Fostering a Creative Classroom

ISTE Standard I: Creativity and innovation

Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology.

a. Apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes

b. Create original works as a means of personal or group expression

c. Use models and simulations to explore complex systems and issues

d. Identify trends and forecast possibilities

My triggering event question: What types of technology exist that students can use in schools where technology is outdated and slow?

The ISTE Standard 1 requires that teachers use technology to transform the classroom culture so that students can use their creativity to enhance classroom activities. This standard asks teachers to move beyond the process of enhancement to transforming the classroom for students to utilize the creative process.

My own use of technology is so limited, and my school’s use of technology is right there with me. My question came from a place of wanting to explore how to use technology in the classroom, but a fear that I probably wouldn’t be able to transform the culture with the little amount of technology that we have. I was fascinated from the study in Hong Kong, by Syh-Jong Jang, where the study demonstrates that students’ creativity is enhanced through online interaction and peer competition; however, the author pointed out that some challenges were student’s (lack of) access to internet as well as their abilities using word processing (Jang 2009).

After reading this, my question changed just a little bit. I didn’t just want to find out what types of technology were available for students who had little access, but I also wanted to find apps that did not require students to rely on typing quickly.

EmergingEdTech.com had 8 really strong ideas. What I liked was that most were simple technology that even I could utilize for students. Plus, one of the websites-mind meister- allows students to interact from one class to another. I was imagining how this tool could have enhanced my recent lesson on theme. Students from my first class had really strong ideas, and if my next two periods had seen them, I bet their ideas would have been even stronger; instead, the second two groups came up with themes that we didn’t end up using. I believe if I had been able to use an app like this for students to bounce ideas off of each other from class to class, students would have been able to use their creativity and have stronger themes.

Again, I still feel like even this activity would only be an enhancement to the lesson; however, this website gave me a few ideas for ways to experiment with technology in the classroom. Unfortunately, I do not know if it is possible to transform a classroom culture with the lack of access we have at my school to technology. That would be a great question to save for a future week. But even with the materials I have found so far, I feel like they would begin to spark my students creativity, particularly because these resources are visually engaging and new.

Jang, S.J. (2009). Exploration of Secondary Students’ Creativity by Integrating Web-Based Technology Into an Innovative Science Curriculum. Computers & Education, 52, 247-255. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5W5P9bQJ6q0N0xSTnc0bEpZUGM/view

Walsh, K. (2014). 8 Engaging Ways To Use Technology in the Classroom to Create Lessons that Aren’t Boring. Emergingedtech.com. http://www.emergingedtech.com/2014/10/technology-create-lessons-that-arent-boring/