Partnering parents in forming positive learning habits.
I had the recent joy of reading a draft chapter of Harry Fletcher-Wood’s (@HFletcherWood) new book on Behavioural Science, specifically chapter 5 titled Following up: once students have begun, how can we help them maintain momentum and form habits? This chapter and my previous reading about setting goals informed my newsletter article contained below.
Teachers at the school that I work at, Calrossy Anglican School, believe their duty is to help children form good habits, a duty we share with the child’s parents.
In a nutshell, for all humans your behaviour becomes your habits and your habits become your character. Calrossy teachers see their holistic purpose as both teaching academic learning and aiding in the formation of a child’s character.
To this end in weekly Learning Mentor time, students in year’s 7-10 in Semester 2 have begun to focus on new habit formation. During the second week of term 3 students were asked to reflect on their Semester One report and ask of themselves the following questions:
In the future, the students answers to the questions will be uploaded in what is known as their ePortfolio on our learning management system (LMS) for their mentor, teachers and parents to view.
From week 3 of term 3 onwards students will be assessing their current situation and then setting goals, and ultimately monitoring their progress toward the formation of a new habit.
Teachers and parents will be able to see the children’s reflections and goals that will be made available on the ePortfolio on the LMS.
So it is important to ask the following question why focus on learning habits instead of goals?
Goals can become the end point such as a grade or a percentage which is not what we are after in this instance. Whereas, a habit focuses on the process resulting in a change in character, in actions, in what one does. Effective habits make a lasting difference.
In a typical school day, we can assume at least half of all behaviours are habitual. And as we now know, habits are a stronger predictor of future behaviour than goals or intentions. So hence one needs to build habits gradually.
Examples of learning habits or habits that will enable a better learning outcome include:
During learning mentor, time will involve specifying one habit to focus on:
1. Specifying goals helps because it’s easier to make a simple action habitual than a more complicated one.
2. Seeing the value of the change helps because habits often begin when people are pursuing a goal.
3. By planning when and where to act, students choose a context, which will become the cue for habitual action.
4. Practice offers students the chance to begin forming a habit. Learning mentor time will allow planned times for students to act and reflect.
Professor Geoff Masters speaks about the importance of students setting their own goals and having the opportunity to monitor their own learning. One of the most effective ways to build students confidence in their ability to learn, is to help them see the progress that they are making over time.
At Calrossy we believe effective habits make a lasting difference. When students succeed, we can then challenge them further; the more they succeed, the more they can manage their own progress too.
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