Teaching Habits of Mind

Habits Of Mind have been used by me in assessing young children in my kindy. In the early years, learning should be focused on the development of learning dispositions and strategies, rather than simply building up academic knowledge and skills. Although preschoolers need to be prepared for school, there are issues of teaching young children too formal and too early, as suggested by Guy Claxton. The children are at risk of becoming unmotivated if they are given formal education too early when they are not ready.

Well, back to the habits of mind. Teachers should actively promote them through early childhood curriculum. I know a kindy in New Zealand have completed a project on incorporating habits of mind in their program. Talk about that in detail later.

Documenting children's learning

I believe teachers need to document children's learning, making learning visible. So, what do I document, how and why?

For individual children's learning journey, I use the Learning Story model developed by the legendary Margaret Carr of New Zealand. My intention is to share with parents about what the child is interested in. I describe what I saw and what the child said. Based on that, I plan for how to support the child's learning so the interest will be extended and the learning becomes more complex.

Basically, I describe what I notice as the child's interest, how he is involved in pursuing his interest, how he communicates his passion, whether he persists despite difficulties, and how he takes up his responsibility for his own learning. And then I analyse what learning I think is happening and outline my planning about what could be the next step of development for the child. Finally, I seek parents' feedback by posing questions to solicit their comments.

To document the learning that is happening for groups of children, I use the model of Stories of interest/Planning stories. These Stories of Interest include documentation about how a particular interest has begun, what learning is happening, teachers' intentions/reflections on possible ways to extend the interest, and parent/family comments. The Planning Story model shows how the learning is unfolded as the stories are displayed as work in progress.  While teachers' planning and possibilities are outlined,  they are not something that is fixed in concrete. It's because the teacher, I believe, is obliged to follow the childrenʼs interests, to be spontaneous and responsive.

I think, both children and teachers need to work together in creating rich learning  experiences, and the parents can also contribute towards the planning of what learning will happen. So, the purpose of the documentation is to show the learning journey of the children, as supported by the teachers and parents. I think itʼs a good idea to use lots of photos, which enables children to revisit their experiences. If possible, documentation should be displayed at childrenʼs height. Also think about how much writing to put up on the wall, parents are unlikely to stand around reading lengthy paragraphs. Make the text short and sweet, perhaps using bullet points.

It's inevitable that only a small percentage of the learning/teaching that is happening is documented due to the constraints of time. However, the documentation will serve as the tip of the iceberg, showcasing the richness of children's learning and the wide array of opportunities to learn in the early childhood setting. I hope you will embrace your obligation to document children's learning as well.

P.S. the Learning Story model is also used at schools in New Zealand too, click here for additional information.