'Fires in the Mind,' a book by Kathleen Cushman, discusses what kids can teach educators when it comes to motivation and mastery. Though the book covers plenty of topics, the part most intriguing was Cushman's point on "the habits of experts." As educators, we are constantly learning and growing, and when considering the term 'expert,' we all probably have a pretty confident definition of what we believe an expert is. The part we tend to not think much about is what someone does to become an expert and what they do once they've reached a certain level of expertise.
ex·pert/ˈekspərt/
| Noun: |
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| Adjective: |
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| Synonyms: |
noun. specialist - connoisseur - adept - judge - master
adjective. skilled - skilful - skillful - proficient - adept
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The 13 habits of experts:
1) - Experts ask good questions...
2) - Experts break problems into parts...
3) - Experts rely on evidence...
4) - Experts look for patterns...
5) - Experts consider other perspectives...
6) - Experts follow hunches...
7) - Experts use familiar ideas in new ways...
8) - Experts collaborate...
9) - Experts welcome critique...
10) - Experts revise repeatedly...
11) - Experts persist...
12) - Experts seek out new challenges...
13) - Experts know their own best work styles...
After looking at and reflecting on this list of habits, Cushman describes expertise not in the traditional way many of us are accustom to. Cushman doesn't focus on what you know or the skills that you might have. Instead, she is more concerned with how we use information and approach a particular situation or issue. She focuses on the "growth" mindset rather than the "fixed" mindset.
How would the culture in your building or in our district evolve if we all exhibited the habits that Cushman feels characterize 'expertise...?'
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