What train are you on?

As I was reading "How PowerPoint is Killing Education" by Marc Issels, I came across a statement that really caught my attention:


“The good news is that teachers do not need to jump off the technology train; they just need to change cars. They need to uncover methods of using technology to help students develop old-world skills that are also 21st century skills, such as critical thinking, problem solving, perseverance, and creativity.”


There are several individual parts of that statement that jump out at me:

• technology train
• methods of using technology
• old-world skills
• 21st Century Skills
• critical thinking
• problem solving
• perseverance
• creativity

To me, the technology train is not the one that teachers need be on ... even if they are in the correct car. I know that may sound strange coming from a person who works for a technology department, but as I am quick to point out, I work in instructional technology .... and I feel I am way more on the instructional side than the technology side. As educators, our job is to develop, encourage, and support student learning in anyway possible ... whether that means using technology or not. I feel teachers should be on the student learning train.

The student learning train may have cars for differentiated learning, direct instruction, indirect instruction, experiential learning, independent study, interactive instruction, as well as many other ways teachers use to meet the learning needs of students. If visual art is needed as part of one of those cars, then it needs to be there. If hands-on learning is needed as part of one of those cars, then it needs to be there. If problem-based, product-based, or inquiry learning needs to be a part of one of those train cars, then it needs to be there. If technology needs to be a part of one of those cars, then it needs to be there too.  

We need to be choosing the best ways to meet the needs of students ... and not just using a certain teaching style or tool just because that equipment is in the classroom.

Does a doctor use every tool that is in the office to treat every single patient every single day? He or she uses the most appropriate tool for the needs of the job at hand. If I have a room full of technology equipment, but cutting an apple or folding a piece of paper is the best way to meet student needs for learning that day, then I should do what best meets the needs of students.

I also noticed how the statement at the beginning of this blog post mentions methods of using technology to help students. For an educator, just knowing how to create animations in a powerpoint presentation, how to create a path for a wiki, or how to make a pivot table in excel is not enough ... we need to know the methods of how to use that technology knowledge to help students. The "knowing how to help" knowledge does not start with technology but starts with knowing the students and knowing the content or curriculum that students are expected to know.  You have to know your curriculum and how to effectively teach that curriculum to students to be able to integrate technology with it. The focus of lessons should be on the content and not on the technology being used.

Another part of the statement that really caught my attention and made me smile was the idea of using technology to help students develop old-world skills that are also 21st century skills. Over the years, I have read, heard, and even written about 21st century skills, but never really thought of them as old world skills until now. The skills involved in critical thinking, problem solving, perseverance, and creativity are not "new" skills that we are just now promoting in education. We may be looking at them in somewhat new ways or approaching them in ways different from before, but they all involve ways of thinking .... and thinking is not a new thing in education.

image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/35849460@N00/18512452/

Spark Creativity with Kerpoof!

After attending Simple K12's webinar, Spark Creativity and Innovation from @timeoutdad, I became a big fan of Kerpoof. Kerpoof is a free webtool that is kid friendly and allows students to create original works of art in a safe environment. Students can create pictures, animated movies, stories and more! Teachers can showcase student work by downloading their art as a JPEG file and embedding it into their website. Teacher accounts are free and anyone who is interested can sign up here. Teachers who register can arrange their students into classes and create class discussion boards (moderated by the teacher). There is a chat feature available that can be activated/deactivated by the teacher. Also, students can collaborate on a project in real-time from different computers.

Why do teachers love Kerpoof?

• It inspires creativity

• Students are in control of their own learning

• Various activities and creative tools enables students to produce a quality work product

• "A happy child = a happy learner" - @timeoutdad

What can students create?

Spell a Picture (K-3): Students can spell out objects to make them appear in their picture. If they wish to animate their objects/characters, spell out verbs like "jump" and students can watch as their objects come to life!

Make a Picture (K-3): Students choose a background, select images/characters or create their own with the drawing tool.

Make a Drawing (K-8): Students start with a blank slate and use the drawing tools to create their own masterpiece from scratch.

Make a Movie (K-8): Students can select a scene and drag objects/characters into their movie. Characters and objects can be animated or carry on a dialogue with a mouse click.

Not sure where to start? Kerpoof offers teachers a list of ideas for using Kerpoof in the classroom and a variety of downloadable lesson plans .For more information on using Kerpoof in the classroom, check out Kerpoof Scholastics.

It is all in the way you look at things ....

I was having a conversation with someone the other day when I mentioned that I have been on a creativity kick recently.

I have discovered articles and resources that seem to share the creativity them (I have also shared a lot of those on twitter and on my blog). In the conversation, I mentioned that in my mind, creativity skills and critical thinking skills are very much alike and could even be considered the same thing in many ways.

The other person in the conversation said that she was not sure that she agree that those skills are very similar. She said that she considers herself to have many critical thinking skills, but does not feel she has creative thinking skills.

My response was, "It is all in the way you look at things."

Now this is just my opinion based on the things I have read and experienced:

• When you think critically about something, you have to step outside the box and look at the situation from many perspectives while realizing the impact those perspectives could have on your interpretation.
• When you thinking creatively about something, you have to step outside the box and look at the situation from many perspectives to try to identify all the possibilities ... even the ones that may not be apparent to everyone.

Now I know my two definitions above are not exactly the same (I tend to be a bit wordy when trying to describe something) but they do share the same basic ideas.

Here are a few of the resources I have found that I think are related to creativity/critical thinking skills:

• Assessing and Analyzing Thinking
• Is Creativity the Number 1 Skill for the 21st Century?
• Kelly Tenkely and Creatively Thinking Podcast

I will end with something I saw on twitter the other day:

from @picklennium: Creativity is experimenting, playing, innovating, thinking, connecting, looking at different perspectives, problem solving, etc

image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/71221880@N00/149885028/ by doozle who said about his artwork: I'm fond of M. Escher work.
This is based upon one of his most famous lithographs.

Are You Growing Creativity?

I was pleasantly surprised to open the May issue of Learning and Leading and find an article about creativity, which is one of my favorite things to read about! I eventually found this article online, but in my magazine copy of the article, I underlined, circled, and drew stars by so many ideas. I even folded down corners of pages and took notes in the margin of the article! (Steven W. Anderson and I discuss my copy of the article compared to his in episode 17 of our weekly podcast.)

"Grow Creativity!" focuses on ways creativity can be developed and encouraged through fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration. This article written by Candace Hackett Shively had me hooked from the beginning:
The world needs creative thinkers, scientists, engineers, leaders, and contributing workers. yet research repeatedly shows creativity is schooled out of us. A shared vocabulary and lens for creativity helps teachers and students know what it means to "be creative" and where to start.

This article goes on to share ways creativity can be incorporated across curriculum areas and grade levels. Specific suggestions are offered for ways teachers can build fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration in math, science, social studies, reading, language arts, and visual arts/music. Certain technology tools and websites are suggested for each area as well.

This article makes several points which I did not realize but make perfect sense:

• "Brainstorming builds fluency"
• "Flexibility is the ability to look at a question or topic from a different angle."
• "Originality requires the greatest risk taking and is the crux of innovation"
• "Originality is often disruptive in a school setting, but disruptive ideas often generate beneficial changes in the wider world."
• "Without elaboration, others would not see the full potential of a creative inspiration."

I just found lots of great information in this article to think about. Even beyond the ideas to think about, specific ideas and technology tools that can be used for each of these area are mentioned in the article. There is a table toward the end of the article that lists websites and then categorizes them based on use for developing fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration. I have heard of some of these sites before, but I look forward to exploring the ones I did not know about and finding new ways to use the other ones.

I see this article as one that both encourages thinking and is motivating for action!

image by Timothy K. Hamilton and found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/22017189@N00/56294560/

Technology Fun in December

Image from Crayola.com

 Many times some of the most fun that students can have is with colored pencils, crayons, markers, paper and glue. I enjoy reading the monthly Crayola newsletter to see the list of projects and craft ideas. This month as I read thru the list I started thinking of how many of these projects students and teachers could create with available technology.


The first one that caught my eye was taking old CDs and turning them into ornaments. Instead of students painting over the CDs, create a double circle template in Word or a double circle template in Publisher. Let students use the drawing tools, adding shapes and colors to each circle on the page, print and glue to both sides of the CD. Students and teachers can create all kinds of cards and projects with Publisher, uploading pictures and adding their own creative touch.

There is lots of coloring pages, crafts and educational ideas at Crayola. Teachers should check out the resources provided by Crayola: lesson plans, art tips and techniques, Crayola Dream Makers, success guides, parents & teachers as partners, certificate maker and color science. Dream Makers is a guide that provides fun and creativity to standards-based learning lessons for Language Arts, Social Studies, Mathematics, and Science. Currently Dream Makers is not available for North Carolina Standards but the free sample guides will show a subject area lesson complete with objectives, background information, resources, assessment and suggestions to extend the lesson to give teachers ideas in ways to enhance lessons.

Crayola continues to build lesson plans for all ages. If you haven’t looked at the lesson plans in a while here’s a list of available lesson plans by grade levels.

• Grades K-3          695 lessons
• Grades 4-6           929 lessons
• Grades 7-12         452 lessons
• Special Needs students - 355 lessons

To check out all resources for educators please go to:
http://www.crayola.com/educators/index.cfm?n_id=5

Lets Rap About The News...

Last week my good friend Richard over at the Free Technology for Teachers blog posted what has to be the coolest video ever. Ok, well maybe not ever. But it is still pretty cool. The folks over at Flocabulary post, each week during the school year, The Week In Rap, a short music video set to rap, that highlights current events from around the world.

This week is the Summer Recap. Check it out!



Cool right?

But think about it.

Why not have kids do the same thing? One of the things that some teachers do is require kids to get current events articles. I even did it as a science teacher. Kids had to the newspaper or online and get some science current events. My goal was to get them to know more about what was going on in the world of science. What usually happened is they got the articles, did a summary but couldn't tell you a thing about it a few days later. It was more "busy work"

But this idea...

Let the kids have a little bit of creativity with it. They can still do current events in history or science or the news but they could create a song, act it out, write a letter to the editor. The point is that when the students are allowed that little bit of freedom to express their creativity with what they are learning they take ownership of it and it means something to them.

And it doesn't have to be with current events. Any type of classroom assignment or project can be this way.

And that is sorta where I wanted #edchat to go this week. The topic centered around the Arts and assessment. The conversation broke down into how the arts are assessed and how they fit into modern day testing. What I hoped we would talk about is how the arts can be used as assessments themselves or parts of assessments.

What do you do in your class or what do your teachers do to differentiate assignments or projects? What cool or different ideas have you seen teachers do to allow students to express their creativity? Leave me some comments below.

It’s Time to Get Serious about Creativity in the Classroom

Freedom within a structure – what does that mean to you? How about making an assignment clear and focused, while allowing students the freedom to decide how to accomplish the task. That’s how an art teacher describes art as a creative place to develop creative minds.

When we ask students to learn long division the students are taught to follow certain steps that will help them understand how to arrive at the correct answer. That’s replication. When students are shown how to weave paper to make designs many students will replicate exactly what was shown. Students need some traditional learning to build valuable foundation skills and students need to develop creative minds.

According to the article one way to nurture and develop real creativity is to ask students to use their new skills to accomplish an assigned, more complex task and to allow students to be creative in the application of the new skills. Find ways that will allow all diverse learners to be successful. Structure assignments to allow students the freedom to be innovative and creative then watch what students will produce.

How can you develop creative minds in your class? What technology could your students use to think outside the box to complete more complex tasks and apply new skills?

To read the entire article please go to Edutopia:
http://www.edutopia.org/freedom-structure-balance-classroom

Imagination at Work

Imagination. Webster defines it as “The act or power of forming a mental image of something not present to the senses or never before wholly perceived in reality.”

Personally, I define imagination as the ability to incorporate personal perspectives, ideas, and visuals to change or impact a goal, topic or thing CREATIVELY. Overall, using the imagination causes impact to output – whether idealistically-speaking or methodologically-speaking.

So, the million-dollar question? How can teachers allow imagination to make a difference right in the classroom? Lots of ways…. And it is easier than you may initially think.

From the Unified Schedule Workshop last Friday, Professor J. Allen Queen from UNCC made some interesting comments that tie in nicely with this post

• Every lesson should never be taught the same way twice
  
• With your lessons, make sure the students are interacting and experimenting
  
• Teachers should focus on student learning over teaching!
  
• There should be an acceptance for change and desire for future refinement
  

How does imagination go hand-in-hand with these?

Never teaching a lesson the same way means tailoring the lesson to the personality of each class! Making the lessons more interactive/experimental, by default can be geared towards success with the integration of 21^st century skills. Also, with the incorporation of technology-based projects, learning-based activities, etc. the lessons given by teachers will automatically be/become interactive. When students are allowed to use their imagination, their finished products/projects will be focused on and produced from different types of student learning!

How does all of this even come into play? The teacher must, I repeat, MUST be willing to have an open mind-set for change in the classroom. This is the crucial first step. An open mind will allow teachers to see the individual personalities of each of their classes, each period of each day. An open mind will allow teachers to reconstruct their lessons in a way that allows for more interaction and less lecture. Open-minded teachers will look less at themselves as presenters and “head” of the classroom and more at student perception, intake and learning style. Imagination is the catalyst to incorporating change and opening the mind.

Need a place to start? Don’t change your curriculum – you don’t even have to write completely new lesson plans… Simply choose one lesson you already have in place, and tweak it so the output and objectives can be met differently. Want an example? Instead of having the students write the same ole’ research paper… Have them write the paper and then use Photo Story to capture the story with photos while using their voice to narrate it. Or… Have the students use VoiceThread and get feedback on their paper from other peers. Or… have them use a Wiki and use classroom collaboration to write the paper along with another classmate. Or… have them design a “movie poster” using graphics and some text to advertise the plot/storyline – this goes right along with summarization skills.

Same research paper… different output. Student engagement achieved.

Imagination is not just for use with crayolas.

Let the Creativity Flow!

Gale Cengage Learning defines creativity as “The ability to create inventions, produce works of art, or solve problems using an original, novel, or unconventional approach.” Let’s take a moment to bring that exact concept into the classroom. How would creativity look in a 21st Century Classroom? It depends upon the individual teacher’s creativity, of course.

Incorporating technology is an easy and invigorating way to allow creativity to flow in the classroom. Content and curriculum can remain the same – just focus on the outcome. Two main points to remember… engagement levels are sure to change and the delivery method is sure to excite the students. The end result of incorporating technology into regular classroom work gives way to student pride and ownership over their tangible, completed projects.

Where do you find creativity? Lots of places. To begin… look within – incorporate your personal likes, interests, experiences, current trends, imagination, etc. into the curriculum. Or, find out what interests your students and go from there. Next, seek out a technological solution to bridge the gap between your curriculum and the finished assignments.

Not sure how deep your creativity flows? Start here…

Start with the company known for being top of the line creative-types: Adobe. Find and watch ways to incorporate creativity using software applications. http://tv.adobe.com/#

Be inspired by this awesome article… “Six Essentials to Foster Creativity and Innovation in the Classroom: Technology Lives Up to its Potential When We Approach it Creatively” http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_6938/is_7_44/ai_n28535997

Performance Learning Systems offers an online newsletter with one issue focusing on incorporating Creativity in the Classroom: http://www.plsweb.com/resources/newsletters/enews_archives/02/2000/10/05/

Open your mind and allow creativity to come in. Your students will learn from it, and appreciate it.

Creating Online Posters at Glogster.com/edu

Are you in a mood to save trees and promote creativity in your students? Check out http://www.glogster.com/edu/. Click register and fill out the information. Open your email and click the verification link. Click "create a new glog" to make your own. But first let me tell you what a glog is. A glog is an online poster that can include graphics, text, images, video and sounds. To start your own glog you will want to add or create a background or wall as they call it. Then add your text, graphics, pictures, videos and sounds. Students can create glogs about things you already have them do in class. Instead of writing what they learned on a piece of paper have them create a glog. You might be pleasantly surprised at what they produce for you. When they are finished with their glog, they can email it to you as a glog gift. And just think; you won’t have any papers to carry home!