Habits of Mind Applied to My Life

October 10, 2013

Our morning meeting consisted of presenting the Habits of Mind to the first years. Inspired by this morning meeting, I have decided to list all of the Habits of Mind and describe what I have been doing wrong and how I am going to apply them to my life and to the MPC from now on.

Persisting: “Efficacious people stick to a task until it is completed.” Most of the times when I find that something is too hard, I tend to do it quickly and in a mediocre way. I have the most trouble with this in things outside of the MPC, things that I don’t have a deadline for. I also tend to give up on things after a couple of tries. Now I will stick to what the plans I have and see them through. I will, as the habit says, develop a theory, system or structure to attack the problems. I think that the plan I did with Ingrid will help me improve this.

Managing Impulsivity: I have noticed that sometimes, when I have an idea, I interrupt someone or start talking when someone else is about to. I think I need to pay more attention to my surrounding and take some time to reflect on my answer before I give it, which is probably one of the reasons why I give half made thoughts half of the time.

Listening with understanding and empathy:  Sometimes I make the common mistake of rehearsing what I am going to say or think about my reasoning while someone else in the group is speaking. To improve on this I will have to monitor my thoughts and suspend my thought and assumptions while the other person is speaking. By doing this I think I will be able to understand my classmates opinions and comments much better.

Thinking flexibly: I don’t think that this habit is that much of a problem for me. I consider myself someone who already thinks of many alternatives when presented with something and who is able to change her mind. I have always enjoyed exploring new alternatives.

Thinking about thinking: This habit of mind is about analyzing what we know and what we don’t know, how we are thinking and evaluating our thoughts. I think a great way to keep exercising this habit is by my daily reflections and to have some time each day for metacognition.

Striving for accuracy: This is a matter of striving for excellence, something which I think I have to work on. I’m going to start applying this to everything I do, outside of the MPC and at the MPC. Each time I finish a work or a project, I’ll take time to check over my work.

Questioning and posing problems: I think this is something that I have to start applying to my readings. While I read I think that I should pose questions about the topic, ask what would happen in a different scenario, what does something means, and so on. Once I have come up with these questions, I believe it is a good idea to share them in our dialogues.

Applying past knowledge to new situations: Finding connections between what I am learning and what I have learned, I think I do this often enough. I think that my only problem is that I don’t communicate it with the group.

Thinking and communicating with clarity and precision: I think that this is one of my biggest challenges. I do think that I am a little vague when explaining concepts; I do use words like weird, nice and things to describe what I am trying to say. I have to start using precise language in my thinking, my writing and my speaking.

Gathering data through all the senses: This was a hard one for me to decide how to apply, but basically this one says that to know something we must use our senses. What occurs to me is to do more experiments for newton, to create diagrams for my readings and to observe more in dialogues. This way I will be able to ‘absorb information through my senses’. One of the things I liked the most about the description of this habit is one of the examples it gives: “to know a goal, it must be envisioned.”

Creating, imagining and innovating: With this habit I have to keep in mind that I am capable of doing anything I want, and even if I don't do good, I can improve. So it is useless to say ‘I cant to this’. I should strive for novelty, elaboration, craftsmanship and beauty with everything I do.

Responding with wonderment and awe: I think this is something that I do, but just don't to often enough. I should be more like a kid who wants to know everything and wants to know an explanation for everything. And I don't think that finding the beauty in all of the things I learn is such a hard thing to do, but I should be more curious about more things in order to have this feeling more often.

Taking responsible risks:  I think that we already took this step a great deal when we decided to be the pioneers of the MPC, but this still applies to my work now. I have to take risks by drawing on past knowledge and by thinking about the consequences that could come along; this basically means that I should know what risks are worth taking and which aren’t. The important part of this habit is that I should risk failure, because if I don't try I will probably miss opportunities, plus I will learn a lot from the experience of taking risks.

Finding humor: two main reasons why I should apply humor: 1) laughing is enjoyable. 2) it liberates creativity. I laugh too much as it is, so I don't think I will have that much trouble applying this habit.

Thinking interdependently: Now this one is going to be a hard one, since I enjoy very much my time in solitude, but maybe I like this because it is just easier to work alone. But here are some great advantages of working in a group: 1) more ideas can come up 2) more data for a work 3) it can help me justify my ideas, and probably help me with my communication problems 4) it develops openness and willingness. In order to apply this, I will start trying to work with people in my chosen work time.

Remaining open to continuous learning: I think this is something that I already do a lot; all I would have to do is just continue to do it. I am constantly interested in new topics and I am always buying books, investigating, taking courses or talking to people in order to know something.