Artful Conversations
One of the giants upon whose shoulders that I (Bill) have stood on, is Dr. Art Costa. See https://learningomnivores.com/shoulders-of-giants/ Recently I was able to be with Art for a series of conversations. November 30th is his birthday, but Art’s thinking is forever young. Some of the gifts received from our conversations are below.
Bill: The first time I heard you present, in 1983, you said, “I am not interested in how a student behaves when s/he knows the answer to something.” I thought that was a crazy statement. Being a physics/math teacher, I thought learning was about knowing the answers, finding an algorithm that worked, and then using that algorithm to solve other problems.
Then you said, “I am really interested in how a student behaves when they don’t know the answer.” That my dear friend is what has kept me in education for next forty years. I started thinking what does a teacher do when they don’t know the answer? What does a leader do when they don’t know the answer? You hooked my curiosity. What started your search for answers to that question?
Art: I was intrigued about how to solve more complex problems. Change causes us to respond differently sometimes. Scarcity puts values and budgets into conflict and challenges. Diversity requires us to adapt to changing environments, add to our skill set, and continue to learn. Hence, Remaining Open to Continuous Learning is one of the best ways to work with complex systems. What is good for today’s problems may not be the best for tomorrow’s new issues.
With students, Managing Impulsivity is becoming more important. Our ‘get it now’ culture is a major influence, especially for impatient youth; our society and technology are also driving the desire for quick responses. Sometimes a short-term decision has long-term consequences.
Bill: When I met you in the early 80s you were talking about ‘Intelligent Behaviors.’ How did you develop this concept and how did it influence your thinking?
Art: I started thinking, ‘what do people do when they don’t know what to do?’ Looking at many different studies of successful people who had failures and difficulties and found ways to work through those problems, I wondered, what did they do to overcome adversity? One initial behavior that was apparent was Persisting. They didn’t quit; they developed work arounds and new approaches to deal with the issues.
That led to Creating, Innovating, and Developing Alternatives Ways to solve problems. Included in that process is the Flexibility to use new strategies. The ability to use new ideas/approaches to current issues provides competence and confidence, aka efficacy, to respond, and not just to wait and see.
Thinking Flexibly promotes using Past Knowledge and Applying to new situations. An example is George de Mestral’s dog helped create Velcro. George had a devil of time removing burrs from his dog’s long hair. Under the microscope he saw tiny hooks on the burrs. Voila, Velcro was developed.
Another example is the famous story of 3M scientists. Art Fry sang in the choir at church; the little pieces of paper that marked the songs in the hymnal kept falling on the floor. Spencer Silver was working on an adhesive; he found an adhesive that wasn’t very strong. Fry and Silver had a conversation and collaborated. Post-It Notes were developed.
Bill: I remember the mid to late 80s and I said, ‘I want more.’ You told me that you and a colleague, Bob Garmston, were working on a process known today as Cognitive Coaching, a reflective practice to develop thinking. I believe you gave me an article by Carl Glickman on developing teacher thought which I had never heard of in my administrative licensure program. I am grateful that you invited me into this creative group.
Art: Bob and I shared an office at Sacramento State University and started hearing each other’s conversations with students. I came from the thinking skills area and Bob was steeped in Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) dealing with developing relationships. One of our students, Diane Zimmerman, was getting her administrative license. She started using some of the reflective practice strategies that we were creating in her school as a principal. Several people started asking about this coaching model which initially was a one-day workshop, then three-day training, to a six-day training, etc.
Over the years we created a reflective map for looking back to compare what was planned and what happened during the lesson/event and a planning map for future lessons/presentations. As our group continued to meet, we deleted, added, and created a knowledge base and skill set to encourage reflection and metacognition.
Bill: I started reading books because of you. In 1983 I was going to leave education. At the first workshop I attended with you, I heard you quote from a couple of books. As an assistant principal in charge of attendance and discipline, my detectors were acute for smoke and mirrors. Since I didn’t know you, I decided to read the book, Peak Performers by Charles Garfield, to check your credibility. Not only did I find what you said was accurate, I found a couple of other things that were interesting. I came away with this thought: you can learn from reading a book? What a concept? (At the time I was only interested in behavior, consequences, and results). Now, I am 1300 books into continuous learning, and it is all your fault. Thank you for that gift of learning. I have learned you never have enough in your repertoire, and it is essential to keep on learning. Bob Dylan sings a song, ‘Things Have Changed.’
Art: I like reading your notes and summaries; you bring different perspectives to our learning together. Many of the business books support and expand our educational applications. I remember going to Ann Arbor, MI to work with Richard Sheridan, CEO of Menlo because you read and wrote about the book Joy, Inc. What a great organization.
Another positive by-product has been the Learning Omnivores seminars we attended before COVID. We were able to see many experts including Edgar Schein, Peter Block, Andy Hargreaves, Jon Saphier, Margaret Wheatley, Carol Dweck, Stan Slap, David Berliner, Pat Wolfe, David Perkins, Tony Wagner, Yong Zhao, Barbara McAfee, etc.
Bill: When I was a principal in Minnetonka, MN, you presented an evening meeting with parents in addition to talking to staff; I was impressed that over two hundred staff and community attended. What was your takeaway from that meeting?
Art: What I tried to impress upon everyone is that no matter your chosen profession or job, Habits of Mind are being used. I remember asking the parents what job they had. Answers like medical doctors, mechanics, accountants, wait staff, secretaries, etc. were offered. Then I asked, ‘Do you rely on past knowledge? Asking questions? Think about your own thinking? Remain open to learning?’ Etc. Everyone nodded in agreement.
The universal use of the Habits of Mind is pleasing to me because thinking skills become noticeable and needed for the future. I am reminded of a quote by Neil Postman: “Children are messages we send to a future we will not see.” We sometimes forget to identify how thinking skills are used because we use them all the time; we make assumptions that everyone does use them. It is important to be overt as we model these habits for young people. Students see results and don’t necessarily understand the thinking strategies required to get the positive results.
Bill: As I think about the generations of people that are going to follow us and the thinking skills that will be required to navigate a complex and ambiguous future the Habits of Mind seem to be a good place to start. What are your thoughts?
Art: The habits are processes that we will need regardless of how life, jobs, and systems develop. Some of the skills written about for 2030 are Lifelong Learning, Creative Thinking, Analytical Thinking, Agility, Emotional Intelligence, Leadership, etc. My hope is that the Habits of Mind (thinking skills) support learning in a future world that remains unclear currently. It was never our intention to say there are only sixteen habits. We might even put a seventeenth habit which is ???. Who knows what we will need in the future to deal with the unknown.
Bill: In the 90s, the Intelligent Behaviors evolved into the Habits of Mind and the collaboration with Bena Kallick and Allison Zmuda. The influence has positively affected learning and teaching in New Zealand, Australia, Asia, and Europe. What has been most gratifying from seeing your original thinking is making a meaningful contribution to so many staff and students worldwide?
Art: What has been meaningful for me is to watch how others have taken the ideas and processes to expand the influence in ways I could have not foreseen. I often quote Kermit the Frog: “Somebody thought of it, and someone believed it, and look what it’s done so far,”
Bill’s Note: Below is a graphic of the Habits of Mind. I keep it handy and view it often to remind me there are multiple ways to approach problems. I am grateful Art has given me so much learning over the many years.
References:
Costa, Art & Kallick, Bena. (2008). Leading and Learning with the Habits of Mind.
Alexandria, VA: ASCD Publications
Costa, Art & Garmston, Robert. (2016). Cognitive Coaching. Lanham, MD: Rowman Littlefield.
Garfield, Charles. (1986). Peak performers. New York: Avon Books
Sheridan, Richard. (2013). Joy, Inc. New York: Penguin