Creativity Thursdays

A few weeks ago, I asked my students:

“Do schools kill creativity?” 

It was interesting to hear their different perspectives on the topic. Then together we watched Sir Ken Robinson’s famous Ted Talk on the matter and specifically analyzed this quote:

So we decided to calculate how much class time is dedicated to the development of literacy skills, and match that amount of time for the development of creativity skills. We discovered that 1/5 of our time should be dedicated to creative pursuits – in the form of Creativity Thursdays.

Before jumping in with both feet, we took some time to unpack the concept of creativity. What it is? What are the different forms? What is it connected to?  Then we put together a menu of creative endeavours that students could choose from each week:

The day before our first “Creativity Thursday” the students were abuzz with excitement! Trying to decide what to do… who to do it with… how long it would take… the materials they would need…. it was amazing to watch! There was so much thinking, planning and – well – creativity, even before the actual day started!

For the first few weeks I decided my role would be to “look for learning”. I wanted to walk around and document evidence of learning that was happening through their creative endeavours. What I noticed was amazing! Not only were students developing their Learner Profile attributes, PYP attitudes and ATL skills, but there was also rich, authentic engagement with literacy, math, humanities and science!

Here is what I saw:

Learner Profile

Students were being caring, thinkers, reflective and risk-takers.

  

Attitudes

Students were showing appreciation, enthusiasm, creativity, confidence, commitment, curiosity and independence.

ATL Skills

Students were making group decisions, accepting different roles, cooperating and resolving conflicts. (social skills)

 

Students were develop gross and fine motor skills and practicing safe and informed choices. (self-management skills)

 

Students were listening, speaking, presenting, viewing, reading and writing. (communication skills)

 

Students were asking questions, planning, observing, recording data and interpreting findings. (research skills)

 

Math

Students were exploring the exchange of money.

Students were experimenting with lines and angles.

Students were engaging with measurement.

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Students were playing with patterns.

 

 

 

 

 

Students were manipulating shapes and spaces.

 

Literacy
Students were writing for authentic purposes.

Students were writing for creative purposes.

Students were creating texts.

Students were consuming texts.

Science

Students were exploring states of liquids and solids.

 

Students were observing the processes of boiling and evaporation.

Students were inquiring into chemical reactions.

 

Students were playing with properties of movement and motion.

Humanities

Students were reflecting on and changing their choices of materials and processes to minimize their impact on the environment.

From using new paper to protect a space, to using already-used paper…

From using tissue to tidy up a mess, to using a reusable cloth…

From buying new things to use, to repurposing things we already have…

From using disposable wipes to wash hands, to using soap and water…

From pouring out water when the bottle is needed, to moving it to another container…

Reflections…

To make sure that the connections weren’t only explicit to me, at the end of the day students reflected on the learning that was happening.

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I’m glad Creativity Thursdays have turned out to be such a success! And although I try to allow for and encourage creativity in all of the regular learning that we do, I think it is important to carve out some protected time purely for the development of student’s creativity as well.

… especially when doing so seems to lead to so much thinking, wondering, imagining, exploring and discovering! 

Assessment done with students, not to students

I strongly believe that assessment is something that should be done with students, not something that is done to  students. So this year, being back in the classroom, I wanted to put that belief into practice. We have just finished our first Unit of Inquiry and here is how our summative assessment went.

1. An open discussion about assessment

As a class we discussed the difficulty of trying to measure a human’s learning and I shared that there are many different approaches to trying to figure out what a student has learned in school.

2. Trying out multiple approaches

We discussed a handful of approaches for measuring learning and then we tried each of them out within the context of our unit.

Students showed how their thinking changed throughout the unit by completing “I used to think… Now I think…”

Students synthesized their own big idea from the unit by completing the VTR “Headlines”

Students added new knowledge to their transdisciplinary concept  time capsule

Students applied the concepts learning in our unit to their own life

3. Self-Assessment

I’m also a strong believer that the learner themself best understands what they know and don’t know, so it was important to me that they had the first opportunity to assess their own understanding. Students took the four different assessments they had completed and using those learning artifacts, marked on the rubric where they felt they were on our learning spectrum.

4. Teacher Assessment

The students then gave me their 4 summative activities and their self-assessed rubric and I looked through the same learning artifacts and I added my perspective to the rubric.

5. Summative conference

Then, I conferenced with each student individually…

and one of three things happened. Either we had the same perspective and that became their final mark for the unit. 

Or if we had different perspective, we chatted to figure out if they new more than they were able to show on the activities, or if they thought they new more but after our chat discovered they actually had more to learn. And in some cases I needed more information because I felt I was unable to assess their understanding based on the activities they completed, so we we chatted about the concepts in the unit and the central idea to find out if they knew more than they showed.

For students who had a competent understanding, we talked about how to extend themselves next unit. For students who were still developing their understanding, we reflected on what blocked their learning this unit and set goals for next unit. For some students that meant changing some learning behaviours (where they sit, who they learn with), for other students it meant applying more effort, and for other students it meant organizing time in addition to class time, for extra learning support from me.

6. Share with parents

After the conferences were complete, I sent home to rubrics so the students could share them with their parents. I also included information about our summative process on our class blog. Parents were also invited to set-up a three-way meeting with me and their child if they wanted to discuss anything about this particular summative.

 

All in all, it was a great process! I think my students felt empowered to have a voice in their learning and in the measurement of their learning. I think students felt their perspectives were respected and valued. I think that going through this process after the first unit of inquiry will have positive impacts on the learning that happens in our second unit of inquiry.

And on a personal level, it felt much more humane and much more like a partnership in supporting their learning journey!

‘Twas the Night Before School Starts

‘Twas the night before school starts
And the classroom was bare
Nothing was set up yet, not even a chair

The schedule empty, no activities planned
And typical first-day-of-school worksheets are banned

This year will be different, a first time for me
Where the classroom is set up, not by I, but by we
Instead of hours spent planning without voices of students,
This year, I think, including them is most prudent
They are the ones who will be using the spaces
Letting go, in return for happy minds, hearts and faces
Yet although I know this is what I believe in my heart,
I am nervous and scared for this school day to start
So although I won’t sleep, I tuck myself into bed
While visions of floor plans swirl in my head

I’m not sure how it will go, yet my hope remains
For a first day of school where the kids take the reigns
So, on Risk-taking! On Failure! On Doubts and on Fear!
Happy first day to all, and to all a good year!