What is Documenting Learning with Habits of Mind?
Documenting Learning is an assessment tool with an online compilation component to support playful inquiry preschool programs. Documenting Learning approaches documentation and assessment of development from a capability perspective. All children, when encountering opportunities for exploration and discovery connected to interests and motivations, will express Habits of Mind. It is also believed (and well supported by research), that in high quality environments with responsive adult facilitators and caregivers, all children will grow and develop. Documenting Learning with Habits of Mind provides programs and teachers with a reliable framework for periodically reflecting on children’s compiled experiences and work and assigning a level of expression of Habits and Traits for that period.
With its foundation in capability, Documenting Learning with Habits of Mind strongly and positively influences formative assessment interpretations, classroom planning, and individualization. Rather than allowing assessment data to drive curriculum and planning, teachers in programs based in inquiry approaches pay attention to and document the habits/traits that children are acquiring overtime, rather than what the child cannot yet do or has not yet expressed during a particular period.
Inquiry approaches as assessed through Habits of Mind takes a strengths first approach, maintaining that as children express and practice their capabilities in a relaxed alert state, those capabilities will grow in strength and will gradually appear in other contexts and with other peers over time.
In planning for individuals, small groups, and the entire classroom community, teachers use their understanding of children’s Habits of Mind expression to provide engaging contexts and opportunities for discovery that will continue to nurture exploration and development. Rather than seeking to isolate and “work on” a particular Habit or Trait, intentional teachers look for and plan for opportunities to increase the depth and complexity of the contexts in which children might encounter problems that engage their curiosity and optimally challenge their thinking about the world.
What are Habits of Mind and the Associated Traits?
Habits of Mind are what successful people do when they are confronted with problems, the resolutions of which are not immediately apparent (Costa & Kallick, 2008). For children, Habits of Mind are evident when children are offered open-ended questions, proposals and challenges that hold multiple possibilities with no single, obvious solution.
The five Habits of Mind assessed by Documenting Learning with Habits of Mind include,
- Focuses attention to pursue an interest, gratify curiosity, respond to a challenge, or try out anidea.
- Communicates ideas and emotions clearly and appropriate to the setting.
- Makes connections, notes relationships, and organizes items based on observed details.
- Collaborates with others to accomplish a shared goal.
- Thinks strategically, creatively, reflectively to follow an interest or tackle a challenge.
The traits associated with each habit are the observable elements that help adults determine the extent to which a child is expressing a habit. For example, observable traits associated with Focuses Attention to Pursue an Interest, Gratify Curiosity, Respond to a Challenge, or Try Out an Idea consist of the following,
- Engages – slows down and notices detail.
- Manages distractions – knows where to focus and what to ignore.
- Harnesses impulsivity – self regulates and delays gratification.
- Persists – doesn’t give up easily.
- Works and plays with intention and purpose.
Formative Assessment Cycles
Children’s use of the Habits and associated Traits are rated three times per year on a scale from emerging, to developing and becoming, culminating with practicing, and achieving. Professional development for teachers ensures that ratings of Habits and Traits are consistent with established definitions. The documenting Learning User’s Manual provides detailed rating guidance.
Teachers bring their understanding of children’s expression and development of Habits and Traits to their planning for the classroom at the individual and group level. Planning resources developed by Teaching Preschool Partners support consideration of Habits and Traits during the planning process. Further, the curriculum structures of Playful Inquiry Approaches (Materials Explore, Partner Explore, Tinkering Workshop, Story Workshop, Math Workshop) are designed to expand the contexts in which children might practice their use of Habits and Traits.
Child Portfolio Components
Documenting Learning with Habits of Mind requires a diverse compilation of children’s work for review and an adequate amount of time for reflection and assignment of a level of expression. A Habits of Mind focused student portfolio contains all the data that has been collected for each child over the school year. The portfolio may exist as a hard copy or an online version. Student work is collected over time and contains evidence of learning that teachers will use to record the child’s levels of development on the Habits of Mind continuum.
Child portfolios include a varied collection of evidence from written observations to photos or video, work samples, and learning stories. Teachers typically have personal preferences on the documentation collecting and organizing strategies that work best for them. While portfolio elements may be stored in multiple locations (notebooks, devices, work folders), it is important that teachers are able to quickly pull together components to aid in the scoring of Habits of Mind expression and to share information with families.
Written Observations. Written observations are brief and descriptive with enough information to capture what the child did and what was significant about the child’s actions. What habit of mind/trait was visible? What is the child doing that indicates he/she is demonstrating one of the traits for a particular habit of mind, or traits from several habits. The teacher writes down the child’s name, date, a title that can be connected to a Habit of Mind or Trait, a brief description of what the child did, and a note indicating if a photo was taken.
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- A recording notebook. Some teachers keep a recording notebook with them, and jot down written notes based on what they see happening.
- Tagging photos. Another approach is to take a photo that captures a child’s or group of children’s actions and tagging that photo with a description, Habit, and/or Trait.
- An online document of observations for each child that’s kept in a child’s online folder or portfolio for each quarter (i.e., Fall Observations & Learning stories)
- Online platforms. Several online platforms such as Seesaw, Evernote or Apple Notes are available. These online platforms can collect photos of student work with an accompanying description and notations of Habits and Trait expression.
- Observation Capture. Teaching Preschool Partners has developed a simple observation capturing tool based on a Google Form. A quick link to this tool can be added to the home screen of a device and allows for easy capturing of photos with accompanying written text to describe the focus event and tag the relevant Habits of Mind.
Photos and Video. Devices allow for capturing of high-quality photos and video clips. Tiziana Filippini, a psychologist with Reggio Children, reminds us that children are always doing amazing and documentable things. Over time, teachers recognize and endeavor to capture events that illuminate significant moments in a child’s growing expression of Habits and Traits, rather than simply taking photos of absolutely everything.
Work Samples. Children’s produced work (drawing, painting, sculpture, collage, writing) can provide evidence of the expression and growth of Habits of Mind. Devices may be used to capture photos of the work such that materials may be reused in the classroom or children are able to take home completed projects.
Learning Stories. A learning story is a written description of a child’s growth/progress/strengths that develop over time (see illustration below). For example, a teacher may take notes about a child’s efforts to communicate with peers during fall quarter and turn these notes into a learning story. A learning story is often shared with families during parent conferences or other family gatherings and may be placed in a child’s portfolio.
A learning story records the following:
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- Name of teacher submitting story:
- Name of child and the range of time: Over what period of time did this story take place?
- Context: What were the settings, environments and relationships that made this story possible?
- The Child’s Work: What did the child (ren) do? What actions were initiated and what were the results?
- Artifacts: Are photos, transcribed dialogue, video links, or work samples available
- Interpretation/Significance. What meaning or value does the teacher assigns to the work? What’s important to share with child, parents, co-workers about this child’s strengths and growth.
- Habits of Mind/traits: Which habits/traits show up in this story?
- Nurturing and Planning – What are your thoughts on how you, the teacher/adult, will continue to nurture this child’s development and Habit expression?
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Sharing Assessment Data with Families
Documenting Learning with Habits of Mind highlights for families the ways in their children express the Habits and the contexts in which those Habits are most evident. Teachers share assessment data strategically over time such that families are more likely to connect to the ways in which their children are interested, motivated, and capable members of the learning community.
In Cycle 1, which culminates at the end of December, teachers meet with families and share learning stories, work samples, and provide families with opportunities to learn about and discuss the Habits of Mind. During the conferences, as well as in periodic newsletters, teachers share ways in which families might notice and support the Habits and Traits with their children.
Cycle 2 runs from January through March. During the second family conference, teachers are able to share how children’s expression of Habits and Traits has grown over time. Again, work samples bring children’s capability to life.
Cycle 3 is inclusive of the months of April through June. At the final conference, families again review changes in the expression of Habits and Traits. Teachers share ways in which families might support their children as they transition to kindergarten.
Documenting Learning with Habits of Mind Online Platform
Documenting Learning with Habits of Mind is a tool for programs and teachers to rate collected information on children’s expression and development of the Habits of Mind and to enter those ratings into an online system. The online system compiles and analyzes Habit and Trait ratings, allowing programs to report with confidence the growth and development of children in the program.
Data Entry Cycles.
Rating of children’s expression of habits and traits in the classroom or program environment is entered into Documenting Learning with Habits of Mind three times during the year. Student expression data cannot be entered until the reporting period opens. Student data must be fully entered and finalized before data entry for the next period can begin.
Reporting Capability.
The Documenting Learning system produces individual compilations that can be shared with families to support conferences or home visits. Class or program summaries can be generated for funding agencies as documentation of program effectiveness. Documenting Learning with Habits of Mind has been aligned with Oregon’s Early Learning and Kindergarten Guidelines.
Additional Assessment and Screening in TPP Supported Programs
In Playful Inquiry Programs supported by Teaching Preschool Partners, all children are screened, as required, using the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ). The ASQ is only repeated should a teacher (or family member) express concern about a child’s development at an interim point in the year.
To address family concerns regarding school readiness and to provide Kindergarten programs with readiness relevant data if needed, Playful Inquiry Programs supported by Teaching Preschool Partners, compile a summative record of children’s connection to and understanding of literacy and math concepts (letter recognition, letter-sound recognition, name recognition and writing, understanding of the parts and purposes of print, counting, quantity and numeral recognition, group comparisons, sorting and patterning). This record is compiled over the course of the year in the context of the everyday events of the learning environment (e.g. recognizing one’s name at the release to explore time, counting out how many napkins are needed for a meal.). Should a child not express awareness of identified literacy and math elements in the classroom context, teachers engage in more targeted interactions in the environment culminating in a “special” opportunity to chat with the teacher about the elements if needed.
If you are interested in learning more about purchasing and implementing the Documenting Learning with Habits of Mind assessment tool in your educational setting, please reach out to Teaching Preschool Partners at
connect@teachingpreschoolpartners.org.
One of our dedicated staff members will be happy to answer any questions you may have about integrating this innovative tool into your unique educational program.
TPP began the development of the Documenting Learning with Habits of Mind online assessment tool for preschool and kindergarten teachers in 2015. In 2016 the tool was piloted by TPP’s teaching preschools and is now available for use at TPP’s demonstration preschool sites and other early learning schools around Oregon. Documenting Learning with Habits of Mind is accepted for use by the State of Oregon’s Preschool Promise Program as an assessment tool to document children’s growth in the early years and is aligned with Oregon’s Early Learning and Kindergarten Guidelines.