Professional Documents
Culture Documents
My HM Journey:
Part Two
Elise Morgan
One of the most powerful tools I implemented in my journey was the utilization of
the Habits and Mindsets vocabulary. I case manage students with more mild-to-
moderate disabilities who need supports to access the General Education curriculum,
and I was concerned about their ability to learn and recall some of this vocabulary. I was
However, research has shown that students will “utilize the terminology” constantly, so I
strove to try it with my students (Mindful by Design, 2012). I chose a new “word of
wisdom” once or twice per grading period to give students time to internalize it
word of wisdom, and led students through direct instruction with a focus on generalizing
persistence. My students often try one method, then easily give up rather than
continuing to “try multiple ways to solve problems” (Costa & Kallick, 2009, p. 39). I
students, we studied a personal problem that students were facing, and throughout the
unit brainstormed various ways to solve it. One of my students was struggling with her
education class. She felt overwhelmed by the daily assignments, and did not complete
any of them. For a six week unit, we focused on this class through the lens of
persistence, and discussed ways she could problem-solve to get to her goal of being a
teacher.
persistence, and examples of persistence we had seen inside and outside of the
Running Head: MY HM JOURNEY PART TWO 3
classroom, helping students to generalize this concept outside of the classroom. I asked
students “questions that cue students about and focus their attention on the importance
and use of one or more of the habits,” in this case persistence (Costa & Kallick, 2009,
p. 38). At the end of our meetings, I asked students to reflect on their use of
persistence, and acknowledge a time when they had seen someone else (a friend,
In the future, I look forward to using this system to engage students in developing
more of their habits and mindsets. Although we may need to take longer to incorporate
each habit, my students are recognizing the habits in themselves and in each other.
They are coming to school with stories of how they used the habits of minds on the
weekends, or how their families and friends may have used the habits of mind. They are
telling me how they changed their actions based on remembering our “word of wisdom.”
I anticipate that with the addition of more of the habits of mind, students will begin to be
more introspective as they journey toward their transition to life outside of school.
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References
Costa, A. L., & Kallick, B.(Eds.). (2009b). Habits of Mind across the curriculum: Practical
Hardiman, M.M. (2012). The Brain-Targeted Teaching Model for 21st-century schools
MD: Author.
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