District Administration - June 2008 - (Page 28)

PROFESSIONAL OPINION • Peter H. Reynolds Six Essentials to Foster Creativity and Innovation in the Classroom Technology lives up to its potential when we approach it creatively. contribute and create. Companies like I WAS OVERJOYED WHEN I READ FableVision, Inspiration, Tech4Learning, the news that the International Society LCSI and Adobe provide the framework for Technology in Education (ISTE) had for a user to contribute personal content. added creativity and innovation to its FableVision’s Stationery Studio and standards. While many of us pioneers in Animation-ish, Inspiration’s Kidspiration, the education technology movement have LCSI’s MicroWorlds Jr., and Adobe’s assumed these goals were implied, it is Flash are just a few examples of UCCAs wonderful to see them made “oﬃcial.” To (user-created content applications). me, technology lives up to its true potential only when we approach it creatively. The very simple but 2. The Graphics Tablet and Pen At its best, technology allows us to make Here’s a very speciﬁc “don’t walk—run” new connections and share new ideas. It human act of listening tip. Buy a boatload of Wacom Graphire also allows us to test theories, bend the can change a life. graphics tablets and pens for your school. rules, see the results, react and modify. For less than $100 a pop, you can convert We can use it to connect and collaborate any PC or Mac into a Tablet PC. If you and to see what else is possible. It will help our next generation brainstorm and carry some extraordinarily boring uses of tech- have ever watched kids trying to draw with out “next steps.” Those who are nimble, nology in schools around the nation over a mouse (or worse yet, a track pad), it is ﬂexible, open-minded and creative will the past few years. I’ve seen programs that a cross between painful and awe-inspiring. perpetuate the “in the box,” ﬁll-in-the- The graphics pen allows kids (and yes, you have the edge in the future. The past test-centric decade has been blank, drill-and-ﬁll paradigm of learning. too!) to input data the old-fashioned way. challenging for both students and teach- With the onslaught of testing and testing The pen or pencil—or, as I like to call it, ers, but I am conﬁdent that we’re heading preparation, we have robbed educators the “creativity stick”—has been a terriﬁc into the decade of creativity and innova- and students of the time, ﬂexibility and way to “make your mark” since 4000 B.C. tion. If the ISTE’s creativity and innova- freedom to tackle open-ended projects tion standards are embraced and support- that might require more than 20-minute 3. Time and Freedom Now we’re moving into the items that ed, we’ll see some fantastic things happen blocks of time. Here are six essential suggestions for cannot be bought with a purchase order. in teaching and learning. I’ve boiled down the new standards into the following inspiring more creativity and innovation It is my hope that the test-centric times goals. Creative and innovative students in the 21st century classroom. I created we have battled through recently are bethis list a while ago to help educators navi- ginning to give way to a more enlightened and educators will be inspired to: gate through challenging waters, but they decade. To create, we must have the time • generate new ideas, new products and have taken on a new urgency and clarity and freedom. new processes; with the new support from ISTE. • create original works as a means to 4. Mission personal or group expression; Some folks have creativity tool kits. Some 1. Blank Page Software • use models and simulations to explore have creativity power-tool kits. The difThis is my best test for powerful educacomplex systems and issues; and ference? Mission. What are we using all tional software. My favorite software • identify trends and forecast possibilithese extremely cool tech-tools for? My companies understand that creating ties—that is, to vision. hope is that we can use them to further Sounds nifty, eh? Is it possible? Not if things starts with nothing but your our personal missions, our community we keep things exactly the same. I’ve seen imagination. This demands that the user 28 June 2008 District Administration

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - June 2008

District Administration - June 2008
Contents
Editor’s Letter
Letters
News Update
Technology Update
Inside the Law
Conversations
Online Edge
Speaking Out
Professional Opinion
Crisis Response
Administrator Profile
District Profile
Cutting Costs from the Inside Out
New Literacies: Entering the Future
Online Videoconferencing
Achievement Today
Transporting Special Needs Students
How Well Does This Web Site Work?
New Products
Problem/Solution
Calendar of Events
Understanding the Times

District Administration - June 2008