Ronan Taylor
Over my years here at Plymouth State, I believe I have expanded greatly on my ‘Habits of Mind’ skills. Through classwork, work, social interactions, and other daily activities, I have encountered many examples where I have utilized the signpost concepts to navigate problems. Remembering back to my Tackling a Wicked Problem class, we wrote a similar paper to this about our experience with the Habits of Mind skills at that time. I recall struggling with that paper and failing to find many examples, however this year I am having a much easier time in recognizing my development.
Purposeful communication has become the most apparent during social situations both inside and outside of the classroom. Understanding historical and cultural context is important and is something that I learned and spent time practicing during an archaeology class I took during the 2024/25 year. Understanding historical texts and scriptures required context of the time period to fully understand. Another signpost that I utilized in the classroom was comprehension. I used this the most during a literature class, where I read and examined the complex meaning behind tales such as Frankenstein and Nosferatu. Group projects during classes have provided me with even more experience incorporating the perspective of others into decision making.
I have been able to practice the problem-solving habit of mind concepts many times throughout my college career. Problem framing and challenge identification are the first steps to overcoming a problem. I most recently used these at the beginning of the school year during the move-in process, as multiple times I had to make organizational decisions when items would not fit in the car. The latter three signposts; Plan Development, Decision-Making & Revision, and Evaluation (USNH), I have mainly applied to long term goals such as my GPA. After each semester I revisit, reassess, and adjust my plan for the upcoming semester.
Integrated perspective has been also useful primarily in different social situations that I have encountered. Utilizing the pieces of integrated perspective helped build human connections and create meaningful friendships with my peers. The most valuable aspect I noticed was being an active and understanding listener while trying to understand others perspectives. When someone can tell you are actively engaging with their point of view, that grows the genuine connection you have with them. Having that knowledge of other perspectives enables stronger collaboration and allows you to make choices that are better suited to your teammates.
Developing self-regulated learning skills is one of the greatest things I’ve taken away from the college experience, and I have looked for opportunities to practice them on a frequent basis. Most classes have self-directed learning through textbooks and/or videos that students must do on their own accord. This is in-line with the engagement signpost, which describes commitment and attention to the learning process. I have done these throughout my classes, and more so through online courses which generally provided less direction and require more discipline and attention. I have applied meta cognitive awareness to my learning by identifying my strengths, (math, reasoning, sciences), and my weaknesses, (arts and writing), and by developing methods to improve at both. Giving extra attention to my weaknesses by initiating writing lessons with my roommate was one way I tried to improve on my known weak points. This aligns with the USNH self-regulated learning definition, particularly where it states, “Self-regulated learners demonstrate meta-cognitive awareness (an understanding of the factors that influence their own learning) and cultivate the skills and confidence they need in order to be effective learners.” Overall, awareness of my own development through these habits has helped me grow through my academics here at Plymouth State.
USNH – https://pressbooks.usnh.edu/wickedproblem/chapter/habits-of-mind-signposts/ https://pressbooks.usnh.edu/wickedproblem/chapter/what-are-the-habits-of-mind