Grow Creativity!

This article Grow Creativity! is a great read and would be very beneficial to all teachers. I think one of the most difficult things for students to do is to be creative. This article goes through the different characteristics that lead to creativity, and also how your students can reach them. These characteristics are: Fluency, Flexibility, Originality, and Elaboration. I think that a lot of students struggle with creativity and these four characteristics. I know I sure do, and whenever a teacher asked me to be creative I would always mention that I'm not creative at all. My lack of creativity would often cause me to spend more time thinking about the projects then actually doing them. How often do you see students sitting at their desks, because they do not know what to do. Not because of the assignment either, but because they simply do not know what to do it on. I think if teachers actually taught their students these four traits and how to be creative it would enhance a students performance and abilities.

The article also discussed how a teacher can use web 2.0 tools to help in this process. After examples about how to build creativity in the four characteristics the article gives examples on how to use the web tools to do that. For example: to help build originality in your students try having them do a project from scratch using any of the following web tools: Blabberize, Bubblr, comic makers, Dabbleboard, DoInk, GlogsterEDU, GoAnimate, Queeky Scrapblog, Scribblar, Tagxedo, Voicethread, Vuvox, Wallwisher, and Xtranormal. Their is a lot of online tools that the article just listed that can help your students learn originality and creativity. I think if I would have been using these tools from day one of my education, I may not have such a hard time coming up with something creative to use.

A side topic of this article was that one of the teachers featured in it was from St. Mary's in Berea, OH. I lived in Berea for five years, and this school was just a few blocks away. It's nice to see that this innovation and these technology tools we discuss are going on all around us.

Point/Counterpoint: Will the iPad Revolutionize Education?

After reading the title of this article I had an immediate reaction to and issue with the question. I wasn't quite sure what my answer would be, but I did have a good idea of what one major problem with the topic would be. After reading the article one side did manage to persuade me as to what the answer would be.

That answer is no. As cool as the ipad is, and as bad as I would like to have one I do not think it will revolutionize education. Yes, there are probably hundreds of apps that can benefit students learning, and also keep them engaged and interested, but it will not be revolutionary. The main reason might not even have anything to do with the ipad directly but more to do with the teachers and students themselves. Stated in the article was the idea that teachers for the most part still teach the same way they did 50 years ago, and students still are learning the same way as well. This was all staying the same through many years of other revolutionary inventions that were supposed to change education, such as laptops and smart boards. This is where I agree. I think the ipad and technology are obviously major tools to use in education and must be utilized, but I still think there will be plenty of old-fashioned teaching and learning taking place. I think it can be used to differentiate the instruction, but it cannot be used for every possible teaching aspect in the curriculum. With that being said I think the ipad is a really cool tool to use, and I hope schools can utilize them I just don't think that education is going to be so much greater in ten years because of its invention.

Now my second thought on this and what was my initial thought as to why I did not think the ipad would revolutionize education is the fact that probably over 75% of students will never even use an ipad in the classroom. I know I don't know that percentage for sure, but it just seems unlikely to me that the education system which often lacks money, and with economy like ours right now that schools districts are going to have the kind of money to buy enough ipads to give each student and start this ipad revolution. A few years back when I was still in school I remember hearing discussions on some schools troubles with affording textbooks, so I can't even imagine schools buying all their students ipads, or at least enough to make a major difference. The final verdict on this debate won't be answered tomorrow, but whatever the answer will be, hopefully education will be evolving for the better.       

Taming The Chaos

This article is a very good read and an has a very important topic. We all know technology is evolving at a rapid pace and can work wonders for learning, but it can also be detrimental to students learning as well. Many students spend their school days texting, playing with their phone, or listening to music instead of paying attention in class. This article went through all the scenarios that schools can adopt to help fix this problem. The first option was to ban the use of those technological devices in schools. The author does not think that would be the best idea, and goes through many more option. The main point the author seems to try and get across is that the technology can be used to benefit students. Teachers instead of banning technology need to come up with ways to make them useful in class. I agree with this one-hundred percent. No matter what a schools stance on cell phones and ipods are they are going to be used in the school. If a school has a ban on cell phones, a majority of the students are going to find ways around it to use them anyways. Since this is the case I would argue that schools need to stop fighting it and just find ways to utilize them in ways that can benefit their students. Many examples as to how to use technology were given throughout the article. I think it is time that teachers stop getting frustrated with students using their cell phones and ipods and class and make good use of them. If teachers set up rules as to when students are allowed to use them, and also use them occasionally during lessons then I think the problems would be fewer. One example that I thought was a good idea, was that students were not allowed to have an ipod in during any full class discussions or lectures, but if they were working on stuff individually they were allowed to be listening to their music. This makes sense because it can often keep them more focused because they will not be distracted by other noises and classmates. This was just one good example and teachers need to be constantly think of new ways to incorporate these technologies into their classrooms.

Taming the Chaos 

Schools Kill Creativity

My first impression I got from Ken Robinson's talk was that the guy should be doing stand up comedy. I almost felt like he was putting on a show, and it was very good. The audience also seemed to enjoy it very much as well. I also agreed with some of the things he said, but I almost feel like it was more funny than it was informational. I don't know how much I truly got out of it. I certainly understood his feelings on the topic, but he did not really offer any solutions to the problems.

His main issue was that young students are very talented, and at a young age they are less worried about being incorrect in responses and are more creative with their answers. He thinks that through time, schools teach students to grow out of creativity. He said people don't tend to grow into creativity but they grow out of it. He also believes that schools focus all their time on math, science and the major subjects and spend too little time on the arts, such as dance. He also discussed the idea of academic inflation and how earning your MA is the equivalent to what earning your BA was in the past. He also told a story about how a student was thought to be mentally ill in some form because they could not sit still, and most likely had what we call today as ADHD. One of the doctors came to the conclusion that it was because the student was being couped up all day, and came to realize she was really a dancer and needed to have the freedom to move around. This particular student went on to be a very successful dancer in her life.

I can see Ken Robinson's point that we need to encourage creativity more in our students, but at the same time I do not think creativity is limited to dance and art. When he discussed creativity that seemed to be all he talked about. I think those subjects are very important, but at the same time they are probably not emphasized because a majority of students will not be moving on to careers in art or theatre. I think the issue may be that we do not emphasize creativity enough in all subjects. Robinson described creativity as original ideas that have value. I agree with this definition, and if that is the case then their is definitely opportunities to be creative in all subject matters. If we teach creativity in all subjects then students will be able to come up with new and fresh ideas, which will lead to a very positive future for our country.

Schools Kill Creativity

What? Wikipedia In History Class?

I have always been told Wikipedia is not a reliable source. I was never permitted to use it in college while I was conducting research for any of my history classes, and I can understand why. Pretty much any human being could write something for that website, and who would know if it was really true or not. With myself being the history fan that I am I would want to make sure things I am studying are reliable sources of information. One of the first things I remember learning when it came to researching information online was what sites to trust, and which ones not to. Often any sites ending in .com where not as reliable. The safer internet sites for information ended in .org, .edu or .gov. So when I am coming up with ways to teach high school students about how to conduct research one of the first things I wold tell them was to use safe sites, and not to use Wikipedia. This article What? Wikipedia In History Class? may have changed my views on wikipedia.   

In this article the author explains how he uses Wikipedia to teach his high school students about conducting research. In the process of the article he also explains Wikipedia and how it works, and made me realize it isn't the easiest thing to do in terms of publishing something on Wikipedia. The site has a lot of administrators and monitors that will delete your contribution, article, or corrections if it is deemed incorrect. This was one of the more fun parts of the lesson the author discussed. His students would choose a topic to research, which would have to be approved by the teacher, and would need be on a topic that Wikipedia had little on. Once the students had their topic they would then conduct the research and write their own article and place it onto the Wikipedia site, or correct an existing one. Once they published it, the students would have to monitor the site to see if the post would be flagged or deleted. If it was flagged then the students would have to collaborate with the administrators to plead their case as to why it would stay.

I think this is a phenomenal teaching tool, because it combines so many aspects of learning. It teachers students how to conduct research, and how to write a good research paper. It teaches those students how to properly site those sources, and it teaches them how to collaborate online with administrators of the site, and other Wikipedia contributors. This lesson also gives students a good idea of the type of information that is on Wikipedia and lets them decide for themselves whether it is a site they would want to use in the future for reliable information. I think this is a very cool lesson, because it would hopefully excite the kids even more knowing that the work they put in to this research could pay off by having their work actually appear on a website for the whole world to read.

This lesson was a very complex lesson with many steps needed to ensure it levels of success. It would be too much to explain them all here, so I encourage all to click on the above link and read the article for themselves. With the complexities of this lesson, I would definitely consider this for my classroom, and think it would be fun and exciting for myself and the students to take part in.

Archiving Early America

I went on the site eduTecher.net and clicked on the links tab hoping to find not only useful history sites, but sites that would be easy to navigate and interesting for students to read. One of this first sites I came across was Archiving Early America. This website was loaded with quality information on early America. Anything from the Boston Tea Party to the first-hand narrative of Daniel Boone's adventures through the Cumberland Gap can be found on this website. The website also has different forms of information in terms of primary and secondary information. Sometimes it can be hard to find good primary information on topics, and this site offers plenty of that. As I already mentioned the site discusses Daniel Boone's own narration of his journey's from his journal that he kept. The site also has primary documents that can be viewed right on the website. These documents include the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and the U.S. Constitution. The cool thing about these documents are that they are shown exactly how they appeared in the papers during that time. Along with the primary and secondary information which is mostly in written articles on the site, there is other ways to obtain that information. The site offers maps, portraits, games, music, and videos all with relevant information.
Archiving Early America certainly offers the interesting information I was looking for, but it also made it easy to find the information. The left hand side of the website offers all of the tabs and links to click on to get to the information you are wanting to find. It is very easy to use and very informative. The last thing I like to think about when looking at a websites value is exactly how this site could be beneficial to my students. In other words how could this site be used in the classroom to supplement the material. I think the first thing is the fact that there is a plethora of information on the site that would most likely not be found in a text book. The thing about history is that there is so much information that it is hard to fit it all into a text book. This site would be good for a teacher to use to supplement the text book. It would also be a good place to have your students go in order to see an actual copy of the documents that were discussed in class, such as the Bill of Rights. One thing important to the study of history is understanding the information that you are looking at, and what kind of information it is. This site would offer teachers the chance to teach their students about primary and secondary information. One final thing this site could be used for is to have your students learn, but have one while doing that as well. Games are offered on this site, and are a fun way to keep your students involved and learning but enjoying themselves at the same time. Overall, this website was a very informative and would be a great site to use with your history students.     

TIP Presentations

The TIP presentations have been very informative. I think more classes should go over strategies to use in the classroom. I spent years taking education classes and at the end of them I kept thinking that I still wasn't prepared to be a teacher. I am not the most creative individual. Sometimes I need help in coming up with ideas and fun strategies to use in a classroom. I even have this issue in coaching football, as a lot of coaches might. This is why their is a widespread sharing of drill tapes. We have thousands of videos on our computers in the office with examples of practice drills from other school that we can use with our players. All of our coaches watch these videos to see if we can come up with new and beneficial drills for our players to go through. This is why this class has been so beneficial to me. We have gone over lists of strategies to use in the classroom. I can keep this knowledge and my bag of tricks to refer back to, almost like my drill tapes in coaching, and I can use them in the future if I ever need to. The TIP presentations have really given me an overload of material and strategies to use. Not all of them will necessarily apply to high school history students but a majority of them do, and the other ones have given me ideas of other things I could do in my classrooms.