training and the practice in the classroom, the project has produced 135
concept-based integrated curriculum units. These units provide for rigor
and high-quality differentiated instruction for the population of diverse
students. The units were taught and revised, and some were selected for
publication and dissemination at the end of the funding period.
The Habits of Mind are not taught in isolation but infused into their
curriculum units with a focus on the habits or gifted intelligent behav-
iors being part of successful work and problem-solving attributes that all
children need to know to be able to succeed in school, in work, and in life.
Children seem to love learning the big vocabulary words that describe
the habits and demonstrating that they know what they mean. Teachers
demonstrate their own creativity with the Habits of Mind through concep-
tually designed learning tasks, which incorporate multiple intelligences
that students use to demonstrate their understandings on topics within
the standard course of study and beyond. Their teaching strategies with
Habits of Mind lead to high-level discussions using essential questions to
get children to think and reflect on their answers with their peers. High-
level multicultural literature and nonfiction books provide the back-
ground for all of the interdisciplinary units. These scholarly environments
are engaging students actively and consistently in sophisticated investiga-
tions of materials, texts, and learning activities that require them to under-
stand and apply advanced critical and creative processes.
Research Questions and Data.The goals help structure the research
questions for evaluating the project and for determining the potential for
using the model across the state and the nation. The major questions:
- What are the dispositions of teachers toward children from diverse
groups? - Can Bright IDEA increase the number of underserved children
identified for gifted programs? - What effects will Bright IDEA have on the metacognitive levels
of children? Can we measure their levels? Can we teach intelligent behav-
iors that show individual student progress? - Can the effect on students be linked to changing the dispositions
of teachers?
324 Learning and Leading with Habits of Mind