‘All students can learn and succeed, but not on the same day in the same way.’ William G. Spady
Success for students is the primary aim of educators, and we are obliged to investigate all possible methods of attaining this goal. The above quote suggests that students are not all on the same page with their academic progress and that a differentiated approach to curriculum content and performance tasks may be necessary to support students who lack the tools and/or motivation to achieve success in their classes. Helping students to develop positive attitudes towards their academic requirements is essential, as is the facilitation of strategies aimed at helping students to achieve success in their immediate academic environment. Further, it is vital to develop in students the ability to transfer knowledge and skills into other areas to achieve success.
Costa and Kallick’s Habits of Mind is a proven framework for thoughtful practice. Teachers encourage students to develop mindful dispositions, which act as an internal compass to guide students in their thinking and behaviour when they encounter difficult situations within the classroom environment. Habits of Mind are applied by students on a task-specific basis to overcome obstacles and (hopefully) help them to achieve success in their academic pursuits. With the above quote in mind however, this success is dependent on an individual’s disposition toward acting intelligently in a given situation and utilising Habits of Mind (as appropriate) to solve problems. Some students are more able to recognise situations where the application of Habits of Mind, either alone or in concert, can be beneficial. As an advocate of the Habits of Mind and a friend of Art Costa, I support the development of these mindful behaviours for academic success, and also the need to teach for transfer with the aim of enabling those in our care to become lifelong learners.
However, rather than concentrating on what happens AFTER Habits of Mind are introduced and developed in classrooms and how they can be transferred to what Anderson describes as ‘new and novel situations’, I believe we need to investigate the influence of students’ experiential learning BEFORE the Habits of Mind are introduced. refsnarT (transfer in reverse) is my theory of reverse transfer of Habits of Mind. In contrast to the current principle and practice of transferring use of Habits of Mind to situations outside the classroom as a result of what they have learned about Habits of Mind in class (transferring out), ‘refsnarT’ suggests there is greater potential for student success through their exploring the knowledge and skill sets gained from the range of ‘novel’ situations they experienced outside the classroom environment before being introduced to the Habits of Mind (transferring in). These experiences can be vital to students successfully applying Habits of Mind, both now and in their lives beyond the school gates.
This theory of reverse transfer can be illustrated in the Habits of Mind curriculum model (right) through the addition of a sixth dimension, that of
experiential learning. As previously intimated, content mastery by students is the focus of schools, and the current model indicates that many components are brought to bear, beginning with thinking skills. Performance tasks are designed to apply thinking skills. Habits of Mind are introduced and utilised as necessary, framed by the individual’s values and philosophies. I do not believe, however, that you can simply apply a Habit, or know about a Habit of Mind based on your values alone. The model lacks a physical context necessary to validate an individual’s grasp of the Habits of Mind. When we introduce a Habit of Mind into the classroom we typically ask our students to recognise other people using it in order to develop a frame of reference about what its use might ‘look, sound and feel like’. When a Habit of Mind is introduced, I believe students must be able to develop a frame of reference using their own experiential learning. This needs to be a personal physical context such as an action or activity which is undertaken in order for a Habit of Mind to be explored fully, allowing learners to gain personally meaningful understanding which will then guide their application in classroom performance tasks. Such experiential learning can influence future decision making and can become a frame of reference for overcoming difficult situations, both similar and abstract.
Spady’s quote is quite relevant here. All students are capable of success, but will not achieve it in the same way or on the same day. The question is how do we provide the support (and the tools) for all students to achieve success with the Habits of Mind? Take a typical classroom. There will be some who are naturally academically inclined (and capable), those who battle away each day and find their own varying levels of success, and those who would rather be anywhere else. Logically, the latter don’t have the same expectation of academic success as those who are more motivated. Or perhaps they are motivated, and simply lack the right tools for the job (or are unable to recognise when to use them). However, as disparate as they may seem, all of these students have some form of previous experience to draw from when trying to overcome difficult situations in class.
Wiggins and McTighe espouse ‘beginning with the end in mind’ – what do we want students to know and be able to do as a result of the performance task? However I suggest beginning with the beginning in mind – what did students know and what were they able to do prior to the performance task that they might be able to call on in order to achieve success in said task (transferring in)? What experiential learning could be used as a basis for the application of the Habits of Mind to a performance task? From the day they were born, kids have accumulated experiences, many of which they learned from and then applied that wisdom when they encountered subsequent, similar situations. Sporting experiences are a perfect example.
Feltz and Magyar consider the role of sport and physical activity participation as a powerful source of efficacy beliefs and subsequent achievement related behaviours. Almost all kids have played sport, have thrown any number of balls, sticks and siblings’ toys at various targets, kicked, jumped, climbed, and played strategy games alone and in groups. And they were doing these things long before they heard of the Habits of Mind. Trial and error, failure, reflection, practice and success all came from participation. Lack of participation meant lack of success was guaranteed. Participation meant success was possible. The same concept applies in the classroom. If kids can make positive connections with this sort of physical experiential learning when they explore the Habits of Mind in class they can identify the Habits of Mind that they have used in those experiences. Therefore when they encounter difficult situations in class they are more easily able to make links between the task and the experiential learning and, by default, they are more able to recognise this task as an opportunity to apply an appropriate Habit of Mind strategy. At the very least they will be able to trial a response and reflect on its level of success. By participating, they have a greater chance of achieving success, which is what educators are striving for.
Before our students can truly demonstrate mindfulness both at school and in the future, they need to be mindful of their previous experiences and be able to use them as a frame of reference for their intelligent consideration and application of the Habits of Mind in order to achieve success. Importantly, it will be incumbent upon us as teachers to ‘invite’ transfer from students’ experiential learning to the current learning environment.