WEEK FIVE

...almost done.

Here are several, less time-consuming, simple activities for you this week. This will be the last post that you are required the respond to. I have enjoyed reading your weekly responses and your answers have been very honest and insightful.

1. The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh wanted to learn more about teens, music, and what that relationship means to their library. Watch the seven minute video and answer the same questions they answered.

Here are the five questions for you to answer:
1. When do you listen to music?
2. How do you listen to music?
3. What have you been listening to lately?
4. How do you learn about new music?
5. What does music mean to you?

2. Go to the Exploratorium site and under the heading (in the middle of the page) titled Science of Music: Accidental Scientist and look around. Under the heading Exhibits choose one or two of the following activities: dot mixer, kitchen sink-o-pation, step re-mix, or online drum circle. PLAY!! Have some fun. Tell us which activities you chose and what you thought of them.

BTW – if you are not familiar with this site it is a great resource for teachers.

3. Please read the article titled "No Child Left Behind Leaving 70% Of Our Children Behind" by Steve Young. This Op-Ed talks about NCLB and learning through mistakes. Share an experience you have had, either personally or as a teacher, where a mistake has been a good thing -- a learning experience.

WEEK FOUR

Your response paper this week will not be on paper but on the blog. I know this is crunch time for papers so what I expect is that you write several paragraphs (about the equivalent of 1.5 typed pages) in the response section. Look at the website for Inanimate Alice. Take a look around the site. Work through one of the online stories and tell me what you think. Is it creative, would this work with age appropriate students? Could this be used in the classroom? Does this give you any other ideas?

1. Go to the magnetic poetry site. Choose one of the kit options and create your poem. Be sure and email the poem to me. If you choose you can also copy the poem down and submit it as a response.

2. Watch the video titled Serious Play, a TED talk presentation given in May 2008, by Tim Brown, the CEO of Ideo, a design firm founded by David E. Kelley in 1991. Brown carries forward Ideo's mission of fusing design, business, and social studies to come up with deeply researched, deeply understood designs and ideas. Ideo is the kind of firm that companies turn to when they want a top-down rethink of a business or product -- from fast food conglomerates to high tech startups, hospitals to universities. Ideo has designed and prototyped everything from a life-saving portable defibrillator to the defining details at the groundbreaking Prada shop in Manhattan (IDEO designed those famous see-through dressing rooms).

If you have time and would like to you can go to the Ideo site. One the site you will find MUCH interesting info, ideas, and case studies for creativity in several school settings.

What do you think?

Here are the videos we watched in class this week, plus a few extra…

Here are the videos we watched in class this week plus a few extra:

Taylor Mali -- Taylor Mali is a teacher and poet. Generally considered to be the most successful poetry slam strategist of all time, having led six of his seven national poetry slam teams to the finals stage and winning the championship itself a record four times before anyone had even tied him at three, Mali was one of the original poets to appear on the HBO original series "Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry."
Taylor's mission statement is, "I want to help reform education in America from top to bottom. I want to be part of the movement that makes an entire generation of college graduates consider teaching before business or law school. I want to help support responsible alternative paths to certification so as to make it easier for smart, successful, and qualified people in their 30s and older to become teachers. I want to get America ready for the Education Tax if it turns out that’s what we need. But most of all, I want to be a spokesman for teaching's nobility, one of the poets laureate of passion in the classroom." If you want a dose of inspiration to be the best teacher you can be head on over to his site.
Taylor Mali - Teachers Make a Difference


Alegría Cirque Du Soleil Music video


Andy McKee - Guitar - Drifting


Banksy Tribute


Blue Man Group, Dave Matthews - Sing Along


Movie Rocks - John Williams and Orchestra


Paul Potts Sings Nessun Dorma


Serigraphic event


Tina Bafaro - Tattoo Artist


YouTube Symphony Orchestra

WEEK THREE

This week you will continue exploring a few of the ideas we began talking about in class. Here are the blog assignments:

1. Watch the video An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube by Dr. Michael Wesch, professor of Anthropology at K-State. As stated in class, you do not have to watch the entire video, but watch enough that you can pick up on some key points that you can relate to your life, your life as a teacher and your relationship to society in general. This video is a lecture he presented to the Library of Congress in 2008. What are your thoughts on the YouTube and internet phenomenon? How will it change how you teach? Has it already? If not, how could it change how you teach? How will it change how your students learn? Good or bad it is a reality. Tell me what you think.

OPTIONAL: Check out The Blue School site. Take a look at the Time article on The Blue School and watch the Time video on The Blue School. What do you think about the concept? Does it work? What are the good aspects? What are concerns you have about this idea? Here is the real test -- would you want a child of your own to attend a school like this? Why? Why not?

Nathaniel Anthony Ayers

Here are the links to the videos we watched in class. I have also included an additional video link of Steve and Nathaniel celebrating Beethoven's birthday.

The Soloist
The Soloist - meet the cast
Nathaniel
Beethoven's Birthday

Liane Carroll

Here are some videos of Liane Carroll for those of you who enjoyed listening to and watching her sing and play.

Picture in a Frame
Caravan
Dublin Morning

Mr. PicassoHead

Here is the link to Mr. PicassoHead. Take a look around. View the gallery. Okay, now it's your chance to create. Look at the different shapes and colors. Explore sizes. Does a nose always have to be a nose and ear and ear?

Create your own PicassoHead. Here is the true beauty of this exercise: the only way to get it wrong it to not do it. Isn't that great?

Be sure and write down your gallery number and post it in the comment section of this entry.

Here's mine, but I am going to do several more throughout the week.

Sir Ken Robinson TED TALK

If you want to reference it here is the link to the Sir Ken Robinson TED TALK video we watched in class.

WEEK TWO

This week you will be taking a look at Sir Ken Robinson's website and reading a blog posting he wrote for The Huffington Post. In addition you will be following the link in the post below to the Picassohead website and creating your own masterpiece.

1. Go to Sir Ken Robinson's website and take a look around. Find the short two-minute video called Intel Inspire Project and watch it. In the comment section write at least a paragraph answering the question asked at the end of the video.

2. Go to the Huffington Post website and read the blog posting titled Transform Education? Yes, We Must written by Sir Ken Robinson. Imagine for a moment that starting tomorrow you no longer have to teach under the mandates of NCLB or deal with AYP. In the comment section tell us two things you would immediately change in your classroom that would foster a more creative way of learning.

WEEK ONE

This week you will be commenting on an article from the Edutopia website and a video that is posted below.

Visit the Edutopia website. Edutopia was founded and is chaired by director George Lucas, of Stars Wars and Indiana Jones fame, to document and disseminate the best of what is happening in classrooms in hope that “by shining the spotlight on these inspiring teachers and students, others will consider how their work can promote change in their own schools.”

Lucas states, “Public education is the foundation of our democracy -- the stepping-stones for our youth to reach their full potential. My own experience in public school was quite frustrating. I was often bored. Occasionally, I had a teacher who engaged my curiosity and motivated me to learn. Those were the teachers I really loved. I wondered, "Why can't school be engaging all of the time?" As a father, I've felt the imperative to transform schooling even more urgently.”

1. Follow this link to http://www.edutopia.org/magazine and peruse through the topics and articles available in either the current issue or past issues of the Edutopia Magazine. Choose one article that relates to you as a teacher and creativity and read it. Post in your comment what article you read, a brief summary, the link to your specific article, and most importantly, how you were affected by what you read.

2. Please look at the following slide show. Did you have an "a-ha" moment? What were two or three myths that you identified with? Why? Any "sacred cows" roaming around in your creative pasture?

Visual Creative Thinking

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