It’s the Little Things

Charles Duhigg’s Power of Habit made so much sense to me. Working with learners (kids and adults) included helping them build habits that would support their success–not only in learning more but succeeding in their future. How can we help build routines (habits) that have a positive effect that we know will help reinforce, fortify and build safety and resilience for and with learners?

Routines or habits in a learning environment typically start with cue-based routines. Think about how the day begins at school. This start-of-the-day routine is built with repeatable actions, actions that can become automatic. Often routines like this include actions that are time-based, location-based and supported with sensory cues. The school day may start at 8 AM with the ringing of a bell and students settling into their seats. Behaviors that students (and teachers) don’t have to think about–that are automatic. These “no-brainer” routines can be supportive for struggling learners and a piece of trauma-informed practice. They also support the building of executive function skills.

Having a safe space to develop a growth mindset is really a combination of two practices that are indicative of a trauma-sensitive classroom. These practices, voice and choice, help learners understand they are heard and have agency in their learning. It means the work of learning is done with them rather than to them.

Beyond predictability, routines also create space for agency. Voice and choice are often used to support decision-making skills. What habits support is making some choices routine, safe and automatic, a place where learners can be successful, which helps them experience predictable activities that they have control over. Consistency (habits/routines) is a way for learners to practice success regularly. These types of routines may be as basic as behavioral expectations, sequenced instructions (name and date at the top of an assignment and completed assignments put in the blue basket in the back of the room) or a visual schedule. These habits help reduce learners’ stress and improve engagement. They provide predictability and consistency.

Here’s a question: how do you teach learners about habits? How do learners learn to use habits as tools? And in teaching them about habits, do you work in metacognition?

Let’s start with the habit loop from Duhigg’s work (Cue – Routine – Reward) and work in the idea of cue-based routines. Start by outlining for your learners a habit you’ve already set up for them. For example:

- Cue: Start-of-class signal (bell or prompt on board)

- Routine: Students immediately begin a warm-up activity

- Reward: Quick feedback, discussion or a sense of completion

After sharing, you might review how this routine relates to metacognition. Have learners brainstorm other examples of habits/routines they have in school or at home. (You might do this in pairs or quads.) Then see if they can make their own connections to cue-based routine language. What is the cue, what is the location and is there a sensory cue? You might have the group share a few examples. Then move into partner work where they get to choose something they would like to turn into a habit and outline the cue, location and sensory support. Each person can work on their own habit; having a partner provides someone to bounce ideas or questions off.

There is another phrase that fits in with this conversation about habits – executive functioning skills. These are the skills that help learners do things like plan, organize and persevere. Executive functioning skills are life habits that are built and supported by small, purposeful actions that get repeated until they are automatic and require no extra thinking. For me, the benefit of these habits is that the consistent, no-brainer actions (and behaviors) allow learners to:

- know what will happen when,

- recognize that they can be successful, and

- frees up thinking space for more curiosity and ideas.

While routines are a collection of small actions and behaviors (the little things), it’s their repeated use that turns them into habits. Habits create cognitive shortcuts for learners, freeing them to focus on thinking, questioning, and improving at what they do best—learning. In the past month, how have you intentionally supported the formation of new habits with your learners?

Photo by Drew Beamer on Unsplash