Students at the Center: Personalized Learning with Habits of Mind

Educators’ most important work is to help students develop the intellectual and social strength of character necessary to live well in the world. The way to do this, argue authors Bena Kallick and Allison Zmuda, is to increase the say students have in their own learning and prepare them to navigate complexities they face both inside and beyond school. This means rethinking traditional teacher and student roles and reexamining goal setting, lesson planning, assessment, and feedback practices. It means establishing classrooms that prioritize Voice—Involving students in "the what" and "the how" of learning and equipping them to be stewards of their own education. Co-creation—Guiding students to identify the challenges and concepts they want to explore and outline the actions they will take. Social construction—Having students work with others to theorize, pursue common goals, build products, and generate performances. Self-discovery—Teaching students to reflect on their own developi