Activity 9 - Activated Classroom Teaching - Creating Activity
Activity Objectives
We're scaling the heights of the ACT model now. I hope you are not afraid of heights - because at these heights the experience can cause an dizzying excitement. By the end of this activity you will understand the power of using creating as a pedagogy and how this can easily be applied through simple approaches.
We're scaling the heights of the ACT model now. I hope you are not afraid of heights - because at these heights the experience can cause an dizzying excitement. By the end of this activity you will understand the power of using creating as a pedagogy and how this can easily be applied through simple approaches.
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The ACT Model consists of five active layers, where each layer is a pedagogy that can be applied in the classroom. In this section we will consider the fourth layer of the ACT model - the Creation pedagogy.
It's getting cognitively tougher as we climb the layers. You know the fear - if you don't you soon will - of being faced with a blank document and having to write something. It's one thing to talk about content or even correct content, but to create your own content really requires us to be intellectually invested. And then the best part, after putting in the effort, an artefact remains. |
First up, watch the following video for an overview of this powerful pedagogy of creation.
What is it when we are faced with creating something that often challenges us? The reason for this is that unlike the lower layers which while active, this pedagogy requires the student to come up with their own content. There are many powerful ways in which we can use technology to invoke the creating pedagogy. One simple example is grabbing that tech device that we all have - a smartphone, and using it to create a video. With the rise of spaces like YouTube, Facebook, etc. videos are becoming the most popular form of communication, with some predicting it will replace text. In fact we live in a world of massive video content - almost 5,000,000,000 videos are watched every single day, on YouTube alone, amounting to 900 million hours per month - that's 102,739 years worth of video/month. But if there is that much video content watched...there must be millions of hours being created every year.
This short video clip shows some examples of student created videos. All it takes is a smartphone and some creative thought and students can create the most amazing videos of course content.
This short video clip shows some examples of student created videos. All it takes is a smartphone and some creative thought and students can create the most amazing videos of course content.
Activities
- Read the short article on how to become "The World's Best Teacher"
- Get ready to feel the pain...and the reward of creating. Creating requires us to bring all our mental powers to the fore. Let's try something. This is going to be hard but fun. This is called "The Most Dangerous Writing App". You might be wondering why. Well, you will discover in a moment. What I need you to do is go to this app and type a summary of what you have learned so far about using the Activated Classroom Teaching approach. That's not too hard is it? You will have 3 minutes to do this. Oh, there's a small catch...if you stop typing, even for a few seconds, all your typing will be lost! So get ready to experience the power of creating as a pedagogy. Go here, choose 3 minutes...and write about this: How I can use the Activated Classroom Teaching approach. This is a very powerful tool and approach to force students to stop being distracted and to put their thinking down!
- This next activity will take about 5 minutes of your time. But it really is an ACTIVITY. That means you will need to move around a little bit. So only do it if you have 5 minutes to spare. You will see how powerful the creating pedagogy can be. If you're ready to take on the challenge then GO HERE!
- Now to show that you're an @CTIVIST let's see what you can do. Make a short video/presentation that illustrates any lesson you would like to teach. It could be something from your own subject or from this course. You can either grab your smartphone and record yourself doing something interesting, or you could use a tool like Powtoon to create a fun animation. You can check out lessons on using Powtoon as part of the ACT pedagogy of creation here and here. Share your video on Edmodo once you're done!
EXTRA (for the really Active)
The ACT pedagogy and underlying Active-Producer paradigm aims for two key benefits. The first is active learning and the second is artefact production. Active learning has been proven to improve concentration, memory, motivation, etc. Artefact production has many amazing benefits including allowing formative assessment, student reflection, correction, etc. Using creating as a pedagogy especially lends itself to artefact production. However, rather than simply allowing the various learning artefacts that are created to be "lost", a powerful approach is to make use of an e-portfolio where all the learning artefacts are curated into a single space. This article lists some of the benefits of e-portolios (well worth reading) and this teacher convincingly argues why "Digital portfolios position students for success in the workforce".
While creating a website may seem difficult, tools like Weebly allow your students to do this with ease, and so create their own e-portfolios. If you are interested in learning how to easily create a website for student e-portfolios, check out this course that I offer. As a current student you qualify for 50% off the listed price. Use the coupon code "ACT101STUDENT" to claim your discount.
The ACT pedagogy and underlying Active-Producer paradigm aims for two key benefits. The first is active learning and the second is artefact production. Active learning has been proven to improve concentration, memory, motivation, etc. Artefact production has many amazing benefits including allowing formative assessment, student reflection, correction, etc. Using creating as a pedagogy especially lends itself to artefact production. However, rather than simply allowing the various learning artefacts that are created to be "lost", a powerful approach is to make use of an e-portfolio where all the learning artefacts are curated into a single space. This article lists some of the benefits of e-portolios (well worth reading) and this teacher convincingly argues why "Digital portfolios position students for success in the workforce".
While creating a website may seem difficult, tools like Weebly allow your students to do this with ease, and so create their own e-portfolios. If you are interested in learning how to easily create a website for student e-portfolios, check out this course that I offer. As a current student you qualify for 50% off the listed price. Use the coupon code "ACT101STUDENT" to claim your discount.
GO BACK TO YOUR EDMODO GROUP AND SHARE YOUR ANSWERS AS A REPLY TO "Activity 9 - Creation Activity"
PREVIOUS ACTIVITIES
ACTIVITY 1 - Intro & Changing World
ACTIVITY 2 - Big Mistakes
ACTIVITY 3 - Missing Pedagogy
ACTIVITY 4 - Education Technology Assessment
ACTIVITY 5 - Activated Classroom Teaching (ACT) Pedagogy
ACTIVITY 6 - Curation Activity
ACTIVITY 7 - Conversation Activity
ACTIVITY 8 - Correction Activity
PREVIOUS ACTIVITIES
ACTIVITY 1 - Intro & Changing World
ACTIVITY 2 - Big Mistakes
ACTIVITY 3 - Missing Pedagogy
ACTIVITY 4 - Education Technology Assessment
ACTIVITY 5 - Activated Classroom Teaching (ACT) Pedagogy
ACTIVITY 6 - Curation Activity
ACTIVITY 7 - Conversation Activity
ACTIVITY 8 - Correction Activity
There are some amazing tools that can be used to support the creating pedagogy, such as Powtoon that allows you to build animations, to Easelly that lets you build infographics. Visualising and creating content is an extremely powerful pedagogy. If you would like to learn how to use PlayPosit, and other online tools for conversation, then join the @CTIVATED Classroom Course HERE. Email me for amazing discounts for schools and for people who have purchased the @CTIVATED Classroom book!