Topic 2 – Habits/Dispositions

“Assessment without feedback merely serves as judgement. Feedback is the part of assessment that enables us to make sense of judgement and improve our work.” – Costa, Assessing Habits of Mind

This quote makes me think about every multiple choice test I’ve ever taken that seemed to have more than one answer but when I received the test back it would always be marked wrong with no explanation about why the other answers could not be correct or even why I may have thought they were. The idea of having something “marked wrong” does feel like judgement on an opinion – something I’ve never thought about before. It is more than just getting something incorrect, there is a sense of judgement or blame placed on the student, especially when there is not feedback or an open discussion in reference to what needs worked on. Applying feedback opens the door for improvement and encourages it and can also encourage further learning. I think about how many times feedback to me involved looking up other artists to reference or doing more research into something related to my ideas which was exciting – it kept me motivated rather than cutting my exploration short. I want to consider how feedback can work in all forms of assessment. Sometimes multiple choice tests are an appropriate form of assessment, but just marking something wrong is not the appropriate way to respond to the assessment. Even in something like a multiple choice test format, I think it is still productive to relay feedback or offer open discussions on questions missed.

“At multiple points during the semester, students submitted their growing collections of evidence and reflection statements and goals. In return, I added to their collection by offering my observations and responded to their goal statements. This created a continuous feedback loop between the students and me” (Gates, A Participatory Model for Assessing Teacher Candidate Dispositions).

This is something I definitely want to keep track of in myself as I work towards becoming an educator (although I think it might be suitable for anyone to hold themselves and their dispositions accountable at any stage of life). In our peer feedback groups, last week we discussed a lot about accountability and self-reflection/assessment and the importance of it. It is not always easy to admit that you have not been putting your best effort into a project or assignment, but it is important to understand why that is happening and what dispositions may be causing the behavior. Reading the students’ response after receiving feedback on late work, etc. it has helped me understand that students can hold themselves accountable and learn from their past experiences, with the help of feedback and through a classroom that provides an environment for students to feel comfortable in exploring their dispositions and growing from there. I also think about the fact that feedback is more than just addressing the assignment at hand, it is working with the individual and their needs, and digging deeper into the whats and whys of a student’s behavior, or work habits.

Question:

In reference to Costa’s Defining Indicators of Achievement, Metacognition is mentioned as a Habit of Mind, where students are aware of their own learning. My question to that is should students be aware of these “Habits of Mind” as well? At what point does being too aware of their thinking take away from their instinctual abilities to learn and explore and grow on their own, and push expectations on them? I think of this in terms of allowing students to be more involved in the assessment process, what all should they be involved in? Helping decide assessment tools and what works best for them in terms of feedback?

Additional Resource
Using Habits of Mind, Intelligent
Behaviors, and Educational Theories
to Create a Conceptual Framework
for Developing Effective Teaching
DispositionsDownload

This article breaks down the “Habits of Mind” and describes how dispositions of students in the classroom work with the teacher’s disposition. It also discusses theories of disposition that are conducive to a productive learning environment such as mindfulness, self-regulated learning, and constructivism. This article is another example of how “Habits of Mind” play a role in the classroom and how teachers can work to enhance positive dispositions.