Creativity In the Classroom: The Students Perspective

When you ask students what they want from their teachers, they inevitably say "I want to do fun things!" While every activity and lesson can't be a fun-filled adventure, there are many ways to incorporate fun into e classroom. When I talk to my students about creativity in the classroom I get a lot of requests to do projects and hands-on activities. My 6th grade students are always wanting to draw. Most ask if an assignment includes an art piece or ask if they can draw something instead of writing. My current student population has the least accessibility to technology of all of the classes that I have taught in the last 5 years. This is the first year that I haven't been bombarded with requests to use computers.

The limited accessibility to technology has led to a lack of interest, or thought about, technology. The school that I work in has limited access to current, working technology. When my students think about creativity, they talk about it in the realm of their physical reality, theater, art, and dance. My students really want to be able to express themselves and not feel judged. They want to be able to use their strengths to convey understanding. They see value in doing something that they can be proud of and feel confident about.

When I ask my students about what they would change about their learning environment, some wish the school had more computers, but this seems to be low on their list of priorities. Others ask for more field trips, and some have no request at all. My students have expressed the main concern for safety in school. Many live in rough neighborhoods or have to travel through them to get to school.with safety being the most immediate need, technology doesn't even become an option.

In this challenging school environment, how do I help introduce students to technology and all of its wonders? It makes even considering using technology a challenge as I have to consider what tech I personally have available to use and how do I plan with the 2-3 different devices I have available for a project for 55 students? This has been a challenging year for me and instructional technology. There is so much that I cannot do. I want technology to be a part of my students educational life. I want them to learn how to create with technology, how to use the Internet critically, and how to do research. My students own limited experience with technology makes it that much harder. I believe that if technology is introduced to them in a meaningful and exciting way, they will crave it at every turn. The question becomes, do I introduce what limited technology I have and risk not being able to fulfill its full promise, or do I hold back until I can give them the full technological experience?

Are schools killing creativity?

In a word... Yes. Schools are killing creativity. After watching a TEDTalks presentation by Sir Ken Robinson about the state of creativity in public education, the message is becoming clearer for me. It's not that I don't value creativity in the classroom, I have just fallen victim to the prevailing reality of "academic inflation," a term Robinson used to describe how degree requirements for jobs has increased over the years. The job you could get with a bachelors degree, now requires a masters degree, etc.. I spend so much time thinking g about how I need to prepare my students for the 21st century workplace; but what if my students are not meant for the traditional workplace, and how do we know what that workplace will look like?

Robinson also equated the education system to a strip-mining operation. When put into context, that is exactly what we are doing. We are strip-mining students' minds for strictly logical and practical development. The classroom is meant to help students get the right answers for the standardized tests and be able to write the appropriate response to writing prompts. This TEDTalk was given in 2006. At that time I would say that this was a public education problem, the lack of creativity. I have many friends that work in "independent" schools and they seem to be facing the same challenges in fostering creativity in their classrooms today. The schools that were created to be independent from the restrictions of federal guidelines are falling victim to the same constraints as public education, all for the purpose of enhancing our future workforce. Creativity is getting lost in education.

There are many Web 2.0 tools, apps, and technologies that allow for creativity to use in the classroom. In order to develop our students' intelligence, thinking back to Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences, and the diversity in intelligence, we need to include more opportunities for creativity. I like using movie-making apps like iMovie, MovieMaker, and digital storytelling software to help students tap into the visual and kinesthetic parts of their brains. Digital media is a perfect outlet for creativity. It engages all of the intelligences. Digital media can be a powerful tool if used in meaningful ways. Giving students this option can help us engage the student that is disengaged and give them a way to perform and excel using a nontraditional format.

Digital media alone cannot solve the problem of limited creativity in the classroom. Curriculums need to allow for opportunities to include creative options. We need to re-prioritize what is most important for real, quality learning and what will serve students most in the future. Do we need more factory workers and direction-followers or do we need more thinkers and trailblazers in our world? 

Ken Robinson - "Do Schools Kill Creativity" on TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) website (available online)

The Power of Multimedia Presentations

The Egyptian Afterlife on Prezi

Multimedia presentations are a great way to engage students. Multimedia presentations provide a multi-sensory experience that is bound to connect with all types of minds described in Howard Gardner's Five Minds For The Future. When students are able to access information on multiple levels, they are more apt to retain the information and be able create their own connection to the material. Video, audio, and text, when combines, provide a way for students to make powerful connections to the things they learn.

We all have those students that come alive with visual or audio presentations and those that crave the text. Multimedia reaches all of those students. When we endeavor to help our students develop a disciplined mind, we want them to master skills. For the synthesized mind, we want them to be able to take information from varied sources and put it together in a new way, to form new ideas and pathways of understanding. Using multimedia to present information helps students develop both minds.

Multimedia can use a variety of sources in a variety of different ways. You can create many different access points for students. Students can experience the same information in different ways and get something new from each experience. This form of presentation also means students need to work towards putting all of that information together in a coherent way. When putting together presentations using tools like Prezi, you are forced to think about how you want students to take in the information. The way you present information is just as important as the information you present. Well-organized presentations can aid students in their synthesis, making the lead to those connections easier.

I think that synthesis can be a mastered skill that students develop through a disciplined mind. The ability to take in media information and re-present it is something that can occur with continuous exposure to multimedia. Being able to master responding to multimedia is something that today's students need to develop in our ever increasing technological world. So much of what we take in is through audio and visual means. We need to help our students process these types of media.

Creating and using multimedia in the classroom is a great way to help students develop both disciplined and synthesized minds. The possibilities and opportunities provided by multimedia are endless for our students.

Gardner, H. 2009. Five Minds for the Future. Perseus Books Group. Boston. 

Developing the Synthesizing Mind

According to Howard Gardner, the synthesizing mind takes information from a variety of sources, processes it, and puts it back together in a way that makes sense to themselves and others. This type of mind is able to put things together and create a new level of understanding. Project-based Learning (PBL) activities are tailor-made for developing the synthesizing mind.

Interdisciplinary investigation is the hallmark of PBL.This type of activity involves integrating a variety resources, using different disciplines and refitting them together to create something new. The synthesizing mind is motivated by several things. PBL and the types of interdisciplinary investigations that build the synthesizing mind have "a motivating goal, an initial stance taken by the synthesizer, a set of tools or strategies that can be employed, one or more interim syntheses, and at least some criteria by which the success of the synthesis can be evaluated" (p. 58). With PBL, students will find that more than one resource, technique, and skill-set will be needed to solve the problem.

One PBL activity that I worked on in my grad course had students creating a business that served a need in the community. Student objectives included gathering data on the needs of the community, developing a business plan, securing space,and funding for their project. Learning tasks along the way had students learning different skills, such as how to use online survey tools, digital presentation tools, audio and video media tools, and some good old fashioned pavement pounding to provide a solution to their task. Students used these newly learned skills to develop their ideas and create their community-based business.

Through PBL students learn how decide which tools and resources they will need to use in order to find a solution to their problem. This activity has students creating their own learning experiences based on what they need, which allows them to form a deeper connection to both the content and the skills. Building the synthesizing mind is all about creating problem-solvers. We want students to be able to problem solve across the curriculum and transfer knowledge from their own experiences to one content area and another. The genius minds Gardner regards that "tie... together a range of phenomena" (p. 48) to formulate their ideas. Their minds make wholly new concepts from different aspects of the world around them. In the classroom, we want our students to challenge us. Synthesizing minds own their knowledge. We want them to take what is presented and turn it into something that they own.



Gardner, H. (2009). Five Minds for the Future. Perseus Books Group. Kindle Edition.

728 Challenge

1. Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Jamilah, fresh out of NYC, also known as Ms. Jones to my 6th grade ELA students in Oakland, CA

2. What is your primary goal for taking this course?

As part of the requirement for the Instructional Media program I hope to gain resources to use in my classroom

3. What is your philosophy of education?

When you expect more from students, they give you more. High expectations with a firm, loving hand will help students reach their potential

4. What do you see as the greatest benefit of using technology and/or digital media in the classroom?

It makes learning more dynamic and gives students different entry points for understanding

5. What is your biggest concern or challenge with using technology and/or digital media in the classroom?

Biggest challenge is sifting through it all to find what’s appropriate for your student population

6. Provide an example of how you currently use technology and/or digital media in the classroom.

With limited resources: presentation tools and supplemental media

7. How does your classroom today differ from when you were the same age as your students?

There is more interactivity in lessons and projects and less observance of adults as the respected authority

Helping Students Meet the NETS-S

The NETS, National Educational Technology Standards, are a set of standards developed by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) for learning, teaching, and leading in the digital age. The NETS were developed for teachers, students, administrators, coaches, and computer science teachers and are used worldwide. The NETS promote critical thinking skills, prepare students for the global job market, and work to transform technology education. There are many Web 2.0 tools that students can use to meet the NETS-S across the curriculum.

The NETS-S student profiles provide a developmental guide for technology usage and application. The student profiles tell you the age and grade levels at which students should be applying the different standards in the NETS-S, and explains how students should be applying them at the different levels. This leaves all of the guess work out of trying to figure out how your students should be using and applying technology in their grade level. The student profiles cover all school-age children from PreK to 12th grade. You can easily see the connection and progression of technology usage through the grades.

The NETS-S focus on 5 standards, Creativity and Innovation, Communication and Collaboration, Research and Information Fluency, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making, and Digital Citizenship. Students can use a variety of Web 2.0 tools and applications to meet these standards. Here are some ways you can help your students meet the NETS-S in any content area:

Creativity and Innovation: Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology

• Students can demonstrate knowledge using presentation tools such as Prezi, Voice Thread, and AudioBoo. These tools give students creative ways to present their knowledge and understanding of content. Students can use visual and audio means, separate or together.
• Students can also use publishing tools like Wikispaces and Wix to display their work by creating ePortfolios.

Communication and Collaboration: Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others.

• Voice Thread is a great communication tool that students can use to share ideas and information with others. Student can use this digital media environment to share and teach what they know using visual and audio features.
• AudioBoo is a tool creates podcasts that students can use to communicate. Students publish their podcasts online and can easily share them with others, anywhere.

Research and Information Fluency: Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information

• Communication tools such as Diigo and Edmodo can be used to gather and organize internet resources and share to them with others. 
• Students can also use tools like Google Docs and Dropbox to store information gathered through research as they decide how it is applicable to their work.

Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making: Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources

• Students can use publishing tools such as Wikispaces and Edmodo to create and work on PBL, problem-based learning, projects.
• Collaboration tools such as Skype, Google+ Hangout, and Google Docs can help students manage projects by providing a collaborative space to work.

Digital Citizenship: Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior

• Communication tools, such as Skype, Edmodo, and Diigo give students the opportunity to meet the standard of Digital Citizenship. These tools allow students to communicate with others on the internet in a public or semi-public forum. Students need to practice ethical online behavior and adherence to laws when using these tools to share ideas and information.
• Publishing tools such as Wix and Wikispaces also require students to practice digital citizenship, especially if they are publishing websites of their own. Students need to ensure that they are publishing legal content that is appropriate for their audience.

Finding the most valuable and appropriate ways to use technology in the classroom are important for getting the most out of Web 2.0 tools. The NETS-S  and the NETS-S Student Profiles provide a great resource for planning and application of WEB 2.0 tools in the classroom. 


Resources:

AudioBoo. (2012) http://audioboo.fm
Diigo. (2012) http://www.diigo.com
Dropbox http://www.dropbox.com
Edmodo. (2012) http://www.edmodo.com
Google Docs. (2012) http://docs.google.com
Google+ Hangout. (2012) http://plus.google.com

ISTE. (2012)  International Society for Technology in Education: Standards. Retrieved from: http://www.iste.org/standards
ISTE. (2012). NETS for Students. Retrieved from: http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-students/nets-student-standards-2007
ISTE. (2012). NETS Student Profiles Retrieved from: http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-students/nets-for-students-2007-profiles

Skype. (2012) http://www.skype.com
Voice Thread. (2012) http://voicethread.com
Wikispaces. (2012) http://www.wikispaces.com
Wix. (2012) http://wix.com

Exploring PBL

"Learning by doing" takes on a whole new meaning when it comes to Project Based Learning. My experience with Project Based Learning (PBL) in the classroom has been limited. I have read a bit on the subject, but it was great to have the opportunity to see what PBL actually looks like in the classroom. Just like PBL itself, it takes a lot more than just reading about a topic to fully understand it.

Edutopia is a great website created by The George Lucas Educational Foundation that houses a wealth of resources on teaching and learning strategies that help educators create dynamic 21st century classrooms. The site provides videos, resources, ideas, exemplars, and much more at no cost for the K-12 classroom.

My education in PBL began at Newsome Park Elementary School and the article More Fun Than A Barrel of... Worms?! by Diane Curtis. Students at all grade levels were participating in PBL throughout the school. Projects ranged from learning about, and trading on the New York Stock Exchange and creating their own business, to research about a classmates disease, to becoming "Wormologists." Another great example of PBL came from students at Mountlake High School and was featured in the article Geometry Students Angle Into Architecture Through Project Learning by Sara Armstrong. With this project, students used the math they learned to design and create schools of the future for the year 2050. Yet another example of how PBL can work, with even the youngest students came from students at Rockledge Elementary School as described in the article March of the Monarchs: Students Follow the Butterflies' Migration, also written by Diane Curtis. Here, students tracked the migration path of the monarch butterfly from Canada to Mexico.

While all of these projects covered a wide variety of topics over different grade levels, there were many commonalities to be found. One of the first things I noticed was that there was a flexibility in the curriculum that allowed for these projects to take place. All of the projects were infused with state standards and were cross curricular. Something else that I found exciting about the design of all of the projects was how they incorporated the use of field experts as a resource. They brought in real world experts as resources to support and evaluate the students' work. All of the projects had a variety of end products within each project and they were all cross-curricular. Every project included components from each academic discipline. It provided accessibility for all students at every entry point. Most importantly, all of the projects had students working on real-world issues and had them making connections to the greater world.

The role of the teacher and the students is very different from those in a traditional classroom. The teachers plan the components of the projects so that they are relevant to the students, but the students do the work in educating themselves. They do the work to become the experts on the topic. In the end, they present their projects to an audience as experts and are able to speak knowledgeably on their topic and field questions, as would any field expert. They take pride and ownership of what they have learned and are excited to share it. The teachers' work is mostly in the planning, the support in developing project ideas, creating valuable assessment tools, and to support students during the process. Teachers help by providing feedback and questioning to stimulate thinking in the students. At no point is the teacher teaching the students how to move through their project.

As one student from Newsome Park Elementary stated, "If you find it yourself, it stays in your brain." I think this sums up why educators promote PBL. Teachers provide a time and space for students to explore things that they are interested in learning about. Teachers and students develop their project ideas together, giving students a say in their education process and what they learn. The skills they develop and the knowledge they gain stay with them because it is something they wanted to know or needed to learn to do in order to accomplish their goal. Just as kids will figure out how to beat a video game, only to go on to master the next version, they are able to transfer the skills they learned to use in one project and apply and adapt them to other similar tasks. Project Based Learning is a way to develop critical thinking and life-long skills in students that they can own and use throughout their lives.


Resources


Armstrong, S. (2002). Geometry Students Angle into Architecture Through Project Learning. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/geometry-real-world-students-architects

Curtis, D. (2001). More Fun Than a Barrel of . . . Worms?!. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/more-fun-barrel-worms

Curtis, D. (2002). March of the Monarchs: Students Follow the Butterflies' Migration. Retrieved from  http://www.edutopia.org/march-monarchs