HABITS OF MIND

How do people learn?How do people think?

How do people produce knowledge?

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What are the Habits of Mind? A habit of mind

is knowing how to act intelligently when you DON’T know the answer

having the inclination to behave intelligently.

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S1 : GATHERING DATA THROUGH ALL YOUR SENSES

Intelligent people know that all information gets into the brain through the senses

Intelligent people pay close attention to their environment

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Most linguistic, cultural, and physical learning is derived from the environment by observing

taking in through the senses

Those whose sensory pathways are open, alert, and acute absorb more information from their environment

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Joy in looking and comprehending is nature’s most beautiful gift.Albert Einstein

If all meanings could be adequately expressed by words, the arts of painting and music would not exist.John Dewey

S2 : LEARNING CONTINUOUSLY

Intelligent people are in a continuous learning mode

They are always striving for improvement

growing learning improving themselves

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Insanity is continuing to do the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

Albert Einstein

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We are what we repeatedly do.

Excellence, then, is not an act,

but a habit.

Aristotle

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U1: LISTENING TO OTHERS WITH UNDERSTANDING & EMPATHY

Actively listening is a sign of intelligence

Paying close attention to what is being said

Reading between the lines

Holding your judgments until you’ve listened to the other person

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Listening is the beginning of understanding. . .

Wisdom is the reward for a lifetime of listening.

Let the wise listen and add to their learning. . .

Proverbs 1:5

U2 : THINKING INTERDEPENDENTLY

Humans are social beings

All of us together are more powerful than any one individual

No one of us is as smart as all of us

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Take care of each other. Share your

energies with the group. No one must feel

alone, cut off, for that is when you do not

make it.

Willie Unsoeld (famous mountain climber)

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C1: MANAGING IMPULSIVITY Thinking BEFORE

acting or speaking Intentionally

forming a vision of a product, plan of action, goal, or destination

Reflecting on alternatives and consequences

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The immature mind hops from one thing to another; the mature mind seeks to follow through.”

(H. Overstreet)

Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.”

(Vincent Van Gogh)

C2: PERSISTENCE

Not giving up easily

Staying focused on the task at hand

Looking at alternatives to solving a problem

Developing a plan for solving problems

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Persistence is the twin sister of excellence.

One is a matter of quality; the other, a matter of time.

Mirabel Morgan

Thomas Edison. . .

holds 1039 patents

invented the rubber used in tires

batteries fluorescent light bulbs

the movie camera

the phonograph

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Results! Why, I have gotten a lot of results.

I know several thousand things that won’t work.

Thomas Edison

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“Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.”

Thomas Edison

C3: TAKING RESPONSIBLE RISKS

• Flexible people seem to have an uncontrollable urge to go beyond established limits

• They learn to view setbacks as– interesting– challenging– growth producing

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Flexible people take educated risks

draw on past knowledge

are thoughtful about consequences

have a well-trained sense of what is appropriate

know that NOT all risks are worth taking

It is only through repeated experiences that risk taking becomes educated

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The only way to succeed

is to be brave enough to risk failure.

Bobby Jindal

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Courage is the mastery of

fear, not the absence of

fear.Mark Twain

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C1 : METACOGNITION

Thinking about your thinking

Ability to know what we know and what we don’t know

Are you getting positive results with your pattern of thinking?

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When the mind is thinking it is talking to itself. Plato

I cannot always control what goes on outside. But I can always control what goes on inside. Wayne Dyer

C2: QUESTIONING AND POSING PROBLEMS

Effective problem solvers know how to ask questions to fill in the gaps between what they know and what they don’t know

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Learn from yesterday, live for today,

hope for tomorrow. The important thing is to not stop questioning.

Albert Einstein

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C3 : APPLYING PAST KNOWLEDGE

TO NEW SITUATIONSIntelligent human beings learn from experience

make new connections between past and present experiences

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Everything we do seeds the future.

No action is an empty one.

Joan Chittister

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E1 : STRIVING FOR ACCURACY AND

PRECISION

Focusing on quality Taking pride in

your work Focusing on

excellence in one’s work

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I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were

great and noble.

Helen Keller

E2 : THINKING & COMMUNICATING WITH CLARITY AND PRECISION

Language and thinking are closely entwined

Like two sides of the same coin, they are inseparable

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When you hear fuzzy language, it is a reflection of fuzzy thinking

Intelligent people strive to communicate accurately in both written and spoken word

Use precise language by: defining terms using correct names

using universal labels

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The limits of my language are the limits of my mind. All I know is

what I have words for.L. Wittgenstein

The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning

and lightning bug.Mark Twain

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Watch your thoughts; they become words.

Watch your words; they become actions.

Watch your actions; they become habits.

Watch your habits; they become character.

Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.

Frank Outlaw

S1 : THINKING FLEXIBLY

The capacity to change your mind as you receive additional data

Approaching a problem from different angles

Shifting from one perspective to another

Flexible people are the ones with the most control

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If you never change your mind, why have

one?

Edward deBono

S2 : CREATING, IMAGINING, INNOVATING

• All human beings have the capacity to generate:–new– original– clever– and ingenious:• products• solutions• techniques

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Come up with different solutions

Be motivated from your heart and mind

Creative people are open to criticism in their efforts to refine their technique

Creative people take risks and try new things

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The future is not some place we are going to

but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made, and the activity of making them changes both the

maker and the destination.

John Shaar, political scientist

S3 : RESPONDING WITH WONDER AND AWE

Successful people have not only an “I CAN” attitude but also an “I ENJOY” feeling

They enjoy figuring out things by themselves and continue to learn throughout their lifetime

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Remain curious Become a lifelong

learner Find the beauty all

around you Become passionate

about learning Inquiring/

questioning mastering

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The most beautiful experience in the

world is the experience of the

mysterious.

Albert Einstein

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S1 : FINDING HUMOR

It is said that laughter is the best medicine

people who engage in the mystery of humor have the ability to see situations from an original and often interesting vantage point

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Laughter frees creativity engages higher level thinking skills such asanticipationfinding new relationships

visual imagerymaking analogies

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not all humor is acceptable human indifferences hurting a person’s feelings vulgarity violence profanity making fun of others laughing at others but not at yourself

causing pain

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