1. . 16 Habits of Mind
. Compare this list above with the 16 Habits of
Mind; These are all skills and things that the
children need to think creatively
. They help you solve problems and know what to do!
It‟s about sharing the vision (throughout a
school) “A habit is a cable; we weave it each day, and
at last we cannot break it!”~ The more
you use the habits, the stronger they get Why habits
of the mind? Transdisciplinary, good for adults and
students, for
lifelong learning
1. Persistence- Sticking to it with a basketful of
strategies and looking at different ways to do things
2. Managing Impulsivity- Retraining themselves,

2. Proverbs 19:2, traffic lights (stop, think, go)
3. Listening with Understanding and Empathy- The
queen of the habits, 55% of our lives is spent
listening (but how often is it taught?), silent and
listen are spelt with the same letters, truly hearing
what the other people think
4. Flexibility in thinking- Looking from different
perspectives and try different ideas, if you never
change your mind, why have one? (Changing pictures-
old lady and young lady within a picture)- search
illusions on the internet („The True Story of the
Three Little Pigs‟)- Introducing this habit from the
perspective of the wolf
5. Metacognition- Thinking about your thinking (in the
frontal lobe), when the mind is thinking it is talking
to itself, to read without reflecting is like eating
without digesting
6. Striving for Accuracy- Striving to be the best you
can be- C3B4ME (before handing work in they have
to have three other children check it), „Never work
harder than your students‟ (Should this be how it
is?), scan marking; if you can see three errors, write
„There are three errors on this page, please find
them‟. Learning is learning what you don‟t know (not
revising what you do know), it‟s the things you get
wrong that should help you to know what you need to

3. learn
7. Questioning and Problem Posing- Question and look
for problems to solve, what is the real problem?
What is the TRUE problem and how do we go about
solving it?
8. Applying past knowledge to new situations- Using
what they know and applying it to a real life
situation, making the links between subjects and
lessons, make learning integrated
9. Thinking and communicating with clarity and
precision- Thinking is clear and easy to understand,
create clear language („Fancy Nancy‟)- builds
language and vocabulary with children, video clip;
Berlitz; the language of thinking (German
Coastguard)
10. Gathering Data through all the sense- Look, feel,
hear, smell, see, touch, teach children about their brains
and how they learn (The Brainy Bunch) in the first few
weeks of learning at school, teach them about the
different lobes and how they work and what they are for,
understand how they think and learn (colours, learning
styles etc)
11. Creating, Imagining, Innovating- www.ted.com,
„Creativity is not the finding of a thing, but making
something out of it after it is found‟, Sir Ken Robinson

4. („Creativity is the Gold of the 21st Century), use
analogies, mind-maps,
metaphors, Describe the characteristics of a detective if
he is like
chocolate 12. Responding with Wonderment and Awe-
“Wow, that‟s pretty neat!”, WOW
(with fingers in „W‟ and open mouth), have a wow
moment! 13. Taking Responsible Risks- Step outside
your comfort zone, trying
something you haven‟t tried before, risk failure, „Only
those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far
they can go‟ (The rock face at Outward Bound!), we learn
by making mistakes (or learning experiences), create a
culture that it is ok to make mistakes
14. Finding Humour- Resilience, find humour at a
situation, laughing at ourselves, put-downs are NOT
humour
15. Thinking Interdependently- Working together as a
TEAM, co-operation 16. Remaining open to continuous
learning- we can always learn more and
improve! Live above the line; Be in the learning team
(ownership, accountability, responsibility)
rather than the victim team (blaming, denying and making
excuses)