The Myth of Average

Kim CarterAffinities, Differentiated Instruction, Differentiated Learning, Learning, Learning about Learning, Learning Challenges, Research, School Culture, Strategies for teachers, Teacher Effectiveness, Whole Child

Todd Rose’s brilliant talk at TEDxSonoma expands on a startlingly simple point: When you design for the average, you design for no-one. He suggests instead we to need design for the extremes. For anyone who has worked with students, it is an intuitive enough concept, in theory. Yet in application, it has proven challenging, especially in a climate fixated on norm reference test … Read More

11 Characteristic of Meaningful Work (and Learning)

Kim CarterClassroom Culture, Differentiated Instruction, Differentiated Learning, Learning, Learning about Learning, School Culture, Strategies for teachers

In a recent repost of Shawn Murphy’s “11 Characteristics of Meaningful Work,” the editors at QED’s blog noted that, While this piece by Shawn Murphy is related to business practices and targeted to managers and business leaders, the parallels to education and student learning are striking. Teachers, curricula developers, and education leaders can find plenty herein to ponder, reflect on, and apply … Read More

Walking the (Learning) Walk

Kim CarterAttention, Classroom Culture, Differentiated Instruction, Differentiated Learning, Learning, Strategies for teachers, Whole Child

We find ourselves in something of a paradoxical education landscape. On the one hand we are learning more and more about the science of learning. Neuroscience is pushing the boundaries of the known world on a near daily basis. As a result, our knowledge about working with a variety of minds continues to grow at a phenomenal rate. Yet, numerous policy … Read More

Words that Ignite Learning

Kim CarterClassroom Culture, Learning, Learning about Learning, Social Emotional Learning, Strategies for teachers, Teacher Effectiveness

Below is a guest post by Kevin Washburn, Ed.D., author of “Architecture of Learning” and Executive Director of Clerestory Learning. His most recent recording at a Learning and Brain Conference can be found here.  It seems like a ridiculous question: Can a teacher’s words influence student learning?  Of course, we’d respond, how well a teacher explains new ideas naturally influences … Read More

All Kinds of Minds Website Gets a Makeover!

Kim CarterLearning, Learning about Learning, Strategies for teachers, Teachers, Uncategorized

All Kinds of Minds is pleased to announce that our website has been updated with a brand new structure and design.  We’ve streamlined the navigation and structured the content to provide you with a better user experience. Your Go-To Source for Learning about Learning While the site has a new look, you’ll still be able to access the same great … Read More

What’s Up with Kate? (Part 2)

Kim CarterAffinities, Differentiated Instruction, Differentiated Learning, Higher Order Thinking, Language, Learning, Learning about Learning, Learning Challenges, Memory, Reading, Strategies for teachers, Student Strengths, Student Weaknesses, Teachers

Last week we told you about Kate, a 6th grade student with some learning challenges.  Kate is earning good grades, but she really has to work hard for everything – seemingly much harder than her peers.  She struggles to retain new vocabulary words, recall information from reading passages, follow multi-step directions, and master math facts. So what’s really going on … Read More

One School’s Faculty-wide Exploration of Schools for All Kinds of Minds

Kim CarterClassroom Culture, Differentiated Instruction, Differentiated Learning, Learning, Learning about Learning, Learning Challenges, Learning Specialists, Private School, School Culture, Strategies for teachers, Teacher Effectiveness, Teachers, Uncategorized

By Mary Mannix, Guest Blogger Last spring, administrators at Indian Creek School, an All Kinds of Minds School of Distinction, searched for a book for summer reading for the faculty that would be meaningful and relevant to teachers across all three divisions of the school, from pre-kindergarten to 12th grade. Why Schools for All Kinds of Minds? Administrators chose Schools … Read More

Embrace What’s Going Right to Pave a Better Road to Learning

Kim CarterAffinities, Classroom Culture, Differentiated Instruction, Differentiated Learning, Learning, Learning about Learning, School Culture, Strategies for teachers, Student Strengths, Teacher Effectiveness, Teachers, Uncategorized

By Michele Robinson, Director of Special Projects at All Kinds of Minds and co-author of Schools for All Kinds of Minds Grab a pen or pencil. Off the top of your head, list 3-4 of your strengths – those things you do well with relative ease. Now list 3-4 affinities – those activities or topics you love to do or … Read More

Teachers: What’s Your Framework?

Kim CarterAttention, Classroom Culture, Differentiated Instruction, Differentiated Learning, Higher Order Thinking, Language, Learning, Learning Challenges, Research, School Culture, Strategies for teachers, Teacher Effectiveness, Teachers, Uncategorized

By Craig Pohlman, Ph.D., Co-author of Schools for All Kinds of Minds and Director of MindMatters at Southeast Psych, a learning program in Charlotte, NC In some circles, All Kinds of Minds has become equated with the neurodevelopmental framework it uses, but this framework is only one aspect of their approach to understand learning and learners.  All Kinds of Minds is … Read More

Building Schools for All Kinds of Minds

Kim CarterAffinities, Classroom Culture, Differentiated Instruction, Learning, Learning about Learning, Learning Challenges, Learning Specialists, School Culture, Strategies for teachers, Student Strengths, Student Weaknesses, Teacher Effectiveness, Teachers, Uncategorized

In our recently-published book, Schools for All Kinds of Minds: Boosting Student Success by Embracing Learning Variation, our CEO Mary-Dean Barringer makes the point that “Educators, school leaders and policymakers … talk around learning but not about learning,” and she notes that equipping educators with current knowledge from science about how we are wired to learn is essential to the … Read More