This third post on Ideas for Learning and Creativity explores ways in which both teachers and students can communicate in a range of different ways; from public speaking, writing, composing or using technology to make an impact on their audiences. This post contains more video clips than other post in this series (see #1 and #2 for more ideas) but each one is definitely worth watching.
Creativity and Innovation
So, what do teachers make in a year?
In this powerful 3 minute clip, the poet Taylor Mali defends the teaching profession at the Bowery Poetry Club (Nov. 2005). Mali’s explanation is an uplifting – yet with a bitter undertone – explanation about what impact we as teachers can have on students’ learning. It is also a great example that creative public speaking does not have to lengthy to be either convincing or powerful.
Reading is Changing
I ran a couple of sessions at the Norfolk Schools ICT Conference last week where Steven Moss of Partnerships Schools discussed the significance of using technology in the classroom whilst pointing out the fact that not all use of ICT is effective (you can download his presentation here ). He went on to argue that we need to rethink and re-structure the way we teach young learners as we are using the same pedagogies we used at the start of the century but that students have changed the way they learn. This is a very potent issue as students now have an array of sources to learn from, unlike 20 years ago. They are now learning through interactions, new ways of communicating, instant feedback via webinars, VLEs, Skype, IM and so on.
I came across the following video clip from TVO.org (Ontario, USA, public educational media organisation) a while ago and it continues the discussion raised above and centers around the question: Is technology destryoing students’ ability to write? This is a very interested clip and it looks at how far technology has improved students’ ability to work with text e.g. that WEB 2.0 has provided learners with the opportunity to access material; and brings up the issue that, in many respects, students perform their ideas and thoughts in different ways than by just writing and that our methods of teaching must begin to meet these new ways of learning.
Is technology destryoing students’ ability to write? from TVO.org
Audience Participation
I spotted a link to this video on Twitter a few days ago when it was posted by Dughall (worth following for great links, ideas and discussions). It shows how a simple scale can engage an entire audience whilst at the same time compose a piece of music together. There is a lot we can learn from Bobby McFerrin‘s in this clip about engagement and how to bring out the best of whole class teaching.
Whole class participation is a difficult task to achieve both in terms of logistics, outcomes and your patience (!) but a worthwhile endeavor. Some subjects are more difficult than others but as a starter activity it can really get a class excited about the lesson. For example, try getting students working in ‘character’, attempt whole-class composition or deconstructing text, use active learning when piecing together essays and or for assessments. Take a look at these ideas for whole class participation:
Create ‘interactive diagrams’ with the whole class
Discuss the Grey Matter: Continuums involving the whole class
More ideas in this book: Exam Class Toolkit - how to create engaging lessons that ensure progression and results:
ICT and E-Learning
Games as assessments
Games are essentially assessments – but games do not seperate learning from the game unlike traditional education where pupils learn and then they are tested. – James Paul Glee
The game manual is sometimes as complex as a standard textbook. James Paul Glee, for example, gave up reading the manual as it was too complex. He played the game for a while and then returned to the manual and suddenly it all made sense because he had seen what the terminology was referrring to in the game. Like a textbook, the words are connected to a game, for example the game of History – what historians do like source analysis, unveiling mysteries of the past, interpreting information. He then used the game manual as a reference in case he wanted to look something up or tweak something he knew but wanted to explore further. Glee states that you should do the same with a textbook, use it to look up and reference material. Very interesting video.
Technology that Matters
Terry Haydn at the University of East Anglia showed me this superb viral video produced by MoveOn.org under the fake name of CNNBCVideo. It was created to show what could happen if people didn’t vote for Obama in the general election. One segment of the video asks the question “How long until we nuke Iran? Experts say it may be as early as Saturday, around lunchtime“.
This is a very interesting clip for many reasons, not only because of the importance of political change, but it also shows students how powerful media and technology really can be. It can also encourages students to explore using ICT in more creative ways and consider how technology can assist in conveying key messages or clouding the accuracy of others.
How Google Search Works
I came across this Youtube video on Steven Anderson’s blog WEB2 Classroom and thought I’d share it with you – great to show students how (apparently) a search engine works.
Connect: