In my opinion I think multimedia tools, like Discovery Education Board Builder, are a stellar form for students to display learning in all areas of Howard Gardner’s Five Minds. It allows students access to a wide variety of media that can be used to synthesize learning for multiple or individual disciplines. Using Board Builder to specifically address respectful and ethical areas of the mind are a bit harder to summarize. It goes more to students having a creative platform to present their ethical viewpoint or show respect for a discipline, rather than students employing a particular strategy for learning. Through images, video, interactive content, and text, students can clearly show their level of learning as well as their ethics and respect for others.
I have created a board to address sixth grade social studies standards on ancient civilization’s influence on current government. I used the board to review content on ancient civilizations from class discussions while giving them context with examples of the modern election process in the United States. Spotlighting early civilizations exposes students to others cultures and speaks to the respect and ethics of the Gardner’s five minds. This board builder also allows students to learn a respect for the government system by understanding the conditions for which it was created in early civilizations. In addition, I addressed the respectful and ethical mind by giving students the opportunity to reflect on their opinion of disenfranchised voters from the sixties. Through an early literacy test given to the poor and African American voters, students are guided to tap into their personal ethics toward their belief in voter’s rights. In our current political climate, I was struggling with my views and candidate choice this presidential election cycle. The I Side With… website was helpful for me to better understand all the issues and possible solutions up for debate. A link to the site is included in the board to allow students a resource to investigate the issues, as well as, begin to develop their own view for politics and respect for other oppositional voices in the debate conversation. Using Board Builder as a container to collect multimedia instructional tools is perfect for teachers wanting to address the mind as a whole. More importantly, I am looking to use Board Builder more effectively as an interactive display for students with assignments on showing their respect for literary genres, ethical consumption based on workers practices in other countries, and digital bulletin boards for reflective writing on how students can take a stand for injustice in their community. This will show the ethical and respectful mind through topic formation encompassing multiple areas of study. Howard Gardner. Five Minds for the Future. 2007. Harvard Business School Press, Boston MA.
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I have changed or learned several disciplines in my life from music, to technology integration and currently learning coach. Just as I am obtaining another degree now, it is continued learning that will exercise my disciplined mind. I have spoken before about Expeditionary Learning (EL) in my discussion and blog posts and this style of teaching is perfect for tapping into the complexity of the Synthesizing Mind. Teaching through PBL allows me to offer my students real world problems that integrate multiple disciplines and bring deeper meaning and genuine understanding of concepts within context. I look forward to continued work with EL Education. The Creative Mind was my favorite chapter of the 5 minds because I find excitement and joy in watching a student question the work and strive for a solution. Coaching a Robotics team and working with middle school innovators is my way of developing and retaining the creative (youthful) mind. (Gardner, p.88) I was collaborating with a teaching colleague recently, and He and I have very different backgrounds but we both believe in fairness, respect and, as the traditional beauty queen line goes, in world peace. He made a good point, “We've all been conditioned. We should step back, observe, and intentionally try to see our shared humanity.” I realized we teach history by chronicling wars and conquests with a giant highlighter in the book of life. Maybe we need to re-evaluate the curriculum and stress less war and teach Peace. I choose Peace! I realized that many of the Habits of Scholarship that my school incorporates into daily teaching, relate well to the 4 M’s litmus test for ethical workers. We can no longer expect students to understand what integrity and tenacity look and sound like in society. I have the obligation to teach the skills of respect and ethical behavior in order to obtain equal exchange of behavior suitable for learning and developing agents of change for our future world. I am excited to share about our second (digital) Expert Day that we have incorporated into the design elements of expeditions (PBL) at my school. EL Education strengthens learning for students through the implementation of Expeditionary Learning projects that are PBL in style and incorporate engaging, standards based lessons, collaboration opportunities, authentic audience, and high quality work. This is how we teach at my EL school. A large portion of the research and investigation for expeditions come from collaborating with experts from all walks of life. We have an expert day integrated into every grade level expedition (6th-8th) and some of those expert collaboration opportunities have taken place virtually. I understand some my consider this type collaboration, virtual field trips, but they are much more than a guest visiting the room or just talking via a webcam connection.
I listen to the projects Julie Lindsay and Vicki Davis describe from their book, Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds: Move to Global Collaboration One Step at a Time, and marvel at the experiences technology innovation has afforded students in the classroom of today. I, too, have read Friedman's, The World Is Flat and it fascinates me how much progress has been made in teaching and learning just since Friedman's publication in 2005. Much of that progress because of collaboration on a global spectrum. Thanks to technology, I can offer students access to a multitude of experts with which to collaborate on research, projects, or receive critics on their work. 8th grade expedition each year is called Take A Stand. Students are asked to take a stand for an injustice, research that problem or issue, and create an actionable solution to the problem. In the past, some students topics or culminating product has been in an area for which teachers or the internet had no first had knowledge. This is where social media photo bombs the picture. Last year we connected via Twitter and Facebook with slam poets in NC and the upper area of SC for students needing tips on presentation techniques. The poets connected with small groups of students via Google Hangout and allowed students to present to the poet for feedback. They met again after the editing process for one last feedback protocel before students went public with their slam poetry. My 7th graders last year also collaborated with the organization Teen Cancer America to help the organization with a social media campaign they were considering launching in the Spring. The collaboration began as a service learning project but morphed into a partnership that will last long term. Using Google Hangout, students collaborated with organization executives, hollywood actors, producers, and directors to help create a media campaign to bring awareness to the need of specialize teen cancer research and teen cancer units in American hospitals. Below is a small sample of that collaboration. Teen Cancer America executives eventually visited SC looking for a willing hospital to potentially be the first location in SC for a teen treatment unit. Students will continue this connection this year and work with organizers to create a new fundraising campaign for our local community to support this organization. Teen Cancer America Collaboration Sample student Slam performance after expert critique. I agree with Vicki Davis that audience can improve learning and experts motivate students to place a greater value in their work. I am looking forward to seeing my student make more connections, globally in the next few weeks as Expert is on the horizon. Stay tuned to see who shows up this year!
Having troubling getting students to sit still and pay attention? Do you constantly have to refocus students to your lesson? Brain Group Fitness is a strategy for you! As we learn more about the long-term results of medication for ADHD and ADD children, continue to watch the rise in childhood obesity, and development of a more sedentary lifestyle in the technology age, teachers experience the direct effects of all of these components in the classroom in the form of behavior and achievement. Many studies point to the benefits of movement and exercise in learning environments. “These findings indicate that single bouts of moderately intense aerobic exercise may have positive implications for aspects of neurocognitive function and inhibitory control in children with ADHD.” (Pontifex, 2005) Movement is a great way to increase engagement thus increasing achievement for your learners.
The Brain Group Fitness strategy gives students the opportunity to be up and moving. Some like to call it a brain break but it actually keeps the brain engaged while the body is moving. (Margolis, 2015) On occasion our administration follows one student all day to grasp the complexity of their schedule, rigor within the teaching, and the overall effects of learning in an average students day. Many times they report back that more movement and collaboration needs to be a structure in the lesson plan everyday. When I am creating a new lesson or presenting new content, I often ask myself, “Would I want to sit through this lesson?” I fidget and shift in my seat when I am disengaged and that usually happens after about 20 minutes of lecture. If I cannot sit through my own lecture, I should not be subjecting my students to that torture either. I see my colleagues on social media writing grants to outfit their classrooms with, what was traditionally, exercise equipment. We are seeing more and more school specific devices being created to keep students moving while learning, from yoga balls for seating, to bicycle desks. More classrooms are being outfitted to accommodate the active student. The great thing about this learning strategy is it does not require expensive equipment and little prep time. The part of this strategy I appreciate the most, it allows my students to get pimped (middle school lingo) and act out in a positive and constructive manner. Adding a technology component to this strategy allows students an opportunity to create and collaborate. I have never had a student opt out, especially when technology is integrated into the activity. It offers all learning types and personalities an outlet. The technology component gives the group’s time to synthesis their learning; collaborate on answers and creativity elements. Thanks to Google slides, everyone in the groups has the ability to make their mark on the study guide slides. Having a technology element allows them to creatively display that positive behavior. I believe more engagement through exercise or movement opens doors to creative, beautiful, quality work from students. It is like a ladder with each rung building to the next level. Good engagement lays a strong foundation for synthesis of learning that supports student’s ability to produce original work. Without each rung, the gaps make it difficult to reach the next level of students owning their learning. MargolisMargolis, A. (2015, January 19). Letting kids move in class isn’t a break from learning. It IS learning. The Answer Sheet Blog. Retrieved October 7, 2016, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2015/01/19/letting-kids-move-in-class-isnt-a-break-from-learning-it-is-learning/ Pontifex, M. B., PhD. (2013, March). Exercise Improves Behavioral, Neurocognitive, and Scholastic Performance in Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. The Journal of Pediatrics, 162(3), 543-551. Retrieved from http://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(12)00994-8/abstract If I include nothing else in this post it’s that teachers need to get out of the way! I found through informal research interviews of students and self-reflection, that teachers dictate much of students’ parameters for creativity. In speaking with students, I realized it was difficult for them to visualize their learning environment without access to digital media or technology devices. These students are fortunate to learn in a progressive school district that committed to providing a technology integrated learning environment, over fifteen years ago. We are graduating students that have always had digital media as a means for creating so to ask my students what they would change about their learning environment in regards to digital media and creativity was confusing. I was intrigued that it was not about the technology but the teachers, assignments and methods for which to do their work, which they wished to change. All 3 interviewed wanted the freedom to choose how they completed tasks or projects and have Is a student's true creativity and original thoughts expressed if we, the teachers, design each learning product to be identical? I understand teachers create assignments that lack variety for assessment purposes and standardize grading. I get it! I do it too. Teachers have to be willing to step out of the path and trust that students will produce great work that shows synthesis of learning, using their tools of creativity, whatever medium they choose. I believe we are all capable of allowing students more freedom to create but it will require the commitment of teachers to do the extra work. We have to be willing to provide the continuous feedback and grapple with the revision process along with students, to make them successful. I think allowing students a voice in choosing how and what they create will be more of a struggle for me than for my students. Are you willing to let go and step to the side for your students?
Quick! Get the paddles there is still hope Creativity can survive. The questioned posed for this post was do schools kill creativity? I had the pleasure of watching one of Sir Ken Robinson's TEDTalks, the one for which this question derived, and pondering the level of creativity in my classroom, school, and my personal experience of school as a child. Upon conclusion, it pains me to say that the American education system, as a whole, does stifle creativity in children.
I blame the lack of unabashed creativity of our workforce on priorities of industry hoping to fulfill business profit needs with specifically designed employees molded by public education, for their purpose. Though some might consider the purpose of political interference in education policy, blind kindness, politicians also perpetuate the oppression of creativity by enacting mandates on curriculum and assessments in order to create jobs, fulfill areas of unemployment, and touting the success of our country based on a score. Though all that seems negative, I feel as if creativity was not a target for which business, industry and politics set out to destroy. On the contrary, businesses creating for consumers beyond the 21st century crave those creative, out-of-the-box graduates and are willing to take risks by hiring them. (Gardner, 2008) Thanks to technology, an increasing number of opportunities have been constructed to provide the creative thinker, an outlet to perform among disciplined minds, and at a level equal to their peers. Digital media is an excellent tool for which to create. I began constructing a list of digital tools students can use and realized you can turn just about any digital application into a creation tool. It all depends on the purpose and level of creativity in the student. Creativity can be expressed in a document brochure, web design, video production, non-linear presentation, animated .gif, podcast, the potential for creation tools is limitless. Providing the opportunity for students to express that creativity is where educators have to stretch their pedagogy. I am pleased to teach in a technology infused, EL Education school where we focus on real world solutions through PBL teaching. All students are given opportunities to create products using digital media because it is the expectation of our school that technology is a tool for how we do our work now and in the future. We will kick off expeditions in October that involve students taking a stand through the use of digital storytelling, social media campaigns, and advocacy through graphic design and brochures. Students will use digital media to research and develop school voting laws, take on the role of poll worker, and conduct a student election in the Rules to Live By expedition. I appreciate that our faculty works hard to provide multiple opportunities for students to create with digital media. By Gardner's definition, I consider myself a creative thinker and less of an expert. (2008) I am most happy creating for and with teachers and using technology as my medium of choice. As I reflect back to my grade school years, I can relate to Robinson's story of Gillian Lynne, ballerina and choreographer, and her struggle to achieve in a standard education setting. I clearly remember having all my pencils taken away in 3rd grade because I would tap and beat on the desk, books, lunchbox, anything that would create a sound and jazz up the teacher talk raining down on me. I didn't fit in the mold the education system dictated I squeeze into daily. It was middle school chorus and high school marching band that rescued me from hours detention and discipline referrals. In grade school, my parents, teachers, nor I understood the root of my inattention. I was fortunate to have a mother who pushed me to use my talents and creativity in school and toward a career. I close my post excited to use what I have learned about the creating mind from readings and personal reflection, to stoke the fire of curiosity in my robotics students. This is my first time coaching a robotics team but what better way to foster creativity and innovation than through building an original robot from the ground up. Now in my 20th year of teaching, I still get excited to see kids express their creativity at their personal level of success and quality work. Gardner, Howard. Five Minds for the Future. Boston, MA: Harvard Business, 2008. Print. Robinson, Ken. "Transcript of "Do Schools Kill Creativity?"" Ken Robinson: Do Schools Kill Creativity? TEDTalk, Feb. 2006. Web. 28 Sept. 2016. Robinson, Ken, Sir. "How to Escape Education's Death Valley." TEDTalk. TED, Apr. 2013. Web. 29 Sept. 2016.
Media infused presentations allow for engagement of the viewer or learner, as well as, offers multiple disciplines to be expressed. Adding music, video, text, and images is like an all your can eat buffet for anyone wanting to dive in and invest in the content. It has a little of everything, which for me and my students, keeps the mind active and engaged no matter the common thread of content that holds it together.
I created this presentation to use during a professional development series at my school. We are doing a book study called Management in the Active Classroom that focuses on organized engagement strategies. I thought Paper-Slide videos would be perfect for my teachers no matter their tech proficiency level. I used video samples from all areas of content, created by teachers during a previous workshop I conducted. I was sure to include citations and information about the audio resources teachers have available through Discovery Education. I love the movement of Prezi and was happy to create a media infused presentation in a format that allowed for focal points within the bigger picture. Engage your students and staff with a media rich Prezi and activate the synthesized mind! Berger, R., Strasser, D., & Woodfin, L. (2015). Management in the active classroom (2nd ed.). Woodfin.
8th grade will be kicking off their Take A Stand expedition soon!
To spark curiosity, motivational posters will be place throughout the 8th grade house portraying change makers in the area of Science. Students will be invited to research a person of their choosing and create their own poster to add to the collection. Digital poster created using BigHugeLabs. |
Amy DentInstructional Coach, tech geek, news junkie, and passionate about learning. ArchivesCategories |