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USING HABITS OF THE MIND TO INCREASE STUDENT SELF-EFFICACY AND RAISE ACHIEVEMENT IN A MIDDLE SCHOOL ENVIRONMENTJames A. GillespieGeorge Williams College of Aurora UniversityMaster of Arts in Teacher Leadership in the Earth and Space SciencesApproved______________________________________________Sid Larson______________________________________________Date of ApprovalUSING HABITS OF THE MIND TO INCREASE STUDENT SELF-EFFICACY AND RAISE ACHIEVEMENT IN A MIDDLE SCHOOL ENVIRONMENTJames A. GillespieMaster of Arts in Teacher Leadership in the Earth and Space SciencesSubmitted toward fulfillment Of the requirements of aMaster of Arts in Teacher Leadership in the Earth and Space SciencesCollege of EducationMay 2015IIABSTRACTChildren of the 21st Century are bombarded, to the point of saturation, with technological influences like never before in history. Between constant connection with the world on smartphones, 24 hour television programming consisting of hundreds of channels, social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, the ability to whittle away hours surfing the internet, texting, posting, participating in or worrying about online bullying and playing video games, there is little mystery as to why academically engaged behaviors in school and at home are declining. Teachers are, more than ever, faced with the daunting task of getting kids re-engaged in academic learning and achievement to prepare them for a world that has not even been created yet.“The Habits of Mind are an identified set of 16 problem solving, life related skills, necessary to effectively operate in society and promote strategic reasoning, insightfulness, perseverance, creativity and craftsmanship. The understanding and application of these 16 Habits of Mind serve to provide the individual with skills to work through real life situations that equip that person to respond using awareness (cues), thought, and intentional strategy in order to gain a positive outcome.” (Costa & Kallick, 2000)This study will examine if the negative effects of “media saturation and overstimulation” can be countered by teaching life skills designed to assist students push their way through a perceived obstacle when they don’t know how to proceed. IIIACKNOWLEDGEMENTSI would like to thank mostly my students for their honest feedback while gathering data and their effort in incorporating Habits of the Mind. This is especially true for those kids who really embraced the habits and used them to improve themselves. Special thanks to Manuel and Oscar who were willing to share their own success stories with me and allow me to use those stories in this paper.I would also like to thank a colleague, Jeff Tylkowski, for his steady encouragement not just in this research but also in the program as a whole.Thanks to Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak for developing the wonderful computer that has made this action research so much easier logistically and to my district, Waukegan Public Schools, for providing me with the tools I needed and much of the funding to complete this program.I feel it is important here to mention Stan Bristol. Stan was my original advisor at Aurora before he passed away. It was he who first introduced me to Habits of the Mind in 2011 and I would not have had this idea without him. He was an outstanding man and is missed. I think he would have enjoyed this research and I am sorry I could not share it with him.Finally, I would like to express appreciation for Professor Sid Larson for taking the time to teach and guide a class of one: myself. TABLE OF CONTENTSAbstractIIAcknowledgementsIIIIntroduction1Literature Review6Methodology12Results and Conclusions16Reflections25References28Appendices:Power Point Lesson Slides29-37Student HOTM Slip3816 Habits of the Mind39MCSC Survey40-41Student Debrief Questions42-43Survey Bubble Sheet44Exam MCSC Baseline and Final Line Analysis45-46Parent Letter English/Spanish47-48Principal’s Permission49CHAPTER ONEINTRODUCTION“The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be lighted.” Plutarch“Enabling kids does not help them; empowering them will.” Sue TerhuneEducation often mirrors the times in which people live. This would include reflecting societies attitudes, technology, growth, government policies (including the Federal Government), communications, and a world growing both bigger and smaller simultaneously. The “simple” times of our parents and grandparents walking through ten foot snowdrifts, uphill in both directions, for a nugget of education is long past. Even our own time, when education was a means to leap ahead and reach the pinnacles of society is no longer.Today, education is a necessity to survive in a 21st century world and students are being asked to do it amidst a constant bombardment of sensory saturation like the world has never seen. Technology continues to grow exponentially and people are becoming more connected then ever before. As we look into the future, one could envision a world where interconnectedness between humans and their devices could become either a detriment that separates them from learning or a powerful tool that connects them to deeper intellectual growth then ever thought possible. Four years ago, when I started the Master’s of Arts in Teacher Leadership program at Aurora, I was introduced to a veteran teacher named Stan Bristol. One of his passions was a program, more a way of thinking, called The 16 Habits of the Mind. (HOTM) After a lesson on this methodology I found myself curious about the program and how it might affect student attitudes and outcomes. I have, in the past, introduced HOTM into class and would passively refer to them from time to time but never tried it with focus and fidelity. As a member of an online professional development community called PD360, I have invested some time into learning more about the program and its effect on students. What I have seen has been very positive. For this reason, I have chosen to look at the effects of Habits of the Mind from a more concrete perspective. This is why the focus of this action research project will be on how incorporating HOTM into curriculum affects student attitudes, results and growth.BackgroundThis study was conducted in a sixth grade classroom in a middle school located in a Title 1, low income school district in Waukegan, Illinois. The average class size is 26-28 students and consists of 95% Hispanic, 2% black and 3 % Asian, Caucasian and other. (ISBE Website) Class periods are currently 39 minutes long with three minute passing periods. 100% of the 800 sixth, seventh and eighth grade receive free lunch. Importance of the StudyIn modern society, students are overwhelmed with a variety of influences from more sources then ever before and this number is increasing. Not long ago, people sought out education, and the supporting activities, as entertainment and diversion. These days, with video games, the Internet, social media, texting, cell phones, and 24 hour a day television consisting of hundreds of choices (not the least of which is On Demand TV/DVD and streaming video), education as a means to occupy time is being choked out. It is no longer necessary to read books in the evening for entertainment or do homework to prepare for lessons the following day. Boredom is something that has far more diversionary possibilities now than ever. In other words, when students get home, they now have many options available to them other than reading, practicing skills or doing homework. I believe this has affected the willingness to actually work on assignments and prepare for the following school day. I would even argue that this can be a problem in older students, like college students, who come home to play video games for hours on end and address homework only at the last minute when they become desperate. Problem StatementWill incorporating Habits of the Mind into sixth grade curriculum help and empower students to become more resistant to the temptations of modern day sensory saturation and focus on schoolwork and skill building to help them succeed in school?HypothesisIf I teach students Habits of the Mind as part of their normal curriculum, then my students will become more engaged in school and schoolwork, demonstrate higher learning, produce better quality work and feel better about themselves and their accomplishments. As part of my hypothesis I would like to address each element of the Multidimensional Self Concept Scale Survey Academic portion individually represented by the terms, “shift right,” or “shift left.” A shift to the right represents moving from a state of strong agreement to strong disagreement while a shift to the left represents the inverse.Implementation and ProcedureI plan to implement Habits of the Mind at the start of second quarter of this school year. Quarter one will be used as a baseline from which to measure changes in student growth. Students will take an initial Multidimensional Self Concept Survey, intermittent surveys corresponding to specific tasks and an overall final survey at the end to measure growth in their self image. This will serve as qualitative data regarding student self concept and how it relates to how they feel about school. The quantitative growth from pretest to final exam will also be compared from the first (Baseline) quarter and the second (experimental) quarter to quantitatively measure academic growth.CHAPTER TWOLITERATURE REVIEWThe purpose of this study is to see if teaching students Habits of the Mind will improve their learning, test scores and attitudes toward school. To gain background knowledge and insights into habits of the mind, I am reading essays from Habits of the Mind Across the Curriculim: Pratical and Creative Strategies for Teachers.Distinguished educators Arthur L. Costa and Bena Kallick present this collection of stories by educators around the world who have successfully implemented the habits into their day-to-day teaching in K-12 classrooms. The collective wisdom and experience of these thoughtful practitioners provide readers with insight into the transdisciplinary nature of the 16 Habits of the Mind-intelligent behaviors that lead to success in school and in the larger world-as well as model lessons and suggestions for weaving the habits into daily instruction in language arts, music, physical education, social studies, math, foreign language, and other content areas. Readers will come to understand that, far from add-on to the curriculum, the habits are an essential element for helping students at all grade levels successfully deal with the challenges they face in school and beyond. (Book Insert Back Page)I was relieved to find, in the very first essay by Lisa Davis-Miraglia, the idea that teachers don’t need to and shouldn’t start with all sixteen habits. This affirmed my instinct to prioritize and choose only four habits to start. The four I chose are: perseverance, managing impulsivity, metacognition and striving for accuracy. Starting children out with Habits of the Mind has been shown to be of great benefit to them but young children, and even early adolescents, are not capable of processing and using all sixteen habits right away. It is better to introduce them a few at a time. As a continuation of my research I would recommend , for students who have had no previous contact with the habits, to introduce four in sixth grade, six more in seventh grade and the final six in eighth grade. This way, students will have experience with all sixteen Habits of the Mind before high school and, at that time, could have all of them incorporated into the high school environment.“If the habits of the mind are to be an important part of the culture of the school, there needs to be a process for them to be explicitly integrated into the delivery of the curriculum and used in every lesson and in every activity. If students are not aware of the habits, their ability to become independent, lifelong learners is compromised and stunted-even prevented.” (Cooper and Jensen p. 26)Using habits of the mind really needs to become second nature to not only the students but also the teacher to have a lasting impact on student’s abilities to retain and carry them forward through school and into life.The other essay I chose to examine is Habits of the Mind and a Journey into Student Initiated Learning by Damien Baynes. I chose this essay because I felt many aspects of my action research are connected to students taking ownership of their education. “In general, students can be described as self-regulated to the degree that they are metacognitively,' motivationally, and behaviorally active participants in their own learning process.” “Such students personally initiate and direct their own efforts to acquire knowledge and skill rather than relying on teachers, parents, or other agents of instruction.” (Zimmerman, 1986, 1989). Two of the goals of this experiment are to get students to improve academically and improve self-efficacy through the embrace of habits of the mind. Furthermore, a direct correlation to the aforementioned article is the teaching of metacognition as one of the four habits of the mind being taught. Baynes goes on to tell a story of he “observed” at another school but had difficulty implementing the program because he felt he had not taken ownership of the process. “Although it is appropriate to learn from observing others, when it comes to implementing our own actions, the last thing we need to do is to borrow someone else’s “how-to list” or sequence of lesson plans.” (Baynes p. 195) “Instead, each of us has to take our own first steps.” ( Lundin, Paul, & Paul, 2003) As part of this experiment, I have created powerpoint lessons and reminder posters for my classroom, as well as a student copy for each student, corresponding to each of the four habits of the mind I have initiated. These lessons are short five to seven minute mini lessons that have been taught and retaught throughout the duration of the experiment. Baynes created a learning program called The Student-Initiated Learning Project in which he had individuals take the initiative and create their own student initiated learning project including diagnosing their own learning needs, looking at prior knowledge, creating goals, identifying resources, choosing strategies and evaluating outcomes. He considers this to be a process that “encourages the development of the habits of the mind.” (Kosta & Kallick p. 197)“The habits of the mind are most evident when we ask students to manage their own learning. Consider all of the different habits of mind when we ask students to choose the group they will join, the topic they will study, and the ways that they will manage themselves to meet a deadline. Every occasion of self directed learning is a rich opportunity for students to practice the habits of the mind.” (Costa & Kallick p. 5)The question about whether habits of the mind can be taught or if they are a product of a student’s environment has come up. “There is just one way to change your behavior: radically change your environment.” This is a quote from Dr. B.J. Fogg, the director of The Stanford Persuasive Lab. It was taken from a blog article that I do not consider to be completely research based but seems like a good starting point. Dr. Fogg has created a behavior model that incorporates three aspects of changing behavior. They are motivation, ability and a trigger.According to this motivation can be traded for ability and vice versa. “First, the FBM show how behavior is the result of three specific elements, ability, motivation and triggers, coming together at one moment. Next, the FBM explains the subcomponents of each element. In addition, the FBM shows that motivation and ability can be traded off (e.g., if motivation is very high, ability can be low). In this case, the trigger is the teaching of the habits of the mind. Based on Dr. Fogg’s curve, one could assume that teaching habits of the mind would have the greatest effect on students who are either high in ability and low in motivation or low in ability but high in motivation.The trigger can affect the student either by increasing their motivation or, in some cases, increasing ability. Metacognition in particular can increase ability by helping student to work smarter not harder. This is an old cliché but it can carry some significant improvement when engaged correctly. Persisting is directly related to motivation. Which affects which is somewhat ambiguous but they are connected. Does motivation create persistence or does teaching persistence help develop motivation. This question sounds like a new topic for research. Much the same can be said for striving for accuracy.Managing impulsivity could help in both areas in that it allows motivation and ability to reach their full potential by freeing up time and unfettering the mind. CHAPTER THREEMETHODOLOGYThe purpose of this paper/experiment is to determine if teaching sixth grade students four of the Habits of the Mind: persisting, thinking about thinking (metacognition), managing impulsivity (delaying gratification), and striving for accuracy, will affect student outcomes in both in academic growth and affective feelings about themselves and their role in school.Participants:The participants in this study are my 155 sixth grade students at a low income Middle School in Waukegan, Illinois. I teach six sections averaging 26 students per class. I have a wide range of abilities and attitudes in my students.Procedure:1) Students were not taught HOTM first quarter so academic growth from pretest to final exam will serve as the academic baseline measurement for that aspect of data.2) At the beginning of second quarter, my students took a Multidimensional Self Concept Scale Survey written by Bruce A. Bracken and provided by my instructor Sid Larson. This is a nationally normed survey so my data can be compared to national norms. Students did not take the entire survey but only the academic portion was collected. This survey was given prior to teaching any HOTM to be used as a baseline.3) Students will be given short lessons and activities based on four of the sixteen HOTM: persisting, thinking about thinking (metacognition), managing impulsivity (delaying gratification), and striving for accuracy. I have chosen these four because I believe these will be the ones most helpful to students at this time in their education. Furthermore, trying to teach all sixteen would create too broad a spectrum to analyze and would simply be overwhelming for both teacher and students. This could also be the beginning of a continuum for middle school student’s in which they are taught four as sixth graders, six as seventh graders and six as eighth graders, giving them access to all sixteen HOTM before reaching High School. This correlates nicely with two ides from the Cooper and Jensen Essay that we should “start with your own students,” and “you don’t need to start wilt all sixteen.”4) Habits of the Mind will be taught and retaught as mini lessons daily, incorporated into at least one large project (Virtual Earthquake) and referred to whenever appropriate as part of classroom background noise. Posters will be place around the room so all students can see them from multiple perspectives.5) The MSCS Survey will be administered a minimum of twice during the experiment and once at the end to see if there are changes in trends of how students feel about their academics. 6) Student growth from pretest to final exam for second and third quarters will be compared to that of first quarter to compare if student growth has increased, decreased or remained the same. 7) Data from the MSCS Survey will be examined to look for left or right shifts regarding the statements. Right shifts indicate a change from strong disagreement toward strong agreement while left shifts indicate the inverse or shifts from strong agreement toward strong disagreement. This data can then be compared to national norms to determine where my students compared before and after being taught the four HOTM. An online bubble sheet scanning system and data analysis tool, called Examn and provided by my district as part of Allofe, will be used to scan the responses and crunch the data.8) Examining Trends: I have written a logarithm to convert student responses into a single number that correlates to the 1-4 scale of the MCSC Survey.(% chosen 1) + (% chosen 2 x 2) + (% chosen 3 x 3) + (% chosen 4 x 4) = #Therefore, a decrease of the number represents a shift toward the one end of the spectrum representing a general or strong agreement with the statement and an increase represents a shift toward the four end of the spectrum or general of strong disagreement. The desired outcome will be represented by a shift, either up or down, depending on the statement. Statements 1-3-5-6-7-10-12-14-16-18-20-21-23 and 25 are positive statements and the experimenter would like to see numbers decreasing to represent a more positive feeling from the students regarding these statements. Statements 2-4-9-11-13-15-17-19-22 and 24 are negative statements and the experimenter would like to see an increase in those numbers to correspond to a stronger disagreement with those statements.9) Lessons and data will be published on my school/personal website on their own page called Habits of the Mind. 10) Discussion will be conducted with students not only about the data but also about the process of collecting scientific data and constructing an action research experiment.CHAPTER FOURRESULTSWhole Group: The qualitative data from the MCSC Surveys about the student self efficacy statements do not support the hypothesis. According to the whole group data the positive statements shifted right toward the strongly disagree end of the continuum when, it was hoped, they would shift toward the strongly agree end of the scale. At the same time the negative statements did shift in the desired direction toward the strongly disagree. There are no exceptions in this case. All positives shifted in the undesirable direction right and all negatives shifted in the desired direction right. Any shift denoted with a 0 indicates there was less than 5/100 a point change and not enough to consider significant.There was a slight improvement in the quantitative result of growth from pre-test to post test between the unit taught before HOTM and the one after.Before HOTMPretestFinalInside Earth34%54.08%After HOTMPretestFinalChemistry36.08%64%-68580-480504500 The quantitative data regarding student growth based on pre-test to post-test growth was initially 20 percentage points from 34% to 54% from the unit taught prior to the initiation of Habits of the Mind. The growth from the Chemistry unit taught during the Habits of the Mind was 28 points from 36% to 64%. It is difficult, however, to attribute this growth to HOTM because this score falls into the typical range of final exam averages both for my classes in the past and the other science teacher’s class who did not receive any teaching of the habits. Based on these two conditions, it is this experimenter’s contention that the hypothesis of growth is not supported by this data either.Conclusions:Whole Group: In conclusion, teaching Habits of the Mind to sixth grade students for one to one and a half units, less then half a school year, seems to have no significant effect on the group as a whole. Self-efficacy did not improve nor did overall growth increase. It is still the belief of this educator that Habits of the Mind is an effective teaching tool but felt that it must be introduced earlier in education, such as first or second grade, when a student’s connection between education and self image is developing from a more raw state. After five years, learned bad behaviors that can be littered into student’s habits have already seeded themselves. The other possibility is to wait until the student has moved through middle school and into high school when the mind is more mature and able to grasp the value of good habits in school and life. In either case, for far too many students, sixth grade does not seem to be an effective time to introduce HOTM and expect it to be a magic cure all for academic apathy.There is, however, another limiting factor that may have changed the outcome. Habits of the Mind were only taught in a single classroom to a single teacher’s students. Perhaps teaching them school wide as part of daily curriculum in all classes might have had a greater effect on the student body as a whole. It is possible starting the program at the start of the year and or throughout the school could have changed the results.Reflections: Whole GroupAt this point I would like to reserve reflections for later because mid-way through the experiment I made a change. As a science teacher I realize that changing an experiment in the middle of it is not a valid experimental practice so I would like to add an addendum set of results and conclusions to reflect the modification of procedure and reflect after that.The change was to look at MCSC data solely from my students who had already demonstrated excellent attitudes and habits toward school. Looking through prior grades and behavior records, a list of “prime” candidates was developed and their responses on the survey pulled out from the group and analyzed separately.Results: Students who received A’s and B’s will be referred to as the A/B GroupA/B Student Pull Out: It was decided approximately half way through the experiment that it would be useful to look at the response data from the students who have been achieving at a high level separate from the whole group data. However, because it is not valid to change an experiment in the middle and time would not allow starting over, the “pull out” group will be examined as an addendum result and conclusion piece. The results for the A/B group are remarkably different from the whole group results. In the A/B group every statement, positive and negative, did move in the desired direction, and in some cases the shifts were quite significant. Once again, there were no exceptions as would normally be expected. Every statement fell into the desired result. All negative statements shifted toward the strongly disagree end of the scale and every positive statement shifted toward the strongly agree. Some of the shifts were significant and will be listed below. As on the data pages, italicized statements represent negative feelings and are expected to increase toward strongly disagree represented by 4 on the scale. Bold statements represent positive feelings and are expected to decrease toward strongly agree represented by the number 1 on the scale. I will only choose a few statements to demonstrate how this works. All statements can be reviewed in the results section of this paper.-59055-228600I frequently feel unprepared for class shifted from 2.66 to 3.34 growing from 66.5% to 83.5% equaling 17% growth. It is important for all students to realize they are capable but must be prepared to be successful.Learning is difficult for me shifted from 2.72 to 3.31 growing from 68% to 82.75% equaling 14.75% growth. Similarly to the above statement they need to understand that lack of preparation makes any and all tasks difficult.I work harder than most of my classmates moved from 2.16 to 1.53 growing from 54% to 38.25% or 15.75% growth. Note: A decreasing percentage is sought for positive belief statements because it represents a shift toward the number 1 on the MCSC scale where 1 is the strongly agree response. Science is easy for me moved from 2.26 to 2.00 growing from 56.5% to 50% or a 6.5% growth. This one is special because so many students see science as being a difficult subject but this shows it is no more difficult than any other subject if a student works at it. Conclusions: A/B Student Group: The difference in the results between the two groups was significant. Clearly HOTM has a great potential for success if it is taught at the right time and is part of a continuum. The A/B group came to me with an already instilled sense of value for education and, for them, the habits were likely already there and they simply learned a more concrete way of looking at what they were already doing. At this time I would also like to address two specific cases of students who were not part of the A/B group, but through personal conversations and individual results, have demonstrated an affinity for HOTM and grown as a result. Both students have given me permission to discuss their cases in this paper and they shall be known as Spongebob and Patrick.Spongebob had approached me at one point and expressed his interest in metacognition particularly as it applies to planning and scheduling for homework and for tests. He had set up a schedule to prepare for third-quarter final exams and then adhered to that schedule. As a result his growth for the experimental period of HOTM was from a 6/27 on the pre-test to a 24/26 on the final exam. In other words, a 22% to a 92%. This compared to a 5/26 pre-test to a 6/26 final exam from the unit prior to the experiment. Spongebob did not embrace all four habits. He did not even utilize all aspects of one habit, metacognition. Oscar simply chose one thing that appealed to him and found success in it. He made his schedule and it worked for him. Patrick felt a strong connection to the Managing Impulsivity lessons and has become, incredibly, much calmer in class. He is more receptive to receiving instruction, follows directions better and is improving academically. Manuel has demonstrated significant growth for a sixth grade student and is beginning to feel pride in himself and his academics. It is my hope that both of these students will continue to grow and find success in the future!Habits of the Mind will work. I still believe this despite the fact that my hypothesis about its effectiveness did come up short. A hypothesis does not have to be correct to be valid as it still drives the experiment. It is difficult to state whether the hypothesis is correct or not. When examining whole group data one could argue the hypothesis is not correct and HOTM has no effect on self-efficacy and scores. I feel this is because the effectiveness of the program is buried beneath results from students who clearly need a stronger trigger to move them in the successful areas of Fogg’s Behavior Model. After I decided to look at an A/B group of students it became clear that HOTM does work. It works with students who have desire to succeed and the support at home to make them successful. In those students, HOTM gave them the language to understand what they were already doing and improve upon it. In other students, where apathy is the dominant mentality, it is questionable whether any strategy will work. At the very least it will require something stronger then a set of thinking guidelines. HOTM will work with motivated students but it takes more to access unmotivated or apathetic students.CHAPTER FIVEREFLECTIONSReflections:This experiment was not only fun for me but also a great series of teachable moments for my students. They were not cut off from it but shared in the processes from both the academic and scientific perspectives. There were many interesting discussions about the process, the results and the conclusions. In fact, this will be published on my website for all to view and many of my kids are excited to read it. If I were to repeat this experiment there are some changes I would make. I would definitely look at A/B student responses separately from whole group at the onset through the conclusion. It would also be beneficial to start the program sooner as one of the initial expectations since the start of the year is the best time to set those up. Some potential further study questions might include:1) Would it be more effective to start Habits of the Mind in earlier grades like first?2) Is it possible to change already existing bad academic behaviors with HOTM?3) How much does home support, or lack of it, affect the benefits of HOTM?4) Can HOTM counter the negative effects of saturation of non-academic stimulation?5) Can HOTM reverse or prevent student apathy?While HOTM might be able to change some attitudes in some students, that is not enough to affect a significant change in students with poor study habits and attitudes toward school. It is also necessary to modify behavior. In chapter 2, Literature Review, the Fogg Behavior Model Curve examines the connection between motivation and ability using triggers to change behavior. If I repeated this experiment I feel it would be valuable to incorporate more behavior modification with the idea of increasing motivation in all students. Looking at the curve, it is easy to notice that it does not make it to the x axis indicating that that there is a level where motivation is so low that no triggers (like HOTM) will work to move students into success. This is something I wish I had given more thought to when designing this experiment.I believe I may have underestimated resistant behaviors already engrained in too many of my students and, perhaps, a study like this might work better if it focused more on behavior modification rather than academic thinking processes. Having taught eighth grade for so many years I really felt that sixth graders would be less corrupted by apathy and more receptive to a positive influence but they are not. The innocence of childhood seems to be moving down in years. REFERENCES4 Habits of the Mind1) Persisting-Stick to it! Persevering in a task through completion; remaining focused; looking for ways to reach your goal when stuck; not giving up.2) Thinking about your thinking (metacognition)-Knowing your knowing! Being aware of your own thoughts, strategies, feelings and actions and their affect on yourself and others. 3) Managing Impulsivity and Delaying Gratification-Take your time! Thinking before acting. Remaining calm, thoughtful and deliberate.4) Striving for Accuracy-Check it again! Always doing your best; setting high standards; checking work and finding ways to improve.Multidimensional Self Concept Scale Survey. Academic Scale Only.By Bruce A. BrackenAdministered by James A. Gillespie for Action Research at Aurora University MATL in Earth and Space Science Program.Directions and Scales: Please rate the following statements according to how well the statement applies to you. There are no right or wrong answers, but it is important you rate each statement according to how you honestly feel. Be sure to be honest with yourself as you consider the statement you are rating. To mark your answer, simple bubble in the appropriate bubble that corresponds with your feelings with the statement. Each statement should be rated as:1-Strongly Agree2-Agree3-Disagree4-Strongly Disagree1. Classmates usually like my ideas.2. I frequently feel unprepared for class.3. I am good at mathematics.4. Learning is difficult for me.5. I usually do well on tests. 6. I am proud of my schoolwork.7. I can spell better than most people my age.8. I read as well as most people my age.9. I don’t think very quickly.10. I work harder than most of my classmates.11. I don’t understand much of what I read.12. I learn fairly easily.13. I never seem to have good ideas.Please turn over and complete the back.14. My teachers like my classroom behavior.15. I often feel dumb.16. Most of my teachers seem to like me.17. I have poor study habits.18. Science is easy for me.19. I am uncomfortable in school. 20 I usually work very hard.21. Most people would rather work with me than someone else.22. My teachers have a low opinion of me.23. Most subjects are pretty easy for me.24. I am not very creative. 25. I usually feel good about my written work.Thank you students for your honest responses. The survey is now finished.Debrief Questions for Habits of the Mind Whole Group26. Habits of the Mind have made me feel better about myself.65% true32% false27. Habits of the Mind have made me feel worse about myself.8% true89% false28. I would like to continue to learn about Habits of the Mind for the rest of this year and beyond.59% true35% false29. I really did listen to the lessons and used them to help my schoolwork.70% true28% false30. I visited the Habits of the Mind page on Mr. Gillespie’s website and looked at the lessons at least once.56% true40% false31. I have or plan to download the Habits of the Mind Power Points from the website.36% true59% false32. I might be interested in learning other Habits of the Mind in the future.66% true29% false33. I feel like I am doing better homework at home.61% true32% false34. Mr. Gillespie did a good job teaching me Habits of the Mind.74% true15% false35. The Habit of the Mind I feel most connected to is:a. Persistence-26%b. Metacognition-17%c. Managing Impulsivity-21%d. Striving for Accuracy-29%Debrief Questions for Habits of the Mind A/B Group26. Habits of the Mind have made me feel better about myself.72% true28% false27. Habits of the Mind have made me feel worse about myself.0% true100% false28. I would like to continue to learn about Habits of the Mind for the rest of this year and beyond.62% true31% false29. I really did listen to the lessons and used them to help my schoolwork.85% true13% false30. I visited the Habits of the Mind page on Mr. Gillespie’s website and looked at the lessons at least once.62% true36% false31. I have or plan to download the Habits of the Mind Power Points from the website.46% true51% false32. I might be interested in learning other Habits of the Mind in the future.62% true31% false33. I feel like I am doing better homework at home.74% true18% false34. Mr. Gillespie did a good job teaching me Habits of the Mind.82% true8% false35. The Habit of the Mind I feel most connected to is:a. Persistence-33%b. Metacognition-18%c. Managing Impulsivity-10%d. Striving for Accuracy-31%Dear Parents of Mr. Gillespie’s 6th Grade Students,This letter is to inform you that I would like to begin an action research experiment as a requirement for my Graduate Degree. The focus of the study will be to see if the introduction of 4-6 Habits of the Mind into the curriculum will influence students in a positive way toward success. The Habits of the Mind is a series of thinking standards designed to help students develop good academic skills and a positive view of school. As part of Aurora University’s Master in Teacher Leadership Program I am required to complete an Action Research Project to see if incorporating Habits of the Mind will affect attitude and outcome in the education of my students. The study means I will incorporate short 5-10 minute lessons on the following Habits of The Mind:1) Persistence2) Managing Impulsivity (Delaying Gratification)3) Thinking About Thinking4) Striving for AccuracyThe purpose of this letter is to ask your permission to refer to your child’s work as part of my study. All information about your child will be kept strictly confidential. Participation is voluntary and will not affect any services for your son or daughter. If you have any questions, please contact me at jgillespie@.If you wish not to participate, please return this form signed by November 24th, 2014.I do not want my child _______________________________________________________ to participate in the project.Signed ________________________________________________________________ PRIVATE "<INPUT TYPE=\"submit\" VALUE=\"Translate\" TABINDEX=\"0\">" MACROBUTTON HTMLDirect PRIVATE "<TEXTAREA NAME=\"text\" WRAP=\"SOFT\" TABINDEX=\"0\" DIR=\"ltr\"></TEXTAREA>" MACROBUTTON HTMLDirect Estimados Padres?de?6to?Grado?Los estudiantes?del Sr.?Gillespie,Esta carta es para?informarle que?me gustaría?empezar?un experimento?de investigación-acción?como un requisito?para mi?Postgrado.?El?enfoque del estudio?será ver?si?la introducción de?6.4?Hábitos?de?la Mente?en el currículo?influirá?estudiantes?de una manera positiva?hacia el éxito.?Los?Hábitos?de?la Mente?es una serie de?normas?de pensamiento?dise?ados para ayudar a?los estudiantes a desarrollar?buenas habilidades?académicas?y?una visión positiva de?la o parte?de la?Maestría?de la Universidad de?Aurora?en el Programa de?Liderazgo Maestro?me requiere?para completar?un proyecto de investigación?para ver si?la incorporación de?hábitos de la mente?afectarán?actitud?y los resultados?en la educación de?mis alumnos.El estudio?significa?voy a?incorporar?lecciones cortas?5-10?minutos?en?los?siguientes hábitos de la mente:1)?Persistencia2)?Gestión de?Impulsividad?(Retrasar?la gratificación)3)?pensar sobre el pensamiento4)?La lucha por la?PrecisiónEl?propósito de esta carta?es solicitar?su?permiso para referirse al?trabajo de su hijocomo parte de mi?estudio.?Toda la información?acerca de su hijo?se mantendrá estrictamente?confidencial.La participación es voluntaria?y no afectará?ningún servicio?para su hijo o?hija.?Si?usted tiene?alguna pregunta,?por favor?comuníquese conmigo al?jgillespie@.Si no desea?participar, por favor?envíe este formulario?firmado por?24 de noviembre 2014.No quiero que?mihijo_______________________________________________________?a participar?en el proyecto.Firmado__________________________________________________________Master of Arts in Teacher Leadership in the Earth and Space SciencesAurora University at George Williams CollegeSchool Principal Permission FormJames Gillespie, who is a student in The Master of Arts in Teacher Leadership in the Earth and Space Sciences (MATL) Program at Aurora University, has requested permission to conduct research at Robert Abbott Middle School to determine if introducing 4-6 Habits of the Mind into curriculum as mini-lessons will decrease apathy and increase self vested interest leading to greater involvement, learning and test scores.I have been apprised of the project this candidate is working on and the data collection activities he is planning. Further, he has assured me that all the students identities will be protected in any reports, documents, or student work collected in this project.Signed____________________________________________________School Principal (Designated Administrator) Date___________I have explained my action research to my Principal (Administrator) and have carefully considered any ethical issues involved. The only person who will have access to the data are myself and my action research advisor. I will maintain all confidentiality of my students, colleagues and school and will keep all data private. Signed__________________________________________________Graduate Student ResearcherDate____________ ................
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