The staff of Queen Elizabeth School believed a common trait of most students
coming to their school was the inability to solve problems independently in the
classroom, on the playground or in their school work. All staff noticed that
students had a tendency to give up quickly or fly off the handle when things did
not work out the way they expected. We also noticed that students did not have
a natural inquisitiveness about life around them. We looked to Habits of Mind to
help us in our battle to compete with the quick-paced life most of these students
lead and to give them lifelong skills that would help them solve problems that came
their way.
Art Costa and Bena Kallick coined the phrase “Habits of Mind” to describe a series
of intelligent behaviors that would help people be better problem solvers and thus
have more success in their lives. These 16 Habits of Mind definitely provided a
framework for Queen Elizabeth staff to begin teaching problem-solving behaviors.
We chose eight Habits of Mind to teach in the first year as phase one of our project.
On a monthly basis, we focussed on behaviors such as “Managing Impulsivity”,
“Checking for Precision and Accuracy”, “Thinking Interdependently”, “Responsible
Risk Taking”, “Responding with Wonderment and Awe”, “Listening with Empathy
and Understanding”, “Persistence” and “Thinking Flexibly”.