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The West Shore School District is committed to providing our students meaningful opportunities K-12 to authentically practice and internalize the 16 Habits of the Mind. When students internalize these habits they are able to respond intelligently when confronted with problems, the answers which are not immediately known.

Our focus is on performance under challenging conditions that demand strategic reasoning, insightfulness, perseverance, creativity, and craftsmanship. The critical attribute of intelligent human beings is not only having information, but also knowing how to act on it. Employing Habits of Mind requires drawing forth certain patterns of intellectual behavior that produce powerful results. They are a composite of many skills, attitudes and proclivities. Arthur L. Costa and Bena Kallick, Habits of Mind: A Developmental Series, Copyright © 2000


                    The 16 Habits of Mind identified by Costa and Kallick include:

  • Persisting
  • Thinking and communicating with clarity and precision
  • Managing impulsivity
  • Gathering data through all senses
  • Listening with understanding and empathy
  • Creating, imagining, innovating
  • Thinking flexibly
  • Responding with wonderment and awe
  • Thinking about thinking (metacognition)
  • Taking responsible risks
  • Striving for accuracy
  • Finding humor
  • Questioning and posing problems
  • Thinking interdependently
  • Applying past knowledge to new situations
  • Remaining open to continuous learning



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