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Dr P Moulds And Mrs L Harper


Brisbane Grammar School



Brisbane, Queensland • Australia



Introduction understanding of what the Habit of Mind requires.
“When” and “where” are concerned with the time
Brisbane Grammar School is a Year 6-12 school located and place of the use of the Habit of Mind. The “why”
near the centre of Brisbane. We have been working with establishes the value of the behaviour by attending to
the Habits of Mind for many years now, initially as part of two facets – motivation and meaning.
our work with Robert Marzano’s Dimensions of Learning
program. During this time we have sought to deliberately For example, a teacher may be concerned about
infuse the Habits of Mind into both the culture and the students’ beliefs of the information found on the
curriculum. Internet. Rather than not using this information
In seeking to understand how to effectively infuse the resource for academic research, she wants to use the
Habits of Mind into the curriculum of the school, we Habit of Mind of questioning and posing problems
recognized the need to develop a framework which to teach students how they can critically evaluate
would assist teachers to deliberately pursue the the information available on the web. Collaboratively
development of the Habits of Mind in students. Our with her class the teacher then works through a web
efforts led us to develop a five-part framework that site with her students attending to what questioning
teachers across the school now use when designing and posing problems in this context involves.
curriculum. This includes the students asking themselves, “Is
there something about this web site that I do not
The framework will be explored in combination with the understanding, that I am uncertain about, or that I
teaching of rich tasks to provide an example of how the think is not true?” In working through the web site
curriculum can be reconceptualised in order to invigorate the teacher is also dealing with the “when”, “where”
student learning, develop students’ understandings of and “why” as she emphasises the importance of
key ideas and concepts, and explore and investigate the formulating questions and seeking answers to these
deliberate teaching of intelligent behaviors, actions and questions as a way of seeking out quality sources.
attitudes.
After establishing the “what”, “when”, “where”
A Framework for Teaching the Habits and “why” of using the Habits of Mind, it is then
of Mind appropriate to explore how particular Habits of Mind
are performed. This is the role of the modelling
Through the examination of a number of teachers’ phase.
practices, a framework has been developed to provide 2. Modelling and Developing Understanding.
teachers with a language for planning and discussing the Modelling and developing students’ understanding
growth of their students’ Habits of Mind. The framework of particular Habits of Mind involves attention being
describes five phases for teacher action: awareness; focused on either a single Habit of Mind or a cluster
modelling and developing understanding; guided of two or three Habits of Mind as a major goal of
practice; reflection and evaluation; and demonstrated learning. This focus also facilitates the development
performance.
of a “picture” for the students of what they look like in
A framework in this case refers to the basic component practice.
parts of a teacher’s pedagogy rather than a rigid
schema. That is, the framework addresses important In doing so, it is important for those who are doing
areas of teacher action in facilitating student learning and the modelling, whether it is teacher, student or
use of the Habits of Mind rather than providing a step- parent, to be aware of a number of important actions
by-step blueprint of actions that teachers can follow. that include:
1. Awareness. The awareness phase involves the • Making explicit the strategies, actions and
setting of the context, establishing the focus and behaviours for the Habit of Mind – if students do
relevance of a Habit of Mind, attending to students not have a clear idea and understanding of what
valuing the behaviours and actions of the Habits is involved in a particular Habit of Mind, their
of Mind rather than less productive actions, and efforts to make use of it will often be ineffective.
developing an inclination to employ a particular • Exploring expectations of performance – this
pattern of intellectual behaviour. That is, this phase allows the teacher and students to further
establishes the “what”, “when”, “where” and “why” develop an understanding of the Habit of Mind
of a Habit of Mind. In establishing the “what”, the and be able to recognise actions and behaviours
teacher is involved in the development of students’
of different quality or standard.



Australian National Schools Network and Learning Network New Zealand • 1
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