both written and oral form” (p. 8). I previously expressed that my

students often used “vague and imprecise language” such as “vague or general nouns and

pronouns: ‘They told me to do it’, ‘Everybody has one’” and “non-descriptive words” such as

“stuff, junk and things” when they summarized what we read in class the day before (Costa &

Kallick, 2000, p. 8). They would say things such as “She went to his funeral” and I would have to

ask them follow-up clarifying questions such as “Who? Who is ‘she’? Whose funeral?” to get

them to name the characters and be more specific. Now, I rarely have to remind them to

elaborate. They “use precise language, defining terms” and “correct names” and “support their
Johns Hopkins University School of Education
Classroom Management II: Habits of Mind
Revised November 2018 2
statements with explanations, comparisons, quantification, and evidence” when we summarize

what we read (Costa & Kallick, 2000, p. 8).

Similarly, I noticed a big improvement in my students in the Habit of Mind of Striving For

Accuracy and Precision (Costa & Kallick, 2000, p. 6). My students do spelling and grammar

warm-ups at the beginning of class every day. Now that they are in the routine of them and

comfortable doing them, they “value accuracy [and] precision” and “check over their products”

(Costa & Kallick, 2000, p. 6). Usually, I take the lead on going over the warm-up with the class.

Now, my students are so confident in the “mastery [and] flawlessness” in their warm-ups that

different students will ask me each day if they can be the ones who go over the warm-up with

the class, allowing me to “step aside and assume the role of an observer” (Clayton, 2013; Costa

& Kallick, 2000, p. 6). For example, when I go over the warm-up, I usually sit on the surface of a

counter next to the front door of my classroom. The other day, one of my students (who has a

reputation for being a troublemaker at school) announced, “Ms. E, I can go over the warm-up

today,” and asked me to scoot over so he could sit beside me and assume my role.

My students have also made strides in Persisting and Managing Impulsivity (Costa &

Kallick, 2000, p. 2-3). My eleventh grade students recently completed the research paper, which

is the first of four parts of a statewide project required to graduate. Most of my students had

never written a paper before, let alone a six-page paper. But despite this disadvantage, I have

to “continue to hold high standards” because I have a “belief in the capacity of students to do

more than we expect they could” (Bronke, 2018; St. Martin, Ekmalian, Berger, & Mahoney, n.d.,

0:41-0:48). It took them more than a month to complete. It required significant persistence.

Costa and Kallick (2000) define Persisting as being “able to analyze a problem” and “develop a

system, structure, or strategy to attack [it]” (p. 2). While they started the unit by saying things

such as “I can’t do this” and “It’s too hard”, they stuck “to [the] task until it [was] completed” and

did not “give up easily” (Costa & Kallick, 2000, p. 2). It also required them to manage their

impulses. Costa and Kallick (2009) define Managing Impulsivity as tak[ing] your time” (p. 78).
Johns Hopkins University School of Education
Classroom Management II: Habits of Mind
Revised November 2018 3
According to Boyes (2011), “It is normal for children to be impulsive” (p. 77). At first, they

“rushed head first into [the] task” by “start[ing] to work without fully understanding the directions”

and “lack[ing] an organized plan or strategy” (Boyes, 2011, p. 77; Costa & Kallick, 2000, p. 3).

By the end of the unit, they were “blurt[ing] out and shout[ing] out” a lot less (Boyes, 2011, p. 77;

Costa & Kallick, 2000, p. 3). The paper also required them to select their own topics so they had

to “FIND problems to solve”, therefore developing the Habit of Mind of Questioning and Posing

Problems (Costa & Kallick, 2000, p. 6). Costa and Kallick (2009) define Questioning and Posing

Problems as “[t]aking the time to question and problem solve” (p. 79). It “empower[s] them to

express their voice to improve the world around them” (KIPP, 2015).

Overall, I have been really impressed with my students’ progress when it comes to the

Habits of Mind. I have seen what an impact the Habits of Mind have had on my students. To be

honest, it has been rewarding for me to look for and take note of tangible evidence of their

growth and development in something other than test scores. For example, I have always loved

my job in part because of how much fun I have with my students and how often they make each

other and me laugh. I have a student who always makes up an outlandish story if somebody

misses class and asks what happened in the book the day before. Everyone cracks up laughing

because they know she is making it up, and we quickly resume accurately summarizing the

chapters. Now, I can appreciate those moments as the Habit of Mind of Finding Humor (Costa &

Kallick, 2000, p. 11). The Habits of Mind have changed my approach to teaching. I am grateful

to be able to incorporate teaching the Habits of Mind to all of my future students. One of my

most important goals is to prepare my students to be college- and career-ready. The Habits of

Mind “encompass moral values and good citizenship” that focus on my students as people not

just as students, therefore preparing them for life after high school (Costa & Kallick, 2009, p.

76).

Johns Hopkins University School of Education

Classroom Management II: Habits of Mind
Revised November 2018 4
 References

Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. (2018). Habits of Mind. Retrieved

from http://www.ascd.org/research-a-topic/habits-of-mind-

resources.aspx

Bronke, C. (2018, February 14). The top five things I learned from a five-year-old about growth

mindset [web log comment]. Retrieved from

https://www.teachingchannel.org/blog/2018/02/14/the-top-5-things-learned/#more-

290917

Clayton, H. (2013). Socratic seminars: Making meaningful dialogue. Retrieved

from http://www.justaskpublications.com/just-ask-resource-center/e-

newsletters/mccca/socratic-seminars-making-meaningful-dialogue/

Costa, A. L., & Kallick, B. (2000). Describing 16 Habits of Mind. Retrieved from

http://www.habitsofmind.org/sites/default/files/16HOM2.pdf

Costa, A. L., & Kallick, B. (Eds.). (2009). Habits of Mind across the curriculum: Practical and

creative strategies for teachers. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and

Curriculum Development.

KIPP. (2015). Character strengths and corresponding behaviors. Retrieved from

http://www.kipp.org/our-approach/strengths-and-behaviors

Kohn, A. (1996). Beyond discipline: From compliance to community. Alexandria, Va: ASCD.

Teaching Channel (Executive Producer). (n.d.). Socratic Seminar: The "N Word." Retrieved

from: https://www.teachingchannel.org/video/teaching-the-n-word.

Witter, M. (2010, September 27). Dual purpose experiences. Retrieved from

http://www.scribd.com/doc/38244064/Dual-Purpose-Experiences-Presentation-MWitter

Johns Hopkins University School of Education

Classroom Management II: Habits of Mind
Revised November 2018 5