'Create' Change

I just started reading, "The Advice Trap" by Michael Bungay Stanier, and I would like to share a quote: "Easy change tinkers with present you, while hard change builds future you."

 

In education, we are in the middle of HARD CHANGE.  As we approach the one year mark of a change that was / is out of our hands, think about what your classroom looked like this time last year.  Specifically, what were you asking students to do to demonstrate their learning? How were you leveraging digital tools to help facilitate that?  

No matter where you were at last year (avoiding change or leading the charge), no classroom looks the same as it did in January 2020.  No teacher is teaching the same as they did in January 2020. This is hard change, we are building our future - the future of education, the future of our own classroom. What changes do you want to hold on to and what changes you want to let go of?

 

Student Engagement is tough right now. Period.  There is not a magic wand quick fix. We have to try new approaches, and keep trying and learning when it doesn't work.  

As we work to engage our students, examining what we are asking to students to do to show their learning is a great place to start.  I am fairly confident that if I connected with a former student there is a 0% chance they would say, "that worksheet we did in 2002 changed my life".  Worksheets, paper or digital, are passive learning.  The more opportunities we can give students to create a product to show their learning, the more agency we give them.  Today's "4C" is Create, and I have many ideas to share!

 

If Learning was Texting: What if George Washington and Benjamin Franklin could text each other during the revolutionary way; what would they say? What if the main characters in a story had a threaded conversation? Students can use a texting tool as a way to create a conversation and examine multiple perspectives.  Whether your focus is on character vs character conflict or analyzing scientific discoveries, put the thinking in their hands.  For students on Chromebooks, checkout iFake Text Message. For students on mobile devices, checkout Texting Story (iPhone link here, Android link here, and additional directions linked here). 

Graphics: Think timelines, info-graphics, resumes, flyers.  Analyzing the plot sequence - have students create a timeline.  Reviewing the water-cycle - have students create a flyer with everything they already know. Create a resume about anyone, or maybe even anything.  If the corona-virus had a resume what would it look like? Let the students create and do the heavy thinking. You might already be familiar with Canva as a great place to find templates for all of this ideas (and more), but you can also upgrade your account to Canva for Education for additional features!