I frequently have multiple projects going, so blogs of my own get neglected. But never learning! Always be learning. I have been researching current studies into the effects of adverse childhood experiences and education, behaviorally, psychologically, and biologically, and the student-centered tools and techniques which help address these challenges.
In the near future I hope to consolidate my educational blogs in one spot. Until then, the next few posts, planned for the next 4-6 weeks, will feature specific lesson ideas suitable for a range of age groups in both the arts and sciences which I found fun and effective to use.
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Yesterday's chats dovetailed nicely yet independently as teachers on Twitter trumpeted the importance of creativity. Most everyone has heard educators and non-educators alike bemoan business-as-usual standardized testing and the resulting teach-to-the-test methods some schools have adopted as a strategy to protect them from the financial repercussions of poor student test performance. The main objection for decades, in terms of student learning, is simple. Preparing for a test is NOT the same as actually learning. Memorization is not understanding or the ability to apply knowledge; it is not critical thinking. Considering both the general public and even a significant percentage of science teachers lack understanding about the very basics of climate change, any approach that diminishes lessons in critical thinking for rote memorization undermines us all.
Critical thinking has been the focus to encourage a shift back towards education designed to produce better qualitative results for students and their communities. I am not here debating the value of critical thinking. I once coached debate, and as a student, I was on the debate team from junior high until my senior year. Critical thinking represented both a skill and an odd kind of joy for me. Whether I was competing or not, being able to reason logically allowed me to learn much without needing a teacher to supervise me. It was as liberating as learning to read and write. So I value critical thinking highly, but it is only part of the solution to our problems in education and student learning. Critical thinking cannot advance without a necessary partner, creative thinking. Both styles of thinking propel the analytical process. While often acknowledged as essential to student curiosity, motivation and a sense of knowledge ownership, creative thinking is still too often overlooked as an essential component to cognitive processes more generally. Like two sides of a zipper, each style of thinking helps the other advance from question to test to analysis to conclusions and finally implementation. Zippers don't work without both sides. Students' cognitive abilities aren't fully developed without attention to both styles. Fortunately, many educators are well aware of the importance of creativity, especially those involved in PBL, makerspace movements and outdoor learning experiences. These teachers and allies do recognize creativity as an essential for developing skills in logic, as well as adapting to situations in which students have no prior knowledge. Today's students face these situations with ever-increasing frequency because the pace of our rapidly-changing world is accelerated by our technology. So students must learn to adapt by employing creative thinking strategies. Yesterday, I had the pleasure of joining two Twitter chats discussing just that topic: creativity in the classroom, #satchat and a more slowly-paced chat that is ongoing at #edchatMENA. The first chat included several discussions on maker spaces where students get creative by actually designing and producing through PBL learning experiences. Although such spaces often center around STEM education, they need not be so restricted. Any subject can accommodate a maker space, either physically located in the classroom or accessed, indoors or out, as a part of class lesson plans. The second chat focused on teaching creativity more generally and emphasized the multitude of ways in which creative thinking benefits students. Both chats, as well as several other education chats on Twitter are emphasizing creativity in teaching. The topic is trending online. I found inspiration and great suggestions from both chats. The fact that educators on Twitter are ringing the bell to alert the greater world to the necessity for creativity in student learning is worth noting. This isn't another education fad, like so many others in the past. Creative thinking is too often overlooked in the pursuit of some type of semi-critical thinking style, an imitative style, devoid of any creativity, just a step above rote memorization. Or worse, critical thinking is sidelined completely along with its twin for students to pass a test which won't help them in any appreciable way once the test has ended. Finally for STEM fans, adding the creative component in the form of fine arts or other liberal arts such as language and social studies adds a necessary component to give STEM more meaning and impact. STEM + Arts = STEAM Powered Ed! Seems like forever since I created a little cloud presentation as a way of learning Google Slides myself. It was my own personal project-based-learning experiment. Then it lingered, circling the runway, so to speak. Finally, with the updates to the Learn On The Fly website, I was able to give this presentation a home. I'm still doing a bit of tweaking and troubleshooting, hoping responsive design will take care of many accessibility issues, but I do plan further updates.
#PBL #STEAM #STEM #GoogleSlides #Clouds CHECK OUT THE PRESENTATION! I can't believe it's been almost a year since I updated my Weebly blog Learn on The Fly! Well, I can if I consider how many other projects I've been working on simultaneously, between bouts of personal and family illness and emergency. 2015 was quite a year.
Not much has changed since my last post, except I've discovered even more fantastic resources and Twitter chats to share. Stay tuned for updates! Until then, catch up with me via social media links on the About page. Taking off for now! On April 15th, I had the pleasure of working with Rob Ridley: https://rangerridley.wordpress.com/about/, host of the weekly EnviroEd Twitter Chat ( 9PM Eastern ), to co-moderate on the topic of accessibility, inclusion and outdoor and/or environmental education, with a special emphasis on reducing what is popularly known as nature deficit. The concept of nature deficit was popularized ten years ago by Richard Louv in his acclaimed work, The Last Child In The Woods: http://richardlouv.com/books/last-child/.
The chat was lively and active with questions and suggestions. You can read a Storify summary of the chat here: https://storify.com/EnviroEd/twitter-chat-on-enviroed-topic-accessiblity-and-in. For the latest chats (as of today on Earth Day sharing) & basic chat information visit: https://storify.com/EnviroEd/ or follow @RangerRidley on Twitter: http://twitter.com/RangerRidley. Via EnviroEd, I was able to share with parents, teachers, administrators, students and environmental stewards from around the globe in a manner, if not unthinkable, certainly less affordable or practical just fifteen years ago. Changes in social media are facilitating this collaboration, but individuals with a passion for sharing are the driving force behind using this media for productive ends beyond marketing. As we grow into the 21st century, individuals are demanding more authenticity and passion when looking for engaging media over marketing tricks, not that those tricks don't have a few things to teach educators when trying to get important lessons out to others. Ridley is one of several educators leveraging social media for maximum outreach, so I learn a great deal working with him and the other EnviroEd chat participants. What I didn't know--the same time I was working with Rob Ridley on the EnviroEd chat, Nature Matters, a local nature club I'm volunteering with, founded by Norfolk Academy Student Mariah Moss, was attending the Children & Nature Conference in Texas where they chatted with Richard Louv: http://www.childrenandnature.org/site/conference2015/. The entire situation was somewhat ironic, mildly frustrating and amusing because of communication delays due to intensive schedules and some spotty coverage. Only AFTER each event did Suzanne Moss, club sponsor and Mariah's mother, and I realize we were on the same page, topically, if not in the same time zone. Ideally, this would have all dovetailed together seamlessly in a perfect synergy for social media coverage, but people miss many opportunities waiting for ideal moments. In this case, nothing was coordinated because I simply did not know what various parties were doing in advance. Suddenly, there was activity from several individuals all working towards similar goals without knowing one another and without any advance warning. This became another moment for on-the-fly learning as I demonstrate the connections, the links through reflection. As Nature Matters updates their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/NatureMattersToUs/timeline?ref=page_internal and website: http://naturekidsandteens.com, I'm working on their Twitter handle: http://twitter.com/NatureMattersVa. More about their reflections on the Children & Nature Conference and how they relate to the EnviroEd topic of accessibility and inclusion coming in the next update! I am testing various web-building tools and apps for educators, community organizations and even a local family farm. I decided to test-drive Weebly, after noting other educators with Weebly accounts. I then read several positive reviews, which I will include as resource links in the next update.
For now, I'm just eager to see how things look after publishing. I don't have too much in terms of bells and whistles at the moment because I wanted to first test Weebly for the learning curve and speed to publish a nearly bare-bones site. So far, I'm impressed! UPDATE: Excellent overview of Weebly by Howard Steele: http://superbwebsitebuilders.com/weebly-review/ |
Tracye Lynn "Willow" BoudellI survive and thrive by learning on the fly! Archives
January 2020
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