This week has been all about how we use media such as Youtube, as well as using google tools such as draw and slides to create.
Dorothy spoke this morning about the importance of giving students and teachers the opportunity to be creative. Creativity is so important! Giving our students the opportunity to simply 'create' and use their imaginations is so vital. In an era when we can 'google' the answer to everything, it sometimes seems like our students are losing the ability to use their imaginations and create, so we must provide them with opportunities to do this within a classroom and school environment in a variety of ways.
Thinking about my own classroom practice, I am trying to give students more opportunities to create and show their learning in a variety of ways. I am also trying to ensure that i am giving them the opportunity to just 'play' with new tools I am wanting to utilise, for example google slides for animations and google drawings for some design tasks within our literacy programme. I am also using tools such as sketch noting on an increasing basis, as it gives students the opportunity to identify important or key information from listening, viewing and reading activities. I think sketch noting really highlights how creative students can be, as if I look at my class of 27, every single student is making notes in a different way, yet all of them are being more . involved in class discussions and demonstrating deep thinking as they have made notes in a way that works for them.
Having a chance to play with slide animation myself this afternoon was a lot of fun, as my students make it look so easy, yet in reality, it is actually quite complex, if you want to do it right. It is really interesting to put yourself in the shoes of one of your learners and experience it for yourself, which is something we quite often do not get to do. It was also fantastic to be reminded of all of the ways in which we can use google draw for such a wide variety of purposes, many of which I knew but had shelved in the back of my brain and forgotten about.
Below is my initial attempt at creating an animation. While it is far from finished, or perfect, it was a fun exercise.
Megan, you are so right about providing the opportunity for our students to create. I spent some time in Janice's class yesterday supporting her to get her student's playing with animation. The engagement in that classroom was amazing! Some student's who I know struggle with learning were really excelling, and receiving recognition from their peers which gave them such a boost! It was a great lesson for all involved! And yes, having the time and space to put ourselves in the learners shoes is also so valuable, in gaining insight into how they might be finding things in our classrooms.
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Vicki