FARMINGTON – Students at Cascade Brook School are making their halls a little brighter this holiday season, decorating their classroom doors with an emphatic theme.
The classroom project relates to the book Habits of Mind, by Arthur L. Costa and Bena Kallick, which Regional School Unit 9 and many other districts is using to help students develop life skills for the classroom and beyond. CBS has adopted 12 of the skills and is focusing on five or six of them this year. For December, Principal Nichole Goodspeed said, the school decided to embrace the skill of Empathy.
“It just seemed to fit with the holidays,” Goodspeed said.
Habits of Mind fits in with CBS and other schools moving to standards-based reporting – focusing on individual skills and goals rather than groups of concepts attached to a letter grade. Teaching students to be well-rounded individuals that can succeed in the classroom is an important part of that process, Goodspeed said.
Students in each classroom, nearly 20 in all, came up with their own designs to capture Empathy, relating to the Habits of Mind skill of listening with understanding and empathy. Designs ranged from popular books and movies the students had seen to emotions, animals and colorful collages.
I love it! The doors look great and what an awesome value to be encouraging in our students.
Empathy is perhaps the greatest “skill” we can teach our children. I love this idea!
Fantastic!
Recently retired teacher – Brenda LaVerdiere deserves a big thanks for bringing,” Habits of Mind, ” to Academy Hill School and eventually the whole district at least a decade ago. She began a job shadowing/work experience for 4th graders, and used that book to develop the skills in students that employers are looking for in young people. She was really ahead of her time. Good Job Brenda, and thanks for expanding the learning beyond the classroom. Those” Habits of Mind,” being on the district report card, is like a tribute to you, and your years of dedication and hard work, way beyond the school day.