Creativity....how am I trying to develop it?

One of the things I'm trying to do is to ask the students to do something different than they expect with what they have. For example, as we print our letters, I'll ask them to take the letter they have just printed on their white board and make it into something different. Most of the students are quite enjoying this. Others can't quite understand what I'm saying, or can't think of anything. It's been fun to watch as they struggle with this. Today, in Math class, we were working with manipulatives to show different ways to make a certain number. So they had about 20 things on their desk, such as uniblocks, in 2 different colours. They showed me many ways to make 5 and 6 and 7 and 8. They quite enjoyed that activity and I often commented on their new structure they were making. At the end, just for fun and to stretch their creativity, I asked them to make a structure with all of their items. It was fascinating to watch as their little hands got very busy. (probably the only time during the day that everyone was focused on the right task!)
And so it was good for me to see too. I even took pictures. :)

It's a new day...thankfully!

And I think I need to do a new technology component to my inquiry...I'll keep the creativity thing, but do that the old fashioned way. Rather, my technology aspect will do with communicating with a student who is homebound for a few weeks.
One little girl in my class, (I'll call her Madi) had a bad fall on the weekend and broke her clavacal (collar) bone. It is a very bad break and any bump on it at this point could send her for surgery. She is also in a fair amount of pain. With my very rambunctious class who find it very hard to not touch each other (usually tackling, bumping, poking, generally not watching out for each other), this would not be a good situation for her. So Madi will wait until it's healed sufficiently before she comes back. But I don't want her to feel left out. When she came to see me after school earlier this week, I got some books and work together for her and then we talked about what else she could do. Because it is her right shoulder and she is right handed, anything written is out of the question at this point. BUT she can use a computer with her left hand. So this is what we've come up with so far. I've recommended some websites that are appropriate for her (starfall.com, primarygames.com, sd34websites.com, etc). I've also set up e-mail communication with her so that she continues to write. She's written me twice so far. Her spelling's not great, but she can communicate clearly and it's been a real pleasure for me to read. Now i"m hoping to somehow have the kids also communicate with her. I could just set them all up on my e-mail to write her, but I"m not sure that's the best way. On the other hand, I don't want to set my grade 1's up with their own e-mail addresses. Does anyone have an idea of how this could work?

Another thought that just came to me is to have her record her voice on an i-pod. She is a fairly fluent reader, and maybe I could have her recording books for the kids to use to read. Hmmm...I'm liking this idea. Let me go work on that.

It's a new day! Whew! (And I start the day with an hour long prep!)

A Rant!

I hope you don't mind if I rant just a bit. My inquiry is about developing creativity in children and I have to have a technology component. My thoughts were that I would let the kids experiment on the computers a bit, get them comfortable with the kid pix program and then do a visualization lesson (think Adrienne Gear) with them and have them illustrate this using the kid pix program. But I've hit a snag...a major snag! Today I had my lovely high school student volunteer in my class for the morning. What better time would there be to get all the kids working on the computers? With two of us running around trouble shooting, surely all the kids could have some constructive time on there. So the plan was that after recess, the two of us would get the computers out, turn them on and log the kids on and then bring the computers to the kids. We have been told that we can't have the whole class logging on at the same time as it overwhelms the system (hogwash, I say, but that's beside the point). So, we turned on 4 computers and started logging on. IT TOOK US 45 MINUTES TO LOG ON 15 COMPUTERS...THAT'S NOT EVEN ENOUGH FOR ONE FOR EVERY STUDENT! We tried all 30 computers in the mobile lab, and eventually only had 15 working. So that meant that a few of my students had to buddy up at a computer, which is a major problem because the things are so puny only one can really see the screen at once...but that's also beside the point. Fortunately my class was having a good behaviour day (and believe me that doesn't always happen), and they waited patiently. I think maybe the threat of computer removal was enough that they just coloured quietly and stayed out of my way! But what a waste of time. For 45 minutes, I could have done a great math lesson, done the visualization exercise 3 times over, or got more than enough time to do my DPA. UGH! So much for the technology aspect of my inquiry. Next time I'll just use the good old pencil and paper!

Conformity versus Creativity

So this week I'm writing up interim reports for my class of grade ones. It would be so much easier if I used a cookie cutter model and anyone that did not fit gets the unhappy faces! But that isn't right and now I'm forced with wrestling with how much of a child's behaviour is because they are creative/expressive and how much, if any, is because they are willfully being "bad."

Report Cards are such limited tools to record a student's progress. As soon as you put down certain terms to evaluate, you're forced to give a certain grade, but are not allowed to explain the rationale. For example, this term I am evaluating on the student's social adjustment to grade one including such things as showing respect for property, getting work done on time, following rules, etc. But it becomes very difficult for me to put a "happy face" on Karl's paper for listening attentively when I know that half the time karl's mind is far away on some creative venture. So is it right for me to give him a bad grade when he is being creative?? "Following rules and directions" is another tough one. Breaking rules is what creative people do....isn't it?? But how do I teach in such a way that rules are there to give guidance, but not limit? And, to the child who follows every direction I give, who does the assignments exactly right, I reward with all happy faces? Of course I do, but it almost feels like I'm punishing the children who push the boundaries (ie, are creative!).

This is a tough spot, and I'm not sure I have the answers.... Hopefully the fact that I'm struggling with this shows that I'm learning.

Will using a computer make my students more creative?

Yesterday as we were sharing some thoughts about the progress of our inquiries within our mentor group, I shared my student Karl's work (see blog from earlier). I then stated that I hoped our computers would soon be working well enough that I could get the students to do some creative work on there...after all, I am taking a "learning and teaching with technology" course! After each person presented their work, the rest of us in the mentor group was encouraged to come up with a thoughtful response. I was flattered by most of mine, but one in particular caught my attention. "Do you think the students will be more or less creative when you transfer it to the computer?" Hmmm, I think my initial reaction is "Of course!" But now I wonder.

The students have only been able to touch the computers once this year, and that was not a very pleasant experience for most as there were more glitches in the system than notebooks that worked. I do know that last year they never touched the computers at all. I don't think any of my students have used kidpix before. I don't know how literate the kids are with computers. For most of them, logging on using first and last name is a big accomplishment. Will my students then be able to use the computer in any creative way? Do they first need to learn the basics of how these work? I'm sure most of them, although not all, have had some experience on home computers playing games and things, but is that going to transfer over? I guess what I'm wondering is what skills (literacies) do my students need to have before they are able to be creative? What will I judge as being creative? How can I assess this, if it is different from producing a picture?

Any ideas out there? what has worked for you in your class? Does having computers increase creativity?

Mulling some more over creativity

I've actually had 4 different individuals respond to my discussion starter in the Educator's PLN and I've found all of them to be helpful. One person, Marisa Constantinides, recommended an article she wrote about this very topic "The Art of Being Creative." She borrows someone else's definition of creativity to include fluency (lots of ideas), flexibility (different types of ideas), elaboration (building on other's ideas) and originality (original thoughts).

One line in her article grabbed my attention. "I would like to suggest that the lack of creative thinnking skills in an educator needs immediate attention for many reasons,..." Oh boy, good thing I'm doing this inquiry now!

She also takes a stab at why some people, like me, have blocks to creativity. And , lo and behold, one of them has to do with social environment...ie, how I grew up and what kind of school system I had way back when... I was right! This has also led to a "self-image block", I believe, in that I no longer feel like I am creative or can do creative things.

She then goes on to give some ideas for developing creativity in teachers. I might try one or more of them. I'll let you know how it turns out.

I like how she ends the article. "This article is based on the firm belief that by undergoing training in developing our own creative thinking skills, those of us involved in the teaching profession will enhance our potential for dealing with the problems of daily teaching and find new ways of making our approach to teaching more exciting and stimulating."

Here's hoping!