Educators strive to create a classroom that instills creativity and innovation. In this discussion, you will think about the creative and innovative instructional approach known as the flipped classroom while making direct connections to the Common Core State Standards and teacher decision making based on student assessments. Reflecting on your previous discussion on CCSS in Week Two as well as your previous discussions from EDU671: Fundamentals of Educational Research about the flipped classroom, you will complete the three parts of this discussion’s initial post.
There are three parts to this discussion, which are described below.
Part 1
- Discuss how the flipped classroom idea can be used in conjunction with CCSS (Math or English Language Arts)
- Describe ways you could incorporate technology used in the flipped classroom idea to support the Framework for 21st Century Learning in the classroom as it relates to decision making based on student assessments.
Part 2
Now, think about assessments you have created or used in the past to address the following:
- Discuss if a school or teacher should use a multimedia resource that is absolutely amazing in delivering both content and assessment, but is not accessible.
- Evaluate whether the resource must be excluded from a course if there are no reasonably equivalent accessible alternatives.
Part 3
- Attach a link to your electronic portfolio.
- In one paragraph, reflect on your experience with the redesign in terms of challenges you encountered during the Week Two Assignment and how you overcame those challenges including any difficulties experienced in revising to meet the components of one ISTE-S standard and the CCSS (Math or English Language Arts) which are aligned with a minimum of one core subject and 21st century themes and a minimum of one learning and innovation skill, one information, media, and technology skill, and evidence of at least one life and career skill.
“Creativity is the ability to generate new ideas and apply them in practice.”
In the course of our life, our perspectives keep evolving. These perspectives we develop often contribute to the choices we make, making us responsible to create our own lives. During this process, we develop an innate ability to discover our passions, likes, talents and are motivated to pursue the same. Schools play an important role in creating opportunities for students to develop their unique capacities for thought and action.
As educators, it is imperative that we understand the attributes that we can count as evident for creative teaching and learning
Creativity in Teaching pursuits can be identified when one is:
- Experimenting with new ideas
- Engaging in inquiry-based approach in learning (E.g.: PBL)
- Willing to explore and accept suggestions with constructive feedback
- Being highly resourceful
- Displaying imagination and flexibility in thought
Creativity in Learning pursuits can be identified when one:
- Welcomes a new challenge
- Meets the challenge Resourcefully, Creatively and Imaginatively
- Exhibits flexibility and adaptability in an unfamiliar situation
- Keenly applies new skills and techniques
Creative and resourceful teachers can even use household products like a pinch of turmeric powder as effective resource material from playschool to grade 12. (For a deeper understanding into using turmeric as a resource, click on the following link – https://youtu.be/M3VKpfuds0Y) Creativity is essential to development. We need to use innovative ideas and ways to ensure our learners become creative individuals.
To efficiently develop creative learners, we must gain a deeper understanding of the aspects of creativity. The Four C Model of Creativity (Dr. James C. Kaufman and Dr. Ronald Beghetto) categorizes creativity to nurture creativity in our learners.
The Big-C level of creativity
As the name suggests, this category holds the few people whose life’s work is accepted as ground-breaking innovation. The Big-C level includes an evaluation of one’s entire career and the entire body of work. They are highly creative people who have transformed their disciplines with their innovations.
E.g.: Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, Picasso’s Guernica Art piece, Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 in D Minor, etc.
Those at the Big-C level will be remembered in the history books. It can even be said that Big C Creativity is out of reach for most of us. The Big C creators are themselves as extraordinary as their creations.
The Pro-C level of creativity
The creators at this level have invested time and effort to develop their craft. At this level, one can be creative at a professional level and in a professional venue. At this point, one would have had many years of deliberate practice and training. A good example is a child who showed great promise as a musician and pursued his interest to be trained to a professional level and now pursues his interest as a career.
The little-C level of creativity
With appropriate feedback, Little-c creators can create original and meaningful work that can be of value to others. They act with intelligence, flexibility, and novelty in their everyday life. These creators possess an eye for design and are often seen creating thematic works of art built over a period. For example, Photography exhibitions, stamp collectors, etc. These creators build their craft over years of practice and are heavily supported by the Internet infrastructure. Websites like YouTube, Instagram, Etsy, etc. have developed to become ecosystems that support the little-c creators.
The mini-C level of creativity
Creativity is inherent in learning. Any time one attempts a new task, there is a level of creativity involved. At the mini-c level of creativity, what one creates might not be revolutionary, but it is new and meaningful to them. As these are novel and personally meaningful experiences teachers and parents play a major role in nurturing mini-c creators. Most often mini-c creations may not be visible, but the learners must be accepted as creators when something new is the outcome.
Appropriately put by Vygotsky, “Any human act that gives rise to something new is referred to as creative art.”
Jean Piaget suggests that “To understand is to invent.” With this in mind, one can say, mini-c creativity is just like finding different ways to solve a math problem. Creative teachers must understand that using the constructivist approach in class for learners to form new connections is evidence of creative learners. We must also take into account that not all students can easily express their creativity. While new learning occurs, showcasing this new learning becomes a silent crutch. Using Visible Learning Techniques such as See, Think, Wonder provides structured avenues for students to display their creativity (new learning).
