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?
39 comments:
I love the idea of Serious Play. I agree whole heartedly that as we grow up we develop a fear of judgement. I feel lucky to work in a building where the staff are friends. Brown is correct when he says "Friendship is a shortcut to play."
As I was watching, I reflected on some of my personal experiences and realized that some of the best creative ideas I have come up with came to me when I was playing. It really brings to light the need to allow children to play and create in an emotionally safe space. If they are allowed to do this throughout their school career rather than just prek-2 I think it would be wonderful for our society's future.
Inanimate Alice… At first I thought my computer was shooting craps because of the static coming from my speakers than I realized that it was part of the video. The sounds and music were not something I enjoyed. They were creepy and left you wondering if it was safe to go on to the next page. I finally had to turn the volume down so that I could concentrate on the text.
The interactive feature of the stories was an interesting touch. This feature would appeal to middle school age children as well as upper elementary school. This is a lot like a video game and this is what kids are drawn to today. They could play and get a geography lesson at the same time.
I do believe that Inanimate Alice is creative. I think that this could be used as a tool to teach children how to create their own online stories. I am going to show this to our Computer Applications teachers as an idea for their class. I think that to be able to use this successfully in that manner you would have to be technologically savvy and that I am not.
As I was trying to come up with methods of how to incorporate this in my classroom I noticed many uses of figurative language. This can be put into a lesson of such to incorporate new teaching methods. The students get tired of the being presented with material over and over again and this could liven it up a bit.
I would still prefer to read a book that I can hold, but I see that this may be the book of the future. This also may be a way to get that student who does not care for reading a little more interested.
Teddy Brown and the Video about IDEO were taking about everything I have felt for a long time. Naturally, people gain a sense of embarrassment, as they get older and are worried about their peers’ opinion. Yet now we are trying to take this away from our primary grade students. They no longer get to have made believe play during the day because we have centers and jobs to do. Creativity and play is not scored on a test. So these needs are neglected but it is hurting the students in the end because they do not learn the appropriate social skills that take place with new friends in a role playing activity of house or store and then we wonder why the students we work with have not idea what is expected in social situations. I hope that schools will once again follow the business world and re implement the use of building and role-playing back into the classroom so; we do not have a generation of socially inept kids.
Tim Brown's lecture on Serious Play was very interesting to me. With the inclusion of NCLB we do not have enough time to allow for much play. If playfulness helps with more producivity in adults than maybe we should be encouraging more of this in school-age children instead of worrying about test scores. To better prepare our students for the outside world we need to be doing everything in our power to advance thinking. If this means more role-play, exploration, and building than we need to allow time for this. Maybe Tim Brown needs to go speak to our President and his cabinet.
With the demands that we have today to reach such high standards play has been put on the shelf. We think we have to cover so much material that we take all of the fun lessons out to hit the delta indicators on the tests. This is coming up a lot in our classes lately, so why have not I heard ab out it before I started my masters? I think we need to get the message out to the lead people and have some changes in education. I think play would even be acceptable at the high school level, why not. Whoever can figure out how to get it in the public schools will be a millionare! Maybe our class could do it!
Ted Brown's premise on play seems to be a reoccuring theme in the presentations we have viewed. We have talked about how children use play to learn and as they grow they become inhibited in how they play. I agree that play is healthy and necessary to not only children, but adults. Unfortunately, we are seeing more students who just don't know how to play, they need to be told exactly what to do or they can't function. I also find it interesting that these speakers all seem to be British. Does the United States not have any experts on creativity? Maybe that's a problem. I view the design jobs that Brown described as a big playground for adults. They can express themselves, try new things, and basically have free expression in the workplace. Educators can't really do that. Not only do we have specific items to teach, but we are also molding youngsters into productive citizens who will be expected to conform to societal norms. Teaching children using creative lessons is great, but I believe that students just can't have a free for all in class.
I think it is creative in many ways. The stories are creative while they follow Alice through her life. It is also creative in the ways that they incorporate a lot of the material into the story. I liked the blueprints of the house. I think this could be interesting for a drafting class if you could go into more detail with that part of it.
I also find this kind of hard to follow. It jumps around a lot from one place to the next. They were driving down the road looking for dad, and the next thing you know Alice is thinking of what she could do if she lived in town.I found the music and back ground noise to be rather annoying myself. She is totally infatuated with her new friend Brad who is just a drawing, or is it her imagination? This kind of seems like a dark and gloomy story. I would like to see something that was a little more positive.
I think that this might work for some groups of students. I think some students could get lost and not be able to follow the story line though. I think they might get bored by just clicking the arrows after awhile. I think you would have to not only have the appropriate age group, but also the mature students in that age group.
I do not see myself using this in my classroom. I teach science and I know there is a lot of technology in it, but not much science as I view science.
I think that this might be a good way to try and reach students who do not like the traditional type of reading. They might get interested in the technology part of it and pay more attention.
I think that the old-fashioned type of reading is hard to replace. I think to many times we try and find ways to fix things that are not broken. Why not try and find new ways to use the material that we already have? It seems like a cirlce in education anyway. We see things come and go every 10-15 years.
I believe play is very important for all. Letting loose every now and then is very relaxing for me. I believe that children in today's society have not learned how to play. Is it their fault? Parents? Teachers? I believe the majority falls on the parents. When i was young my mom would say, "get outta here and go play somewhere!" So i would march down the street gather several friends and go to the empty lot, or school playground and we would play baseball, basketball, kickball, or an all night game of hide and seek. Drive by playgrounds now, what do you see? Playground equipment with no children in sight. In my opinion parents now say, "go play your video games or watch some tv, just get away from me!" Parents are too afraid to let children run and play. They are afraid of many things and some of it is understandable. Being afraid of society in general is one issue. There seem to be many more crazy people out there willing to do anything to get attention. more kidnappings, killings, etc. But some of the issues are simply that they don't want their kids to get hurt while playing. "It will hurt their self esteem" "they won't want to play anymore if they lose" wah wah wah without play children and adults will lose a sense of themselves and will never know what might have been. I coach little league baseball and have for about 12 years now. One reason is that it gets me outside and gives me a chance to be a kid again. it takes me back to the days when i played and will never forget. many kids now, will never have those memories.
Inanimate Alice! WOW! I think maybe i know how ADHD kids may feel. The creator of this site has too be ADHD. My brain is going crazy right about now. After just a minute or so i had to turn off the music and really concentrate on the text. It was still hard to take in. Reading while all the pictures were moving was very distracting. I probably read each page 2-3 times since nothing stood still for me. I could not do this on a regular basis.
I don't think i would use this in my classroom on any type of regular basis. I may however allow the students to visit the website and watch the first episode and choose for themselves if they want to continue. I only watched the first episode and it didn't seem to be too extreme for kids, i don't know about the other episodes though. Some students may not enjoy this at all. They would feel like there was way too much going on in order to take it all in. There are many students who would absolutely love this. Many things going on at once and trying to do just one thing is how many students’ lives take place. The home lives of many students could be represented by Inanimate Alice. Yelling and screaming going on in one room, tv or radio blaring in another room, and some quiet studying trying to get done in the other room. Now I have to have some background noise while I work, but seeing the noise and hearing it is two totally different aspects. It would be like having flickering lights all through the house while trying to read. Some people could do it with no problem and others wouldn’t last a few minutes.
This is very creative. Taking several short simple stories and creating a lifelong story of a character seems simple but adding all the technology to it made it possible to appeal to younger audiences. I believe that many students may enjoy this. It is what they are use to now a days. It was almost video game like, just not real interactive. It may hold their attention a bit longer than a boring ol' book would. Many kids would be attracted to just the pictures at first but after realizing there was just a sentence on each “page” would almost force them to read the text as well. After viewing the first episode I went back and loaded them all and realized that one episode was 30 minutes long. That could be a downfall to some kids finishing the story. I know you could always watch the shows in increments but having to watch and read and listen to 30 minutes of it may lose the attention of many kids. I know that the 5-10 minute episode I viewed was pushing it, but I was distracted throughout it all. So I probably wouldn’t watch a 30 minute episode, at least not all at once.
I would like to go back and continue watching the following episodes that is one reason I watched the first one. I didn’t want to start in the middle and not understand any of it. I would like to find out if the creator does anything much more than what has already been done or if she will continue raising the level of creativity. I did find it very distracting to view but with the sound down I managed to get through it. I don’t think I will turn the sound on if I ever do get back to watching the entire series.
Inanimate Alice
The idea of a web book is very creative especially in the electronic age today. Kids today are more interested in the next game but could care less about the new book series coming out. Of course, not all kids are that way. I have a daughter that can easily get lost in a book but my second daughter finds it a chore to open a book and read. I work with the same kind of children everyday. The creativity of an interactive book will pull kids who struggle with reading into a book without them feeling the burden of reading.
The idea of a web book that is interactive is great. I definitely plan to have my fifth graders go through this book during the last two weeks of school. We are just finishing a novel and this will be a nice way to end the year. I struggle with getting my kids to write but I think this will be a good compromise. I always have to use some kind of bribery to get my students do something they do not like. I think this would be the thing. I found a book that I read to my students through scholastic where one child writes in a journal and then you can go online with the password and see the other friend’s video journal. They loved this and could not wait until the next day to find out the next code. They always want to be on the internet and this is interactive. I just wish that I had more knowledge on how to set up the format for them to make there own stories. I definitely want to take some time this summer to see if this is possible. My students will probably be able to tell me.
I am not a big gamer but I did enjoy the different types of interactions during the books. I went back a number of times in book three because I was not able to locate the dolls. I found the music and the sounds a little annoying but there was an option to turn it down. I am more of a visualizer when I read, so having the audio was not my thing but my students will like it. I found that I enjoyed reading the books first and then going back to find the interactive parts. The story was the important part to me but my students will be all about the game parts. I think that Alice’s appeal is that she is always in trouble. My students like stories that are mysteries or stories about kids like them. They will also like the fact that they are not reading a book. They do not seem to appreciate the way a book can take you away to where ever the writer takes you. This may make them more open to going where the story is going to take them.
Children today are more interested in the game then the story. Many of the games that are played on the electronic games have a story but they skip right past it to get to the next level or to find the next power up. I am hoping that this will interest them.
One thing I would have to monitor closely is the internet use. The students seem to spend more time trying to bypass the firewalls. My students would enjoy this project but I would have to sit right beside them because they would be off task and trying to break the firewall. Last week one of the students I teach was caught looking at websites that are not school appropriate. I find that my students would try to do these things even if they enjoy the stories because they feel like they have to break the rules all the time. It makes it hard to do things they would enjoy. Although I am going to take the chance and give them the opportunity to try this because it ties the gaming and reading together and I am hoping they will find that they are drawn to story to get to the next game. I hope my students find it as entertaining as I did.
Tim Brown
To me he shared several concepts with Sir Ken Ronbinson. Kids are not embarrassed to make mistakes but as they grow older, the tendency to self edit takes over and creativity stops. Another key point was friendship and its relationship with play. I think friendship is very important to play. The staff at CHMS is very close and I belive we are all friends not just peers. And it does create a playful environment.
Inanimate Alice is a creative venture. I didn't find it as engaging as perhaps a younger audience might. I agree with some of the other peoples' posts: the graphics were distracting and so was the sound. I realize it's supposed to be innovative and for that it should receive some praise. I like the idea behind the final product. It's just that it didn't flow quickly enough for me. It also didn't hold my attention because the actual story itself was spare.
I think my students would respond to Inanimate Alice better than I would. It caters to the modern young student. The flashing graphics and very short text combined with the mix music and sound effects would possibly hold some of my students' attention spans.
A good project to imitate in the classroom, but not something I'm interested in following. Perhaps I'd like it better if it was more developed and had a better story.This application might be perfect for teaching graphic novels.
Tim Brown's speech was certainly eye opening. Maybe it's my midwestern practicality speaking, but I do find it difficult to apply that open way of thinking to the classroom. My job is to get kids to read and comprehend and also to write coherently. I would love to foster an environment where there's all the creative/artistic freedom to create, but of course I fear it would digress to just pandemonium. Plus I'm a big fan of KISS method. In order to become a better reader and writer, a person needs to read a lot of high quality lit. and flex their muscles trying to write well.
The inanimatealice website was interesting. I have not had a lot of experience with watching videos on-line in the past so this was kind of an eye opener. Although it was quite busy, I can see great possibilities for the classroom.
I was quite overwhelmed at the beginning of the China video. The combination of the video and the music was so dramatic that I just stayed on the first page for quite some time looking at all the detail and trying to figure out what the video was all about.
I found the static that played at the beginning and periodically throughout the video to be very annoying, but I know that it did have to do with the story line and most children would probably not be bothered by the noise.
I wondered if the video might be interactive when the pictures of the sites in China came up at the beginning and I tried to click on them to see if I could control the direction of the storyline. I my mind that would have been pretty cool and something that I know my fifth grade students would have enjoyed. However, it didn’t work.
I did like some of the interaction, although I’ll admit, I didn’t figure out what I was supposed to be doing for a while with the pictures of the flowers on the side of the road. I’m not completely sure if I was actually taking those pictures, or if it automatically does it to make you think that you are part of the video. I would like to watch it again to see if that part was interactive or if it was just the way the video was made. I thought that scene was kind of a fun part that my kids would like.
Although I didn’t care for the fast pace of the video and the distractions that the music caused, I’m sure my students would love it. It kind of reminded me of many of the video games that are popular these days.
I thought that the story line was very simple and some what silly and vague. It was nothing that really kept my attention. The references to the dog and to the restaurant were silly to me, and I didn’t see the importance.
I think that it would be fun for the right age group to see, but I’m not exactly sure how I would use it. It was fun to see, and I think she is very creative. It must have taken a long time to design that site and each of the stories.
I know that if I showed this to my students, the first question they would ask is if they could make their own video on this site. That was my question too. If the website offered students the chance to make a video of their own ideas, it seems to me that it would be much more useful in the classroom. Can students make their own video or control the outcome of the story? Maybe it did offer this option, but I just missed it.
I feel like it was fun, and my students would have fun watching it, but I don’t see it as a very practical tool in the classroom. I guess the only potential that I saw in the video was the creative element. Students could see how the plot developed and how the problem was solved, and have the fun visual elements at the same time. This could possibly help them to become better writers.
Even though it was an interesting site that might help my students to be more creative, it is not available at our school. It is considered to be a blogging forum and is therefore blocked by our board of education.
I thought the presentation on play was very interesting. I know that play is important because I have experienced it in my own childhood and have seen it in my children. Kids are very free and very creative, and I really think that it is unfortunate that older children and especially young adults are embarrassed out of their creativity. I hope that I can find more ways to promote free play and creativity in my classroom and still meet the needs currently required.
Play is so important. I think that what we as educators must do is find a way to balance play with academics without upsetting the powers that be-administration. How do we as educators incorporate play into our lessons and still teach reading, writing and math. I have not been able to find the happy medium. I want the creativity in my classroom, but can't always find the way to bring play into it.
Play is an important part of intellectual development. Babies play, young children play, even older children play. They play with things, by themselves and with others. This is how children experience the world. As adults I think our experiences in this world would be more satisfying if we adults played more. The Everyday math curriculum takes time out to play games. the students look forward to these games. i like it because I hear constructive conversation and a lot of "now I get it!" The main message I got from the video is that cooporate America is in need of creative people. Creativity will be a great trait to possess when going out into the workforce of the now and later. American is grooming kids to take over our future. Why aren't we doing more to get them ready??
I found the website interesting. It had a good video on adolescent obesity. It talked about they took there creativity to Toyota to help them design a car for the empty nesters. I can see where the creativity can be productive to a company trying to develop new ways to address or market a product.
My poem (i hope this is where it belongs)
Materialism
One desires the universe
You prisoner of velvet
Soft poetry dazzles you blind
Words pierce the heart
Like a ferocious rhythm
Perhaps devouring your mind?
Brown struck a cord with the idea of embarrassment. Adults are embarrassed by their own creativity. My feelings are as a child we draw mommy and daddy and the dog, standing in front of the house, when someone asks us what we drew we explain and they tell us how wonderful our drawing is. Instead of saying, wow that looks like crap. As we grow older we are expected to be able to take and understand criticism, therefore when we are told our work looks like we should strive to make it better. Instead, many of us quit trying to be creative, it is less painful. On the occasion, we are required to do something in a creative way our first response will be an apology for what we did, because we are use to it called crap.
Inanimate Alice could be a glimpse of what we can expect television programming and the movie experience to become. Movies and tv may become Much more interactive across the board, like this e-creation. This particular production didn't appeal to me. Though, done in a manner that targets me, rather than adolescent females, I could see myself liking this new kind of stoytelling.
I am able to see why this would be so appealing to our students: technology, games, music, moving graphics. But, what are talking about here? How are our kids able to "use" this? How much will they be creating? Are we simply talking about letting the students experience it the same way Ottawa cohort has, then writing about it? Is this medium to replace actual paper and ink books? Is it to be used in conjunction with curriculum, or as a cornerstone?
I can see it being a great excuse to take all the students to the library, and engage them in something they might be into more than me. That's okay. There are several advantages to using it in the language arts classroom. It seems to lend itself most to that core class.
In other words, it looks to be great for the English class, but might be a little difficult to incorporate it into other core classes well enough to justify its use. Hey, it looks easy and the students will probably love you for letting them do something on the computer, even if it’s short. Why not try to do something the students might want?
Tim Brown used great examples in his presentation to visualize the importance of creativity and concrete models to help pass on ideas. The idea that a high tech surgery instument was a product inspired by a dry erase marker and film canister shows that prototypes can be simple but effective. I also think his position on role play is accurate. Kids use it to imitate adult roles, but designers use it to understand their product and how consumers will respond.
Tim Brown
I agree with what a lot of us picked up upon in the video. By the time kids get into middle school there is an entire shift in the perception of play. No longer do they want to play make believe and be creative. There is a lot of pressure for them to start acting mature especially when the hormones kick in and adults constantly tell them to grow up. I think schools should have "play" time where activities should focus on be able to show creativity and not let them to be dismissive about it.
Inanimate Alice shows the potential of future storytelling. How amazing it will be when our students, children, and even adults can interact throughout the book. They kind of remind me of those books where you chose which ending. I thought that was the most fascinating invention when I read those as a child. It will be important for us to keep traditional books around too. There can be too much technology and children could lose the ability to appreciate legendary novels in paper form. It could reflect the loss of multiplication tables due to the incorporation of calculators in primary education.
I watched Italy first. I have to say that I was annoyed by Alice's dramatic ploy that she truly lost her parents and did not know where they were. Then she remembered that she was supposed to go to the ski lodge for lessons, in which she begins her venture outside, only to succumb to the snow. Her parents happen to be nearby to save her which concludes the story. I then watch the first to see that she is only 8, which explains the flow of the story, but then why are her parents leaving her alone in the mountains. My point is that as great as this idea is, I hope the stories are more interesting and have more substance. I do love the use of the player and how the reader has to solve problems or complete tasks to continue.
I think that whoever said this would be appropriate for grade school and middle school is correct. However, this could be adapted for older students if the story line was different. I could definitely use this in the classroom if the stories followed concepts I am teaching. For example, it mimics virtual labs we do in class, with more animation and effects. I would love to have this form be used for biologoical conquests that students have to complete or like I stated before, labs that are not able to be completed in the classroom. The interactive labs we have now are pretty simple with low grade graphics. This would grab their attention and they would have some interest of the conclusion.
Inanimate Alice
Overall Inanimate Alice is very a creative idea. The use of audio and visual elements help tie the story together and adds more emotional involvement to the story. It allows the user to become more engaged with the story.
The music that was playing made it very much like a movie. The idle moments were more soothing and when Alice was getting worried and the suspense was building the music took a much more sinister tone. This type of interaction is one that I could see how entertainment will evolve. Rather then being passive and just watching, the story progresses through user input. Granted it was just clicking buttons but what if the user had to do something like guide the hero or heroin to the next page. I remember some horror movie that was like the choose your own adventure books. The choices by the user dictated the outcome.
The use of this type of technology could be somewhat useful in some core categories. Math for example could have the user try to use formulas and concepts to do things such as the placement of a ladder for slope intercept or maybe determining the odds of an event happening. Kids these days are use to this type of stimulus manly its a type of video game. I personally don't think video games are bad but they do need to be monitored.
Inanimate Alice is something that could potentially be use some day in the future. It definitely would not be for everyone, but it does force the user to engage to progress. That is one of the biggest challenges I face in the classroom. Every so often I have kids that don't give a crap about their future and just sit or sleep there. This late in the school year means that the opportunities they had to change are gone. There is no time to make up work and pass. Maybe a program like this would suit them better.
Alice
I liked the Inanimate Alice site. It was very interesting and I thought it was creative. For me, it seemed a little like a moving collage that tells a story. I liked that you have to read to really understand what is happening even though there are pictures.
As far as use in the classroom, I don't know. I would like to say that I would use this with my class, but I'm not sure how I feel about it. First, it makes it seem a little scary that she is always having to look for her parents. I'm not sure if that would be appropriate for some kids. For example, I had a student in the past whose mother passed away in the middle of the year. I'm not sure how she would have felt about a serious and maybe intense story about being lost from one or both parents.
However, on the same token, each episode is a mystery and most of my fourth graders love mystery stories. Also, it is short and interactive which I think my kids would like. I could see perhaps using it as a center for reading time. The kids could pick an episode and respond by retelling and maybe thinking up a different ending or something. I would have to think about it more and I think it would really depend on the maturity level and previous experiences of the children.
What a wierd video story! It was definitely creative. the story was simple with a lot of feeling in it. The sounds and graphics were very chaotic and busy. The music made me think 'confusion.'I had the volume fairly loud trying to draw my kids into the room to watch it too. My 13 year old daughter came in, looked for a minute and asked me to turn it down. My son was in his bedroom and hollered for his sister to turn off the noise.(It was me. hee hee)I think this would keep the attention of today's students. this kind of raucous music and movement is what so many of them are used to seeing when they play their video games. I can't play video games for that reason. there is too much going on for me to concentrate.
The video was interactive in that the viewers had to click a button to go to the next page and even that wasn't consisent. so the viewer is moving their hands, using their eyes and listening to a bazaar rhythm while taking in a story. Is the idea that students are more apt to retain the information in the story because they are using their eyes and ears and hands?
I guess if you think of the brain as an alternator where it recharges the system and keeps it runnibg at full capacity while the car is moving, it sounds logical.
Could I use it in the classroom? I would have to experiment. I think that presenting stories in this manner would definitely help some students comprehend better. Especially those kids whose minds run at top speed. Such as the ADD or ADHD student.I think it would be very distracting to others. As far as reproducing a story in this fashion, I think the students would have to be older.
I did get an idea from it. I thought maybe I could record some sounds and use them when I teach a math concept with a multiple step process. I would assign a sound to each part of the process and use it religiously. Then play the sounds in the correct orders during the state tests.
I thought Inanimate Alice was a weird story. I was lost with watching the graphics on screen and trying to read the text. The music was a throw off for me too. I wonder if my ADHD kids would be able to focus for very long on this. I do not think my ADHD students would last very long. I really had a hard time following it and was not sure what I was suppost to do to go on sometimes. I thought it would be somewhat confusing to others who have difficulty with too many things going on at once visually and auditorally.
I am not sure that I personally would use this in my classroom. But I will pass the site on to the language arts teachers to look at and see if they can utalize it in some way. I did show the story to my own teenagers to guage their response. The hated the music, thought it was a weird way to present a story and would not be interested in reading stories in this mode. In a way I was shocked as they really enjoy playing and interacting with video games in real time. This to me is almost the same thing. It would be interesting to do a test of different classrooms through out the grades to see what the reactions to stories of this type are responded to.
It was definatly interactive, so those kids in the world that can't keep their hands still would have plenty to do. It was visually stimulating so kids would be willing to interact the first time through, but I am not sure how many would keep going through the other chapters. I do not think kids would necessarily learn through stories like this better than in another mode. I think comprehension may be lost as the kids would be more focused on other graphic aspects than recounting key ideas.
How do we put creativity back in the classroom? This is the theme that is running through everything we have seen. Young children learn through creative play. When they get to middle school most of the creative play has been taken out of the classroom. Students are focused on the "right" answer. When they are given an opportunity to do something that doesn't have one right answer, they aren't sure what to do. To develop a creative environment it has to be a trusting environment. The students have to feel that they will not be judged by their peers for their creative ideas and actions. To do this the students have to be trained to function in a creative environment. I don't think a teacher can tell students," today we are going to be creative." The teacher must set the guidelines for student behavior and expectations. Developing this environment will take time. Students will need time to practice the behavior needed to have a trusting environment. ( I wonder if I wore an old t-shirt, sport coat, jeans and Chuck Taylors I would be more creative too?)
Inanimate Alice
I cannot relate much to the story because I think it was poorly told. There was a plot to some extent, but that was about it. However, the potential of the story due its creative concepts seems limitless. What captured my attention was the ability to tap into many senses at once unlike a regular story. The cross-discipline possibilities are intriguing as well. In the first episode, there were current social issues that could be discussed, geography that could be explored, technology sciences that played a role, and many more. A well-crafted story in this medium could allow for various classes to study the story from various learning curves and areas.
I think this is creative because it requires so much to incorporate it. One can become lost in the many facets available and needed in creating the story. Finding images, words, music, and graphics to tell the story and decide which one dominates each scene would take plenty of creativity. The interactive concept I think also makes it creative because when designing it, this person had to think of how the reader could have fun with the story.
I immediately thought of three ways in which istories could be of benefit both in watching them, but more so through creating them.
First, as an English instructor, it would be an engaging way to encourage students to read. It could not replace fully textual reading, but it could definitely provide a new method to understand English concepts. The images could help in understanding imagery, and the music can help with tone as it supports the events in the story. One of the biggest struggles today is just getting high school students to read, and this form of media story could help.
Second, the best learning occurs when it is joined with meaningful activity and enjoyment. The students become less focused on learning because it is happening as they create. In order to create, the students must know the curriculum to accomplish the task. They retain the learning better and leave with a sense that what they learned has a purpose, and when they cannot complete the assignment because knowledge is lacking, they are more likely to seek out the knowledge rather than give up. They are tied to the product emotionally. Students using istories to create their expression would give them a new and multi-faceted way of expressing their ideas.
Finally, istories can be used to help incorporate the most innovative teaching and learning methods. First, interdisciplinary activities could be created where multiple classes harness the same concept but focus on various goals. We rush students so much in their endeavors that rarely do they get the opportunity to focus long enough to become emotionally involved and have the time it takes to allow creativity to evolve. Istories also could provide an avenue for multiple intelligences due to the various methods of creation. I like cooperative learning as well, and istories could definitely be broken into a group project where students are given specific roles.
Technology and kids go hand in hand. I find the concept of istories intriguing and would love to try it, but more so, I would love to facilitate it and watch the true experts who could figure out even more fascinating ways of using istories to accomplish curricular tasks and enjoy learning because they are in charge of the process and feel it has a relevance using the modes most understood by them.
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I thought his ideas spoke to today’s learner, and the direction teachers will need to take to engage learners and prepare them for the fast-paced and changing world. Learning has more meaning when it tied to enjoyment and creativity. Too much of learning is dictated by the teacher and prescribed rather than open-ended with a purpose to allow for choices and creativity. Let the students problem-solve and sweat through a project rather than provide your one answer. Let them find their own through what he calls serious play. With this philosophy teachers could learn to love creativity rather than fear it, relate to students better, and let learning be a byproduct of play that has relevance and personal meaning.
Inanimate Alice was really different. I decided to do the first episode so I would understand what Alice was all about. At first I thought I was having problems with the speakers and then realized that it was part of the story. At this point I thought that if students were watching this it would either keep them entertained or turn them off due to all the movement and static. Some of my students would not be able to follow the story due to the movement. Those who could look past this would be interested in how the story would end and what would be next.
I feel that this is a very creative piece of writing from the viewpoint of a child. The way she jumped around with information but always going back to looking for her dad. This is how students react throughout their day. They know that they have to look at their subject books while thinking about things that are going on around them and at home. Thinking ahead of what they will be doing when they go home from school. With the interaction of the cell phone students would relate to the animation.
As far as ideas for the classroom I think it would be interesting to have students write their journal entries into a PowerPoint with animation and music. It would take a while to find acceptable web sites for students to explore their different ideas but I think in the long run it would be benefit students with a different kind of media.
Serious Play by Ted Brown was in a sense everything that is true with our society. It is the children we should be watching for creativity without feeling restrictions. I agree with Mr. Brown when he stated that you must be free of fear in order to feel free to be creative. He said that you need a sense of trust in order to feel free to be yourself and create. Small children do not need extravagant toys to be entertained or to be creative with stories in their heads. My children would love to get into the pan cabinet and see what they could get to make noise. As they grew older they refrained from creating their own music. They wanted to mimic others who they felt were perfect.
When you feel comfortable with what you are creating you feel the joy of that creation and you will continue to create. I believe this was what Mr. Brown was talking about when you work with those who are your friends. Nothing is so harmful as to when a colleague puts down your ideas and you are made to feel unworthy. You eventually stop being creative in fear of this happening. This is happening within our classrooms with our students. They are no longer allowed to act out or they will be labeled by their peers who feel that it is inappropriate to act out. Some teachers keep students sitting in desk and not allowed to roam and react to lessons. I love charades which help students to act out words. They really have fun with this activity.
Inanimate Alice:
Never underestimate the power of imagination, creativity, and knowledge. Inanimate Alice is stimulating to both the eye and the ear. In my opinion, it forces you to think before moving to the next slide. The sounds I felt were unique, I have heard most of them, but never in this form or context. There application definitely added to the piece. The movement of forms and shapes along with the photographs kept my attention. They made me continue to search through the slides for hidden meanings and possible problem/solutions. I enjoyed watching and following the story.
In many ways, you get the feeling that an eight-year-old girl created the presentation. It seemed to follow the imagination of a child, with a lot of talent and adult knowledge.
As for Inanimate Alice being creative – yes.
I am not sure about age appropriate. If second graders were allowed to view this, I do not know if they would understand all that is happening. It might be over their heads. Although, it would probably be beneath a high school student, I think other than the sound and some pictures they would get bored with the story. To me it does not fit in any age group.
My opinion is based on what I saw from only viewing the first of the series. The other parts may be more age specific.
It could be used in the classroom. I see it being used more in a creative design class, or some type of art class more than anywhere else.
I would like to use it as an example of what can be created for student produced projects. I would love to have a student turn in something on this level for a power point assignment. I would like to be able to create a program like this to present notes from. The problems will come from me not having enough knowledge and skill to teach the kids how to do some of the work, and not having the computing power in school to do it. I am giving the web site address to our computer teacher to see if she can use it as a creative tool for her students.
I am looking at this program more as a visually attractive piece than a story to learn from.
Inanimate Alice had me mesmerized. I have never watched a web book, or whatever this medium is called, and I was surprised that I liked it. I thought the story was a little out there for some, but I thought it was a mystery and I could not wait to watch the next installment.
I think that I must be one of those people who could be brainwashed or something. I found myself lost in the sounds and the graphics. I did not realize how much time passed and then I would realize that the arrows were on but I did not know how long they had been there. I do not particularly like video games, but I thought the games, puzzles, and graphics were cool. Most importantly, I could be successful with these and not give up in frustration like I do my boys’ games.
The music and background noises did not bother or annoy me. I thought that they were very appropriate to the setting. However, I do believe that these led to my trance-like state during my viewing of the episodes. It makes me wonder how long it would take to create something like Inanimate Alice. Choosing the sounds and graphics alone would take me forever, not to mention developing a story line.
If I could use something like this to portray historical events, every student would love history! I am not tech savvy, so someone else would have to develop the program who knows, maybe it will be one of my current students. Seriously, I think that in today’s world, where children are so enthralled with video games, this might be just the ticket to get students interested in reading and studying.
I believe that what we viewed may be the education of the future. An English and computer class could be combined for creative writing assignment. One assignment could be graded by two instructors for two different sets of criteria. The possibilities are endless. I do agree that what we viewed is more appropriate for secondary students, but there are already interactive stories that are available for very young children. I hope that teachers won’t become obsolete. I was very encouraged that one of the things that Alice missed in being home schooled was social interaction. Society needs to remember that interacting with peers is vital to young people. I would hate to think that we would become entirely web base, with no books. That would be like Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451,wouldn’t it?
The Inanimate Alice website was amazing! It is so creative, I would love to be able to use this in my classroom, especially if I was teaching older students. I found it so different from other online videos or stories I have watched. The music selection, the pictures, were totally different than what I was expecting. It kept me thinking and making personal and or relating it to other stories or histories.
I watched the China and Italy videos. It made me feel that I was actually there, and in the mind of a young girl. It showed what many children want to do at the age. I definitely feel that this would be appropriate for upper elementary students on up. The students have a better concept of what is going on in the world, not just the United States.
These videos were created I feel to give the audience a full range of emotion. The background noise and music set so much tone, for I thought was going to happen. This also makes me think that it was somone's dream. There were so many things almost distracting me, but then at the same time, it also helped me focus.
Fantastic!
It is funny to hear someone else say that kids are not afraid to try new things. The one goal that I have for the beginning of the year, is to make my kids feel comfortable and be in an environment where they feel they are able to take risks, and still feel good about themselves. This is why I like project based lessons, because children take more pride in their work and it becomes their own. They start using that information in theire general knowledge.
With the pressure of NCLB play is put on the back burner in most classrooms. It already difficult to get everything done to prepare for assessments and to meet AYP. Getting all the curriculum taught is hard by itself. Finding ways to make instruction fun is challenging on for some lessons, however, it can be done. I would love to incorporate more play oraganized as well as just plain fun.
Inanimate Alice website was great. It can be a wonderful teaching tool especially for middle school students. One of my instruction goals is to make sure my students have and know how to use many different resources to find information. Giving students this knowledge allows them to problem solve on their own and research at many levels.
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