Habits of Mind

Welcome

James — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 23:43:28 +0000

Welcome to Habits of Mind!

This site is designed to support, schools, businesses and interest from the wider community in Habits of Mind. Content is updated regularly on this page, and through our blog.

The Greatness Gap

James — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 03:50:46 +0000

I could never be like that. They've got something I haven't got... they've got talent.

Sometimes it's easy to look at successful people from a distance and say to ourselves that they are somehow different to the rest of us. They were born with something we simply don't have. We can recognise it, admire it, call it talent, or a gift, but we can never have it. We could never be like them.

Ferrari's, Mini's & HOM

James — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 02:49:09 +0000

Edward de Bono has a wonderful analogy that I love to use when talking about intelligence. He likens a persons innate, inborn, intelligence to the type of car they dive.

We are certainly all born different. That's an undeniable fact of life. In de Bono's analogy this difference is like the car we drive. Some of us a born with Ferrari's and some of us are born with mini's.

The Peter Principle

James — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 01:40:49 +0000

The Peter Principle goes something like this:

In any heirachy, an individual will rise to his or her own level of incompetence and then remain there.

Weekly Teaching Tips

James — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 21:39:21 +0000

James Anderson provides free weekly teaching tips for Habits of Mind. Enter your email address below to recieve a full years worth of strategies, tips and tools!

Rohan's Story

James — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 04:32:58 +0000

Rohan taught me to always introduce all 16 Habits of Mind.

I often get asked "which Habit of Mind should I start with?" and my answer is always "All of them." Although we might choose to focus on just a few Habits of Mind, if we don't at least mention the others, we might be robbing students of the opportunity of finding their most important Habit of Mind.

We can be successful too

James — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 04:26:16 +0000

I'm always amazed how quickly students engage with the Habits of Mind.

I like to think I'm a reasonably good teacher. I work hard at making my classes relevant and interesting for students. But when we come to the Habits of Mind, they seem to automatically make their own connection. They see the relevance and importance immediately.

When I introduce the Habits of Mind I talk about where they came from.

About Habits

James — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 03:57:49 +0000

Habits are funny things. The reason that they are so useful is because you barely know you have them!

When I introduce Habits of Mind to students I always begin with the idea of what a Habit is. There's lots of great and easy to use resources for this.

Take our 2 minute survey

James — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:15:05 +0000

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Mini Course - 16 Habits of Mind

James — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:20:09 +0000

A complete Habits of Mind Introduction delivered right to your inbox! If you want to find out what the Habits of Mind are all about, then this is a perfect introduction.

This Habits of Mind Mini Course is comprised of 10 easy emailed "lessons" that explore one or more Habits of Mind plus some essential related topics.