Standards and Habits of Mind
Magnet Standard #1: Demonstrating Self and Global Awareness
Using self-reflection to identify personal values, interests, strengths, and challenges
Making plans and using strategies, resources, and innovative technologies and ideas to contribute to the well-being of self, others, and the environment
Increasing global awareness to improve the efficacy and sustainability of decisions
Using Habits of Mind and the design process to make choices that will positively affect our future
Magnet Standard #2: Demonstrating Understanding for the Importance of Diversity in the Community of Life
Communicating an understanding of how diversity affects our physical, social, economic, and cultural environments
Seeking diverse, innovative ideas and relationships
Making collaborative and informed decisions
Magnet Standard #3: Demonstrating the Impact of Individual and Social Actions and Decisions on the Community of Life
Communicating an understanding of how choices affect environments
Acting individually and collectively to positively affect our environments and increase community ownership for learning
Employing innovative manufacturing methods and technologies that improve the conditions of life
Habits of Mind as Learning Outcomes
Educational outcomes in traditional settings focus on how many answers a student knows. When The Connecticut River Academy teaches for the Habits of Mind, we are interested in how students behave when they don’t know an answer. The Habits of Mind are performed in response to questions and problems, the answers to which are not immediately known. We are interested in enhancing the ways students produce knowledge rather than how they merely reproduce it. We want students to learn how to develop a critical stance with their work: inquiring, editing, thinking flexibly, and learning from another person’s perspective. The critical attribute of intelligent human beings is not only having information but also knowing how to act on it.