Wow, the year has started off with a flurry of activity. There are so many amazing and innovative things happening in Buhler every single day. I finally have some time to share a few awesome things that keep coming up! Two big things that have been rolling around in my mind are student creativity and publishing their work for an authentic audience. So often our kids work on these big, amazing things and only their teacher, and possibly classmates, get to see it. Consider ways for your students to find an authentic audience. Below are a few ways they can publish their work for the world to see. CreativityFirst, read this blog post from Alice Keeler. She sums up a lot of the concern with how we tend to use technology to continue doing the things we have always done. When we think of having our kids use technology we need to be thinking of student creativity early and often. As jobs become more and more automated, creativity will endure. She mentions a lot of great ideas. Remember, with our iPads and Macs we have FREE access to iMovie and Clips for creating movies, and Garage Band and Voice Recorder for creating audio. There are also many more tools out there that I would be happy to explore with you. Also remember, you DO NOT have to know how to use a website or app to have kids use it. They will teach you in no time! Apple's Homework Commercial The commercial for Apple's most recent iPad embodies SO MUCH of what technology can do for us. Learning can be play, and creativity communicates that learning so well. Please check it out!
Design Thinking Design thinking is currently one of my favorite creativity and critical thinking techniques in education. The idea essentially boils down to designing something, anything from clothing to vehicles to gadgets to buildings, that solves a problem for someone. For example, you may ask your students to design a solution for Brian's shelter in "Hatchet" using only materials that would have been available to him. Another example would be to design a uniform for soldiers in the Civil War. In all cases students must empathize with the person, understand the context of the problem, create a solution, and revise. Often students will simply draw and present their ideas, rather than actually building a prototype. Consider this idea if you are trying to add creativity, critical thinking, and communication to your classroom. See the graphic below for a design thinking framework. Publishing for an Authentic AudiencePodcastingYes, I am aware podcasting tried to have its "moment" back when the iPod first came out when I was in high school, but it seems that podcasting has finally made it to the big time. There are podcasts for entertainment, learning, Bible Study, news, and everything in between. The content available is exploding and it is easier than ever to create your own. Below are a couple of tools to help you and your students do just that!
Story Corps Story Corps is another site where students may record and publish podcasts. Their focus is on telling stories worth telling so they vet uploaded podcasts before publishing. One benefit of Story Corps is that they have question prompts for users to ask, which helps create a strong story. This is also a great site for students to listen to podcasts that go with a project or topic they are working on. BloggingBlogging continues to be the world's most popular way to get ideas out there. Tools to create blogs are getting easier and more powerful to use, and social media makes it easy to share, add relevant hashtags, and get noticed. Students should be publishing their writing and learning how to craft a blog with images, videos, and links that are valuable to the reader. There is no more authentic way to share what you know than with a blog published for the world to see. Three tools to do so with your students are listed below.
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AuthorKyle McClure is an Integration Specialist in Buhler, KS. He specializes in iPads and GSuite for education. Archives
November 2018
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