Broccoli Brain

I recently read an Edutopia article, "Broccoli Brain: Developing Enthusiastic Consumers of Nutritious Knowledge" by Hugh Osborn.  I loved the author's analogy.  His premise is that kids are always too full to eat their broccoli (yuck), but somehow they have room for ice cream (yum).  Their broccoli stomach fills up much quicker than their dessert stomach!

The author states, "I believe that our children also have a broccoli brain and a dessert brain. Unfortunately, it is the broccoli brain that is being fed at school, while the dessert brain stays hungry. And now, with standardized assessment defining public school curriculum, the broccoli brain is being stuffed to overflowing with drill-and-kill test prep."

Mr. Osborn believes, as I do, that innovation is the critical piece that must be in place for effective education.  There are ways to ensure that the state-mandated curriculum is taught that utilize students' dessert brains.  There are pockets of classrooms across the country that feed students' dessert brains every day.  The challenge is figuring out a plan to make this type of learning possible on a nation-wide scale.  I think a lot about how to make this possible on a district-wide scale, since that is my job (and my passion).  Perhaps my title should be "Dessert Brain Specialist."

I believe that lessons that feed students' dessert brains often utilize technology.   I think of the improvement in writing and presentation skills when students are given the opportunity to create a digital video in any content area.  I think about the importance of students knowing how to solve problems with others who may have different opinions, personalities, and talents; skills that are becoming more important than ever in today's global marketplace, with technology making it possible. 

I will work tirelessly to support teachers in my district as they learn to teach the district/state curriculum using strategies that feed students' dessert brains.  In future blog posts, I'll be writing about some of the innovative projects going on in classrooms across my district, state, nation, and world.