I believe the article entitled "Instead of, Learn the Tools, Perhaps, Discover the Poetry Within" should be a MUST-READ for all educators, administrators, families and students. The link to the article, by Petr888 posted on the Adobe Education Leaders blog page, is listed below. The online resource is connected to Adobe, which is specific to digital editing type products and techniques. However, if that isn't your subject matter, don't let it sway you. Author Petr888 writes,"...creativity is not longer an elective, it's our future" and "Don’t teach theory, teach what you can do with it." That's the focus, and something I think we all need to focus on in our classroom and educational institutions. I, similar to the author of the article, have many students in my media technology classroom, who do not excel in their core academic areas. However, they tend to flourish in my classroom. I don't teach theory. In fact, I tell my students up front there are many ways to interpret and accomplish our learning objectives, and often times it's up to the students to find how to best get there. Most assignments and lessons in my class start with brainstorming sessions to get the creative juices flowing before we even jump into the new topic. Students then take part in a discovery process, with new information and techniques, to figure out how to use writing, filming and editing techniques (with Adobe products) to create and produce a digital story. Students who don't typically excel in LAL, math, science, and history are using skills from those subject matters, along with leadership, organization and communication, to be creative in the classroom - and most of all they enjoy it! Check out the link below to read more from the author and be inspired!
Petr888. "Instead of, Learn the Tools, Perhaps, Discover the Poetry Within." Adobe Education Leaders Blog, 29 February 2013. Web. 6 May 2013.
http://blogs.adobe.com/educationleaders/2013/02/instead-of-learn-the-tools-perhaps-discover-the-poetry-within.html
Jessica, I love the idea that you are allowing students to use their our exploration to reach the targeted learning objectives. Often times we tell students exactly what to do and how to get there. I find that then students are having trouble thinking for themselves or making decisions and feeling confident in what they are saying. Allowing students to be creative in their thinking and giving them opportunities to try and possibly come to a point where they need to change their idea, is huge for learning, exploring and higher order thinking. That is what the real world is all about, using what you know to come up with the end result! I think that as a teacher you need to be flexible in the way students learn and express their learning. Clearly your students are able to do this within your classroom even though they are having difficulty in their other subjects.
ReplyDeleteWe are seeing a big shift towards this way of thinking in math right now as well. Students need to be creative about how they use math. Instead of doing the same exact thing I did on an example over and over, students need to be able to apply what we're doing to a new context. They need to make sense of the choices they make, and be able to defend how they do something. I'm hoping those students who don't typically flourish in my class will begin to.
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