Manson Elementary School - Habits of Minds

1. January – Introduction: c Metacognition

Think about your thinking. Know your knowing. Be aware of your own thoughts, strategies, feelings, and actions – and how they affect other people.

2. January – c Applying past knowledge to new situations

Use what your have learned. Access prior knowledge, transferring that knowledge beyond the situation in which it was learned.

3. February – c Questioning and posing problems

How will you learn and know? Develop a questioning attitude. Find problems to solve.Consider what data are needed, and choose strategies to produce those data.

4. March – c Thinking and communicating with clarity and precision

Be clear. Strive for accurate communication in both written and oral form. Avoid over-generalizations, distortions, and deletions.

5. April – c Thinking flexibly

Look at a situation another way. Find a way to change your own perspective, generate alternatives, and consider new options.

6. May – c Listening with understanding and empathy

Seek to understand others. Devote mental energy to another person’s thoughts and ideas. Hold your own thoughts in check, so you can better perceive another person’s point of view.

7. c Persisting

Stick to it. Remain focused and see a task through to completion.

8. c Managing impulsivity

Take your time. Think before you act. Remain calm, thoughtful, and deliberate.

9. c Creating, imagining, innovating

Try a different way. Generate novel ideas and be original. Find new and better ways to solve problems

10. c Taking responsible risks

Venture out. Take initiative. Live on the edge of your competence.

11. c Striving for accuracy

Check your work again. Nurture a desire for exactness, quality, and craftsmanship.

12. c Gathering data through all the senses

Use your natural pathways. Gather data through all the sensory paths: taste, smell, touch, movement, hearing, and seeing.

13. c Thinking interdependently

Work together. Truely work with and learn from others as well as instruct others.

14. c Responding with wonderment and awe

Let yourself be intrigued by the world’s phenomena and beauty. Find what is awesome and mysterious in all creation.

15. c Remaining open to continuos learning

Learn from experiences. Be humble enough, yet proud, to admit you don’t know, but seek knowledge. Resist complacency.

16. c Finding humor

Laugh a little. Look for the whimsical, incongruous, and unexpected in life. Laugh at yourself and others when you can, but with compassion.

c = Icons to be designed by students