Habit Forming

Yesterday did not happen, due to my crazy Monday. But I will continue on. Today was my first of 3 out of my classroom. I always hate when I am out. Planning for a sub is no fun, but being away from my students is worse. I always love being in the classroom with them, even when they make me crazy. I am working on following A.J. Juliani's ideas about Habit Stacking. His recent article about 10 Habits Worth Starting in Your Classroom really got me thinking about small changes that are needed in both my life and in my classroom. Juliani stated "In S.J. Scott’s book, Habit Stacking: 97 Small Changes, he writes about the importance of habits in building towards success:“It’s been said that the average person’s short-term memory can only retain seven chunks of information. So the theory behind cognitive load is that since you can only retain a small amount of information, you have to rely on long-term memory, habits and established processes to do basically everything in life.” As I reflect on this section, it reminds me to consider the habits that I am building in my classroom. Am I giving my students time to actually build the habit? I am reminded that it takes 14 days to create a habit and as Juliani states, it must be deliberate. Am I being deliberate in my expectations? I am trying to build a growth mindset in my students, so am I focusing on these strategies enough? I must continually reflect on my practice and make sure that I am focusing on those habits I want my students to continue. So starting tomorrow I will be intentional at the habits I want to form. I will begin to "Assess the Process of Learning" - one of the habits that A.J. Juliani suggests you start. So start I will..... until tomorrow!