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... these key developments have Implementing the Habits of Mind in
evolved within a learning community the Classroom
where students and teachers are the Trudy Francis
crew and not the passengers. Teachers at CSNS have the freedom to be innovative
and to take risks with their classroom practice. Assistant
Principal Trudy Francis will describe how the Habits of
Mind became an integral part of their school culture.
Firstly, as Jim Collins says in Good to Great (2001) the
success of any organisation is heavily contingent on Under the umbrella of their collective vision, teachers
getting the right people ‘on the bus’. It’s taken a while, develop new ways of using the Habits of Mind in their
but we now have teachers on board who genuinely classrooms. This has ensured high levels of commitment
share and are passionate about our vision. and integrity and resulted in teachers becoming
authentic role models by developing the Habits in
Secondly, another factor has been the constant building their own lives. Schools working to sustain a focus
of teacher capacity through focused whole-school on Habits of Mind are often faced with the challenges
teacher professional development and the dissemination of changing priorities and curricula imposed from the
of the resultant ‘best practice’ through distributed Ministry of Education. Research at CSNS conducted as
leadership. part of a Ministry of Education contract focuses on how
clusters of Habits of Mind can be used to address the
The third element has been the introduction by the
teachers of strategies to overcome the ‘loose coupling’ development of the Key Competencies within the New
that so often occurs in schools between powerful Zealand Curriculum due for release in October 2007.
teacher professional development experiences and
improved classroom instruction. For example, the Synopsis of the last seven years
teachers have developed their own capability matrices Our learning journey in relation to the Habits of Mind
(appendix 2) to assist them to identify through self- began in earnest in 2001 after Art Costa came to our
analysis where they are individually, say, in relation to school for two days. As Ross has mentioned this was
teaching of the Habits of Mind. Performance appraisal the catalyst for considerable change. The workshop
goals are set accordingly. Art ran established a foundation from which our newly
perceived ideas could be tested in the classroom.
Fourthly, to help teachers to realise their goals loads of
support is provided in the form of ‘rich conversations’ We have often referred back to this time as critical, in
and through a wonderfully effective initiative we call terms of buy-in of a new initiative due to the respect Art
‘triples’. Despite high levels of teacher ownership, some gained from most, if not all our staff, and the research-
initially found our attempts (through triples) to deprivatise based evidence that the Habits of Mind truly make a
the classroom intrusive and threatening. However, clear difference in relation to being successful lifelong learners.
guidelines as to how the support was to be given meant Art met with the parents and quickly established with
that the early concerns soon dissipated. Staff now them the perception that the Habits of Mind are of great
welcome and value the support.
value in relation to their children’s learning, not just at
Fifthly, as Richard Elmore remarks in School Reform from school, but for their out-of-school lives too. Later on,
the Inside Out, Ross included in our school newsletter a description of
one Habit of Mind each week. Parents became more
“Instructional improvement is not a single shot episode. familiar with them and were encouraged to notice these
Improvement is a discipline, a practice that requires dispositions in themselves and their children. There
focus, knowledge, persistence and consistency over are many times when students’ samples of learning
time” (Elmore, 2006). in relation to the Habits of Mind are included in the
This in itself has wide-ranging ramifications for how newsletter and as assembly items.
we arrange our budgets and in particular for what’s Ross gave us (the staff and in particular the Senior
given priority in our schools. And lastly and probably Management) the freedom to take risks in our
of greatest importance the principal must be the lead classrooms and to pilot new ideas. As a staff, we had
learner. If the principal is not leading the way then it’s the opportunity to ask questions like, “So what - will the
unlikely that anything of much consequence will evolve.
Habits of Mind really make a difference for our learners?”
In short, I’ve endeavoured to appoint staff who In our experience, resistance to change occurred when
demonstrate an affinity and a passion for life long there was limited understanding of the value, lack of
learning. I’ve also attempted to provide robust support shared professional development experiences and little
systems to assist teachers to ‘bridge the gap’ between chance to try things without too much pressure.
professional development experiences and improved Making links to what we were already doing helped, for
classroom instruction. And most importantly these key example encouraging students to persist and strive for
developments have evolved within a learning community excellence, problem-solve, set goals and reflect. These
where students and teachers are the crew and not the links built our confidence as we recognised that some of
passengers.
the Habits were already valued.
6 • Habits of Mind International Expo, Melbourne / Auckland October 2007