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In the Intermediate Department we have been very We believe students learn and succeed because they
successful in infusing and incorporating Habits of the choose to behave in certain ways; i.e. they habitualise
Mind into the teaching, learning and thinking culture certain behaviours, rather than just because they’re
of the department. The core staff members are ‘brainy’ or ‘clever’ – that helps, but success is far more
knowledgeable, passionate and very enthusiastic and about behaving intelligently (i.e. applying Habits of Mind)
Habits of Mind are now a natural and normal way we and this needs to be assertively explained and modelled
think, teach, manage and learn. The students are being to students. In the classroom environment there are
taught how to learn, how to think and how to behave countless authentic opportunities to apply Habits of
by habitualising the behaviours embodied in the Habits. Mind to explain successful achievement and we must
The language of the Habits is integrated into how we constantly get students thinking about why others
teach, think and learn in the department. We have had are successful so they have models and pathways to
extremely positive feedback from parents about what we proceed down the same track. When students ask
are doing for our students and how our parents value questions we celebrate – it is evidence of thinking.
the work we are doing with Habits of Mind to enhance
students’ achievement. Being curious and inquisitive by questioning and problem
posing is an extremely desirable behaviour for students
to exhibit. Similarly there are countless opportunities to
Thinking Interdependently find humour in the classrooms. We think remaining open
to continuous learning is a crucial behaviour for teachers
We knew we were making a positive
impact when the thinking of students, to model.
teachers and parents was complementary. As stated previously, once one is familiar and confident
with the sixteen Habits there are so many opportunities
During 2005 the teachers from the
Intermediate Department reflected on the notion of to incorporate and infuse them into the teaching,
‘work’ and whether it precisely and accurately describes thinking, learning and behaving culture of the classroom.
the core business of the classroom. After considerable In the Intermediate Department we HOMMMM…
discussion we felt that work does not define with clarity
and precision the core business of the classroom but If a Habit is displayed the teacher will raise his arms
that ‘thinking and learning’ does. As a result we decided as if he was a conductor and hum ‘hommmmm…’
to eliminate the term ‘work’ and replace it with ‘thinking deliberately holding the ‘m’. This is an immediate
and learning’. Homework became ‘Home Thinking signal for the class to stop and then they all ‘hommmm’
and Learning’, or for convenience, ‘HTL’. Occasionally together until the conductor (teacher) cuts them off with
we, as teachers of Year 7 and 8 students, inadvertently a rapid movement of arms. A somewhat amusing but
use ‘work’ and students are very quick now to raise light-hearted moment to then explain and celebrate the
their hand and say’, ‘Please Sir, we don’t do work in behaviour being displayed.
here, we do thinking and learning. Would you please Finding Humour
communicate with clarity and precision’! So it is very
clear to us that what appear to be very small mind shifts We have always found that laughter and
can have significant effect on thinking and actions. This humour have proven positive effects on
is entirely consistent with our belief that if you want to learning and that it can raise your own
change what people do, then you have to first change and the spirits of others.
what and how they think. Thinking and learning are
precise and accurate descriptions of the core business Learning is essentially about solving problems. As we
of schools and it is very important that we keep that all learn we continuously encounter problems for which
prominent. the answers are not obvious. It is what we do and think
at that point which often determines the level of success
and achievement which follows. We have found in our
classroom that by applying or habitualising the sixteen
Applying past Knowledge to Habits of Mind we are giving our students powerful
New Situations templates and powerful pathways to become effective
problem solvers and decision makers. At the expo we
There were many times when we had to will try to elaborate on how Habits of Mind are infused
call on our existing knowledge, skill and into our classroom teaching and learning – uptake of
experience to solve new challenges and problems. these aspects is definitely a work in progress across
The sixteen Habits of Mind have become the core the whole school but is a feature of how we think and
teaching and management language in the Year 7/8 operate in the Intermediate Department at Year 7/8.
classrooms. We try to manage our classrooms by We write quotes across the top of our whiteboards
being optimistic, proactive and positive. We try to catch which we believe inspire and suggest good habits and
students behaving well. We promote success and we relate these back to the sixteen Habits of Mind. For
achievement using the Habits of Mind to explain why example:
students are achieving and succeeding. For example,
in mathematics we promote student behaviour and ‘Smart, successful people know how to behave
actions which show persistence, application of past intelligently when they don’t know the answers.’
knowledge and striving for accuracy and precision. We ‘What’s important now is not so much what you know,
actively acknowledge and promote these behaviours and
regularly stop the class to celebrate.



22 • Habits of Mind International Expo, Melbourne / Auckland October 2007
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