Creativity

I was reading this article at the Wall Street Journal Online about How to be Creative.  My husband is the creative one.  He is the artist.  He thinks up weird and unlikely designs to make out of wood or metal that turn out to be beautiful and thought provoking.  Since I have known him he has a systematic creative process.

His favorite is getting started.  He will talk about an idea, sketch it on several pieces of paper that get scattered about, make lists.

Then he begins the fabrication.  He enjoys this part too, and it's hard for him to stop when he gets started. He gets in a groove and just goes with it.  There is a lot of positive talk concerning the speed of his progress and how he doesn't have much to do yet, even though to the average person, the project is just started.

Then he gets stuck.  It happens with everything.  Somewhere in the project he is presented with an impossible problem that threatens to destroy everything that he's done so far, jeopardizing the entire project.  This step is accompanied by sailor talk, schizophrenic actions, toddler stomping, and object chucking.  It's quite entertaining to someone who knows he will eventually work through it and it is just part of the creative process.  However, it can be scary if you don't know that.  You'd think the project was over and he would never make art again!

Then comes the epiphany.  If you're around to catch it you can actually see the light bulb flash on over his head.  This usually comes after he walks away from it for a while, one of those moments of insight as the article states, after he has a relaxing bath or bottle of beer.

Then comes the implementation of the plan.  He likes this because it is overcoming a problem, usually in a clever or crazy way.  It usually merits bragging rights to anyone who will listen, because that's creative genius.

Then comes the almost finished, why can't I just end it now, because it's not cool anymore phase.  He really has to force himself to do this, because once he has overcome the major problems, it's no longer fun for him.  I think he would prefer his studio to be filled with a bunch of minions to complete it.

Finally, he has to call time of death.  If given the option, he will chew and chew and chew on the project, thinking of ways to add, tweak, redo, fix, or make it better.  He sees a rough spot here that needs to be resanded, a welded joint that isn't quite right, spots in the stain, fly poop, wrong angles.   It's a good thing there are due dates, or he'd never finish anything, it would stay in his studio and be done over and over again.  If he has learned anything, he knows now that he has to call a project, but it will go right up to the last minute.

If it's not a pressing problem, he puts a gerbil on it.  They reside in his brain, along with wheels, and they hop on these wheels when a problem needs to be worked out but can be put on the back burner.  They are handy little rodents, allowing him to walk away from the problem but still be working on it.  Their most impressive feet recently was figuring out how to install a shower in a tiny attic bathroom we put in.  He kept saying no way, but the gerbils thought otherwise.

I had always thought of myself as being creatively challenged.  I remember this especially in college, as I had to create lesson plans from scratch, having barely any class time under my belt.  I used the educators' creative license and begged, borrowed, and more often stole ideas to add to my lesson plans.

But after teaching and living, I've come to realize that when it comes to motivating some students, or thinking up projects to help students understand a concept, to connect current events with history and make it relate to their life today, and connecting concepts between curriculums, I can really pull things out!  And I love doing it.  Most of those are the moments of insight during teachable moments, but also come from chatting with colleagues or others that can open my brain to more possibilities.

I think creativity in the classroom is so important.  I can't draw, paint, or sculpt, but that's not all there is to being creative.  Right now I can only offer ideas to colleagues with classrooms, or use them with the students I help, but I can't wait until I have my own classroom to give more things a try!  Being out so long, I just hope I haven't gotten crusty!

The article points out what I've been thinking too.  That to stay sharp I should expose my brain to many different things, in order to make connections.  That's why I read lots of blogs and articles, and still read brain flushes like the Harry Dresden novels (excellent Sci-Fi!).  I do try different things, talk to many different people, and diversify my life, because answers and ideas can come from anywhere.  I've called it "putting it out to the universe."

Who else opposes standardized testing?

The following is a comment I posted on another blog, A Principal's Reflections, in response to a letter he posted from a mother to NYCDOE, and his call for other's thoughts.  He writes:

"With all of this being said, what are your thoughts on standardized testing, it's role in education, impact on students, and the data being used to evaluate educators? Is this the direction that educational reform should be headed in? As a parent of two young children my response is a resounding NO!"

My comment:
I am an educator and mother in Iowa.  They are currently considering legislation to put in place end of the year assessments to decide whether a student should go on or not.  I am vehemently opposed to this!  The time, energy and resources used to administer, grade, and assess the tests would be better used to teach my children.  Is it not the professional teacher's job to assess my child in their class?  Is it not the professional, well trained teacher, who knows how my child learns in their classroom and whether or not they have mastered the skills necessary to pass on to the next grade?  When it comes down to it, I intend to be a thorn in the side of my school district, as I will do everything in my power to keep my children away from these pointless, time and money wasting, damage inflicting tests!  Even if it means risking my job.
Because schools are given federal and state funding, there are strings attached.  The government needs to make sure the schools are being held accountable, and they see testing as the most effective way to do this.  But they miss the trees (the individual student, who learns differently and at different rates) for the forest (the general overall achievement of a school district that is receiving the money).  I feel part of the solution is to give control back to local authority, and let teachers just teach.  The job of the principal, administrators, and local school board is to evaluate their teachers, and help them be the most effective teachers for their students.  I see this as getting into the classrooms more, working closely with teachers, offering effective criticism, and not assigning curriculum based on what is on these tests.  Effective teaching cannot be evaluated with these tests, it takes getting into the classroom and knowing the students individually, to determine if it is happening.  To judge this, they need to see the "aha moments", the connections, the creation, the higher level thinking being demonstrated in the actual classroom (and sometimes out of the classroom).  This requires smaller class sizes, a professional learning community of expert teachers and active administrators working together and communicating.  It also requires trust that all these people are actually going to do their professional job.  That is up to the boss to determine if this is happening.
And finally, school is not just about mastering a set of knowledge based skills in each class.  The most important life skill a student can take away from k-12 education is learning to learn.  This is a skill that will last a lifetime.  Knowing how to regurgitate information for a standardized test is perhaps a skill that may only be used by statisticians and politicians, who unfortunately seem to be the ones in control of reform.
A question for you: Why do I see so much resistance to standardized testing from the teaching profession in my own community, in the media, and online, and yet this is still the direction we are going in?  Why are we not being listened to?


So if you feel like passing these thoughts on to our legislators in the great state of Iowa, feel free to send them my link.

The "Delicate" State

How many people find this attractive?

Yeah, not many.  This was the equivalent of the playboy model 25,000 years ago.  Fertile, bountiful, well fed.  Today?  Not so much!

Guess which I can identify with in my "delicate" state?

There's nothing delicate about the girth of my waist, chest or ankles at this point.

I am like a barnacle clad whale, beached on the couch, like a colossus, standing huge and ominous, like a Zamboni, in dangerous, unstoppable motion.  You know what they say about an object in motion.  My oversized belly can be a dangerous weapon, knocking things over in its wake.  Alone, it could be an NFL pick for a blocker... what are those called?

I am a force that is anything but delicate!  Only 8 more weeks and still plenty of time to get bigger...

and bigger...

and BIGGER!!!

It's Valentine's Day, time to be mushy.

Top ten reasons I love my husband:

10. 

He thinks I'm pretty, even when I'm not.

9.  

When I want to share something with someone, whether it's funny, sad, stupid, or cool, he's the one.

8.  

I know if I present a problem to him, if at first he can't solve it, he will put a squirrel on it and it will turn its wheel until it comes up with a solution... see #1.

7.  

He's smart...

6.  

He's cute...

5.  

He shares the child rearing.  This allows me to "pursue my career."  

4.  

He talks me up to his friends and coworkers.  They think I'm intelligent and a force to be reckoned with, not just the old ball and chain.  

3.  

He cooks... he uses every dish in the kitchen, but it is so worth it.  And the way to my heart is definitely through my stomach.  I will never starve while he is around!

2.  

He built me a spa bathroom, complete with separate shower, sinks, medicine cabinets, soaking tub, fancy tile and custom woodwork with his bare hands.  Ah, Calgon, take me away!

1.  

Out of an impossible amount of space, he managed to pull a 3/4 bath out of his butt so our little girls can have their own domain upstairs instead of infringing on my spa bathroom.

I love him so much!

Love letters to my husband

With Valentines Day quickly approaching, I thought I'd get a little sentimental about my wonderful husband!  He has given me so much in my life!

One gift stands out in my mind as very special.  I'm wearing it today, and I think about all it means when I put it on.  It was actually a topic at an Engaged Encounter meeting where we had to write about something our spouse had given us, and then share with the group.  As couples shared what each had given each other, like undying love, freedom to be themselves, encouragement, I felt kind of shallow because I wrote about a piece of jewelry.

I'm not a big one for diamonds or roses.  Hubby was joking around this morning saying, "Oh, look, I could buy this $100.00 bouquet of roses for you out of this flyer, or I could by two 12oz ribeyes for $18.  Which would you like?"  Drool...  nothing says, "I love you!" like dead cow!  YUM!  So I might be considered "low maintenance" in the gift department.

He gave me a silver necklace with a pendant just like this:

It was a Christmas gift the year I was pregnant with Addie.  Besides my promise, engagement, and wedding rings, it was really the only jewelry he had ever given me.  And it meant so much to me, and still does.  It symbolized that he had given me the gift of children, something I had always wanted, and something no one else could have given me.  Now, with baby three on the way, I still wear this symbol and love it, because of what it means to me.

I guess I'll keep him around for a while!

Education and Character: Another Reform?

I came across this article in one of the blogs I follow.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/18/magazine/what-if-the-secret-to-success-is-failure.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&emc=eta1

It's wicked long, but really interesting!  In a nutshell, it talks about two schools who looked at research for what makes successful adults, after school.  They found that those kids that went on to graduate from college and become successful weren't those that had the highest test scores, grades or even IQ, but had a certain set of characteristics, and they set about teaching "Character" in their schools.  Not only moral character like being nice and treating others with respect, but performance character which include values like effort, diligence and perseverance.  They focus on seven characteristics and use "duel purpose instruction", intermeshing academic lessons with character lessons.  

The characteristics they focus on include zest, grit, self-control, social intelligence, gratitude, optimism, and curiosity. The idea is that they try to prepare their students to become people who are going to make it in the real world, and make it well.  

Another key behind it is to challenge the students and get them to learn from their failure.  It mentions the movie "Race to Nowhere" (trailer here: http://www.racetonowhere.com/) which takes a look at where American education is heading, with so much focused on high stakes testing, and how it is damaging the ability of students to go on and be successful because they either can't cope, or they've never had to deal with failure.

From the article:

" What is good character? Is it really something that can be taught in a formal way, in the classroom, or is it the responsibility of the family, something that is inculcated gradually over years of experience? Which qualities matter most for a child trying to negotiate his way to a successful and autonomous adulthood? And are the answers to those questions the same in Harlem and in Riverdale?"

If you've got time (ha, ha!) it's worth a read.

As a parent and educator, I'm really intrigued with this idea.  First off, is it the schools place to teach character, something that traditionally should be left to the parents?  Don't teachers do enough parenting already, on top of more and more requirements being set on their shoulders?  My father (Hi, Daddy! *MUAH!*) vehemently opposes wasting his tax dollars to teach something that should be left to the family.  On one hand, I agree.  On the other, isn't it the job of the community also?  Isn't their school a big part of their community.  Nowadays, however, the community, including the school, doesn't seem willing to take on the role of disciplining the community or neighborhood children, because many parents have the "not my child" syndrome, where everyone else is to blame.  In this sense, my kids are screwed, as we tend to side with the 1960 cartoon, below, and people in my little community are not afraid to call me up and let me know when my kids step out of line.  

The other question educators could ask is how do you, or even, can you, teach character?  Don't they just have zest, or grit?  Could you get to them while they're young?  What about students with learning difficulties, who need meds to focus or have and self control?  Are people born with the amount of optimism they're going to have in life?  Can teenagers, who are so me-focused, even grasp the concept of gratitude?  Isn't it their God-given right to have things handed to them?  

As a parent, I really, really want my kids to have these characteristics, even if I'm not as steeped in them myself as I wish I could be.  I have some idea of how to get my kids there at their age:  Make them do chores, challenge them to do things on their own to promote independence, cheer them on when they run into something hard, don't hand them everything, lead by example, and the hardest thing - let them fail... ouch!

And here's the thing in education, you can't "let" kids fail any more, even when it seems like they are trying.  The school I'm at doesn't penalize a student's grade for late work, even if it is very late.  Like a month late.  What are they learning from that?  I don't think anything good, and certainly not responsibility.  It allows them to keep their grade up, but creates a cat and mouse game of the teacher keeping track and hounding the student until they turn it in.  A teacher can see if they are understanding the material the homework is designed to help them with, but sometimes after the assessment.  Or, because there are no consequences to turning it in late, they fall behind the rest of the class, who, after learning what they need to from one assignment, moves on to the next step.

There's that, and, as the cartoon above points out, if a teacher doesn't have very explicit documentation to show everything they did for that student to help them pass, they face the wrath of parents, and even sometimes the administration.  They question the job of the teacher first, not the job of the student.  I guess the idea is that students should fail the practice, not the test.  But with so little time to prove kids can get it, and the pressure to maintain good grades, there is no time to learn by failing.

In school reform, so many things are tried, but I think what everyone is really missing is that there is no blanket solution.  There is not a reform that will make a good education policy for the nation, the state, or even the community.  It all comes down to doing what is right for each individual student.  And who can do it better than their teacher, working in harmony with their parent and the student, to decide how they best learn, how to challenge them, how to help them become successful in the future?  

A little laugh for today!

This has been floating around facebook the last couple days: A grade one teacher collected well known proverbs. She gave each child in her class the first half of a proverb and asked them to come up with the remainder of the proverb. It's hard to believe these were actually done by grade one kids ('6' year-olds), because the last one is classic! Strike while the insect is close. Never underestimate the power of ants. Don't bite the hand that looks dirty. Better to be safe than punch a grade 7 boy. If you lie down with dogs, you'll stink in the morning. It's always darkest before Daylight Saving Time. You can lead a horse to water but how? No news is impossible. A miss is as good as a Mr. You can't teach an old dog new maths. Love all, trust me. The pen is mightier than the pigs. An idle mind is the best way to relax. Where there's smoke there's pollution. Happy the bride who gets all the presents. A penny saved is not much. Two's company, three's the Musketeers. Don't put off till tomorrow what you put on to go to bed. Laugh and the whole world laughs with you, cry and you have to blow your nose. There are none so blind as Stevie Wonder. Children should be seen and not smacked or grounded. If at first you don't succeed get new batteries. You get out of something only what you see in the picture on the box. When the blind leadeth the blind get out of the way. And the favourite: Better late than pregnant!