When I was in school we were taught that essays needed to have 5 paragraphs...an introduction, a conclusion and three supporting paragraphs. As the world wide web has opened it's doors to welcome anyone old enough to peck a few keys on a keyboard, I think the needs & parameters around writing has changed. And...as someone who purposefully breaks grammar & sentence structure rules quite often, I love it.
Were you still able to follow my train of thought? I broke a bunch of rules my high school english teacher worked really hard to teach me. Or...am I able to creatively play with sentence structure & break some rules because I know the "proper" way sentences are supposed to be structured? Does creativity evolve only after we understand the foundational patterns (in math, in writing, in art, etc) or can we be creative without any regard to organic or established patterns in our world? Sometimes I think we need to recognize patterns that exist in order to see ways to break them. Sometimes I think those patterns are getting in our way! Either way, I'm thankful that my high school english teacher taught me the most boring way ever to write so I could look for all the ways to break the rules later when I was given "permission." Storytelling is an art and although I'm conscious of the principles shared in these two books every time I propose ideas now, I'm FAR from practicing them. Is storytelling something we are consciously teaching our students? Will they be able to make their ideas "contagious" or "make their ideas stick" with our world? What do you think? Which comes first...establishing the norm then allowing for creativity to expand it OR allowing creativity to establish a new norm?
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“You have 10 seconds to draw a clock on a piece of paper. Ready, go.”
We quickly scrambled to find paper & any tool that could pass as a writing utensil and sketched out our version of a clock starting with the basic shape & adding as many details as possible until the timer went off. After sharing our drawings the majority of our clocks actually resembled each other. Everyone can visualize a clock and it’s a fairly simple picture to actually draw, even for those who don’t deem themselves the artistic type. Without much discussion, just some observational comments… we were then tasked to draw another clock & this time we had 10 minutes. “Go.” Hmmm. He’s tricking us, what does he really want us to draw? What does he want to get out of us? So many different kinds of clocks…what kind should I draw? I’ll go with this kind of clock and just take my time. Man oh man, 10 minutes is a long time. Add some more details…Look to my neighbor, maybe they have a different kind of clock going than mine. Is the timer done yet? Add more details. Shading. “Ok pencils down.” As we shared our 10 minute clocks it was obvious all the variety of a simple icon a small group could produce. “A clock is a clock.” But is it? Two observations were shared… First, “A clock is still a clock, we could allow more time but the product could be viewed by our students/audience as the same.” If time is limited in the classroom, one area we could re-evaluate is…where are we putting value in our time? In what areas are we giving our students the most time? Are we giving them enough time to be creative? And second, "It was harder to even get started when the time was longer.” Decision paralysis is real. Sometimes more constraints help us make necessary decisions & allow us to see the core. If given 10 seconds we may see a circle with a minute & an hour hand…if we have enough time we may even get to add some numbers in there! But given 10 whole whopping minutes and whoa does that change the assignment. We can not only add all the details we visualize, but more than likely we’ll have time to spare…time to think, time to reflect. Time to think, in most situations, can only benefit the recipient. As leaders I believe it is important to remain aware of when those constraints are not only important but necessary as well as remain aware of times when it’s necessary to give ample time to think & add details to your simple clock. "Look it up" Growing up we owned an encyclopedia. It was my Google. If it was out of date I guess I wouldn't have known the difference and I guarantee I didn't lose any sleep over it. I enjoyed looking at pictures and reading small articles about random things. Maybe I was a total nerd and didn't know it but I loved to sit and look through that crazy set of books! If I had a question or needed to know how to spell something, I distinctly remember my mom saying, go "look it up." I honestly can't remember a time she gave me an answer. I do remember being frustrated with her sometimes and knowing that she knew the answer. I do remember flipping through the dictionary to spell a word my mom could have easily spelled for me. It's that "for me" part that I'm conscience of now that I'm a momma. She didn't do things "for me." Clearly she knew I was capable of doing more than I wanted to do. Clearly she knew doing things "for me" wouldn't help me grow or learn. I learned early on that answers to my questions came from resources, not just people. ...Or maybe she was just a lazy mom. Either way, it was a win for me in the long run and in today's crazy-paced-super-judgemental-world-of-momma-hood...I'll take that lazy approach on purpose any day. My kids resources look very different today than they did for me, but information is still readily available...even more available...we just need to "look it up." Now...back to 6th grade homework. It occurred to me that my generation didn't really have a delete button for anything. I learned to type on a typewriter (gasp!) and if I messed up they handed us the little white strip that we had to use conservatively because I think it was on a school supply list and we respected "school supplies."
I took pictures with my friends in my teen years, but again, I had to be conservative with the "film" because it cost real money and I only had 24 or 36 shots on that roll before I had to pay real money again to even SEE them! I did not have social media (thank goodness!) as a teenager so when I wrote my friend a note I learned at an early age my words were forever. My projects in school had to evolve with my mistakes, sometimes taking on a blessing of a creation I would never have discovered if I had the option to just "delete" that presentation and start again fresh. We didn't delete or "unlike" our friendships and I pray my boys don't learn to delete their future wife or even unlike them in any way. We as parents & teachers are pioneers in this digital world because we don't have anyone to look to that has done this before and been successful. It takes a village people.....Or maybe a shared Google Doc? Delete is in my boys regular vocabulary but I pray it's not in their heart. In terms of design thinking the term "less is more" is tossed around frequently. This was mentioned at our Visionary Leaders Retreat in reference to education & lesson planning. It made me stop & think how much I value this concept in all aspects of my life.
Less is More Design Principles: 1. Choose high-quality and beautiful material, then let it stand on its own. 2. Choose a single stand-out piece and then let it ... well ... stand out. 3. Choose objects that are simple and pure in design. 4. Give things plenty of space. 5. A little accent goes a long way. I would not describe my style as minimalist by any means however walking through minimalist design gives a sense of peace I'd certainly admire embracing. I'd love to jump on the "Tiny House, Big Living" bandwagon when we are empty nesters...but I'm afraid I'll have to keep selling that concept to my husband. Less is more works because it replaces quantity with quality. As educators we have many demands on our day and the tasks aren't necessarily getting smaller. If we make efforts to strategically abandon the clutter & replace (or only keep) the high quality pieces we may find the peace that minimalist design provides.
Personalized learning is a customized approach to give students experiences that will help shape them & their learning. We worked as a group during our retreat to really nail down a definition but it sounded slightly different for everyone in the room. Funny that a definition regarding something "personalized" couldn't be standardized.
As I begin to wake my brain back from it's summer mode I can reflect on my first 6 months as a Facilitator of Learning & Innovation. The day I found out this role would open up was the day my mind started spinning wildly in what felt like a million different directions.
This role seemed to be designed for me. I was giddy to describe it to previous coworkers from around the state who knew me well...who knew me better than even my current colleagues. The role seemed to include all the things I was passionate about wrapped up into one neat little package. It's part creativity, part STEAM, part literature, & part curriculum design. The chance to be openly creative & share with others was enough for me. I began to prepare for my interview & was consumed with the endless possibilities of this role. |
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