According to Costa and Kallick, habits and mindsets are essential to all people, especially students, when they encounter complex and novel problems (n.d.). In order to effectively handle them they need to have certain skills and capacities that they outline as "Habits of Mind." These capacities should be explicitly taught and appropriately reinforced for them to become more accessible to students. In my classroom I intentionally teach about a multitude of habits and mindsets that the authors discuss but I specifically selected two to highlight: Creating, Imagining and Innovating and Managing Impulsivity.
The first habit and mindset that I focus on is that of "Creating, Imagining and Innovating." In my classroom I encourage children to engage with creativity, imagination and innovation all day long through explicit teaching through inspiring books, lessons and experiences. I reinforce this habit and mindset through an intentionally designed classroom environment, carefully selected materials, use of Guided Discovery practices and making documentation visible of the habit and mindset to share with the students and their families.
The second habit and mindset that I highlight is that of "Managing Impulsivity." I expose children to the habit and mindset of Managing Impulsivity by showing videos and engaging students in discussion and reflection on their actions that exhibit mastering managing impulsivity. I reinforce their mastery of the habit and mindset through observations and commentary on when I saw children exhibiting impulse control, encouraging the use of fidgets, developing and implementing mindfulness exercises, a feelings check-in chart and the use of the cozy corner for documentation of children managing their impulses. My intentional design of these experiences reinforced the importance of managing impulsivity on a daily basis for all students.
References Costa, A. and Kallick, B. (n.d.). Describing 16 habits of mind. Retrieved from http://www.ccsnh.edu/sites/default/files/content/documents/CCSNH%20MLC%20HABITS%20OF%20MIND%20COSTA-KALLICK%20DESCRIPTION%201-8-10.pdf
As the evidence and explanations in the Habits and Mindsets sections outline I explicitly teach and reinforce "Creativity, Imagining and Innovation" and "Managing Impulsivity" through a multitude of strategies to make sure students have adequate time to practice them. My intentional planning around Habits and Mindsets has not only changed the way children engage in learning in the classroom but has also encouraged them to continue to practice them outside the classroom. Through my thoughtful execution of lessons and experiences for students they are recognizing the usefulness of developing and practicing the habits and mindsets as often as possible and are eager to learn more.