Every Child An Artist

Today I took my kids to a local children’s art studio. We spent a solid two hours there, making art, playing, and having fun. I’ve got five kids, ages 9, 7, 6, 4, and 3, and all of them were occupied the entire time we were there. It was the best $30 I’ve spent in a while. Not only was it a change of scenery and something to do for the afternoon, it also provided so many opportunities for my kids to think creatively and experience art in a very hands-on way. 

The art center is set up with several stations, each one providing a different kind of art or medium to try. There were paint stations/rooms, building blocks, a sewing room, sensory bins/tables, a little library, table for playing with clay, a workshop to recycle “garbage” into art, and more. The options for creating were endless, and there was something for all ages. 

I was impressed by the opportunities for learning that were inherently part of the art process. In the paint room, they were able to mix colors on their papers (and even on the walls!) to see what new colors could be made. One station had foam blocks with shaving cream as the “glue”. This allowed my kids to not only feel the art they were making, but also gave them a chance to experiment with how much shaving cream they needed to get the blocks to stick together.

At the recycled garbage/scrap table, they were able to get really creative with every day items— toilet paper tubes, cardboard boxes, ribbon and fabric scraps, straws, empty bottles, and so much more. They got to use their imaginations to create all sorts of things, and when they couldn’t get something to work how they wanted, they had to problem solve and figure out a new way to make it work.

Another station had kids take a plain white paper butterfly and choose somewhere in the studio to camouflage it. They could take paper scraps with them to color match, then would return to the table to create their butterfly. They were then allowed to tape up their butterfly wherever they had decided to camouflage it. I loved this activity for a few reasons— it got them thinking about colors, forced them to use spatial reasoning to get their design to match up with wherever they were putting their butterfly, and also gave them a chance to really try hard to make the camouflage work. 

As an English teacher and book lover, of course my favorite part or the whole studio was the little library. Tucked away in a quiet corner, there were a few small shelves of books and some cozy chairs to sit in while you read a book or two. It was the perfect little corner to sit and relax. 

I think we’ll be coming back to the art studio! My kids had a fantastic time and came away with some art work and a sense of pride in their creations. It was a good reminder to me that creating art is a great way to learn and is essential for kids. Pablo Picasso said, “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” If we provide kids with opportunities to think creatively and to actually create, they can do so much. We need to continue to provide these kinds of opportunities for them in and out of school settings so that they can carry those creative skills into adulthood. After all, the world is a more beautiful place with art!

Inquiry into the 4 C’s: Creativity

This is a series of provocations designed to provide resources for students to inquire into the Four C’s of 21st Century Learning. For more, click here.

By far the most helpful way I’ve found to help students foster their own creativity is to openly and continually discuss my own messy and imperfect journey toward creativity with them. Until our students see its authentic application in those they trust, they will likely continue to see it as something just for those artist-type folks.

Meanwhile, these resources may serve as part of those discussions, and to help students consider what it really means for them!

Resource #1: Creative Types Personality Quiz by Adobe Create

Resource #2: Large Domino Chain: Small Actions, Large Results

https://twitter.com/ZonePhysics/status/1141747246209359872

Resource #3: Student Design Award Winner – Curiosity: Exploration & Discovery by RSA

Resource #4: The Book of Mistakes by Corinna Luyken & Hum & Swish by Matt Myers

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Provocation Questions:

  • Why does creativity matter in our world today?
  • Why does creativity matter for you personally? How can it impact your life? Your family? Your community?
  • How might creativity look for different people?
  • What is the connection between risk-taking and creativity?
  • What are the different perspectives on creativity in various jobs?
  • How does honoring our own creativity impact the world?

featured image: DeathToTheStockPhoto

Announcing Our 2019 Design A Better Future Scholarship Awardees!

This is our seventh year of running a scholarship sponsored by Honors Graduation. Over the past two years, we have offered a program in which students develop a community-improvement project based on the model of design thinking.

We were inspired by the ambitious, generous, and innovative projects from this year’s applicants. The vision of these high school students gives us so much hope for the future. Our scholarship committee is pleased to announce this year’s 5 recipients:

Anthony Neil Tan, top recipient to receive an additional $5,000 toward another iteration of his project: Maker Hub Club

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G66HfL5aUto

Xelah Baca: BHS Recycle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adLwwzwhkFo&feature=youtu.be

Elizabeth Hansen: Composting For A Cause

https://youtu.be/VLQQjCqQZ2k

Sruthi Kundur: Stay Healthy, Be Confident Hygiene For Women

Cobi Reed: Envisioning a Better Future

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1C-Z4c0gOg&feature=youtu.be

Congratulations to our awardees! Watch for additional updates, including on our Past Winners page.

featured image: DeathToTheStockPhoto

When the Internet Brings Us Something Amazing, Do We Share with our Kids? #TeacherMom

What kinds of conversations do you think OK Go music videos would generate with a 7 and 3 year old?

How about relative size of instruments to produce different sound? “What are they hitting to make music?”

The concept of sponsorship & investment. “Why are are they making such a big mess in that airplane?!”

The idea of stop motion.

(Be sure to check out their behind the scenes of the Upside Down & Inside Out music video. I especially loved the line: “The whole song is sort of around the idea of letting the unfamiliar feelings guide you rather than trying to figure everything out all the time.”)

When the Internet brings us that which truly inspires, do we share with our students? When we do, our roles evolve from consumers to creators as we co-construct wonder with kids. Who knows how the story of the mom who built a house via YouTube videos, or the boy who invented a device to help kids trapped in hot cars, influence the paths our kids take?

Access to one another’s stories is perhaps the most defining feature this technological era. Let’s leverage those stories to inspire and embolden our kids to the ever-greater possibilities of our day.

featured image: DeathToTheStockPhoto

Lessons from Homemade Valentines #TeacherMom

I have zero problem with shelling out $4 for a couple boxes of Valentines for my daughter’s classmates. But when she insisted on making her own for all the kids in her class back in Kindergarten, it absolutely mirrored this Hedge Humor comic:

via Hedge Humor “Valentine Issues”

By the time we get to that last panel here, we’re all ready raise the white flag, drop everything, and run to the store for that silly box of dog and cat valentines with sayings like, “You’re purr-fect.”

But whether it was because she was emulating her hero, Fancy Nancy, in this Valentine’s book someone gave to her, or whether her sheer stubborn will wouldn’t concede failure, she insisted on continuing. Not just then, but in the years since.

And I guess, now that she’s off and away with batch 3 of her annual homemade Valentine’s, I would say I’m actually glad she continued. First and foremost, because it has brought her joy — but also, because it has taught me some important lessons:

1) Stamina is not fun to cultivate — which is why it’s crucial to leverage via kids’ interest. Stamina in writing, stamina in reading, stamina in simply seeing a project through to its completion — we know these are all valuable skills for students and adults alike. But without student-led interest, these skills can be as painful to work on as pulling teeth. At times, we may need to work on stamina as a stand-alone goal (such as training students to be able to read for longer and longer periods of time).

However, we will make much greater progress in stamina when students’ interest is leading the way; not because they won’t experience moments of wanting to quit, but because we can help them use their own end goals to pave their way forward.

2) Student-led endeavors always yield unexpected opportunities for growth. I’ve been surprised to discover that my daughter spends the days before V-day polling her classmates to ascertain their valentine preferences. She has conversations with her teachers about class lists. And of course, she’s always finding new strategies to hone her craft and rein in the glitter. But my favorite discovery here is the fact that there is growth and learning that I don’t even know about — all because she is in the thralls of intrinsic enthusiasm.

3) Zone of proximal development matters even for Valentine-making. Sure, that first year, my daughter pictured herself whipping up valentines as masterfully as Nancy (wearing a chic ensemble to boot). But the zone of proximal development is a place of, well, development. Scaffolding, patience, and time are all needed as we work together with students toward greater and greater independence.

We can also help shape the environment to keep efforts centered in the ZPD, rather than straying into the zone of frustration. For valentine-making, this might include limiting materials or providing pre-cut hearts.

 

In short, though I have no idea where my daughter got this love of arts and crafts, supporting her homemade valentine efforts has reinforced to me the way learning works. I suppose these are lessons I will continue to find most readily when I let my kids lead the way for their learning at home.

featured image: DeathToTheStockPhoto

My Top 5 Defining Teaching Moments

Jonathan So recently had the brilliant idea to share his “top 5 defining teaching moments.” I love the opportunity to reflect, so I’d like to share mine as well. Obviously, I have much less experience — only 4 years of teaching, and 3 years into my longterm leave to raise our little ones — but even in that short time, I have become acquainted with certain people, practices, and ideologies that have thoroughly and beautifully challenged my thinking.

#1: Edna Sackson’s WhatEdSaid: The first clear “defining moment” was coming across Edna Sackson’s blog. With eloquent simplicity, especially in her “10 ways posts” she helped me identify practices that were actually standing in the way of learning, including, but not limited to “playing guess what’s in my head,” talking too much, and focusing on control. She also helped me better understand what student ownership, inquiry, and “flattened” classroom walls look like. Just goes to show that even oceans apart, we can make a profound impact on one another as teachers!

#2: Brene Brown & Daring Greatly: I read this book in 2013 and can honestly say that it changed me, both as a teacher and as a person. I recognized that I was harboring all kinds of shame stories, scarcity mindsets (“not enough”), and vulnerability armor. And once I learned to recognize and dismantle these in myself through vulnerability, self-compassion, and imperfection, I started to recognize them in my own students. I immediately printed (with color ink, mind — you know a teacher means business to have something printed in color) and posted in my classroom her leadership manifesto and engaged feedback checklist, sharing with my students my journey toward greater authenticity and vulnerability.

#3: Learning the principle of modeling: Once I really started getting the hang of that vulnerability stuff, I was able to better understand what real, authentic modeling looks like and can do for student learning/relationships. Not only did I learn cultivate the more vulnerable sides of my own learning (such as creativity), but together with my students, we were able to attain a richness and depth in our writing, reading, math, and in everything else that I had not yet witnessed.

#4: When a parent shared with me years later the impact of poetry on her son. I had heard other teachers share the gratification of having an old student or their parents come back to share thanks at some point down the road. But when I experienced it, it was much more than a sense of gratification — it was unshakable evidence that when we make meaning the priority, it has longterm significance. This parent shared that her son had been so moved by our 5th grade analysis of “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou that he had performed a recitation of it in high school. So it was with great joy last spring when I had the opportunity to attend his school’s Poetry Out Loud competition to watch him perform it in person.

#5: Recognizing the value of my voice as a classroom-less teacher. I started blogging shortly after being put on unexpected bedrest. For the first long while, I struggled believing that any educator would really want to read reflections from a teacher that wasn’t actually in the classroom. I even had trouble telling people “I am a teacher” in present tense, because, stripped of my classroom and precious students, I felt like an impostor.

But ever since an epiphany a year ago that helped me better organize my blogging efforts, I have been able to more clearly see my contributions, and to better accept and love my current role (especially as a #TeacherMom with my current, very small students). And this is why, when teachers share ways my words are actually influencing their classrooms/students, I am profoundly grateful because it reminds me that we can reach students in more than one way:

In the course of my blogging/PLN-growing, I have learned about so many other practices that also have the potential to be “defining moments,” but many of them will have to wait for full impact until I’m back in the classroom. So meanwhile, I will keep learning, blogging, and sharing (repeat) in the hopes that my thinking will become more refined and able to bring those practices to light for future students!

featured image: DeathToTheStockPhoto 

Green Kids Craft Box Review #TeacherMom

Thanks to thoughtful grandparents, my daughter received a subscription to the Green Kids Craft Box for her birthday. She gets to look forward to a fresh box each month, and I don’t have to pull out my hair trying to make room for one more toy. Win-win!

First off, what’s in the box? Over the course of two boxes so far (one with a Green Energy theme, the other with Robotics), my daughter has:

  • built a self-propelling wooden boat
  • baked herself a cookie in her own solar oven
  • launched “rockets” using a straw
  • built an art-bot that drew for her
  • navigated courses with her magnetic robot
  • Created a pulley “Glide-bot” (which now resides on our filthy sliding glass door)

As a mom and a teacher, I absolutely love that she has something to fuel her curiosity and creativity for hours on end.

My favorite element of this box is the fact that it provides interdisciplinary opportunities:

  • She has to read loads of instructions (which are very detailed with pictures), so she’s working hard on her reading and comprehension skills.
  • She has to take a lot of measurements, so she’s developing her ability to convert between inches and centimeters, along with other basic math skills.
  • Science skills are by the boatload here (pun intended, I guess, as she actually did build a little boat): hypothesizing, experimenting, data-collecting, reflecting, etc.
  • Even engineering and art (definitely a win for the whole STEM/STEAM endeavor) get a work-out as she has to figure out pulleys, gears, and brads, plus general aesthetic design.

I’m guessing that if I spent enough hours combing Pinterest, I could maybe find most of these activities. However, the fact that I don’t have to go hunt down a bunch of obscure materials is worth my time. And there really is something magical for kids about receiving your own little parcel in the mail made just for you, especially with the added anticipation of a monthly subscription!

Overall, I’d definitely recommend these boxes to the 5-8 year-old crowd!

featured image: DeathToTheStockPhoto