Tinkering, Creation, and Imperfection

Play is Learning: 

Why Tinkering Should be in the Classroom

On Twitter, I came across a post suggesting various TED Talks for educators to view. After viewing a few, I wondered what my students thought of them. I've shown TED Talks before, and we discussed sentence stems for discussion on media. So, the preliminary lessons of just conversations were laid. All I needed now was their opinion, and the outcome was simply the reason why I teach.

After viewing the TED Talk about the Tinkering School, I asked them to turn and talk about what they saw. Here are some quotes I jotted down while I listened in:

• "I saw kids using tools and being trusted to just build and no tests or grades." 
• "I wondered what my parents would let me do at home." 
• "I never thought I could ask to make something from nothing and that my dad would let me!" 

I brought them back together and summarized their thinking. They shared ideas their partner had too during our whole group share:

• "We thought that maybe we could ask our parents to like help us instead of thinking they wouldn't" 
• Another said, "I don't think my parents would let me-" (interrupted by another student) "But, it doesn't hurt to ask." 
• "She said she didn't think her mom would let her because it can get messy, but we talked about how to get around that stuff."
• "My partner said they had a lot of leftover wood at their house just sitting around, so we might try to do something with that in the summer."

Bouncing off of that point, I agreed that summer doesn't have to be a time for them to sit around playing video games, watching TV, or even at a camp. I explained that they A. Should be reading (of course) and B. Not feel bound by a camp or program to be creative and innovative.

I then followed up with a clip that was shared at a staff development meeting earlier this year- Cane's Arcade. Yes, you need to watch it if you haven't...

During the clip, I watched my students fight back tears, smile, and sit in awe of what creativity and a community can do. The clip finished, and I turned on the lights to a silent classroom. I stood at the back of they room and said, "Well? What did you learn from his tinkering?" "Can we do that?!?!" a student shouted. All I had to do was give a nod and the fun started. "Can I use this tissue box? What about those folders you're recycling?" The endless questions and scavenger hunt started on Friday and hasn't stopped since. When students were stumped on how to create something, they tinkered with materials, drew, discussed, and tried again. They did not focus on making the product perfect. No, they only focused on creation, and that type of mindfulness, courage, and authenticity taught me so much about the joy of being a child who can create without self-criticism or perfectionism holding them back. Some leaned on research from their Chromebooks, but when the ideas simply started to flow, they let go and simply tinkered some more.

My classroom is a mess with "junk" tucked into corners and strewn on my counters, and each day, students are bringing in more from both home and recess. Yes, I might have had some kiddos bring dirt they made into clay- ew! LOL! It's fine with me because I have not seen them so excited for a showcase. Granted, they are not on the level of Cane's Arcade or the ones from the TED Talk, but it is a start allowing them to test their capacity in the world of creation. I hope it carries on into their summer and next year in 4th grade. Watching them embrace their gifts of imperfection-courage, compassion, and connection, is truly why I teach.

Tinkering is important. Play IS learning in its simplest form. When a community (neighborhood, school, or classroom) values it, a student's capacity to lead and learn is endless.

NOTE: Their showcase is the last day of school. I'll be sure to post pictures of their creations.
TEKS: ELPS; PS.1.2.C; PS.2.B; SS 3.18A; ELA 3.27; 3-5.2.C; CS1.2.H

Tour Builder with Google Earth

The Google Bug is Here to Stay: Tour Builder 

This year, I co-wrote a grant within our district (CISD Innovation Education Grant) with a coworker for a Chromebook cart and won. We had lofty goals for the year, but not getting the cart until March, left us a bit concerned for our chances to attain our goals. What we have accomplished so far are a group of literate Googlers in Docs and Slides. Why is this a big deal? Well, we quickly realized how little our students knew about Google Apps for Education, so we taught the basics of Google Docs and Slides to prepare them for various independent discovery projects. However, I did not stop there. Nope. Why would I? It's only May, and I have three and a half weeks to mold and grow them. They're 4th Graders in Training after all. :)

Seeing my students navigate and teach eachother the ins and outs of Docs and Slides was very rewarding for all of us. I applied The Leader in Me Habits and Growth vs Set Mindset Lessons from Stephanie Van Horn  to support their learning too. Since I teach third graders, they need guidance on how to emotionally manage this new learning without shutting down. Once I felt they had a handle on the basics, I started to reach out and find more. This is where my #PLN on Twitter was extremely helpful, and my personalized PD came in handy.

I attended the Google for Educators Summit in Houston #VillageGoo #HoustonGoo and talk about a powerful, eye-opening, and invigorating experience for this midlevel Googler! I took some of those ideas and reflected on appropriate ways to implement them based on the tech maturity of my students and the timeline for the end of the year.

Since my students are performing at a midlevel point with Google Slides and Maps, I thought I'd start Tour Builder with them. It's the end of the year and the #ThisSummerWillBe is trending (And let's face it, we've all got summer on the brains), I figured we could do some travel and research on Tour Builder. I kept in mind these Texas State Standards when planning and implementing the end of year unit:
ELA: 3.25 Here's Tour Builder. You can reflect on where you've been, where you'd like to go, or follow a person/character's journey. Which will you choose? Why? How do you plan to share your choice for research? What do you want to research for this tour? How will you do this?
3.26 What are you trying to show in your tour (purpose)? What is your plan for your tour (pathway/questions)?
3.27 Do these locations meet your purpose for your audience and your ideas? If so, how?
3.28 What sources did you use for your purpose in your tour?
*SS: 3.17 a and e and 3.18 a, b, c integrated with ELA 3.25- 3.27

I started the unit showing students parts of the presentation I was given at #VillageGoo here. I shared this to show them that I too am a newbie with the application and am a constant learner. Since my students are also navigating their emotions with technology, I explained that it is ok to feel overwhelmed and frustrated when a new application or process is not easy to navigate. We discussed possible avenues of managing those feelings within a growth mindset too. One student saying, "You can't say you'll never get it because you really won't then." #truth

I let them self-discover the application since that's what most of us want to do anyway; get our hands on it and leave me alone. I pulled a small group of students who I anticipated would shut down earlier than most and coached them through until I could see their confidence grow. After ten minutes of self-discovery, they partnered up and did an inner and outer circle to "share what you learned" followed by a gonoodle break. Then, they applied any new info they learned after I did a brief lesson on some basics I did not hear shared.

The next couple of days will have me modeling how to create questions or navigate their purpose with search engines. We use Kidrex  A LOT in our classroom, so there is a need to review clips we watched from brainpop.com's research library earlier in the year on how to be productive researchers using good search language for a manageable amount of hits, creating outlines for research, and being critical of sources (valid and tracking).

With the students who have continued to have a harder time with mastery of being on task through this process, I plan to continue to help through one-on-one discussions and follow-ups. To close every lesson, we share what we found to be an easier or helpful route, a challenge we overcame (or still have), and anything else they wish (within reason to time), so this will continue throughout the unit.

Last week's goal was to solidify a purpose and the begin stages of possible questioning. Based on the feedback I got from that share, I will need to give my students lessons on how to keep their purpose within reach. Some students have huge places of travel (a whole continent!), so the planning phase will be an obstacle for some. The great thing is that all of their needed tools are not in a library but a new tab, search engine, and click away #ditchthebook

I'm already looking forward to what they will share through Tour Builder on the last two days of school. The best part? My students know this is NOT a grade; it's a chance to show what they know. It's a chance to simply have an audience for their idea. So, I guess my "lofty goals" set through the grant we wrote might be accomplished before the school year is out after all. Stay tuned for their progress!