I loved the bicycle model that was used to explain 21st century project learning. I think that it will be a great visual to share with my teachers when I start discussing 21st century skills and how we really need to collaborate together to integrate them into projects that their students can work on. Some of the language used to describe 21st century project learning (Define, Plan, Do, Review) sounded really familiar (Big 6) which we use in the Green Bay district. I will admit that I was not the best at using the Big 6 process or language with my students and teachers, but I really like the bicycle model and think think that my teachers will understand the idea of project learning with that visual, so it will be one of my goals for next year when working with teachers on developing some projects to collaborate on.
I appreciate the importance of creativity, invention, and innovation when working with students. My master's is in creative arts in learning, and as a teacher I always focused on integrating the arts into my teaching methods. But I feel that there is such a disconnect between valuing creativity and innovation in students between elementary and high school. It seems that creativity is encouraged more in elementary school than in middle and high school. I know that we all focus on curriculum, it just seems that many high school teachers don't give their students the freedom think out of the box (I know I'm generalizing, but it comes from observations of my own 2 children in middle & high school). Is it lack of understanding (importance of creativity, how motivating giving students more say can be) on the teacher's part or just fear (students won't produce quality projects without explicit instructions, hard to grade creative projects, don't know how to be facilitator and coach, time constraints?) that prevents them from utilizing project learning in the higher grades?
I also noted another source to site that supports the importance of the Arts in education, specifically in the development of creativity. Yet sadly, the Arts are what is usually on the chopping block first. I'm almost afraid to see what the next 5 years brings to our schools with the continuing budget constraints getting tighter and tighter.
Our 5-8 grade teacher set up a "bridge" project for a math and science lesson. Students were to create a bridge that could only weigh a certain amount out of materials of the student's choice. The creativity was astounding; even my students went to their classroom to watch them test the strength. The rubric consisted of bridge weight accuracy, due date, creativity, and drafts on paper of their design. Having creativity is possible in the upper grades, but the teacher needs to be creative also!
ReplyDeleteYou state that you feel that elementary school is more about creativity than high school. Looking at the districts I am in, I would have to disagree. Teachers in both give students so much in terms of scaffolding, rubrics and direction that often I think they barely can make up their own mind on what color the flower on their page should be and sometimes, when faced with having to make that decision, totally crumble. However, perhaps that is not the case in other places.
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