Article from Education Times, Vol 15, No 18, 8 November 2007

By Melanie Corben

EVERYONE knows that habits are hard to make (and break), but educators who attended the travelling Habits of Mind International Expo in Melbourne and Auckland, recently came away with a range of innovative ideas to help students behave intelligently when they ‘don't know all the answers'.

Since 2002, hundreds of schools across Australia have been working to transform attitudes to learning using a set of practices identified by US education experts Art Costa and Bena Kallick as the 16 Habits of Mind (HoM).

They have written numerous books on the HoM, aimed at improving how students demonstrate strategic reasoning, insightfulness, perseverance, creativity and craftsmanship under challenging conditions.

More than any other country, there has been a huge take-up of the Habits in Australia, said James Anderson, national coordinator of the Melbourne-based HoM Hub, an arm of the Australian National Schools Network that provides resources and professional learning to schools using the Habits.

“The international expo was an opportunity to share ideas with educators from across Australia, and countries including Singapore, the US, New Zealand and England,” he explained.

The sharing of ideas around HoM has been largely around classroom practice to date Mr Anderson noted. “But this time we brought together classroom practitioners and school leaders to talk about whole school issues – building a thoughtful school and the transformative leadership needed for this, along with the improved learning outcomes that have already been brought about using the Habits,” he said.

The Melbourne leg of the expo was attended by around 230 educators, and began with a keynote address by Art Costa.

Teachers attended workshops conducted by schools with extensive experience in HoM.

Educators from Waikiki Elementary School, Honolulu, where 17 years of wholeschool engagement with HoM has made a significant impact, facilitated one popular workshop.

New Zealand's College Street Normal School shared how it has embedded HoM deeply in professional practice, while adapting to staffing and curriculum changes.

Andrea Federico, a Furlong Main cluster educator from Victoria's Western Metropolitan region explained how the cluster uses HoM as a collective focus for making primary-to-secondary transitions seamless.

Mr Anderson emphasised that the Habits are essentially what teachers already do, and not an add-on to the school curriculum.

“Good teachers have always developed the Habits intrinsically, but by being aware of them and bringing them into lessons, it allows them to improve their practice,” he said.

Lauren Payne and studentsLauren Payne, a Year 6 Laburnum Primary School teacher, began using the Habits two years ago and attended the Melbourne expo. “The highlight was meeting passionate educators from around the world who have integrated the Habits across their whole schools,” she said.

Ms Payne has integrated the Habits in a range of curriculum areas, including a program where students practice good budgeting by ‘renting' their school chairs and designing small businesses. “This year I have also been using the Habits a lot to help them reflect on why they do what they do,” she said.

Bentleigh West Primary School started using HoM in 2006 and showcased its approach at the expo. Assistant principal Tim Newton, who attended with the school's welfare team, said attendees were interested in hearing how close links between the Habits and the school's values underlie its welfare approach.

“I guess one of the biggest challenges we face is working out how the Habits work within the school's existing framework,” he said. “We are still in the early stages, but we are finding that students are developing more strategic approaches to their work and realising that that successful teamwork doesn't just happen – it takes work.”

For more information on HoM visit
www.habitsofmind.org