Creativity Outside Classroom Walls

I'm new to the whole blogging thing like Blogger and Glogster, but in creating my project this week through Glogster I had so much fun I couldn't wait to take it to my class.  My students were overwhelmed and they kept asking me for more, so "I've got to get on the ball and create more," I thought!  I'm planning on creating a business card for my class Glog and give them all the information they need on that card to access it from home or any place outside the classroom.  I think Glogster is an inovative way for students to not only express their individual uniquness of creativity, but it's a link in which they can use to connect and collaborate their ideas amongst each other!

Creativity in the Classroom: PowerPoint Uniqueness

A class project in which I do after all reading skills have been taught, learned, and mastered is Introducing (Skill Name) (Student’s Name) Style, (ex: Introducing Cause and Effect Sara’s Style).  Because I introduce each weekly reading skill through an interactive PowerPoint presentation, I now turn the table and let them create their own to present to the whole class, they become the teacher and the rest of the students and I become the audience.  Each student is assigned a different reading skill and they have to explain it, define it, show examples, and create a short story (a few paragraphs long) where the skill is incorporated and assessed through two to three questions.  Because my students have seen and been exposed to the different PowerPoint layouts in which I have designed, they each choose the format they like best and start their own.  This is a phenomenal project that not only explores each child’s creative mind, but fosters their synthesizing mind as well!  In Five Minds for the Future, page 84, Gardner states, “Youngsters are not only intrigued by a wide range of phenomena…they persist in exploring, even in the absence of encouragement, let alone material rewards.”  Thus, children are natural creative innovators, and as an educator we should let their sense of wonder play its part, let our children be creative and make and design concepts in their own perspective, of course not neglecting the importance of content mastery achievement.  At the end, this becomes a great interactive review before the state assessment (TAKS), and my students become even more confident of themselves and their accomplishments! 

Sequence: A Media Infused Presentation/Learning Center

Below is the link to my media infused presentation/learning center for sequence.  Enjoy! :)


https://prezi.com/secure/eb79d59934db9415a6e97529f59a454c32124969/

The Question:  In what practical ways can a media-infused presentation like the one you created help foster the development of both the disciplined and synthesizing minds?

I believe that a media infused presentation and or learning center can foster the development of both the disciplined and synthesizing minds.


The Disciplined Mind:
     On page 33 of Five Minds For the Future, Gardner states, "The teacher reaches more students, because some learn better through stories, others through debate, works of art, or identification with a skilled practitioner...Any individual with a deep understanding of a topic or method can think about it in a variety of ways."  Thus this media infused presentation on sequence will help develop the deep understanding of the topic and the student will think and contribute to sequence in a variety of ways.  Differentiated instruction and the understanding of the topic "content mastery" play an important role and go hand-and-hand for the success of students and teachers.


The Synthesizing Mind:
     On page 51 of Five Minds For the Future, Gardner states, "Any efforts to synthesize entails four loosely ordered components: 1. a goal, 2. a starting point, 3. selection of strategy, method, and concepts, and 4. drafts and feedback."  In this media infused presentation these four components are met as follows:

1. Goal:  TSW achieve mastery of the term sequence. 
2. Starting Point:  TSW use prior knowledge to make a connection to the meaning of sequence.
3. Selection of Strategy:  TSW will build his/her taxonomies on sequence through the analysis of mutliple digital medias and create his/her own examples.
4. Drafts and Feedback:  TSW collaborate with a partner and share their ideas, after this students will provide feedback to one another and propose a second draft.  Students will then write their second draft and turn into the teacher for a second feedback, and then after create and design their final project.

Synthesizing the Mind through Music Analysis

A fun and productive digital interdisciplinary approach that I use in my classroom is an activity based on Music Analysis. Since most songs have a storyline background, with plots, solutions, feelings, themes, and morals, I have my students create and answer questions from the reading process. Through this they must identify the following:

1. Character traits
2. Setting
3. Sequence of Events
4. Was there a moral or lesson learned?
5. Did the character change from beginning to end?
6. What is the main idea of the song (story)?
7. Summary (WWBST: Who, Wanted, But, So, Then)
8. Plot
9. Resolution
10. Author’s Purpose

By doing this my students are aware and recognize the reading process outside of text and they are able to value learning and the world around them, plus listen and learn about a variety of genres and cultural background. Not only do they master their reading skills within, they become more vivid in the English language. Since the majority of my students are ELLs and LEPs, listening to music and analyzing helps them expand their English comprehension as well as acquire and understand new words.

Video Segment Lesson: Miss. Nelson is Back

I introduce and teach a new skill weekly in reading, and as the weeks progress I accumulate the previous skills and the new ones, so that my students are constantly practicing them.  I always like to show them a clip weekly where they can tie in the week skill as long as with previous skills.  My goal is for my students not only to recognize and incorporate the skills in reading, but all around them.  By using video segments from discovery education, they are more vigilant and aware of what surrounds them.  Normally kids don't seem to take their reading skills out of text, and after I show them and we incorporate the skills through video segments, they tend to view their surroundings differently and analyze the majority of their everyday life.  Aside from the video segments, I play songs in which they have to analyze and recognize the reading skills in it, again which demonstrates the endless ideas in which they can associate their reading skills. 

Miss. Nelson is Back

Goals: TSW analyze, recognize, and record Main Idea, Theme, Setting, Character Analysis, Compare and Contrast, and Sequence in the video segment of Miss. Nelson is Back. 

     TSW answer the following questions after the video segment.

• Main Idea--What is the main idea of the whole selection? 
• Theme--What lesson did the students of room 207 learn?
• Setting--What is the setting at the beginning of the story?  Did the setting change, and what were they?
• Character Analysis--Describe at least 3 characters in the story.
• Compare and Contrast--Compare and Contrast Miss. Nelson to Mis. Swamp using a Venn-diagram.
• Sequence--State 5 events in chronological order using a flow chart.

Other Ways to Incorporate This Video:

1. Showing and demonstrating why responsibility is important.
2. Showing and demonstrating why we should respect ourselves and others.
3. Demonstrating the notion of always taking your actions into account.
4. Discussing the notion of what could happen if you skip school.
5. Make predictions for the students of room 207 next time Miss. Nelson is out, would those predictions be vaild for you, if your teacher was out.