Meaning

In light of the horrific environmental damage that will surely impact the Gulf Coast due to the BP oil spill, I thought I would share some thoughts on using this disaster in the classroom.  Unfortunately I think we will still be hashing out the impact of BP’s spill during August and beyond.
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There’s no better example of story, empathy, and meaning than in a great speech.  You’ll have to forgive my inner history geek here, but this collection is a truly amazing insight into human history. The collection spans political, presidential, and cultural episodes in our history, and highlights the men and women who gave a...
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This is a great example of Daniel Pink’s aptitude of Meaning from A Whole New Mind. Students in Guatemala collected plastic water bottles and built themselves a new school.  The project was was initiated by Laura Kutner, a Peace Corps volunteer. Bottles were collected, stuffed with plastic bags for reinforcement, and then made into...
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I was asked once by a colleague to relate Dan Pink’s Right-Brain aptitudes to Bloom’s taxonomy.  To be honest I have always preferred to apply Bloom’s Taxonomy through the verbs that are usually associated with his work.  My colleague and I threw out as many verbs as we could remember, and I wrote them...
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It looks like this Chicago school is going to implement quite a few of Dan Pink’s right-brain aptitudes, even though they did not call them by name. The article highlights a school that is implementing a new curriculum supported by Partnership for 21st Century Skills.  They will move to a collaborative, inquiry-based learning model...
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This article from the St. Petersburg times really highlights Dan Pink’s meaning and purpose. Students take the sign language that they learn in the classroom and create videos for deaf patrons of theme parks. So not only are students motivated by having a purpose in their studies, but they are also developing the right...
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What an interesting application of Dan Pink’s ideas from A Whole New Mind. Chris Livaccari outlines how to apply Dan Pink’s ideas in a Chinese language classroom. Although I have always held the flexibility of Dan Pink’s ideas in the highest regard, I never could have imagined applying them in a Chinese language class.
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As I spend half of my day at a high school technical center, I am always looking for examples of using focused learning to enhance Meaning in a student’s education. As I have mentioned before, one way I like to think of Dan Pink’s Meaning aptitude from A Whole New Mind is how I...
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This article was passed along to me, and I just found it amazing.  A Canadian high school student used his science fair project to solve a major ecological problem, the biodegrading of plastic. Obviously this student has been developing the aptitude of Meaning from A Whole New Mind.  He took an academic assignment and...
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So I don’t know if you’re a fan of the band OK Go (remember the treadmill guys?), but I want you to bear with me. This video was e-mailed to me by a friend, as she knows I am a fan and also a teacher.  It is only three minutes long, but definitely worth...
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