Tag Archives: creativity

Creative Pedagogy⤴

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Creativity

“Creativity” flickr photo by Melissa W Edwards shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC) license

What do people mean when they talk about creative pedagogies? Are they talking about pedagogies that support creativity, and produce creative learners, or are they talking about creative (i.e. novel) types of pedagogy?

According to Wikipedia, creative pedagogy was founded by Dr. Andrei Aleinikov, and this is how he defines it:

 In its essence, creative pedagogy teaches learners how to learn creatively and become creators of themselves and creators of their future.

That’s what I would have expected it to mean, and that’s what I assumed was meant when I signed up for a collaborative experience about creative pedagogies last year. But it turned out that the facilitators had a different understanding of the term. What they were interested in talking about were:

inspir[ing] faculty towards creative/innovative ways of being in classrooms

So anything that’s not just a didactic lecture, probably? At any rate, the emphasis was on what people might do in the classroom, rather than on the theoretical underpinnings to these practices (pedagogy needs to be both, in my opinion).

Would I have signed up for the collaboration if I’d realised this? Probably not. Is it my fault for misunderstanding? Probably.

But once I did realise what was meant, I started to wonder about the whole initiative. If a particular pedagogy is just an approach to teaching and learning that is innovative, does it stop being a innovative pedagogy when it becomes commonplace? Presumably it does. So actually the ‘innovative’ in the description is not really helpful – because what is new to you might be usual practice for someone else. It’s probably better, in my opinion, to talk about alternative ways of teaching and types of assessment.

Of course, your creative (novel) pedagogy might actually be to encourage learners to be creative in another sense of the word – by getting STEM students to use poetry, or humanities students to use LEGO, by setting up assessments that students can be creative about – and submit a piece of knitting or embroidery that answers the question (and kudos for those who create rubrics to assess this type of submission). This is great, but I do think that there needs to be some thought about why these might be of benefit to student learning, rather than just being something novel (innovative) to do.

Personally I prefer something like Aleinikov’s definition. The aim of a creative pedagogy should be to create learners that can think for themselves, and have the confidence to think of interesting ways of answering questions, and to think of interesting questions to ask. And, for philosophy, to help future philosophers to create concepts that are immune from capitalist manipulation.

13 years of the Daily Create⤴

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Today marks the 13th anniversary of the Daily Create I’ve been participating in this since around 2016, often uploading my responses to a Flickr album. Here they are as a slideshow. Here’s to the next 13 years!  You can participate as well – just visit the web page at 5am UTC or follow the @creating@daily.ds106.us on Mastodon.

DS106

A To Do List⤴

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A creative prompt
“A creative prompt” flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-SA) license (Made with Night Cafe)

Today’s Daily Create asks us to write a to do list. I asked ChatGPT for inspiration

Can you write me a bullet pointed to do list for a person who needs to be motivated for a creative task

Sure, here’s a bullet-pointed to-do list for motivating yourself for a creative task:

  1. Start with a clear goal: Define the end result you want to achieve with your creative task. Having a specific and achievable goal in mind can motivate you to get started.
  2. Break the task into smaller, manageable parts: A large, overwhelming task can make you feel unmotivated. Break it down into smaller, more manageable parts, and focus on one part at a time.
  3. Find inspiration: Look for inspiration in other creative works or find ways to connect your creative task to your personal interests and passions.
  4. Create a supportive environment: Make sure you have a comfortable and inspiring work environment, with the necessary tools and resources to complete the task.
  5. Set deadlines: Set realistic deadlines for completing each part of the task. This can help you stay motivated and focused.
  6. Celebrate small victories: Celebrate each small accomplishment along the way. This can give you the motivation to keep going and help you stay positive.
  7. Take breaks: Taking breaks can help you recharge and come back to the task with fresh energy and creativity.
  8. Stay accountable: Share your goals and progress with someone else, such as a friend, family member, or mentor. This can help you stay accountable and motivated to complete the task.
  9. Reward yourself: After completing the task, reward yourself with something you enjoy. This can help you associate the task with positive feelings and motivate you for future creative tasks.

The Master and His Emissary, Part 1⤴

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For the last couple of months I have been slowly reading Iain McGilchrist’s The Master and His Emissary. Slowly – because it is a big book, in more ways than one. I am only scratching at the surface of it – but the discussion of the left and right hemispheres is fascinating. As a leftie and the daughter of a leftie, I grew up with a lot of folk wisdom about the left hemisphere as being the faculty of reason and language while the right hemisphere is the domain of emotion and visual imagery. This, as McGilchrist shows, is false – both hemispheres are involved in each, just in different ways. The right provides us with the big picture, while the left is good at analysing details and specifics. In his RSA talk, McGilchrist gives an example of a bird to illustrate this – using its left hemisphere to focus on picking out tasty seeds from amongst the pebbles while the right hemisphere scans the area for possible danger. Both functions are vital, both sides need to talk to each other and, importantly, also listen to each other. In particular, the right hemisphere is connected to the physical world in a way that the left is not. And this can lead us into problems when the left forgets to pay attention to the right, which it is prone to do. I would really recommend watching this talk. I’ll be back to talk about the consequences for humanity for prioritising the left way of thinking over the right which is the subject of the second part of this book.

Episode 24 – An EduBlether with Patrice Bain (Powerful Teaching – Unleash the Science of Learning)⤴

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In this episode of EduBlether, we welcome Patrice Bain, co-author of the book ‘Powerful Teaching – Unleash the science of learning’. We discuss knowledge, critical thinking, assessment, curriculum and lots more.

It was a fascinating discussion with some great practical ideas for how to begin using these research-informed strategies or ‘power tools’ in your classroom.

http://www.powerfulteaching.org
http://www.patricebain.com

Listen: https://soundcloud.com/edublether/edublether-episode-24-an-edublether-with-patrice-bain

Episode 23 – Digital Learning⤴

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In Episode 23 of EduBlether we discuss Digital Learning. We think about Pedagogy, the SAMR model, equity, access, professional learning and so much more. Let us know your feedback on Twitter @edublether

What is your experience of Digital Learning been? Why do you think we have not made the advancements in Digital Learning that we could have done up until now? What will happen to Digital LEarning when we return to ‘normal’? Let us know what you think.

Listen: https://soundcloud.com/edublether/episode-23-digital-learning

Episode 21 – Cognitive Science and Retrieval Practice⤴

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In this Episode we have a discussion about retrieval practice and developments in cognitive science. We look at the implications for teaching and learning, as well as what this means for the role of Education in a wider debate. We have many tangents in this episode discussing hegemony, knowledge, politics and much more. I hope you enjoy as much as we did.

Listen: https://soundcloud.com/edublether/episode-21-cognitive-science-and-retrieval-practice

Abercromby Primary- Skills Approach⤴

from @ Education Scotland's Learning Blog

The school supports Clackmannanshire’s aim of increasing the number of pupils reaching positive destinations. The aim of the ‘Skills Academy’ at Abercromby Primary is to develop skills for learning, life and work from Early to Second Level, across a broad range of curricular areas. The school believe that building confidence to achieve goals should begin as early as possible for all our pupils, alongside equipping them with the skills to achieve this.

Abercromby staff recognise the involvement of our whole school community as being key to driving forward the aims of our Skills Academy. This includes parental involvement and partnerships with the wider community, local business and Forth Valley College. Parents have been involved in planning, leading learning through sharing their knowledge and expertise by giving talks and setting up practical activities and challenges for our learners, as well as volunteering their time to support groups of children on visits.

One afternoon per week is dedicated to skills development for all learners. Activities are planned around ‘I can statements’ from the Careers Education Scotland Standard 3-18 with strong links to Literacy, Numeracy and HWB.

Year 1:
P6 and P7 pupils were allocated to groups based on their future ambitions and interests and worked on a 10 week project. All pupils visited Forth Valley College – Alloa Campus to learn about courses on offer and the facilities. Pupils returned with positive impressions of further education.

There were 5 work streams consisting of:

Food Technology – pupils participated in cookery lessons and focused on skills, hygiene, safety and using equipment. They had a visit from a chef, cake decorator and local butcher who talked about their career paths, qualifications and skills required for their job as well as leading experiences. Pupils also visited the Hospitality Department at Forth Valley College Stirling and the Home Economics department at the local high school.

Design and Manufacture – The pupils visited the Engine Shed in Stirling twice, to learn about the design of buildings, materials, resources and architecture around the world. A local Graphic Designer delivered a session, looking at various companies’ logos and design. Pupils also visited FVC Design and Media Department. Focus on STEM.

Money Sense and Enterprise – Pupils set up their own business, created a name, logo, market research and set up their business, Slime Time.

Community – Pupils worked with a volunteer in the school and community garden, making bird feeders, planting flowers and vegetables. They were also involved in the renovation of Cambus Woods, planting trees and continuing to monitor their progress.

Creativity – Pupils are working towards creating a documentary about our new school. They began by looking at films and discussed the format of a documentary and narrative. They have begun to write storylines for their own film.

Year 2 –
This Session is built on existing practice and extended across the school.  There was an initial discussion/lesson and timeline designed by each learner. Each week the children move round in a carousel format to the different planned activities.

Diageo, a local employer are supporting sessions with senior pupils, including 5 week blocks with 2 engineers and 2 scientists. FVC and Robertsons are also supporting 5 week blocks. Their IDL Skills Academy Poster was showcased at a recent conference at the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Statistics show that pupils in Clackmannanshire are more likely to be unemployed and less likely to go on to positive destinations on leaving school, than the average pupils in Scotland. Additionally unemployment is closely linked to deprivation deciles. Just under 40% of pupils reside in deciles 1 and 2, which means statistically those pupils are less likely to find employment in future.

The Skills Academy is providing a structure to ensure positive outcomes for our learners. This programme has been designed, taking account of evaluations and feedback . It is tailored to meet the needs of all learners and will continue to develop depending on interests and skills development required to support future goals. This starts in the nursery where children are developing skills through daily activities and increasingly taking on more roles of responsibility.

Abercromby are  making the most of all the opportunities afforded by their unique position of having a campus.  Partnership with Robertson Construction ensures that pupils from all stages are exposed to experiences related to ‘jobs’ on the site. This involves visiting the site and recording progress in mixed age groups and Robertson staff working with pupils in the school and nursery on numerous activities, with a strong focus on STEM and team building challenges.

All pupils have the opportunity to participate in all activities within their year group, ensuring a well-rounded experience. All are included and participation in this programme which impacts positively on their health and wellbeing, ensuring that they are equipped with the essential skills, knowledge and attributes for further education, the world of work and beyond.

Relationships across our whole school community are stronger, which impacts on  learner’s health and wellbeing and future prospects. This partnership has supported the driving of the programme forward. Everyone’s contributions are valued and there is real sense of ‘team’.

Staff have improved their understanding and practice of DYW. A Baseline was completed using the Careers Education Scotland Standard Self-Evaluation Tool.  Informed planning with members of staff taking responsibility for planning work streams and activities. Resources to support DYW were purchased through PEF. Staff have enjoyed working with mixed groups of children who are not in their class. Pupils have also benefited from working in different teams.

Pupil have been involved in consultation and evaluations. Pupil are engaged in Skills Academy Learning. They have had careers related experiences they would not have otherwise had. Pupils are thinking more about careers and engaging more in focused discussions about future employment. They are more aware of job opportunities and different roles and skills required for jobs they weren’t aware of before. They have increased their knowledge of local employers. They have been fully engaged and motivated when they have been working with parents and other partners. They have developed new employability skills and have contributed to improving their local environment.

Bramble Brae Primary School- Partnership Approach to DYW⤴

from @ Education Scotland's Learning Blog

Bramble Brae School worked with all stakeholders to redesign a bespoke curriculum for the school. Creativity and employability skills are being developed within the curriculum as they engage with local employers to create an enriching and inspiring learning environment: making connections across different areas of learning and using whole school themes to encourage involvement and deepen understanding.

Through this, the school is developing materials and opportunities for learning in a wide variety of contexts and settings: from the local supermarket; to a nearby building site and visits from local musicians to share stories about local history and traditions throughout the school. Displays, open mornings, assemblies and local radio interviews are some of the ways in which the children share their skills and the value of their experiences with others.

The school motto: Belonging, Believing Achieving encapsulates the vision, values and aims that Bramble Brae aspire to. To support this the school embarked on a unique approach by employing a Business and Community Ambassador, more commonly known as the ‘Good Fairy’ by staff and pupils; a first for Aberdeen City. Through working collaboratively with teachers and pupils, she initiates and develops relevant links with businesses, employers and third sector partners across the city, country and even the world! This has resulted in the ‘World of Work’ being embedded across the curriculum and throughout the school, with links from Nursery through to P7. This role also provides flexibility to meet with potential partners and provides valuable and meaningful communication between all partners to share information about the particular and specific needs and aspirations of children and allows freedom to develop learning materials which can be built upon for successive year groups. The partnerships benefit pupils within school and in after school activities. The school runs entrepreneurial activities throughout all classes and has an annual showcase, celebratory event that all are invited to.

In P6 employability skills are developed with partners to provide a real insight into the skills pupils are developing: their strengths and preferences in how they make choices in different situations which leads to them analysing and then ultimately becoming mini-apprentices in real life roles within the school. This work augments the world of work ‘Animal Me’ exercises by involving a local psychologist from a business consultancy introducing personality tests to build confidence then looks at what each individual child brings to the world. The school have then built links with the University Business School and lecturers help them to understand how skills they are developing are sought for specific roles in the world of work.

Mock interviewing is a brilliant way of building resilience and communication skills and each applicant works within their chosen role either within the school, or within the local community library or secondary school if they choose to apply for a librarian position. The School’s programme has been recognised by Skills Development Scotland who shared this as good practice with other schools after meeting the children involved. They have information for a case study which they are hoping to share online in the future. By looking at familiar jobs within the school the children developed an understanding of how people help them and have become more responsible in their behaviour and approach to others. It’s also helped them identify skills they have or can acquire for the work of work and widened their horizons. They enjoyed sharing this learning with other classes and parents/carers in the showcase celebration event too. It’s encouraged them to challenge perceptions of themselves and others as well as enhancing their learning across all areas of the curriculum.

Throughout the school all pupils develop employability and creativity skills with whole school contexts for learning across the year.

– A new theme starts with all pupils identifying their BIG questions
– These are shared with the ‘Good Fairy’ looks at possible links, resources or visits
– All work collaboratively to facilitate these.
– Through this approach, there is a focus on personalisation and choice.

Promoting equity, equality, diversity and inclusion through their partnerships to develop employability and creativity. This innovative approach enables access to world of work for the children. Many of whom do not have access to family and friends to ask about this. These experiences are particularly valuable for many of our children who live within an area designated as a ‘regeneration area’ and who have many different experiences through school which increase their social capital. Some examples include:

A female engineer visiting to talk about renewable energy. They embraced the chance to ask her about what she did in the oil and gas industry. Through this link, the children were then able to explore diversity and equality further through an expansive Flat Stanley activity by writing letters to her work colleagues across the globe asking about where they lived and what it was like there.

Event where they invited 4 local schools to take part in an event to tackle gender stereotyping and perceptions about the world of work. A huge benefit in reducing gender stereotypes and inspiring pupils was reported after this highly interactive event.

Looking at the local environment and visiting new housing close to the school that pupils were interested in. They arranged a whole class visit to the building site. Being with builders, architects and site managers provided an insight into skills for future jobs.

Impacts on the learners include an increase in self-determination, self-esteem, self-belief and enthusiasm plus suggestions of whom we might engage with to enrich their learning experiences. By having and building upon partner relationships the children and teachers, feel comfortable in asking questions and there are reciprocal benefits in terms of understanding for employers about current education practice, the value of their input in making a positive difference and, often, a renewed interest in their own role within an organisation having explained what they do and what they enjoy about their job to a class of inquisitive pupils. Also, with a move towards diversity, equality and inclusion within our business partners’ corporate social responsibility values, their involvement with our school and community supports these values. The school celebrates success together and within the community.

During the summer term, each class puts together activities and materials to celebrate and share how they’ve engaged with organisations to develop their employability and creativity skills. This whole school showcase is open to all parents/carers; partners and the community and, last year, was a lively and interactive session designed and led by the children to demonstrate how they’d developed and what they’d enjoyed learning throughout the school year.

Staff find that being able to introduce a topic with a practical example, finding someone who has expertise and resources to share with the pupils brings an extra dimension into the classroom and can support and develop interdisciplinary learning.

Parkhill Enterprise Academy⤴

from @ Education Scotland's Learning Blog

The Enterprise Academy at Parkhill Secondary School was formally opened to pupils in August 2017.

It is a vibrant initiative that supports young people with Additional Support Needs into positive and sustained destinations.

DYW Case Study

This is part of Parkhill Secondary School but is also available to pupils across Glasgow schools. Courses focus on vocational areas where there are opportunities for young people with Additional Support Needs to gain employment. At Parkhill they focus on the individual needs of every young person. The Enterprise Academy allows them to build on the interest and aspirations of the young people by helping them to develop new skills for work and future career choices.

Several rooms in the school were transformed as part of the development. These are, professional kitchen, café area, hotel bedroom and office training room. A boot room was also added to the already established horticulture area. These areas allow the school to offer realistic work environments where young people can develop skills for learning, life and work.

The Enterprise Academy works in partnership with colleges (Glasgow Kelvin and City of Glasgow) and has business partnerships, it 7 courses at present focusing on 3 key areas of Hospitality; Horticulture and Administration, this is a range of the courses available:

Introduction to Hotel Skills
NPA Professional Cookery Level 3
Culinary Ability (only centre in Scotland delivering this)
National 5 Practical Cookery
SVQ Level 1 Horticulture
NPA Level 4 Horticulture
NPA Administrative Activities.

These courses are delivered by college lecturers and teachers which offer the young people realistic vocational pathways into careers where there are opportunities open to them. The courses have been selected to reflect the interest and needs of young people working at SCQF levels 3 and 4/5.

One of the key successes of the Enterprise Academy is that it offers young people a safe and nurturing environment in which to learn, thus offering a bridge between school and college.

The school has worked closely with business partners Milnbank Housing Association, Hilton Glasgow and Radisson Red to develop a robust programme of exciting and innovative activities aimed at enhancing the employability of all pupils involved with the school and Enterprise Academy. This has included industry visits and supporting young people with activities in the school. They hosted a Business Breakfast in the school to help promote the Enterprise Academy and the pupils presented at this to inform them of future ideas along with showcasing skills that they have developed.

Furthermore the established work placements are incorporated into their timetable and are working very well. These have mainly been in the hotel kitchen and have proven to be very beneficial to the development of their skillset. Work placements are also supported by an ENABLE Employment co-ordinator.

The school undertook a project to examine how the work of the Enterprise Academy and the school’s partnerships reflect the Career Education Standards. The Enterprise Academy has also been a focus for an international ERASMUS + exchange programme which started in May 2017. The programme focuses on the hospitality and hotel skills classes. 6 Young people along with 2 teachers visit Nuremberg in Germany with a reciprocal visit to Glasgow allowing the young people to develop their skills in this area. They have secured funding for another 2 years and are in process of planning the next exchange which is extremely exciting for the school, this has worked very well and they look forward to being part of this international project again.

Parkhill Secondary School is a school for young people with Additional Support Needs and therefore Inclusion is always a key focus of the school. All of the young people who attend the school have some form of barrier to learning, many are on the Autism Spectrum whilst others have global learning difficulties. The Enterprise Academy gives the young people a structured and supportive framework to be able to access vocational opportunities and therefore positive and sustained destinations. One of the central aims of the Enterprise Academy is to ensure that all young people are given the best chance to enter employment and to develop their skills.

A very high number of the young people come from SIMD 1-4 backgrounds and have Free Meal Entitlement and therefore the school and the Enterprise Academy are acutely aware of the need to ensure parents and carers are not asked to supplement their son/daughter’s education and cover all costs through other funding.

Every young person who starts at the Enterprise Academy is given an induction where the expected behaviour in the school building is explained to them. This helps to address issues such diversity and equality, especially as many of the young people in the school can be very vulnerable.

The Monitoring Impact group is monitoring the impact both on leavers destinations which has been reviewed and is now looking at individual targets for each pupil. They provide data regarding destinations of leavers and it has been recorded through Career Interviews that more young people are identifying potential career paths in line with the key areas. Furthermore, in S1-3 young people have shown much greater interest in the 3 key areas of Academy.

The Enterprise Academy has helped raise the profile of the school through features on websites, media and is active on social media. This in turn has had a huge effect on the confidence of the young people.

The school have been encouraging parents to get involved in many ways and they have shown a keen interest throughout the establishment its development including being on a Steering group and have been invited to take part in a number of events. Parents have also attended visits to Hilton and Radisson Red to help raise their understanding of the kinds of vocational opportunities their young people may be able to access in the future, they also have a pilot programme with Hi (Hub International) which will deliver workshops to parents.

The school staff members have had CPD opportunities to be up-skilled in Horticulture and attended “Buddy Days” in the Hilton Hotel. These have been invaluable as they now have knowledge and skills which enable them to support and assist in the delivery of lessons. Also, by ensuring that the business partners have been involved in the process of the establishment and continuous development of the Academy, this has fostered a real feeling of ownership for the project and an understanding of the aims. This has also given a great sense of achievement to all involved.