DFI Day 3 - Media/Create

Manaiakalani pedagogy - Create

Creative skills help students become better problem solvers, communicators, and collaborators.

I really liked the quote “Creativity is not to be confused with talent, skill, or intelligence. Creativity is not about doing something better than others, it is about thinking, exploring, discovering, and imagining” (Kohl, 2008). I think it's really important that we encourage our students to be creative and that they know anyone can be creative! I find that giving the students the change to be creative is a great way to get them engaged in learning.

"Not just getting them to use the tools we have - getting them to use them in a creative way"

"We want them to create content, not just sit there and consume."

Something I have been trying to do is give students more choice. For example, we are currently working on novel studies this week. For one of the independent tasks students were given was “create a quiz with questions about the chapters you have read this week”. I did not say how they needed to create this and students choose lots of different ways to do this. I really liked how some students created pick a paths in google slides.

I do realise some students really struggle with this and having too much choice or just having no idea where to start. I found one of the really beneficial things we have done is being apart of Tuhi Mai Tuhi Atu where they have been able to see what other students their age have created. This has really pushed my students further with their creativity.

As we are currently going down the Deep learning path at my school it was good to see how closely this relates with the Manaiakalani pedagogy. 

Fonts

One of the most exciting things from today was being introduced to google fonts and the amazing amount of different fonts available!! I could spend a very long time exploring the different fonts. I am going to choose a couple I really like and start using them with my learning planning etc. I love fonts and am happy to know how easy it is to get new fonts! Also Cheryl showed us the perfect pairings too! Can't wait to keep exploring.

Pick a path 

For our create time today I attended a pick a path workshop. I thought it was relevant because of the work my students created in the last couple of days. Today I created a maths starter for my year 9s to get started on our next unit.

Handy tip - always make sure that you check as you go by going into present mode.

Google drawings

Today we created a blog profile in google drawings. I have now put this on the side of my blog for people to look at when they go onto my blog. Next step make sure every student has one and also make one for my class blog!

 

 Today we also had the chance to have a play with google drawings and making a cartoon version of a picture. Here is my not so amazing first attempt (this was very challenging). This is something I could see my students loving though! Might be a fun afternoon creative task for them to create a new blog profile picture.

Overall this was another great day of learning! I am looking forward to being more creative with my class.