Habits of Mind at JJSE

Background: The Habits of Mind are skills and intellectual habits that our students are expected to master by the time they graduate from JJSE. During the Junior Institute, students are introduced to these Habits of Mind in every class and supported to meet a minimum level of proficiency in each in order to be admitted into the Senior Institute. During their tenure in Senior Institute, students must produce Masterpieces in five areas that demonstrate a sophisticated mastery of the Habits of Mind. These areas are: Original Research, Scientific Research, Mathematical Application, Literary Analysis, and either Creative Expression (Arts) or Community Action (Social Justice.) With expanded program funding, we would require both Creative Expression and Community Action.

Six Habits of Mind

Precision

  • We present our portfolios in a polished, attractive, and professional manner.
  • We present our portfolios with proper punctuation, grammar, and spelling.
  • We choose words thoughtfully to sharpen the author's intended meaning for a particular audience.
  • We vary sentence length, structure and rhythm to create a seamless, fluid reading.
  • We make sure that the document organization is sophisticated and effective.
  • We make sure that citations are accurate and contextualized.

Relevance

  • Our portfolios show passion, understanding, and empathy for the subject matter.
  • Our connections are complex and multi-layered. We not only look at connections to ourselves, but also to our local community, and the global community.
  • We thoughtfully and thoroughly explain the significance of the subject matter to ourselves and/or the real world.

Originality

  • Our portfolio pieces contain an original thesis, theme, hypothesis, or solution.
  • Originality can be traced throughout our analysis of each topic.
  • We demonstrate creative and effective problem solving.
  • We use a colorful and engaging style or voice.

Perspectives

  • We take a strong stand.
  • We present a clear, consistent and passionate point of view.
  • We demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of the issue or problem's complexity by thoroughly presenting and critiquing alternative points of view or interpretations.

Evidence

  • Our portfolios support our arguments, thesis, theme or point with an abundance of evidence in the form of statistics, data, quotations, and/or facts.
  • Our portfolio?s evidence is compelling and accurate.
  • Evidence is drawn from a variety of credible sources including books, periodicals, interviews, multimedia, individual research, and the internet.

Logical Reasoning

  • Our portfolios contain a clear, well-defined, and controlling thesis, theme, hypothesis, topic, or solution.
  • Our portfolios offer arguments or main points that are clear, complex, and convincing.
  • Our portfolios demonstrate a sophisticated flow of ideas that maximizes effectiveness.
  • Our arguments reach sophisticated and logical conclusions.

BackBack to homepage

English Chinese