These classrooms are beginning to represent true communities of
learning that encourage both students and teachers to be risk takers
engaged in experimental, investigative, and open-ended learning pro-
cesses. Children and teachers in these unique inquiry-based learning
communities are using their existing knowledge while striving to create
new knowledge. Students are accepting greater responsibility for develop-
ing and applying a deep understanding of significant concepts, general-
izations, essential questions, and skills and procedures to problem finding
and problem solving for which there are no predetermined limits. Stu-
dents are beginning the journey of lifelong learners and thinkers, capable
of independent reasoning, with the potential to be identified for gifted
programs and to succeed in more challenging courses.
The Bright IDEA Transformation
The Bright IDEA transformational pilot and research models integrate
the Habits of Mind and Mary Frasier’s Ten Core Attributes of Giftedness
through a thinking skills curriculum that builds upon and extends the
North Carolina Standard Course of Study with children’s multicultural
literature to enrich learning and provide support for the diversity, second
languages, and emotional needs of the students. Criteria for observing
and nurturing students’ potential have been developed from Habits of
Mind with a major focus on Frasier’s Ten Core Attributes of Giftedness
that are seen across all cultural groups. These HOM or gifted intelligent
behaviors as defined by Frasier help teachers to develop all students’ abil-
ities in the areas of communication, motivation, interest, memory, humor,
problem solving, imagination, inquiry, insight, and reasoning. In collab-
oration with the design team, teachers developed two-dimensional rubrics
for each intelligent behavior that define five possible developmental lev-
els, thus allowing teachers and parents to identify potentially gifted behav-
iors. These intelligent behaviors were integrated within the teacher’s daily
instruction that provides students opportunities to increase their ability of
working toward more thoughtful, intelligent action or Habits of Mind
(Costa & Kallick, 2000).
Te a c h e r s p r e p a r e aw a r e n e s s s e s s i o n s f o r p a r e n t s o n h o w t o nu r t u r e c h i l -
dren’s Gifted Intelligent Behaviors (GIBs) at home. These sessions provide
326 Learning and Leading with Habits of Mind