Creating Learning Opportunities That Challenge Students to Use a Design Process to Innovate and Solve Problems

This week's learning was all about creating learning opportunities that challenge students to use a design process to innovate and solve problems. 

A.J Juliani & John Spencer wrote the book, LAUNCH: Using Design Thinking to Boost Creativity and Bring Out the Maker in Every Student, which is the book I have been using to help guide our learning for the different ISTE learning objectives we are focusing on for this learning team. These two authors created this design process as a way to help others integrate design thinking into everyday learning that takes place in the classroom. The LAUNCH Cycle was the perfect way to get us thinking about the week's design process learning objective!

To begin our learning for the day, we spent time reading about the LAUNCH Cycle. Next, we used a collaborative Google Doc to share our thoughts to the following questions, then held a live group discussion. 

Next, after reviewing the phases of the LAUNCH Cycle together, participants were presented with two challenge options to choose from.  

 

Participants formed their teams, then used some resources I put together for them to use while they worked their way through the LAUNCH Cycle phases and completed their challenge. 

Both teams did a fantastic job with their designs! 

When the designs were complete for the day, we took some time to reflect on the design process they used. There are several questions that came up in their reflections. It will be fun to address these questions together next week! 

I learned several things from going through this learning activity from the facilitator perspective. I learned how important it is to have question stems ready to go for the different phases of the LAUNCH cycle, for both students and the facilitator. I also learned that I need to spend more time finding ideas to help make the different phases easier to formatively assess and provide feedback. If I was using this process with a particular learning goal in mind (such as a writing, research, or content standard) I would definitely need some resources to help my students focus on that particular learning goal. For this upcoming week, I am going to spend some time helping teachers think through examples of how this design process can be used in their own classroom. 

Launch Cycle Plan... aka Change the World... aka No Out-of-Class Grading Project

We all need our motivators. And at the end of the year, my motivation is going to be "How do I get out of here without spending all my time grading stuff?" So launch cycle, here I come!!

My kids are reading The Giver which is supposed to be a utopia, but it's not really. I mean *SPOILER* they kill people when they get too old or if they break rules or are a baby who won't sleep or grow fast enough... Um.. MESSED UP! But that is also what makes the novel so good!

Anyway, so after the emotional rollercoster that is this book... We will take a look at world issues and each group is going to try to tackle a world issue they want to help solve. How can you create awareness? How can you do something small to help? What steps can you take? How is social media going to help? AKA all the social media!!

Like I said in our Google Hangout, now is the time to try this stuff because if it fails... well... I say good bye to the kids and we try again another time! :)

So... I better get a certain someone in my classroom at the end of the year to make sure this thing doesn't flop!!! *cough* Janelle *cough* Clear your schedule!!!

#4 Using the LAUNCH Cycle Ideas

         I really love having the framework of the LAUNCH Cycle. I do so many projects with the students, and I think this would help me and the students focus on the learning while creating the project. I am really excited about learning more about it and looking through the resources to help me plan and teach!
       Some of the areas that I can really see using it are when we talk about working and living in space. Students have some choice in areas of interest and then create models. We build rockets and design parts that will help it fly higher and straighter (fins, shape, size), so the research piece of LAUNCH is really important. I really like the part where the students can create, test, and then go back to make improvements before sharing it with an audience. To me, this is where the learning really takes place; and it how the real world works.
        Other areas are when I get to teach 8th graders and the curriculum is a lot about human impact on the world. When I was listening to Ms. Mangold today,  I thought it would be really neat to do a joint project where they read the book in her room, and learned about real world issues in science, then designed a way to either educate the adults around us or established a project or event that would address some of the issues they see that need to be "fixed." I think that would be so empowering to students and something they would never forget. I just really love the process and I want to know more about it and use it. I can't wait to learn more and try it.

Design Thinking in the Classroom

Reading about the LAUNCH design, I've struggled to figure out how to incorporate it into my classroom next year.  Student empowerment, student choice, creativity ... all of those I can envision.  Design thinking?  That's tougher.  I'm intrigued, however, and I wanted to go deeper, so I did purchase the LAUNCH book - and I'm working my way through it.  I'm about halfway through and, while I still don't fully see how I can use this in my ELA classroom, they do discuss Wonder Days, 20% and other methods of allowing students to follow their passions, which I can see using a bit more easily than the full LAUNCH design.  Maybe I'm reading it wrong and it's not as "big" or as time-consuming as it seems, but since the authors even note that time is a valid issue, I may not be as far off as I think I am.

That being said, I did connect to what the authors said about research.  Too many times we think only of text-based research, when there are so many other sources out there students can use.  With my media background, I'm all over that :)  Yes, there's text research, but there's also multimedia (YouTube was the example they gave - if you want to learn how to do something, most people will watch YouTube videos over reading a manual).  Videos, podcasts, etc. are just as valid as some text-based sources.  As the authors point out, no matter what type of source your students use, they have to learn how to evaluate it (if it's reliable, for example). 

One quote that stuck with me, so far, is "If you assign a project and get back thirty of the exact same thing, that's no a project.  That's a recipe."  To me, this fits into everything we've talked about so far in this class - student ownership, student choice, and creativity.  If we set what standards we want to hit, but we give the kids leeway on the product (and possibly the journey), we're getting them to think deeper.

I'm going to finish the LAUNCH book (not before this class is over, but hopefully before the year is over!)  I'm also going to continue digging into project-based learning and other collaboration designs.  It's possible I'll never use LAUNCH in its entirety, but in combination with things - or simply adopting the mindset of the authors - I think I can bring a lot of interesting methods to my classroom next year.

Let's Go To LAUNCH

The LAUNCH Cycle is an interesting framework to try and implement learning methods in a classroom. I liken the Launch Cycle to the scientific method. I see parallels between the process. There is a problem that is identified. Theories and ideas about the problem are created. Some sort of experimentation and implementation of methods. The you take information about the methods and alter them to make them better and cover more and allow for more learning.
Social Studies talks about all sorts of problems and issues we have in the world. Students are able to identify these problems and come up with a whole slew of creative solutions. We talk about pollution all the time, especially after the release of the worldwide sensation video 'EARTH." We watched the video in class and talked about the problems and how we can work and what we can do to possibly alleviate the problem. The students are able to use the Launch Cycle to make and set goals on things that they want to learn. It covers the topic for creation and taking ownership of their learning. 

Launch Cycle example...and a small rant.

   There are several instructional models to help guide teachers in the lesson design process.  No matter the model, each lesson needs to have a clearly articulated learning objective or standard.  The model that I am going to use for this blog post is the LAUNCH Cycle that was developed by John Spencer and AJ Juliani.  This model is best used when there is a tangible finished project.  The steps in the LAUNCH Cycle are as follows:

                 L-  Look, Listen, Learn

  A-      Ask tons of questions

  U-  Understand the process or problem

  N-  Navigate Ideas

                 C-  Create a prototype

                 H- Highlight and fix

   The project that I am looking at creating is for US History I during our study of the Gilded Age.  I am going to look at the works of Horatio Alger.  He is best known for his novels about young men working from nothing to middle or upper class.  His novels emphasize hard work and honesty.  Using this as a backdrop, as a class we are going to look at the traits of successful people.  This is going to be the first step of the process.  The second step is questioning.  We will brainstorm traits of successful people and look at different mindsets like victim mindset verses and empowered mindset.  This will be done in groups with each group sharing their findings.  The next step will be each group looking at successful people and their character traits.  This will be through the internet.  The groups will also need to find someone in the community that has been successful in their profession.  The groups will need to develop questions and organize their findings.  This is the understanding part of the process.   The navigation part of the process will have the groups organize their information and look for trends and similarities of what successful people have done to get to where they are.  The next step is creating a web page with their findings.  They will need to create profiles of the people they talked to and researched.  These will be placed on a class website.  The students will evaluate each group’s work as part of the last step before the pages go live.  There will be a final step that I want the students to accomplish before we wrap up this project.  I want the students to individually reflect on several things.  These include what they see for themselves after high school, how will they get there, and what habits will either help or hinder them in achieving their goals.  The students will be evaluated using a rubric that they receive beforehand so that they have an idea on what my expectations are.  Students will use shared documents within their groups.  They will also use audio and or video for their interviews.  They will create the web pages to present their information as well as presenting it to the class.

   I will also evaluate myself using Scott McLeod’s 4 Shifts Protocol.  The first being deeper thinking and learning.  After some background information, I believe that the students will be using critical thinking skills, practicing effective communication skills, collaboration, and creativity.  The second involves authentic work.  In using members of the community, the students will be moving their learning outside of the classroom and start the process of learning how to interact with adults outside of a classroom setting.  The third protocol involves student agency and personalization.  The groups will have the freedom to choose different people to focus their project on along with different ways for the final project to look.  The last protocol looks at technology use.  The technology that the students will be using allows for better organization and communication.  The technology use is not just an add on, but an integral part of the project.

   This may not seem like a typical history project, but a big part of history is looking at the lessons from the past and applying them to current  and future decisions.  We need to get beyond answers that can be answered by a simple Google search and explore the lessons, struggles, and triumphs or those that came before us.  History can be a great avenue to teach critical thinking skills and discover the paths to our own personal success at whatever level we are able to achieve. 

Using Design Thinking in Classroom

Design thinking is an interesting model for classroom learning and an interesting way to try and get students to move from just being engaged in their learning to facilitating and taking control of their own learning.  As we learned about in our session design process requires a great deal of time for the students to explore the hows of their learning and work on designing and redesigning their work.  I have really worked to try and come up with some useful ideas for how to use design thinking in my classroom experience moving forward.  Many of the ideas I came across in my research are something that either does not seem feasible to me or is something that seems like it is not really an idea designed to help students learn/use the curriculum but more to just create a product.  I really struggled with how to use design thinking in the Foreign Language classroom but then I realized that I could much more easily add it to my ELL classes to spark the students use of English skills.  If my students were asked to create a game out of a few simple objects then I could use that as a framework for our learning and build-in assessments and steps that forced the students to use English Language skills in order to present aspects of their learning and creation such as: written rules for the game, a video explanation of how to play the game, research notes and annotations that show how they research and understand, etc. I also think that I can work on having the students use their own interests as a base and have them work to find solutions to the problems that they see in the world or the things they want to improve and make better and have them use the Launch cycle process with assessment steps as a framework to use the language and help grow in their English skills

As I continue to try and research ideas for design theory and the launch cycle I'm sure I will become more inspired to use specific ideas to get the students best possible engagement. As of right now I am still a little short-changed on specific ideas but I hope to continue to gain a better understanding moving forward

I know that I have much to learn and that there are many different ways out there that the students can be reached out to in order to make their learning more enjoyable and provide a better grasp of the content and a more meaningful learning experience.  I think that Design theory is one way that we can really reach out to students to help motivate them and empower them to take control and responsibility for their own learning.

#2 Ownership

I tried this out in my 8FACS class, we are currently talking about the rising obesity trends and trying to figure out the answer to, "Why is America fat?". I created four different groups: Technology, Lifestyle, Mass Production, and the fourth group was your call (example: fast food). The students choose their groups and picked their topic of research. After completing their research the kids then formed an opening statement for the great debate.  The kids really got into debating their topics because they simply wanted to win! Obviously every side of the debate was correct but the real winners were decided by a group of study hall kids who listened to the debate and decided on who best presented their case. This was a fun activity for the kids and I can defiantly see myself using it again in my future food classes.

Creativity in a Cycle!?!

Obviously I am not a creative individual.  I think inside the box and need push to get outside.  When introduced to the launch cycle and even throughout the process, I struggled to see how I could possibly apply this to a math class if I were back in the classroom unless I deviated from the norm and added "fun" activities that may or may not provide enough math instruction to justify taking time away from the curriculum.  Then I started thinking about the CPM courses we use, and more directly related to my work, the Discrete Math class that Mr. Pollock and I are in training to teach.  Much like CPM, the entire class is problem-based.  In fact, it takes problem-based instruction a few steps further!  We have been swimming in difficult problems, from the 7 Bridges of Konigsberg to game theory and various versions of Thai 21.  This got me thinking in a different direction.

The activities we did in class were fun, but had the main objective of walking us through the LAUNCH cycle.  While they have a place in certain classrooms (flex period intramurals came to mind), creative processes don't have to deviate that far from my curriculum.  For example, in the problem of the 7 bridges, the task is to determine a route so that you are able to cross every bridge in the city in a single trip without doubling back over any one of them.  The first step of this task is to Look and Learn - what is the problem?  The second step is to begin Asking Questions about the problem - Where are the bridges?  Can I walk across the "island" to get to the next bridge or do I have to traverse the closest bridge next?  Next, I have to Understand the Problem or Process of the task - Can I draw this out?  Do I have parameters within the problem that have to be followed or met?  Now I'm ready for the best part, Navigate Ideas - What's my approach and how many ways can I brainstorm to solve this?  Finally, I'm ready to CREATE!  I can create various paths over and over until I solve the problem.  As I'm working through this, I can Highlight What's Working and Failing!  I have to determine the solution and cannot do so without critically thinking about my mistakes. 

This is a perfect problem-solving strategy for math!  If I went back into the classroom, I think I would begin the year by teaching this approach to students.  We'd spend at least a couple of weeks, if not a little more, learning how to LAUNCH into a problem, analyze our FAILURES, and solve problems that we thought were impossible!

Creativity

When I had a classroom, it seemed to be much easier to encourage creativity in language class than in math.  I think part of that was because students were so caught up with the desire - no the NEED - to be right.  They were and still are terrified to be wrong.  We fail, in education and as parents, to encourage and reward risk-taking.  We fail to teach them that without failure we do not learn.  This week's learning was a great reminder that we need to take time to teach students that failure is not just an option, it's a requirement.  We need to provide opportunities for students to explore, to try, to create, and to fail! 

As I reflect on this and courses I previously taught, I realize that I didn't take time at the beginning of the year to instill this concept.  We talked about it, had class meetings to discuss our thoughts and feelings, but I didn't truly instill the idea and provide ALL students with opportunities to fail.  In other words, I failed to provide enough challenge to all students so that they had ample opportunity to fail and learn from that failure.  This is my biggest regret for students I've taught.  I did't ask them to think outside the box enough.  I didn't give them puzzles they would take days to solve.  I just didn't give them enough chances to be creative thinkers.

#4 LAUNCH

LAUNCH in PE...This is a great idea going into the end of the year to either spark some creativity or let the kids reflect back on our previously learned games in order to create a new game. The last 3 weeks of PE is set aside for leisure activities and I think it would be a great idea to let the kids create their own leisure activity. The first week we could present the class with the staggering statistics of inactivity and obesity among the US population and challenge the kids to come up with a leisure activity that is inclusive for all abilities. The first week would be the design phase, the second week would be the trail phase and the third week would be the launch phase where their games are shared among classes and grade levels.

Reflections on the In Class Game Created

1. Was this an easy or hard process to follow? Explain your thoughts.

It is always difficult to "rein in" all of the various personalities and abilities to follow the process. Once our group got going, it seemed to flow!


2. What was your favorite phase of the process?
I loved the research process to decide what we were going to create. I also enjoyed creating the game with the group. Everyone had something to contribute.

3. What was the hardest phase of this process?
For me, knowing when to stop and move forward. I tend to get focused or preoccupied with various parts of the creative process. Students  of mine do the same. It helped when I was asked to moved on.

4. What structures do you need to put in place in order to make this process work better than it did today?
The structure needs to be developed further--creating a more effective design. It needs color and solid design to attract the players. I would make sure rules/instructions and work out the "bugs" to make it work better.

Fostering Student Creativity

I really enjoyed the reading about creativity.  One of the examples that I have done in the past was a housing unit I did for the students.  We looked at the process of buying a house, financing, credit scores, real estate principles, and other concepts relate to these things.  I had a realtor in town show us different houses and told us things we needed to look for.  After that I had the students design and then build models of their dream house.  In the end it came down to what decisions do they need to make in life to make that dream house a reality.
 I believe one of the hardest parts of fostering creativity is mindset.  The majority of people are consumers not creators of content.  Many people do not think they can be creative or are scared to try.  This will be a challenge for students and teachers but we cannot be afraid to try.

Objective 3--Nurturing Creativity

Student Choice Lesson for Of Mice and Men Background Information

Click to toggle options.

Of Mice and Men—Lesson 1

Essential Question: What was John Steinbeck’s historical context?

Learning Target: I can understand homelessness.

__1.       Chart what students already know about kids riding the rails in the Great Depression on a big piece of paper. After viewing continue to add to each group's chart(s). 

2.   2.    Students will view the PBS documentary Riding the Rails and complete a study guide that goes with the film (to focus on important information regarding the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, and migrant workers. 

__3.      The students can fill out the study guide while the documentary is going. Afterwards,  hold a discussion and  fill out your personal reflections. Add new knowledge to the chart. Do this together as a class. 

__4.       Part II of the personal reflections write a letter from the point of view of a teenager during the 1930's who has run away to ride the rails. Explain why you left and what you are experiencing. What are your hopes? What are your fears?

Student Choice:

You are to create a Power Point presentation of at least 10 slides and a title slide (11 in all) or create a video documentary over one of your topics from your chart posted in the classroom.

1. Include pictures/photographs.

2. Include important information to educate your audience.

3. Support your topic with sources. You can include that in the credits or in the notes of PP.

4. Grammar/Spelling is important! 

5. Be creative with your groups and have fun!

6. You can add music from the time period, animation, etc.

This is how the original lesson started. After studying in class about nurturing creativity, I immediately asked my class additional ways they could present their topic regarding the any topic of interest from their chart(s) about the 1930's, Great Depression, Dust Bowl, Riding the Rails, etc. 

Results:

1. In addition to the Power Point, the kids began thinking about different ways of researching and presenting these topics. Many discussions, research and laughs took place. I am enclosing pics of what my class is doing! There is some great learning happening!

2. To begin with, here are the charts  each small group  worked on.

Students are creating a game. They felt this would help people learn "facts" about the topic(s).

Students below are researching and creating  a documentary/power point.

Intensive research and recording of notes.  These students are creating a video.

I am very excited to see the end result of these different forms of creativity in the work. The students continue to learn and research amazing facts! This has been very gratifying. 

Creative Writing + Local Artist = Best Thing EVER!!

Next year, I'll be teaching a brand new class tittled "Creative Writing". My minor was creative writing, so this is right up my alley. As we talked through making our kids creators, makers, and do-ers, I thought about how it really means that when we are writing, we need an audience more than myself. How do you make writing meaninful? It seems simple and the ideas are endless, but the amount of work seems daunting sometimes. It can be a lot when you aren't from a community with community/family connections that go back decades, or if you are timid about asking people for help. 

Bring those thoughts to the idea of what do I have kids do with their writing? I could try to figure something out for the last quarter, but what if I planned something out for next year? What if the world of creativity just dropped in my lap and a beautiful plan came together one day after school in the office? Well then... you just have to run with it!! 

We have a local artist who loves to bind her own books/prints. As in make a professional looking, hard-cover book! I love the idea of actually publishing the kids' writing (short stories and poetry) into a book. But what if they actually made their own book?? Like made the binding? This local artist believes the kids could do it. She also gave an estimate on the amount of materials, and I checked with Mr. Perrien and I actually have a bit of money that I could spend on this! 

So the plan is this: 

1. We spend our semester reading mentor texts, writing, editing and revising, and at the end of all things, we will finally have publish worthy writing. 

2. We have our local artist bind together a super professional looking hard cover book (Support local businesses!!). 

3. We have a workshop where the kids get to bind their own books to keep!! 

4. The professionally bound book gets displayed at our local library, our media center, and maybe even some businesses that have waiting rooms where people could read the kids' work while they wait! 

Authentic audience, old school awesomeness, and kids having the ultimate goal of publishing their work. 

OMG! What if the kids even designed images for the books?? What if we had an author's night? What if they read them aloud on the radio for Jerry?? What if Jerry read them aloud on the radio? What if one of the kids took their writing and used it for a speech script?  ALL THE THINGS!! 

#3 Creative Lab Opportunity

     In 7th grade science, we have been talking about kinetic and potential energy. The students, in answering my questions about their Rube Goldberg projects, seemed hesitant to answer the questions about the relationship between mass, kinetic energy and velocity.  So... I found some boards, nails, rubber bands, and a box of washers in the back room and designed an experiment for the students. The data that needed to be recorded and the questions to by questions were uploaded into Schoology for students to complete on their computers and turn in. The students had a blast with this project, because it allowed them to experiment on their own, and get their information, then use that data to explain that relationship between mass, velocity, and kinetic energy. There was deeper understanding after this day of experimenting.

Laboratory Investigation

Relating Mass, Velocity, and Kinetic Energy

Problem: How does a change in mass affect the velocity of an object if its kinetic energy is constant?

Procedure:

1.     In front of the rubber band, place the two washers that have been stuck together.

2.     Pull the washers and the rubber band back about 2 cm. Release the rubber band. The washers should slide down the board.  Practice this until you can make the washers go about the same distance every time.

3.     Mark the point where you pulled the rubber band back to and this will be your launching point for the rest of the experiment.

4.     Launch the double washer three times and measure the distance and record it in a data table.

5.     Repeat step 4. For the stack of 4 washers and record in the table, and again with the stack of 6 washers.

Distance (cm)	2 Washers	4 Washers	6 Washers
Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Average

Analysis and Conclusions:

1.    What is the relationship between the mass, or number of washers, and the average distance traveled?

2.    What kind of energy was the washers when you held them at the launching point?  How do you know?

3.    After the washers were launched, what kind of energy did they have?

4.    You launched all the washers from the same position. Was the energy the same for each launch?

5.    Assume that the further the washers slid, the greater their initial velocity. Did the heavier group of washers move slower or faster than the lighter group?

6.    If the kinetic energy is the same for each set of washers, what happens to the velocity as the mass increases?

On Your Own Learning

For this assignment I started to look at Jamboard which is a program designed for interactive boards that is part of the G Suite.  I started to view YouTube videos to learn how this products works and can be used.  Google had a great tutorial with lesson designs along with the how to instructions to perform certain features. So now on to opening Jamboard in the G Suite.  I found that the program we had is missing a lot of the functionality that I had learned about.  Sigh.....  Well, I guess that is a lesson that is learned as well.  Sometimes things do not work as we would like them to.  Failure is an option.  I guess the lesson in this is resiliency.  Not everything happens the way we want.  This is also a great lesson for our students to learn.  There are times we have to step back to go forward.

#3 Creativity

After class, I was thinking about how different my definition of creativity was compared to the others; basically taking nothing and creating something. But this is also how I use creativity in my classroom. I am thinking more about my future classes and how I will inspire creativity within the classroom. Creativity is an amazing skill to have with the kitchen. Being able to a simple ingredient and transform it into something magical, dressing up plates into pieces of visual art. Creativity is limitless in the kitchen and should be highly encouraged and used. Within ProStart we will be using our creativity skills a lot. The kids will constantly be given a set of ingredients and be asked to interpret them as they wish, turning their ingredients into a entree, appetizer, and dessert. The kids will be given opportunities to explore functionality and flavor profiles of individual ingredients to create new and inspiring dishes.

Fostering Student Creativity

Since I don't have a classroom to test this out on right now, I'm going back in time to think about an activity I used in American Literature five years ago.  Since I'm the drama director, and the only way to read plays in class is to read them aloud, I would "cast" The Crucible.  I gave them choices for parts - they told me if they wanted a big part, a medium part, or a small part.  Everyone read, but some would only have one or two lines throughout the entire play.  I found that the class understood the play and followed along better if one student was John Proctor (or any other character) the entire time - it helped them keep the characters straight.  While some students simply read to get it over with, some really got into it.  And no, not every one of those students was my drama/speech kids.  So that was fun to watch - some really put their creativity into the parts.

Beyond that, one of the projects we did was a Facebook page for a character.  It didn't have to be the character they portrayed (because, frankly, not every character is fleshed out well enough to create a profile ... and I wanted them to choose a character they liked - or hated).  With the Facebook page, they had to find a profile picture, fill in biographical details, post several times to their "wall" about certain events they were dealing with, and comment on a couple posts as other characters.  All of the posts and comments were to be how the character would actually respond, not how the student would respond.  The kids seemed to like it - and it was fun to see how they thought the characters would react to other characters from the play.

Looking ahead to next year, Literature Explorations will be a mix of American Lit, Brit Lit, and World Lit.  I want to teach The Crucible in that class (the play is truly one of the things I have missed teaching the past five years), but Facebook is soooo five years ago.  To make this activity more connected to the students, I'm looking into doing something with SnapChat or Instagram.  I don't know exactly how I'll get the other characters into it yet, but I'm working on it. 

Fostering Creativity

When it comes to fostering creativity in the classroom, we as teachers might be fighting an uphill battle. That is no problem for us, though, because we know what the students are capable of and we can get it out of the. That is why we get paid the big bucks and have a Secretary of Education who believes in us as well (insert sarcastic eye roll emoji). In my classroom, I want to give the students every possible way of creating their own means of expression on class topics. In the Topics in Psych class, we were in the chapter about deviance and behavior. There are several topics that the students might find interesting and I want to give them the chance to show in their own way what Deviance might mean to them. We are getting ready to start the new chapter on race and ethnicity. I am thinking about creating a project where the students learn about their ethnic heritage and create some sort of expression to show off their heritage. Maybe they could create some sort of poster, or learn some words in a native language, or maybe they show off an ethnic dance. There are many ways for the students to create different means of expression, especially when it involves them and their personal histories. There has to be some way for a student to show off where their ancestors came from. It does not have to be an elaborate presentation because freshmen boys sure as heck will not do that, but maybe they can draw a picture of make a slide show to show off some historical and geographic representations of the countries that their family came from.

Fostering Creativity in Students

For this weeks lesson as we were talking about fostering creativity in students I had to reflect on my own teaching and realize that I really need to get back to using methods and ideas to help foster students creativity in their learning.  To that end this week I was doing a lesson using station based learning to have the students practice our content for the week and to differentiate from our traditional classroom learning experience.  As part of that experience I chose for one of our stations to help try and foster students creative use of our content to create a "Librito" where the students were told that they had to create a book that used each of the verbs that we were going over and had an image of what they were discussing on each page.  For some of my more artistically driven students this was great because it allowed them to use their artistic abilities to demonstrate an understanding of the content.  All students had to think creatively to create their own unique version of their books which really sparked some of my students interests in the content and deepened their understanding of content.

One of the things I continue to struggle with in terms of this standard and with 21st century learning as a whole is trying to give the students more control and not keep control of all parts of the learning process myself.  I think it is hard as a teacher to allow for students to go outside of a strict structure for their learning and instead allow them the freedom to be creative in the way they demonstrate their knowledge.  I will need to continue to find different ways for the students to demonstrate their creativity and foster student creativity in demonstrating their competency in the content that we are learning.

Student Ownership

This week has been a whooper with ISASP testing going on, but the kids have been champs! I, on the other hand, have been lost in a deluge of new technology and trying not to find a way to make fun things slightly school related so the kids aren't burnt out.

Anyway, this brings me to my journey of student ownership this week and how it hasn't been great. The immediate thing I think of is how I let the kids have choices fairly often. How long do they want to spend on this activity, which one do they want to do first, which option do you want for this project, partners or individual, etc. However, I think that is really different from student ownership. Student ownership is where the kids take the learning and are self motivated for the sake of the learning/project. It isn't just about the grade, it's about them being spurred on about learning about their topic or doing the "cool stuff" they want to. Maybe I'm not being reflective enough or don't know the signs of student ownership, but I don't think I see that in my classroom often.

Is classroom ownership the kids being invested in a book that we are reading? Is it the kid who is forced by their mother and teacher to redo a project at home and then it is actually and wonderfully way better than their original? That bit of time at home and repetition of expectations and they are able to be really creative with it? What does this really look like in our/my classroom? Choices are easy. But I don't think that's the fully issue. Am I there yet? Nope. Do I have any good ideas about that right now? Nope.

So here I am, stuck in the middle of ISASP testing with not much to show for student ownership. The journey continues, and I need some ideas. Could this BE any sadder?

Own Your Learning

To help foster student ownership of their learning, I explored a tool called Explain Everything.  This is an awesome tool that can be used in a variety of ways.  You can start with a blank slate and use it like a whiteboard.  You can also select a template and use a variety of media to create your learning page or notes.

I decided to start with a template to see how it worked.  There are several to choose from and I decided to try one that I could use myself during meetings.

After selecting the template, I played around with zooming in and out, typing, and writing with my finger.  It took me a few tries to figure out how it worked best.  If you zoom incorrectly, your writing doesn't stay where you want it!

I loved this template and may use it for my notes.  It's pretty easy to add different types of notes, erase, and move them around for organizational purposes.  When I was done, I had a sheet that I could zoom in and out of at will.  It reminded me of Thing Link and how it zooms in and out of areas on the canvas.

I could see this tool being very useful during lectures and research for students who have trouble organizing.  It could also be a great tool for groups who work together as it's easy to add collaborators to your page.  I also thought about trying this out for a lab or project.  I could have the steps listed out for kids to follow, and they could take notes as they go along, making sticky notes of questions or ah-has as they work through the lab.  It would all be in one spot, they wouldn't lose it, and they could easily share it.  It would help facilitate their learning while helping them stay engaged and learn how to organize their thinking.  What a great way to take control of your own learning!

Project Flip Grid

     I had my 7th graders record their Rube Goldberg projects on Flip Grip. The really neat part was that every 7th grader could see all of the projects, not just the ones in their class period. It was a great tool for students to see other student's ideas and switch from being creator to being the one who evaluates.  It was really fun to see students who don't like to talk much in class, loved to record themselves. They were awesome!

     After they did the Flip Grid and were required to watch other student's projects, I had them answer questions about which ones worked the best and why. I also had them talk about the project -- what they enjoyed, what they didn't card for, and especially what they learned about potential and kinetic energy.