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A nice spot to sit back, relax and celebrate World Teacher's Day
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Editor's Comment
Happy World Teacher's Day.
I recently came across the following news report:
Could robots replace teachers?
Robots are teaching students English at two South Korean elementary schools as part of a pilot programme intended to increase students' "interest and self-motivation in studying English".
The report got me thinking and I recalled a conversation I had recently with a participant in an ITC workshop I was presenting.
The participant, an educator of many years’ standing, was lamenting the loss of older teachers from the profession. His main reasoning was that older practitioners, equipped with a wide variety of life experience, are able to relate this experience to their students through stories. I thought this a profound comment and believe the value of stories in the classroom is often overlooked by educators and would certainly not come into the reckoning of a robot.
Read More ...
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When Kids Come to School they find you their teacher and your teaching
WHAT WILL THAT BE LIKE?
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Classroom Teaching
You may recall that in last month’s newsletter an example of a lesson plan “Back to School” was presented to illustrate the concept of using collaborative and cognitive strategies in the delivery of a student centred lesson. The Framework behind the design of this lesson clearly supports the idea of students achieving a defined outcome.
As teachers we need to be mindful of the cognitive challenge of an activity aimed at our students and it is here that the ITC Thinking Skills Framework can help.
The Bloom’s level dictates the WHY students are doing the activity. For example, “in order to break an issue down into its component parts.” (analyse)
The WHAT students will be doing is illustrated by the descriptive Verb used and the sentence asked and
the HOW is explained by the use of an appropriate cognitive or collaborative tool to scaffold the students’ response.
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General
Creative Thinking – making it happen!
There are some common misconceptions about creative thinking - that it is something suited only for the Arts or Humanities, that it is all about generating crazy ideas or that only a few people can do it. On the contrary, creative thinking is for all subjects and all age levels, as one man’s achievement shows.
Do you remember doing the High Jump at school? Can you remember the name of the technique used to launch yourself over the bar? If you are like me, it was during your Primary schooling that you learned the scissors jump; a method still used today.
During the 1960s, a young engineering student used his creative problem-solving talents to refine the scissors jump and turn it into something almost unrecognisable; he ambled up to the bar, spun round and appeared to launch himself at it upside down and head first!
His name was Dick Fosbury, and he went on to win the Gold Medal with his famous ‘Fosbury Flop’ at the 1968 Mexico Olympics, setting a new Olympic record in the process. He knew he could not win the event using current conventional techniques: something different and creative was required. So, how did Dick Fosbury come up with the idea of this new high jump technique? The answer to this touches upon the nature of deep creative thinking as opposed to shallow creative thinking or simply idea generation.
Effective creative thinking is based upon three key principles:
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Editor's Comment- Read More
Stories and examples illustrate and support the material being presented. While we often jump at the opportunity to support our lesson content with wonderful images delivered by all manner of technological innovations, we should not disregard the power of a well constructed story to engage our students and to HOOK them into the topic being covered.
How often do we find young children captivated by a story? While the story is being told it is possible to visualise and tweak the story to derive ownership of it.
It only occurred to me recently that one of my favourite units focused on Anzac Day and my students often produced work that was far superior to what they produced in other units. I had a bank of Anzac Day stories to tell during this unit and I wonder if these contributed to my students being more involved and focused as a result.
The power of the spoken word can be used incredibly effectively in our teaching and can be a key component in our pedagogical armoury. Stories can:
Focus our students’ thinking
Add credibility
Captivate our students
Create relevance and a clear link to the topic being covered
Influence and persuade
Overcome resistance is students, especially those who might question the reasoning behind examining an issue or point. They are an invaluable means of handling student objections / negativity.
Enhance objectivity by enabling the effective presentation of a differing point of view.
Above all they can provide a wonderful introduction to a topic or, better still, a task. Tell the story, link it to the subject matter, then explain the task to be completed by the students.
As educators we should develop a bank of relevant stories that covers all aspects of our teaching, including those that can be used in each of our lessons and are relevant to all aspects of our content matter through to those of a more general nature that can be used to address behavioural issues, disgruntled or disenchanted students, encourage outstanding performance and so on.
So how do we develop and frame a good story? Well, the design of a well-told story is quite simple.
Incident, Point, Link
Relate an incident with just enough detail
Lead to a logical Point
Then Link your message to the desired outcome.
The key to a successful story lies in its authenticity. It is vital that you have a personal stake in the story, that is, it means something to you so that your students can share in your enthusiasm, passion, understanding - dare I say it, street credibility.
There are a couple of pitfalls to avoid. A story should Relate then Lead then Link for the purpose of lending authenticity to your subject matter or to the task to be completed. The story is not an opportunity for self promotion and it should contain JUST enough detail to achieve your objective and not be drawn out at length.
Good luck in building a catalogue of stories that can be linked to most contexts!
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Classroom Teaching - Read More
As teachers we need to be mindful of the cognitive challenge of an activity aimed at our students and it is here that the ITC Thinking Skills Framework can help.
The Bloom’s level dictates the WHY students are doing the activity. For example, “in order to break an issue down into its component parts.” (analyse)
The WHAT students will be doing is illustrated by the descriptive Verb used and the sentence asked and
the HOW is explained by the use of an appropriate cognitive or collaborative tool to scaffold the students’ response
This can be then used as the basis for your lesson planning and will help you achieve your desired outcome. This process is clearly explained in the template below.
The opening statement clearly outlines the desired lesson outcome. This is the WHY, and in the example below it is to Judge) .The next two steps or parts articulates the WHAT and HOW and helps your students think, feel and respond in a manner most likely to result in a successful student learning experience.
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
[Bloom’s verb – The WHAT] the [Concept] BY [Action – The HOW]
(Refer the ITC Thinking Skills Framework)
1. Judge (Bloom’s verb) their most useful learning experience gained during the holidays (the concept) BY completing an Elimination Draw (the Evidence)
2. Analyse (Bloom’s verb) one of their holiday activities (the concept) by completing a Y-Chart (the Evidence)
3. Create (Bloom’s verb) a narrative about what they did during the holidays (the concept) by writing a one page story (the Evidence)
Vocabulary:
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Resources:
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Differentiation:
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| This will arise from the students’ stories |
Elimination Draw
Y-Chart or Split Y-Chart |
All students complete a Y-Chart with min. of 4 items in each category (Total 12 items) Abler students do a split Y-Chart with min. 4 items in each category (Total: 24 items)
All students complete a one page report. Abler students can also design a role-play of one holiday activity. |
The body of the lesson was presented in last month’s Newsletter.:
By using this simple process we as teachers can not only clearly articulate the desired outcomes of our lesson but also map the steps we will take in order to achieve these outcomes
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General - Read More
Effective creative thinking is based upon three key principles:
1. It contains the unexpected!
A good creative story should not be predictable; it should have twists and turns keeping the reader on the edge of the seat! Likewise, good creative problem-solving should have novel and clever solutions. In other words, good creative thinking contains divergent and/or lateral thinking.
Divergent thinking occurs when people break out of an existing thought pattern: their thinking turns in new directions. For example, in a Grade 5 class recently, I asked the students, in pairs, to compile a list of things that people may find difficult. Initially, the lists were largely skills-based activities such as Maths, good handwriting and surfing. Once they were asked to change the direction of their thinking – to employ divergent thinking - their ‘difficult’ lists were amazingly enriched; world peace, slaying dragons, being assertive, saying “sorry”.
Lateral thinking involves looking at things from a new perspective to challenge existing assumptions. In the same Grade 5 class, students were asked to compare and contrast a cow and a cat. One boy interpreted ‘cat’ as a lion, rather than a domestic cat. Another interpreted ‘cat’ as the local basketball team, the ‘mighty cats’! These were both excellent examples of lateral thinking.
If we explain clearly to students these two different types of thinking, it will go a long way towards ensuring that they will use them in their work. Divergent and lateral thinking are important ingredients of creative thinking, as they ensure the thinking is beyond the plain and obvious and contains the unexpected.
2. Deep Creative Thinking goes through a process of Refinement.
Dick Fosbury developed the ‘Fosbury Flop’ by converting the high jump we all did at school, the scissors jump, through a process of deep analysis and evaluation. He broke down the elements of the high jump into its components; the direction and speed of the approach, the lift, the take-off and clearance. He then judged each of these components and looked at ways of improving each one. Through this process of continual analysis, evaluation and application he refined a new style of jump that gave him the winning edge.
Similarly in our classrooms, initial creative ideas need refinement and manipulation. Analytical tools such as Pros, Cons and Improvements (PCI) or SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats) Analysis are strikingly effective ways for students to review and refine their creative work in progress.
3. Scaffold Creative Thinking Tasks with Creative Thinking Tools
Whether it’s creative problem-solving or creative writing, students will produce more creative work if the task is scaffolded with thinking tools. For example, if students were asked to develop a story about a turtle - its adventures, friends, personality, etc. - the cognitive tool, Word Association could be used. With this tool, students think of a word that has nothing to do with the topic, such as ice cream. Students then use their imaginations to think of associated words until they generate an idea.
a) Jimmy loves to go ashore and bathe in the sun
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b) Jimmy has developed a series of twists and turns in his swimming. He loves to show off these tricks
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a) Sun burn b) twists
a) Sun cream b) cone
A Turtle named Jimmy - Ice Cream
c) pick d) melts
c) nose d) messy
c) curious
c) Jimmy is always curious and loses
track of time. He gets into trouble with his parents for being late.
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d)Jimmy is well known for his clumsy eating habits
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In a short period of time, an astonishingly wide range of creative ideas for the character ‘Jimmy the Turtle’ have been developed and a potential plot has been formulated.
Whether it is creative writing, creative problem-solving, creative design or forecasting - good creative thinking demands the generation of new ideas that can be applied to the task at hand and that have been refined. When the task has been carefully scaffolded by the teacher, students amaze even themselves with how high they can leap with their creative thinking!
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