Don’t Forget the Table

If learning is a feast, then noncognitive factors are the table. This is reflected in the Foundations Framework that I use in my own classroom and in the professional development workshops I've led around the country. (See Figure 1, below.)

The literature on noncognitive factors can be pretty overwhelming. Having read a fair amount of it, I focus on just these three things:

• academic mindsets (there are four of them),
• learning strategies, and
• teacher credibility.

Teachers who attend to these three things create leverage for their lessons. Not that I would know this from personal experience or anything, but it's possible to be an average instructor and to still yield above-par results if kids view you as credible and if you strive to equip them with academic mindsets and learning strategies. With these in place, the table is set each day for learning that moves kids forward in their knowledge and skill.