Creativity, Learning, ISTE Standards

ISTE Standards and Creativity

ISTE defines creativity as constructing knowledge and developing innovative products and processes using technology.  The R. Keith Sawyer article, Educating for Innovation, proposes that the key mission for schools in our knowledge society is to educate for creativity. He explains creativity is deeply social and that the best creative insights come from collaborative teams.  To foster student learning and creativity, he proposes using a disciplined improvisation teaching style that emphasizes students learning for deeper understanding through collaboration and unstructured (but scaffolded) group discussion. Students need to be taught to engage in effective collaborative discussions. 

One of our school’s focuses this year is to use Kagan cooperative learning strategies in our classrooms. This aligns with fostering creativity because these strategies help scaffold cooperative learning and can facilitate group discussion. The sentence frames that are part of our language arts curriculum are also extremely helpful tools for fostering collaborative discussions – but these are structured discussions. To teach for creativity, I’ll need to move toward more student-led group discussion.

Technology project based on ISTE

This week my first graders used their Seesaw learning journals to plan, then present their personal narratives.  For pre-writing they created a graphic organizer with sketches and key words to plan their story. They included strategies for adding voice (dialogue, inside story, feelings) in different parts (beginning, first, next, then, finally) of their graphic organizer.  Students took a photo of their organizer, stored it in their journal, then recorded themselves as they talked through their plan.  Their partner was encouraged to ask them questions as they spoke  (What did you do?  How did you feel? What did you say?). During the writing process, students listened to their plan before they wrote and several went back to listen to various parts as they progressed through their story. Once the stories were finalized, students worked with partners to practice reading them, get feedback, then record their finished story. Here’s how this project aligns with the ISTE rubric – the area that is missing is critical thinking/problem solving.  I need to find ways to include that standard in future projects.

Creativity and innovation: 

• Students applied existing knowledge to generate new ideas/products
• Students created original works as a means of personal/group expression 

Communication and collaboration:     

• Students used digital media to communicate and work collaboratively to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others
• Students interact, collaborate, and publish with peers using a variety of digital environments and media 

Digital citizenship:

• Students exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration, learning and productivity 

Technology operations and concepts:

• Students understand and use technology systems
• Students use applications effectively and productively
• Students transfer