There are many elements that help us find success in life. As students grow academically, personally and socially they grow in developing themselves within the world. At TIDE Academy we have students and parents with different goals, aspirations and outlooks on success. Regardless of what students pursue after their time in school, there are tools we can integrate that will support them achieve their goals. Today, we focus on the Four B’s and the Habits of Mind.
What are the Habits of Mind?
The Habits of Mind were developed by Costa and Kallick. They chose16 different aspects that students can use to approach dealing with problems that are not immediately known.
“Educational outcomes in traditional settings focus on how many answers a student knows. When we teach for the Habits of Mind, we are interested also in how students behave when they don’t knowan answer. The Habits of Mind are performed in response to questions and problems, the answers to which are not immediately known.” – Arthur L.Costa
Starting in Semester One we began introducing the Habits of Mind for teachers and students to focus on, in and out of class. The first four Habits of Hind that were chosen were:
- Thinking Interdependently
- Team work
- Cooperation
- The ability to work with and learn from others in a reciprocal way
- Persistence
- Sticking to it!
- Persevering the task through to completion and remaining focused
- Looking for ways to reach your goal when you are stuck.
- Finding Humor
- Laugh a little!
- The ability to laugh at oneself and situations.
- Respond with Wonderment and Awe
- Have fun figuring it out!
- Finding the world awesome, mysterious and being intrigued with phenomena and beauty.
Each class has the Habits of Mind on display and can be referenced as reminders during class. In addition to the Habits of Mind we also encourage students to use the Four B’s when faced with a problem. This step by step tool for students, helps them when facing a problem. Often, as educators with small class sizes, we help students as soon as they have a question or problem. Sometimes, this is necessary, but often the questions and clarifications they are asking for can be answered independently. The Four B’s help them to realize this:
Brain– Think about it!
Board– Is your answer somewhere in the room?
Buddy– Can the person next to me help?
Boss– If you tried all the other B’s, raise your hand and ask your teacher.
As we enter Semester Two more focus will be placed on using these tools in the classroom. We will be reviewing these Habits of Mind and the Four B’s at our upcoming assembly on Thursday. If you are interested in discussing these further, stop by the office to share your thoughts with Adam.
