Habits of Mind

At Dryden Elementary School and throughout Arlington Heights School District 25, we strive to nurture "Habits of Mind" (as identified in the work of Arthur L. Costa) in our students and in ourselves. Habits of Mind  are the dispositions that successful people skillfully and mindfully use when confronted with challenging problems. Following are the Habits of Mind our district emphasizes:

Persisting: Sticking to it! Perservering in a task to its completion. Remaining focused. Looking for ways to reach your goal when stuck. Not giving up 

Thinking about Thinking (Metacognition): Being aware of your own thoughts, strategies, feelings, actions and their effects on others. 


Questioning and Posing Problems: Having a questioning attitude. Knowing what data are needed, and developing questioning strategies to produce those data. Finding problems to solve. 


Thinking and Communicating with Clarity and Precision: Striving for accurate communication in both written and oral forms. Avoiding over-generalizations, distortions, deletions and exaggerations.


Creating, Imagining and Innovating: Trying a different way. Generating new and novel ideas with fluency and originality.


Thinking Interdependently: Working together. Being able to work with and learn from others in reciprocal situations. Working as a team.


Thinking Flexibly: Looking at things in a different way. Being able to change perspectives, generate alternative and consider options. 



Striving for Accuracy: Checking your work. Always doing your best. Setting high standards. Finding ways to constantly improve. 



Applying Past Knowledge to New Situations: Using what you learn. Accessing prior knowledge beyond the situation in which it was learned. 


Remaining Open to Continuous Learning: Having the mindset "I have so much more to learn!" Having humility and pride when admitting we don't know. Resisting complacency.

Additional resources can be found at habitsofmind.org