ACE Global Book Club – Intro + Chapers 1-4 – STEAM Power

Creating a community where it is safe to fail is an important part of teaching. I always model making mistakes and celebrate when my students catch me making a mistake. It is such an important part of the learning process. We learn so much more when we make mistakes. 

I'm so late to the game because my book got lost at school in delivery. But I've been devouring the book. I especially loved how Tim mentioned that limitations breeds creativity. I loved the example of the self protrait that requires kids to use nontraditional materials. Unfortunately as a technology teacher, I don't have the option for limited mateirals. But it did make me think about what other limitations I could put into place in my classes/assignments to push kids to think outside the box and embrace some mistakes. I'm currently creating my 4th grade design process unit (featuring Adobe Express, of course!) and I'd love ideas of end of unit projects that you think I could put some limitations into. 

Tim mentions that limitation breed creativity and critical thinking. Why does upcycling really reflect this and teach creativity and out of the box thinking? What ways could you use upcycling in you space?  

I have been LOVING the conversations here! I have posted for this week's chapters 5-7 for those that are interested in joining us there 🙂

https://community.adobe.com/t5/adobe-education-discussions/ace-global-book-club-chapter-5-7-steam-power/td-p/15554556 

I am in a unique situation.  I have been teaching teaching Anatomy Physiology, Biology, Medical Terminology, First Aid, and Intro to Healthcare in our Health Sciences Academy.   The Academy folded and I was given the opertunity to go back and rebuild our Video Editing program.  I now teach Video Production and Photography along with Anatomy and a First Aid Class.   

I schedule more time than needed for student for video projects because it just takes some students some time get going.   Most recently it was an email to the coach of my football players to get them to get in gear.   I try to give them very broad parameters in assignments to see what they can create.   Their first video project on their own it to make a commercial for a product that does exist, that incorporates the green screen and must be one minute in length.  They must get approval before filming.   One group recently came up with an idea of sneakers with bluetooth speakers.   A very quick Google Search showed that they exisit.   They then came up with the idea of sneakers with bluetooth speakers with lights.  That does not exist and I green lighted their project.   They just finished filming today and I am excited to see what they come up with.  Intresting enough one of the members of the group is a student who was in my first period class last year, was always late and didn't particpate much.   He failed and decided to retake the class where a bunch of his friends are and he is excelling.   

I also have the opertunity to each a Emergency Care course (first aid) which I could teach in a quarter, but it is a half year course.   It has become my Adobe Express Playground where I have students complete assignments and some of the month challenges since I have extra time in my schedule.  We don't use worksheets,  I have them create content on the topic we are learning by exploring the Adobe Express templates and being creative.   I will often give them criteria of "Include 3 images" to make sure I just don't get text from some students.  Regardless of what class I am teaching, I tend to have the students use the Create your own action figure (Bobble Head Activity) as a ice breaker activity with the students so that they get to play with technology and I get to know them at the same time.

I think the "messy" sometimes is good.  You sometimes get that one child who wants it to be perfect and takes so much time, that it never gets finished because of goal of "perfection."  My wife's middle school has a STEAM night where the students and parents come to participate in challenges.   I bring my daughter with me to partiicapte.   Some of the best creations may not look pretty, but they work and are functionalable. 

My role this year has taken a little bit of a turn, which I am loving! We now have a classroom that is a dedicated STEM space, affectionally called the M.E.S. Hall. The acronym stands for Math, Engineering, and Science. As a coach I have been charged with collaborating with teachers to elevate their lessons using all things technology to include robots and web-based products. This group could not have come at a better time. It is giving me the platform to gain different insights to make this a soaring success.

The safe spaces need to be created from me to the educators in my building. Their schedules are jam packed with responsibilities, and I need to come in with a partnership and ‘lighten their load’ mentality. Our conversations have been guided with coaching questions and giving the teachers time to question, fumble, readjust and try again. This system has been going well with the small group of teachers that are part of our pilot program and the good word is spreading.

As the planning of activities is processed we create goals and tasks that have an end in sight but the path isn’t defined. Students will need to decide how they will get there. Our room is filled with plenty of options and this is also allowing them to learn how they learn best.

Upcycling allows the imagination to run wild. Beginning the thinking of What else could this be?. We change when the unexpected is part of the process. Giving learners the limitations of tools that can be used will force them to think differently. This will guide them to see things through different lenses.

YES! I totally feel seen and if this had been a book that if someone gave me for PD, it would not be a struggle to read and implement. I have already sent it to my peers in the Verizon Program because it fits our curriculum so easily and helps with our goal of implementing the lab schoolwide that's how much I am enjoying it!

I love that Tim calls it upcycling with the cardboard, it sounds so fancy - my students love to call it "Trash Week" when we are building with cardboard (and yes, they tell anyone who will listen they are being trash pandas and dumpster diving for materials ha! I swear it's not the case, but the face the superintendent made when he came in was worth it that first time). I find using this type of creativity is super hard initialy because students have this design in their head but then when they see what I have, they don't know what to do since it has to change based on materials. I personally LOVE watching them grow with their designs and creativity (that lightbulb moment!). Each year my students suprise me with what they build and where their imagination takes them. I love getting new class 'pets' each year with it. I have never done the chair challenge but I have a ton of cardboard so I cannot wait to try it this year! It'll be a fun challenge, especially during testing season when they are so tired of looking at their Chromebook all day and they can take a break to be a kid again. It really lets the students shine in a new way.

Also that safe space is so important when bringing in creativity! I felt growing up I was not creative or artistic because of my inability to draw or create like 'true artists.' I vowed to never let my students feel like that. Seeing how many ways to be creative and how many different types of artists there are, it is mindblowing and anyone can be creative! I always try to give my students multiple methods and mediums for turning in projects, that way they can show their knowledge in a way they personally can excel. One of my favorite quotes (so far) was that art is "valuable by itself regardless of the product." It is so important to celebrate all of their accomplishments, big and small.

I got my book! *squeee* Just getting started so I haven't gotten very far. But here goes my initial thoughts as well as what I've read from Tim's perspective. 

1. I know that failing is so difficult for my students. I teach at a magnet school for Gifted Education. For some of my students, failure is seen as shameful. And trust me, after years of therapy to overcome my own perfectionist anxiety, I have tried to help my students see that failure is an opportunity for growth. Tim shows us the beauty in failing and how that can lead to so much more than we ever anticipated. Someone long ago told me that FAIL stood for First Attempt in Learning and I think that message works for us. We fail; we can be sad or disappointed that things don't/didn't go the way we planned. And then we pick ourselves back up and continue to try again. When we fail, we end up with more synopses firing in our brains and we learned from it. 

2. Art, in its traditional form, is not something I'm very good at embedding in my curriculum. Mostly because I lack the expertise to talk about these concepts (hence the book study). But creativity is always there. My students differences in the way they do something is celebrated and we love hearing different ways to solve problems or analyze literary work. We love seeing something that is broken (or not working well) and improving it. I give students a multitude of options for demonstrating mastery. From creating works of art in oil pastels to coding games in Scratch. My rubric always allows students the choice of medium and I think that's why my students don't realize they actually like the assignments. 

I'm going to continue to read this part, but I just can't wait to see what lies ahead! 

My biggest takeaways:

What resonated most with me, well one of the things, was FUN. Often times students don't get a chance to have fun with learning. Reading through chapters 1-4 gave me insight on how to develop lessons that incorporate a STEAM mindset. 

When I am doing an activity with students, they often ask questions like: Is this right? Should I use this color? Can I add this? I often tell them that there are no wrong answers. In doing so, I hope to create an environment where students feel open to be creative and open to new ideas.

I liked the idea that providing less fosters creativity. It reminded me of an activity where the only directions I gave students were that they need to manipulate the construction paper to create a replica of a particular neighborhood. Some students wanted to see an example and I was hestitant because I wanted them to be creative and not duplicate what they saw. In the end many of the students suprised me with the way they used the construction paper. I truly saw their creativity.

I think upcyling pushes students to really examine an object and visualize how it could become something else or serve another purpose. The upcycling gave me an idea: For lower grades I thought about using used cardboard like cereal boxes or ziploc bag boxes to create the perfect chair for Goldilocks. This would be an extension after reading the story. I was also thinking about using cardboard as part of an ending activity for Kindergatens Module 1 lesson.