The name “Bright Brains” originated from Ms. Crom’s second grade classroom experience. With a wall picture display of two-halves of a brain, one side “the gray brain” (Fixed Mindset) and the other side a “colorful brain” (Growth Mindset). Each side had a vertical list of words ,…the gray brain says things like, “I can’t do this”, “I don’t get it”, “This is too hard”: whereas, the colorful brain states, “I'll keep trying”, “mistakes help me learn”, “with more practice this will get easier”, “I can ask for help”….

With a daily reminder how we think is how we talk and is how we become…The students would soon encourage each other, “remember, be a bright brain!” Ms. Crom reflects, how this idea transformed this classroom and how it developed a memorable learning community which not only included positive peer talk, but second grade students who could take notes from videos and articles, map-out ideas, and write, first, one-paragraph, then, two-paragraphs, three-paragraphs and for some, four-paragraphs within a four-day week time frame. A class noted for being the “Writing Wizards!”