As consultants who infuse the “Habits of Mind” into schools, the authors explain how spreading these habits through school can increase the whole school’s well-being and feed teacher efficacy. They list seven factors that can create a “culture of efficacy” that draws on these 16 habits (thinking dispositions at the core of social, emotional, and cognitive behaviors). 

Arthur L. Costa

Bena Kallick

Allison Zmuda

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Building a Culture of Efficacy with Habits of Mind (thumbnail)

Professional development / learning

Capacity building

Teamwork

School improvement and reform

School and district leadership

School climate and culture

Habits of Mind

Whole Child

Supported

Building a Culture of Efficacy with Habits of Mind

Social-emotional learning

Professional Learning

Students need specific thinking—or Habits of Mind—to engage with problems and become self-directed learners, write Arthur L. Costa, Bena Kallick, Jay McTighe, and Allison Zmuda. A curricular approach based on enhancing students' understanding of conceptually significant, transferable ideas can help schools teach these dispositions.

Jay McTighe

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Critical thinking

Understanding by Design

Dispositions by Design

Instructional Strategies

"We might view the movement rom teacher-directed to student-driven learning as a set of controls, much like the controls on an audio sound board," write Bena Kallick and Allison Zmuda. For each element of personalization, the teacher can turn the volume up or down, amplifying or reducing the amount of student agency depending on the subject matter and students' needs. In this article, Kallick and Zmuda show how seven elements of personalization (goals, inquiry and idea generation, task and audience, evaluation, feedback, instructional plan, and cumulative demonstration of learning) change as teachers move toward greater student control.

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Challenged

Orchestrating the Move to Student-Driven Learning

We say we want engaged learners, but so many of our policies and practices focus on creating compliant learners–students who are easy to manage, do what's expected, and participate when there's little risk of being wrong. Now compliance may make for a smoothly run classroom, but it doesn't help students expend the effort they need to meet the demands of challenging standards or take what they've learned and apply it to their lives. The authors suggest that if teachers want real engagement rather than mere compliance, they need to provide clarity so students are clear about the goals of learning, offer the right context so students can make their learning relevant to their lives, create a classroom culture that signals that you're genuinely invested in their learning, and provide the appropriate challenge so students find real meaning in their school experiences and persist even when faced with difficulty along the way.

Robyn R. Jackson

Student engagement and motivation

Instructional strategies

Four (Secret) Keys to Student Engagement

Communication

Listening and speaking

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How to Listen with Empathy (thumbnail)

How to Listen with Empathy

Student Voice

Four Attributes To Grow a Personalized Learning Culture

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Engagement

Quick Reference Guides

Print Books

Personalizing Learning in Your Classroom (Print Book)

Personalizing Learning in Your Classroom

Personalizing Learning in Your Classroom (Quick Reference Guide)

Soft Cover

Students at the Center: Personalized Learning with Habits of Mind (Print Book)

Students at the Center: Personalized Learning with Habits of Mind

Real Engagement: How do I help my students become motivated, confident, and self-directed learners? (ASCD Arias) (Print Book)

Real Engagement: How do I help my students become motivated, confident, and self-directed learners? (ASCD Arias)

Breaking Free from Myths About Teaching and Learning: Innovation as an Engine for Student Success (Print Book)

Breaking Free from Myths About Teaching and Learning: Innovation as an Engine for Student Success

Allison Zmuda

About

Expertise

Articles by Allison

Building a Culture of Efficacy with Habits of Mind

Dispositions by Design

Orchestrating the Move to Student-Driven Learning

Four (Secret) Keys to Student Engagement

Blogs by Allison

How to Listen with Empathy

Four Attributes To Grow a Personalized Learning Culture

Books by Allison

Write for ASCD