It's been an intense couple of weeks. My class and I have been sprinting to keep our heads above water. New use of technology kind of went by the wayside, but it was still very much present in our lives. My favorite technology related moment this week came out of a pattern app we were using to practice patterns before our test. The children were in front of the room leading their classmates in pattern practice via Learning Patters app. It's nothing more than pattern flash cards but it gave my children a chance to practice without me being in front of them and freed up a few minutes for me to help other children one on one. As we were wrapping up math that day one student was very upset. I was worried someone had done something to anger him. When I asked him what he was upset about he said, "I just want to do patterns and that one's not on the kid iPads!" And he was right. I asked the entire class if they would like to have the pattern app on the kid iPads for them to use on their own and I had an overwhelming yes. Patterns are usually a pretty big hit with the kindergarten crowd, but it was cool to see them spend a lot of time practicing as a group and then not want to stop. I ended up paying $1.99 to get the full version with all of the patterns. When I told this little guy that I had planned to even purchas the hard patterns for him to try he could barely contain his excitement. He knows I'm pretty forgetful so he asked if he could write me a note. This is what I had waiting on my computer when school got out that day.
Translation: Mosier, Put the patterns (patt-er-ins is how he says it- and write it!) on the iPads.
iypads. iPads. SAME THING!
I loved that he got to practice some great phonics while doing something that he found to be very important. And to be honest, I'm glad he wrote me the note because frazzled doesn't begin to explain my life right now, but I didn't forget to purchase the full version and add them to the kid iPads! Kid enthusiasm fuels my fire and I love it!
Creativity
I don't feel creative in the sense that I do lots of arts and crafts or that my house and/or classroom are coordinated and decorated just so. I am, however, creative in finding ways to get kids to learn as are are of the great teachers. That's what makes us great. But when I was asked how I help kids to be creative via technology, I didn't have an answer for that. Or I didn't have a GOOD answer.
When I attended the TechEdge conference last month at the University of Nebraka-Lincoln I got to attend a session on the maker space. The presenter was William Vann and he spoke about how he's able to provide materials, set some parameters and then allow children to explore, create, fail, revise, and maybe eventually succeed with an amazing amount of materials, some electronic and some not. I was so excited by the idea of giving kids time to explore and create and I've been thinking about how I could provide that for my students as well.
For class this week we read Creativity in technology education: providing children with glimpses of their inventive potential by Theodore Lewis. Just in the first couple of pages I felt like, "this guy gets it!" He spoke about the importance of allowing creativity to allow students to discover a possibly hidden talent. He was speaking of using technology as a way for students to use their own creativity according to their own particular strengths and abilities. While I am not able to provide a true maker space for my students, I do allow them to make some of their own choices when it comes to independent practice on the iPads. At those times they are much more in control of their learning than I am, but it's not truly creative. I do have a few students who have taken to minecraft and are building their own worlds. I enjoy listening to what they're working on and what they've accomplished in their game, but I can't take any credit for that. I set no parameters. I am not assessing it in any way. I'm just not allowing children any creativity via technology based on curriculum goals.
As I look down the road to the future and more iPads being available to us, I'd love to get kids writing via technology. I would love for students to be able to create their own character and print them on a 3D printer. I saw that Barnes and Noble has small da Vinci Jr. 3D printers for "only" $350. I think it would be phenomenal for students to create something in their 2D world on the ipad and then be able to print it out and have a real 3D object to hold, touch, show off, and take home. I want them to begin to understand that their ideas can become real. Of course I don't have that yet, nor do I see myself getting those things in the foreseeable future. I need to start bridging that gap for my students.
My students are already used to taking pictures around the room and then I've been putting makeshift collages together and showing them on the projector. I think the next step to start getting tangable items out of work done via the ipad would be to allow them to make their own collages using Pic Collage and then printing it and displaying it. I really hate printing but students take pride in displayed work and this would just be the next level of awesome for them. I can see them loving posters around the room of the letters of the week with their collages of what they've found either online or around the school pertaining to those letters. For my students who are writing I could see allowing them to write a sentence in a fun font or illustrating it in any number of was and displaying them around the room to bring more excitement to our weekly (somewhat boring) sight words.
The article talked about students having "insufficient opportunity for open-ended pursuits that are joyful" (Lewis, p.3) and I completely agree. The balancing act is that we have a very prescribed curriculum and each classroom needs to teach with fidelity to ensure that all students are getting an equal education. Of course I enhance where I can but that takes creativity on my part. I'm not very good at creativity right now. Fall is an extremely busy time of year in my house and this year with my students. I'm just trying to keep my head above water but you can be certain that when I have more help with parenting duties and when plans are in place for my students I'll be able to explore and get some more great things up and running because I totally agree that creativity is absolutely necessary. This article really helped me to see my inefficiencies and allowed me some time to plan for the next step with my students. It's uncomfortable but I need a push to start moving forward. I think Theodore Lewis just gave me a virtual nudge. Thanks, Mr. Lewis.
Translation: Mosier, Put the patterns (patt-er-ins is how he says it- and write it!) on the iPads.
iypads. iPads. SAME THING!
I loved that he got to practice some great phonics while doing something that he found to be very important. And to be honest, I'm glad he wrote me the note because frazzled doesn't begin to explain my life right now, but I didn't forget to purchase the full version and add them to the kid iPads! Kid enthusiasm fuels my fire and I love it!
Creativity
I don't feel creative in the sense that I do lots of arts and crafts or that my house and/or classroom are coordinated and decorated just so. I am, however, creative in finding ways to get kids to learn as are are of the great teachers. That's what makes us great. But when I was asked how I help kids to be creative via technology, I didn't have an answer for that. Or I didn't have a GOOD answer.
When I attended the TechEdge conference last month at the University of Nebraka-Lincoln I got to attend a session on the maker space. The presenter was William Vann and he spoke about how he's able to provide materials, set some parameters and then allow children to explore, create, fail, revise, and maybe eventually succeed with an amazing amount of materials, some electronic and some not. I was so excited by the idea of giving kids time to explore and create and I've been thinking about how I could provide that for my students as well.
For class this week we read Creativity in technology education: providing children with glimpses of their inventive potential by Theodore Lewis. Just in the first couple of pages I felt like, "this guy gets it!" He spoke about the importance of allowing creativity to allow students to discover a possibly hidden talent. He was speaking of using technology as a way for students to use their own creativity according to their own particular strengths and abilities. While I am not able to provide a true maker space for my students, I do allow them to make some of their own choices when it comes to independent practice on the iPads. At those times they are much more in control of their learning than I am, but it's not truly creative. I do have a few students who have taken to minecraft and are building their own worlds. I enjoy listening to what they're working on and what they've accomplished in their game, but I can't take any credit for that. I set no parameters. I am not assessing it in any way. I'm just not allowing children any creativity via technology based on curriculum goals.
As I look down the road to the future and more iPads being available to us, I'd love to get kids writing via technology. I would love for students to be able to create their own character and print them on a 3D printer. I saw that Barnes and Noble has small da Vinci Jr. 3D printers for "only" $350. I think it would be phenomenal for students to create something in their 2D world on the ipad and then be able to print it out and have a real 3D object to hold, touch, show off, and take home. I want them to begin to understand that their ideas can become real. Of course I don't have that yet, nor do I see myself getting those things in the foreseeable future. I need to start bridging that gap for my students.
My students are already used to taking pictures around the room and then I've been putting makeshift collages together and showing them on the projector. I think the next step to start getting tangable items out of work done via the ipad would be to allow them to make their own collages using Pic Collage and then printing it and displaying it. I really hate printing but students take pride in displayed work and this would just be the next level of awesome for them. I can see them loving posters around the room of the letters of the week with their collages of what they've found either online or around the school pertaining to those letters. For my students who are writing I could see allowing them to write a sentence in a fun font or illustrating it in any number of was and displaying them around the room to bring more excitement to our weekly (somewhat boring) sight words.
The article talked about students having "insufficient opportunity for open-ended pursuits that are joyful" (Lewis, p.3) and I completely agree. The balancing act is that we have a very prescribed curriculum and each classroom needs to teach with fidelity to ensure that all students are getting an equal education. Of course I enhance where I can but that takes creativity on my part. I'm not very good at creativity right now. Fall is an extremely busy time of year in my house and this year with my students. I'm just trying to keep my head above water but you can be certain that when I have more help with parenting duties and when plans are in place for my students I'll be able to explore and get some more great things up and running because I totally agree that creativity is absolutely necessary. This article really helped me to see my inefficiencies and allowed me some time to plan for the next step with my students. It's uncomfortable but I need a push to start moving forward. I think Theodore Lewis just gave me a virtual nudge. Thanks, Mr. Lewis.
I hear ya on the busy week! I got 2 students added with one needing a transition meeting on top of 8 home visits last week. I might look into the pattern app since my kiddos love doing patterns and might love them on the Ipad.
ReplyDeleteI think you are VERY creative, Nancy! I love the simple ways you engage students with technology to increase learning. This is a great post bringing in research by others and examples from your students. Continue to inspire creativity with your students. Try Project Based Learning!
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