Schools for All Kinds of Minds – Using the Book

We hope you’ll share this book with other educators in your school and beyond, exchanging insights with your colleagues and brainstorming how the All Kinds of Minds approach can make a difference in your school. Need help getting started? From discussion questions to downloadable templates and more, the links below provide you with all you’ll need to begin putting the All Kinds of Minds approach to work in your school.

Discussion questions (PDF) – These chapter-by-chapter prompts will help you get the group talking, whether it’s a book club, professional learning community, or informal gathering of colleagues.

Learning Leadership in Action templates – You’ve read the book … now it’s time to apply what you’ve learned to your own school environment. These reflection exercises, pulled from the end of Chapters 2-7, will help you and your staff turn the concepts and strategies described in the book into concrete actions toward creating a school for all kinds of minds. These templates are provided below in Word format for easy access and use.

• Chapter 2 Exercise – Reflect on how the All Kinds of Minds approach fits in – or could fit in – with your educational practice
• Chapter 3 Exercise – Explore your own learning profile and consider how the profile of an individual or team affects instructional decisions, school culture, and/or school policies
• Chapter 4 Exercise – Consider how gaining a deeper understanding of your students can help you avoid faulty assumptions, misinterpretations, and unwarranted labels
• Chapter 5 Exercise – Reflect on how the All Kinds of Minds approach fits in – or could fit in – with your individual learning plans
• Chapter 6 Exercise – Consider how the All Kinds of Minds approach might lend a valuable perspective in addressing undesirable student behaviors
• Chapter 7 Exercise – Determine the specific demands of writing activities and assessments and explore ways to support and improve writing based on these demands

Creating a School for All Kinds of Minds – Ready to put what you’ve learned into practice but feeling a bit overwhelmed? Use this action plan template, pulled from the end of Chapter 8, to help you map out “small-win” strategies to achieve your long-term goals in becoming a school for all kinds of minds.

Recommended Reading:

Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School
by John Medina
A molecular biologist offers great insights from brain research for school design and better instructional practices. Medina is a compelling storyteller and his accompanying website and videos are a valuable resource.

Wounded by School: Recapturing the Joy in Learning and Standing Up to Old School Culture
by Kirsten Olson
Olson reveals surprising lessons from America’s most successful adults about their struggles in school with powerful ideas to address these unintended negative consequences.

Revealing Minds: Assessing to Understand and Support Struggling Learners
by Craig Pohlman
Many learning leaders are school-based clinicians, and this is an easy to read resource for such professionals who assess students with learning problems. Pohlman shows how clinicians can use the All Kinds of Minds approach to build a battery, interpret findings, and promote a deeper understanding about a struggling learner. Readers of this book will come away with increased knowledge of the neurodevelopmental framework and how to use it to support learning.

The New Science of Teaching and Learning: Using the Best of Mind, Brain, and Education Science in the Classroom
by Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa
This book provides a fascinating review of state-of-the-art research. It debunks learning myths while pointing towards tried and true tenets and principles of education.