Course 1 - Who Inspired you to do Creative Work?

• Who inspired you to do creative work (a friend, a mentor, or a teacher)? 

This question is a hard one for me, probably too hard. I wanted to talk about a past teacher. I can think of a few teachers who were influential:

• Grade 3
• Grade 4
• Grade 5
• Grade 6
• Grade 7
• Grade 10
• Grade 11
• Several in college

This list gives me for an idea to make a post of the most memorable lessons from my own schooling. 

The teachers' areas of specialization are also interesting because they weigh heavily in social studies and in college, I chose international relations, a course of the social studies group of subjects, as my major.

• How did that shape your approach to teaching?

I don't remember much about schooling before high school - my mind was always focused on things outside the classroom, but I do remember a shift from junior high to high school and college. Assignments moved from more project-based learning to essay/writing assignments, then to lectures and essays in college.

I remember a unit on communities in junior high were we were asked to interview all our neighbors in what we considered to be our neighborhood. So, we first had to decide and justify what we consider to be our neighborhood and identify it on a map before going out and knocking on doors.

In high school, I had a new (to teaching) teacher that had us simulate the Cuban Missle crisis. I don't think his lesson went according to plan (we always opted for the nuclear option) but it made us look at the even a little differently and I still remember it as an interesting way of teaching. 

A few ideas for MEDIA-RICH LESSONS

cross posted to tekiota.com

The traditional center rotation involves students moving from one area to another, and at each stop, they learn something new.

When I used centers in elementary school, I needed students to be able to pronounce words properly, but I couldn’t always be right there to correct or help them. I started using QR Codes to give students access to an audio recording of words they were to pronounce. Another one was when reading in groups, point a QR Code to a URL of a recording of the book they were reading so they could listen before starting to read.

That would be one way to give students access to other information they could consume on their own.

Another way is to create a Google Drawing (or Slide you can embed in a blog) that has icons of the media type you are linking to (via Eric Curts). Have text you want students to read? Put an icon of a Document in your Drawing and add a link to the icon that leads to the Doc. Have a movie you want students to watch? Put an icon of YouTube and link to it. (Think of the DragonGate graphic.)

Another way to do this is by using a HyperDoc. In this example, the teacher has put the information students will need to know, along with a place for them to write notes on their learning.

Consumption vs Creation

It is great to have students use technology, but how can you use technology to have students create? Always try to push students to the top of the pyramid.