The Common Core State Standards provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them. The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers. With American students fully prepared for the future, our communities will be best positioned to compete successfully in the global economy.

English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects

Mathematics

In addition to content standards, both areas also define behaviors of proficient students who are college and career ready.

They demonstrate independence. They build strong content knowledge. They respond to the varying demands of

audience, task, purpose, and discipline. They comprehend as well as critique. They value evidence. They use technology and digital media

strategically and capably. They come to understand other

perspectives and cultures.

Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.

Reason abstractly and quantitatively. Construct viable arguments and critique

the reasoning of others. Model with mathematics. Use appropriate tools strategically. Attend to precision. Look for and make use of structure. Look for and express regularity in

repeated reasoning.

These Standards for Practice represent the behaviors or dispositions that proficient students exhibit during the learning process.

Therefore, we are all being asked to provide students with opportunities to develop these

HABITS OF MINDHABITS OF MIND.

Read your assigned standard. Underline the verbs in the standard. Reflect on the behaviors that a student

who is proficient with this standard might display.

Record your findings on the back of your paper.

Share your thoughts with your group members.

Be prepared to report to your home content group.

Each group member must give their group an overview of the standard he/she explored.

Individuals should make connections between each standard and their own instructional practice.

Use the packet of standards to make notes regarding “What does this look like in my classroom?”

Think about which standards are most evident in your instructional practice at this point. What is it you do to elicit these behaviors in your students?

Now think about which practices you would like to focus on helping students develop in your classroom this year. How can you provide opportunities for them to develop these behaviors on a daily basis?

Each teacher will be given a set of Habits of Mind posters to be displayed in his/her classroom this year.

Teachers should discuss these standards with their students frequently.

These habits should be shared with parents and guardians as well.

What does this standard mean? What does it look like in our classroom?

Which standard did you use the most in completing this task, writing this paper, solving this problem, etc?

What could we do in here to develop standard #__?

Tell me in which class you use standard #__ and what activities you do that allow you to demonstrate those habits.

These standards describe student behaviors, not teacher behaviors.

Students should have such a well-grounded understanding of how to employ these standards that they become Habits of Mind.

Our charge as educators is to provide students with experiences that help them reach this goal.

Place a yellow post-it under the standard(s) that you feel you are currently helping students develop in your classroom.

Place a blue post-it under the standard(s) that you would like to focus on in your practice with students this year.

*You may place your name and/or content area on the post-its, if you wish.

Further exploration of the Habits of Mind will take place in your Professional Learning Communities during the month of December and throughout the school year.

In the meantime, Greta Wildasin, Math Instructional Support Teacher, is always available to help you enhance the Habits of Mind in your classroom.