Word Tamer

Develop characters, settings, and plots with Wordtamer, an interactive site, going through a carnival atmosphere, using literary devices.  The player will journey through the carnival and develop characters, a setting, and a plot for their very own story.  Students watch videos along the way to ensure understanding of crafting a good story.

Weekly Question: Grading Smarter, Not Harder week 5

Weekly Question

"Grading Smarter, Not Harder"

Week 5

How often do you encourage student creativity in your classroom?    What is your rationale for doing so or choosing not to engage students in this way?

Please comment your answer by clicking comment at the bottom.

Free Webinar video, "Grading Smarter, Not Harder"

The following webinar occurred on January 26, 2015 and is archived at www.ascd.org.

Click here for the link.

"Grading Smarter, Not Harder" week 5: Creativity (Part 3)

Using Modern Technology to Encourage Creativity

Part III

Not all schools, or even grade levels, allow the use of personal devices in the classroom.  With that being said, there are other ways to implement some of the following practices in classroom.  Practicing digital safety, and learning how to be a safe and responsible digital learner (and teacher) is a the forefront of educational practices today.  The 21st Century Skills should be implemented throughout all curricula and understood by all educators.

Strategy #1:  Use Twitter for Class Discussion and Test

Pose a question or problem to the class and students have to tweet back their response.  This will give students practice in stating cases and rebuttals as concisely as possible.  Use hashtags unique to the class, i.e. #MrPHistory

Create a Twitter Tuesday where during the last 10 minutes of class, or the day, students can converse

"Grading Smarter, Not Harder" week 5: Creativity (Part 2)

Part II.  Strategies for Grading Creative Projects

Strategy #1:  Major Project Planning Sheet

Make sure all students are aware of the targeted learning outcomes for the project.   A copy of all the figures, planning sheets, tracking sheets, etc., can be found in this PDF.  Figure 5.1 is the Project Planning Sheet we are referring to here.  It is critical students don't loose site of the learning targets of the projects and the Project Planning Sheet will help them stay focused.  It is designed to facilitate a conversation between the teacher and the student working on their project.  As a general rule, Dueck often asks students to include at least 3 learning targets in a project.  Their choice which ones will be included. The central column gives students the chance to explain how they might use different types of media to meet different targets.  It also allows them to plan for maximum effectiveness.  The third column requires students to list key details and elements of the project (i.e. specific facts, sources,

"Grading Smarter, Not Harder" week 5: Creativity (Part 1)

Creativity

In this final week of "Grading Smarter, Not Harder" we look at creativity in regards to assessment and grades.  This review/summary will be broken down into three parts:  I.  Creativity, Engagement, and Motivation, and Potential Problems with Creativity; II.  Strategies for Grading Creative Projects; III.  Using Modern Technology to Encourage Creativity.  

Part I.  Creativity, Engagement, and Motivation

"Creatvitiy is going to be required by future generations to solve both current problems and those yet unseen."  (Ken Robinson, 2001, 2009)

It has been proven that learning and mastery occur much more readily in environment that promote autonomy through self-direction and purpose.  According to Behetto & Kaufman (2013), "creativty must be task appropriate in order to be effective."  Medina (2008) adds that creativity is an aid to understanding.   Many educators have witnessed learning is greatly enhanced through individual creativity, ownership, and empowerment.  The key is engagement to unlock the intrinsic motivation to learn in students.  "Allowing students to be creative in the classroom is a way of personalizing learning." (Robinson, 2001, 2009).

Additional research: