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At this point of the journey, Grant Lander, Rector, sceptical and threatened staff would have been more
provided release time for professional reading and for open-minded and accepting of the improvements.
dialogue with other knowledgeable, perceptive and It is essential staff see new initiatives as tools to add
enthusiastic people who had been involved with Habits to their existing practise, not a criticism of current
of Mind. St George’s School in Wanganui, in particular teaching. Passion and enthusiasm aren’t enough. Your
Mr Alan Cooper, their Headmaster, and Mrs Georgette enthusiasm and passion are not always shared by
Jenson, were not only committed, knowledgeable everyone. Some may have felt that this new thinking
and enthusiastic about Habits of Mind, but they were devalued their current thinking and as such, were
very willing to share their knowledge and expertise. It passively resistant.
is crucial that a school interested in infusing Habits of
Mind has the opportunity to interact with others with a To be realistic, this would probably happen regardless of
like mind so that successes and cautions about how to how we proceeded but resistance and reticence cannot
proceed are learnt. Alan Cooper has been an ongoing be seen as a reason or excuse for not proceeding, so we
pressed on.
mentor and has been a marvellous resource person to
share thinking about Habits of Mind. Georgette Jenson
is a master teacher and has a wealth of pragmatic but Persisting
high quality ideas about how Habits of Mind can be used We needed to be tenacious and remain
to enhance teaching, learning and thinking. We found it focussed no matter how hard it was to find
is very important then to have collegial support networks a solution. What we wanted to achieve
and resource people like Alan and Georgette.
had the potential to deliver real benefits to our learners.
Thinking Interdependently From readings, sharing ideas with others and a
passionate desire to ‘get on with it’, a series of sixteen
There was always a need to work together A3 posters were prepared, one for each Habit. They
and learn from others. were laminated and widely published around the College
in classrooms and places where students congregated.
Release time was also provided to visit We did this to subtly introduce the language of the
St George’s school and see first-hand Habits of Mind Habits. They had a bold heading, the description of
infused in a school’s teaching, learning and thinking
culture. We also had Gill Hubble from St Cuthbert’s each Habit and then some punchy phrases which
Collegiate Centre for Professional Excellence lead we described as indicators – that is they essentially
a workshop for the whole staff. Gill is an articulate described the behaviours people might see and hear
when this Habit or behaviour was being displayed.
presenter with a wealth of knowledge about Habits of
Mind and, as with Alan and Georgette, it was crucial that We also produced a summarised or condensed A3
credible presenters were used to support new or change poster from material available at www.habitsofmind.
initiatives into the school’s learning community. org. This had the Habits of Mind icons and a brief
accompanying description for each . Along the top of
Listening and the sixteen icons, with summaries, we answered the
Understanding with question ‘What are Habits of Mind’? Again these were
made available to all staff and widely displayed.
Empathy
This was one way we introduced the Habits to the
We sought the advice and wisdom of learning community. It is hard to gauge how widely
others outside our Learning Community. We needed to these were read but it was clear they had a subtle
be open minded and listen to what others were saying. impact. Staff began to use and incorporate the language
of Habits of Mind.
Right from the beginning our Habits of Mind initiative and
intentions were incorporated into the College Strategic
Plan so our actions were resourced and budgeted for. Thinking and
This also seems essential as there are certainly costs in Communicating with Clarity
any such undertaking – costs in terms of money and in and Precision
the time needed to get up to speed!
Clarity, precision and accuracy in what we
Barry Musson as lead teacher was then tasked with a
number of key responsibilities. He was seconded onto thought, said and wrote determined the effectiveness of
the Senior Management Group for one year to assist what we did.
with the strategic planning of the required Professional Our Rector picked one Habit of Mind per term and used
Development. He had to lead staff development and it as the theme for his keynote address at whole-school
provide ongoing support for staff as they developed their assemblies. This gave value, credence and leadership
understanding of Habits of Mind and how they could to our initiatives. One lesson we have learnt is that
infuse them into the teaching, learning and thinking of any change initiative needs to be Leadership led and
the classroom. PowerPoint presentations were used as Management driven and although we haven’t always
the main means of professional development. achieved this, we acknowledge that it is critical. Having
a lead teacher actively involved is fine but to have real
In hindsight, it would have been better if we had
studied more about change theory. Staff development, impact and lasting benefit, it must have and be seen to
delivered by an outside professional, may have meant have the clear, unequivocal backing of the leader and the
management team.
20 • Habits of Mind International Expo, Melbourne / Auckland October 2007