It is an experience all teachers recognize and attend to on a daily basis……yes, student frustration. Often frustration is quieted, passed over, or viewed as a minor distraction that can be attended to at another time to move through a lesson. But what if we asked: “How can this moment of frustration become a learning…
Category: Habits of Mind
“If you can control your potty, you can control your body.” Believe it or not, I can say this with a straight face after repeating it several thousand times over the past few years. And although passersby may give me a strange look if they happen to overhear it, this phrase holds the power to…
‘Managing impulsivity’ is intrinsic to the origin story of the Habits of Mind. In 1981, while editing Developing Minds for ASCD, I requested contributions from leading thinkers in cognitive psychology and philosophy from around the world. I invited them to share what they perceived to be the defining attributes of successful people in all walks…
By: Sandra Christensen Brace As an enthusiastic practitioner of the Habits of Mind for more than 15 years, I have taught the habit of ‘persisting’ at all levels, and to a variety of student populations. For all learners, it’s a skill that is best taught through experience and reflection. Young students need to experience what…
The challenge of teaching the Habits of Mind to very young students isn’t the language involved – children love the vocabulary, because they love anything that makes them feel like briefcase carrying grown-ups. The challenge lies in ingraining the meaning of the words. This is always going to be tough, because attributes like “managing impulsivity”…