NSCD Reflections: A Whole New Mind Book Talk

The book talk about Daniel Pink's book, A Whole New Mind, was very interesting; not just because I truly enjoyed the book but because it let me really see what an insightful group of educators I was with at the NSDC conference. We did several activities (mostly from the portfolio sections of the book) that promoted great discussions and were led by three great facilitators. I'm not going to summarize the book here; while I don't agree with everything in the book (very Amero-centric and some consider it classist) I recommend it for reading and you can see a summary here.

So, what do I do now? That's what I kept asking people in our discussion groups. I get it. I buy into it. So what do I do? The administrative team at my school read it. Are they going to do anything about it? Maybe, maybe not. I kept asking for answers at our tables. Then, during the last table discussion of the session someone helped me realize that I probably shouldn't be looking for a set plan (that would be very "left-brained" of me!). I also realized that, in my area of educational technology, maybe I can weave this in my own curriculum; I work with everyone in my building...why don't I do something about it?

So, what do I do now? Here's my current thought. I heard a lot about professional learning communities during the NSDC conference. Why not a PLC about infusing right-brained thinking into the curriculum? Educational technology can facilitate a lot of this thinking...not all but a lot. I might be making a call out to my colleagues to see if anyone else wants to investigate this.

Stay tuned... if this flies, you'll see a lot more about it here! Maybe we'll have a "Whole New PLC" that could impact our whole educational environment.