Blog On Content Creation

This week’s Blog post was hard and fun to do at the same time.  It was hard because I teach such young children. They did not understand the question. On the other hand, I received some funny responses.  When I asked the first little girl in my class about what creativity means, she said “I don’t know. To draw pictures and play with my friends.”  Then when I asked her what she would change about our class if she could change something, she said “I would make it magic. Can I go play now?   The second child I asked said his favorite part of school was the block area because there are cars and he can build a garage.  When I asked him what he would change he said “the kitchen area. If my mom was here, she would be in there.”  So since I’m proud of my students that they were willing to help with this post but didn’t completely answer the question, I asked my supervisor to answer the question and here is what she responded: “I want to believe it is because I understand the importance of it.  However, when I walk down the school halls and see art work that is a carbon copy of a teacher project, it concerns me.  I am a strong supporter of the creative curriculum.  It is used in our classrooms very successfully. I hope that the creative thinking process is allowed to continue as our students move on to higher grades.”  I agree with my supervisor that one thing I would change is to continue the creative curriculum in higher grades.  If there was one thing that I could change in my classroom it would be the time students are allotted to be on the computer and HATCH Pads.  Right now, my students are only allowed ten minutes a day for a total of thirty minutes a week.  It is hard to put limits on the students when I know that they could be learning so much from the computer and HATCH Pads. More so, I would also have more than one student computer and two HATCH Pads.   If I had more computers and HATCH Pads, then more students would have the opportunity to use them.  I would also like to have a projector screen.  This would have helped me out today when we were doing a wiggle giggle that I found on the learning station because for the students to watch it and follow, I had to show them on my lap top, which was hard to see. Even though I know the students enjoyed it, it would have been easier for them to see to follow if it would have been easier to see. 

Blog on Creativity in the Classroom

In the video “Do schools kill creativity?” by Sir Ken Robinson made some excellent points about creativity and learners of all ages.  He said “all kids have tremendous talent.”  This I believe is true and it is something I get to see every day in my classroom.  He also said “creativity is as important as literacy,” which is interesting because in schools it seems like most of the emphasis is on math and literacy.  To answer the question “do schools kill creativity in a lot of ways?” I think they do.  Especially now with standardized tests and focuses on getting all the information in and not on mastering the information.  Sometimes it would be helpful to let the students be creative with topics so they would master it instead of just go over it.  There are many ways digital media can be used in a classroom to support the students and creativity. In my classroom, some ways digital media could be used to enhance creativity are in the puppet area, during circle time, and throughout the studies. In the puppet area, I would like to have the students film their puppet shows that they perform.  I would like to have the kids watch their shows and show family and friends.  I think that this would be a great way to motivate students into creating more shows so they could share them.  During circle time, I would like to use digital books sometimes that way when we are reading the same book for a third time in a week it would still be interesting hearing and seeing it from someone else.  A lot of times now, some students are saying not that book again.  It is also hard to include digital media in my circle time because my students are limited to ten minutes of screen time a day with a total of thirty minutes a week, so if I use a book with the students that is six minutes long, that counts toward their time.  It would also be nice to have a way to play books for them besides on my laptop that way it is easier for the children to see and hear.  Another way is to let the students explore and be creative with the HATCH Pads instead of limiting them to the games that were downloaded for the HATCH programs. Even though there are many ways to improve digital media usage in my classroom, one way that students can be creative is with music and dance.  The students are encouraged to dance and make music every day in our music area.        

 

Resources:

Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity? Can be found at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY

I created my Prezi about clothes so that my students can use it in the computer area to enhance the study and their knowledge about clothes. We do five studies throughout the year and the boys struggle the most with the clothing study, so I felt that making this Prezi about clothes would help get the boys excited about the study.  I tried to keep the videos short because my children are limited with computer time every day.  I also tried to keep my Prezi easy to use because I teach young children who would be using it by themselves.  While searching for media to use in my presentation, I found everything I needed on Discovery Education. Discovery Education provided many useful resources and it was easy to navigate the site.  I found videos, images, songs, and noises that I included. While searching the web I found an article from the Huffington Post that really made me think, it stated, “A study by AVG, the Internet security company, found that young children are more likely to master tech skills than life skills. For example, while 58 percent of 2- to 5-year olds can play a computer game, only 43 percent can ride a bike” (Taylor, p.1).  While reading this article it reminded me about Gardner’s text and something I read, “Without having some mastery of computers, citizens cannot access the information that they need, let alone be able to use it productively (Gardner, p.13). When thinking about all the ways I use technology every day, it is really important for children to have mastery of computer skills but I also feel that it is important for young children to master everyday skills like riding a bike.    

 

Resources:

 Gardner, Howard. (2007). Five minds for the future. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. 

Taylor, D. J. (2013, september 22). Children's immersion in technology is shocking . Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-jim-taylor/childrens-immersion-in-te_b_1871896.html

 

Here is the link to my Prezi:

http://prezi.com/d0pj4s9wlvtx/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

https://educlipper.net/#dashboard/stuff/522fc193d9990b09dc000001



In my classroom, we complete six studies throughout the year.  Everything I chose to include on my eduClipboard will help to enhance one of the studies.  The pictures of the family would be used during the beginning of the year study to show the children that some people have large families.  I found two video clips to use during our tree study that talk about trees growing and using trees for solar panels.  The video about using trees as solar panels will help students learn that trees can have many different uses.  I included why games matter because I think it would be helpful to show some of the parents during an end of study celebration so that they understand why we play games in our classroom.  This year we will add a recycling study, so I included resources to use during this study. 

Ambrocik_u02a1

Tweet

http://lemmetweetthatforyou.com/t/4yjg48

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>My name is Amanda. I teach head start. I want to learn more about media in my class. I have a one year old daughter.</p>&mdash; Amanda Mike Ambrocik (@AmandaMikeAmbro) <a href="https://twitter.com/AmandaMikeAmbro/statuses/375037372057923584">September 3, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I'm Amanda Ambrocik and I teach Head Start Pre-K.  I want to help my students to use more technology. I have a one year old daughter.