Blogzillion

Riding in my car (while probably listening to Matt Miller podcasting from his car via #ditchpod), I was recently pondering education and my classroom.  It seems like the topic of creation vs consumption has been front and center lately from a recent chat (great job @mr_middle_2 with the #ditchbook chat) to several posts on Twitter.

 

During all of this edu-thinking, Sunday School flashed in my mind.  My two and a half year old has been in a classroom for a while now at church on Sundays and there is rarely a week we don’t bring home something she’s made. She was digging through her closet the other day when out came several creations she had made with the volunteer teachers.  She held up one creation and proudly proclaimed, “dis mine”. She had made it. It was indeed “hers”.

Even for a toddler the ownership was undeniable. It wasn’t hers like the dolly maw maw gave her (possession)… it was something she had invested in. Her energy and thoughts were part of this creation.

“LOOK AT THIS COOL PACKET I GOT TO FILL IN THE BLANKS IN…”

Quickly my mind raced back to edu-thinking. None of my students would have this same sense of pride or ownership for a worksheet (thankfully those were few and far between).  I can’t fathom one of my 3rd graders racing home and beaming with pride as they exclaim, “this packet is MINE”. But had I provided enough opportunity for my kids to be more than consumers?  How were they free to be creators?

BOOKSNAPS FOR LIFT OFF… FLIPGRID FOR ORBIT

Getting my students to collaborate and create were two big areas I had hoped to improve on in the 2017-2018 school year.  Students were able to create Flipgrid responses, booksnaps, Slides and even dabbled with WeVideo to demonstrate learning. We began the year with Booksnaps (even getting some tips from the one and only “Mrs. Martin”).  Students enjoyed this but had never really ever been asked to do anything like it before. Then came Flipgrid. This put creation into orbit. Students used it to demonstrate their choice homework (often showing science experiments they came up with at home) and created a back channel discussion of book recommendations.  While great strides were made, I felt like I could continue this shift – especially in the area of intentionality.

“HOW WAS SCHOOL TODAY?” IS SO 90’S…

As I continued to think about this, parents came to mind.  Specifically a question I think many parents utter, “How was school today?”.  In high school, aliens could have landed on the football field and taken all the teachers aboard and I would have answered with my standard “fine”!  I’m sure my students probably were similar. School was fine, okay or if asked about what they learned maybe they would respond “nothing” or “I forgot”.  

“WHAT DID YOU MAKE TODAY?”

What if I asked and encouraged my parents to shift their conversation.  What if I knew parents were going to ask their child each day, “What did you create today?”  Would kids still answer “nothing” if they had invested their time and energy into making something that was theirs alone?  Better yet, if students were making things digitally, how rich could home conversations be when they could actually share their creations with their parents?

“WHAT DID I MAKE TODAY?”

What if I had students respond (even informally) to the question “What did you create today?” before dismissal?  How would this impact student learning and excitement? Would students race home to continue planning/working on their creations as self directed homework?  Would they bound into the classroom the next day with thoughts about their work fresh in their minds?

“WHAT IN MY PLANS ALLOWS FOR CREATION?”

Would these questions lead me to think about how my students would create each day when I planned lessons?  Would it make me more intentional in this area of consumption vs creation? Knowing I had an audience expecting to create and key supporters at home waiting to find out would help make it less comfortable to drift away from this type of learning.

“MAKE IT SO…”

As I pulled into the driveway with all of these thoughts filling my mind, I made the decision to act.  At Open House this year, I will ask my parents to use this creation question with their students and will include reminders as the year goes along.  In class, students will already be using their Flipgrid reflections on Fridays, so adding in a daily quick reflection about what they made should be simple (even if the reflection is mentally done students will have the experience to think back over their work).  It will also provide a daily structure missing to dismissal in my room for some time.

My hope is these two easy shifts will provide more accountability for being intentional in my planning opportunities for students to be making something with their learning instead of only taking it in!