CHARACTER EDUCATION

At The Mabin School we believe that children are intelligent, capable individuals who should be entrusted with the responsibility of problem solving.

The children are empowered to think deeply about their community and how their actions affect the people around them. Every action has an effect — positive or negative, immediately or some time in the future. We often ask the students “How is your behaviour affecting the community around you?”

In every situation within the school community, (e.g. cross talks, recess play, classroom group work and integrated activities), the children are consistently negotiating their own boundaries and expectations for participation in the group. By creating their own rights, responsibilities and rules for work and play, the students are able to be successful participants in their community.

The Playground Peer Mediators is a program in which Grade Five and Six students can choose to become conflict resolution mediators for their younger peers during recess times. A mediator metaphorically “stands in the middle of a conflict” and assists other children to navigate the steps of negotiation so that an agreement is reached that all believe is fair and workable. An older student mediator does not make a decision, or solve the problem for younger students. The goal is that the role modeling inherent to the process can both facilitate a positive, immediate resolution and ensure that children develop strategies so that they can solve similar problems independently in the future.

Conflict resolution is typically a four-step process. The children learn to:

1. Lay the ground rules - no put downs, no interruptions, work for a solution
2. Get the story - listening to everyone’s side, paraphrase
3. Brainstorm for a solution - the children involved do the brainstorming
4. Choose a solution that is win-win for the individuals involved

Every child has the right to be physically and emotionally safe and respected at all times. As individuals in a community negotiate their relationships, conflict can occur. Teachers and students mediate conflict on an ongoing, situational basis, always maintaining an optimal balance of the needs of the group and the needs of the individual child. If a situation arises in which a child’s rights are not respected, the school will take action, in partnership with child and parents, in a developmentally appropriate and timely fashion.

Unacceptable behaviours at the Mabin School include: exclusion, teasing, put downs, physical aggression and bullying. There is no one method that guarantees a healthy community, but the practice of integrating our school philosophy, character education, healthy behaviour guidance strategies and a commitment to teamwork between the partners in the school (children, parents and teachers), fosters a sustainable community.

 

The Habits Of Mind

A “Habit of Mind” means having a disposition towards behaving intelligently when confronted with problems, the answers to which are not immediately known.

Noted educators Arthur L. Costa and Bena Kallick, define and describe 16 types of intelligent behavior which make up the Habits of Mind. Habits of Mind (HOM) assist students in school and adults in everyday life as they are challenged by problems, dilemmas, paradoxes, and enigmas for which the solutions are not immediately apparent. Drawing on the Habits of Mind means knowing how to behave intelligently when you don't know the answers.

It means not only having information, but also knowing how to act on it.

The Mabin staff are big supporters of HOM. The concept eloquently restates many of the foundations of our school philosophy and captures much of the professional development we have done around the inquiry method and developing thinking skills. Not only do we find the habits valuable for personal use, but introducing them to our students appeals to a variety of learning styles, giving us a simple and clear common language that can be used school wide between students, subjects and teachers.

Reflection and self-evaluation are an integral part of the evaluative process at Mabin. They are used as tools to help children take ownership for their learning and develop internal motivation. HOM gives children a developed framework with which to reflect.

It provides students with an outline, promoting detailed and specific reflection. HOM help children to identify where they have made positive growth. Just as we make connections across the curriculum, children are able to link HOM across the curriculum. A child might identify that they are consistently able to persevere in gym. This same HOM might be more difficult for them in reading challenges. HOM helps them to tap into this knowledge so that they more easily recognize the habits they need to be effective and use their experience to apply these habits in a different situation. The end result is that “habits” become “habitual” and truly integrated into a student's learning profile. The depth of reflection is much greater and goal setting becomes more student driven, accurate and achievable.

No doubt, you will hear and see much of the Habits of Mind terminology being used at Mabin — in report cards, posted on classroom walls and even out of the mouths of the children themselves. We encourage all parents to learn more about the Habits Of Mind. The excellent website, www.habits-of-mind.net, provides much more about the origins of this approach.

The 16 Habits of Mind identified by Costa and Kallick include:

1. Persisting
2. Thinking and communicating with clarity and precision
3. Managing impulsivity
4. Gathering data through all senses
5. Listening with understanding and empathy
6. Creating, imagining, innovating
7. Thinking flexibly
8. Responding with wonderment and awe
9. Thinking about thinking (metacognition)
10. Taking responsible risks
11. Striving for accuracy
12. Finding humor
13. Questioning and posing problems
14. Thinking interdependently
15. Applying past knowledge to new situations
16. Remaining open to continuous learning

A more complete explanation of these habits are available at the Habits of Mind website.

 

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