Creativity and Imagination

Week One
1. Salmon Stage 1
  1. Access and motivation
    1. Getting used to learning online again and reading the unit outline,requirements and getting started!
2. Challenges
  1. re-engaging with study after a break
  2. young family
  3. starting a new job
  4. engaging with the readings
3. Successes
  1. being comfortable with online learning
  2. connecting with the tutor and participants
4. Aha! Moments
  1. realising I can do this!
5. Tangents
  1. general conversation topics!
6. Ideas
  1. Wondering what my video promo for CIE will look like!
Week Two
1. Salmon Stage 2
  1. Socialisation
    1. Connecting with peers on the readings!
2. Challenges
  1. Starting a new job in week two
  2. Being very tired and getting to the readings late
  3. feeling overwhelmed
3. Successes
  1. Reading and engaging with the readings and videos
  2. Entering into conversation with the participants on the topics
4. Aha! Moments
  1. Ken Robinson Video
  2. Creativity is an active and mental process
5. Ideas
  1. Not sure what this means but how do I foster an atmosphere of creativity in the classroom?
Week Four
1. Salmon Stage 3
  1. Socialisation and information exchange. I am beginning to do this and have got some encouragement from another student in regards to going about assignment 2
2. Challenges
  1. Time management at the moment. I am so tired as my baby is teething and has me up three times a night.
3. Successes
  1. I got the readings and tasks completed this week despite the week being so busy!
4. Aha! Moments!
  1. I want to be the 'Flow Moment' teacher who presents a situation where children engage intensely with the topic. Personal creativity is not just problem solving! Creative people do not care about the Staus Quo(Steve Jobs)but are post conventional thinkers. They take the immediate context in hand and can adapt accordingly! Creativity is often unpredictable and very creative people are often considered deviant! Societal and individual tolerance of differences and unconventional behaviour is needed. Big C Creativity and little c creativity. Creative behaviour is the cornerstone of creative thought and action. Innovation= application and implementation
  2. Creative Culture=leadership,people,basic values and innovation values
5. Ideas
  1. I am beginning to get some ideas of what my content will be in my movie! Creative behaviour,creative culture,What If? question,creativity as a process;presenting flow opportunities for students.
Week 11
1. Aha moments!
Week 10
1. Maori Education-The success of New Zealand depends on Māori success and the success of Māori depends on their success as Māori. It means that Māori culture is recognised and validated and incorporated into the learning process. It means that personalising learning is happening and that the curriculum is relevant to Māori identity. We also must have an assessment system that helps foster success – so that success breeds success and mana builds mana.
2. Salmon Stage 4 Knowledge Construction
Week 7
1. Salmon Stage 4 Knowledge Construction I am a week behind at this point in time as it was back to school this week and had preparation to do.I am learning a lot about creativity and reading other colleagues posts on creativity and assessment is really shaking up my own thinking on the topic!
2. Challenges- Again it is being pulled in all directions between being a stay at home mum part of the week and teaching in the middle of the week. It is hard to be motivated for study at the moment and I am at the stage where I just want to be finished with my studies. However as in my weightloss journey-I ask myself why I am doing this and is it worth it in the long run? THe answer is this is for me and my own development and it is worth it so get back on the horse and keep going!Only 5 weeks left. Another challenge is developing a questionnaire that will be helpful,get the information I need and then how to use it!
3. Successes My understanding of the need to assess or map creativity is changing. If we really value creativity and believe it can be developed or learnt as a behaviour or skill then there needs to be some way of assessing it. A more accurate method of assessment in this area is mapping-getting a picture of the child's C and I over time to aid formative assessment-the process as opposed to the product.
4. Aha! Moments
  1. Aha! Moments Mapping as opposed to assessment in creativity. Creativity Wheel Reading 7(b)-findings:'there is a contradiction between the development of creativity in young people and the way schools are currently configured'-a real Ken Robinson statement!
5. Ideas Thinking of my own teaching and how I can map creativity in my class
6. Spencer E., Lucas B., and Claxton G. Progression in Creativity: Developing New Forms of Assessment. 1.The framework encompassed a learnable set of dispositions. The aim of the assessment framework is for formative assessment. 2.It seeks to support pupils in harnessing more of their creativity and help teachers more effectively to cultivate creative dispositions in the children. 3.Ken Robinson moment: 'a contradiction between the development of creativity in young people and the way schools are currently configured.' 4.'Creativity is seen as important for the social and personal development of young people in communities and social settings'-Banaji et al 2010. 5.little c creativity (Craft) everyday possibility thinking. 6. The framework's aim is a transformation of teaching at a moment in time and teacher practice developing over time.
Week Three
1. Salmon Stage 2
  1. Socialisation
    1. Not much this week as I was busy with work and life in general.I got to the discussions late.
2. Challenges
  1. Feeling overwhelmed again-I am late to the topic this week and have yet to engage with the readings and cohort.
3. Successes
  1. I am here!
4. Aha!Moments
  1. Reading 3a and reading 3b-I am looking forward to reading them again and writing down pointers as there are a couple of aha moments there
  2. We prize creativity in education policy yet with standardised testing the creativity is being squeezed out of the curriculum. We have students more ready to sit a test than able to imagine for tomorrow.
  3. Everyone is creative!
  4. Eisner was innovative in this venture
  5. Reading 3 a-handbook for creativity that suits every job description!
5. Ideas
  1. How do I nurture an atmosphere of creativity amongst the staff when everyone is under pressure to produce results and assess everything?
6. My Definition of Creativity and Imagination
  1. creativity is active that involves mental processes and ideas.
  2. I don't think creativity and imagination can exist on their own. I am open to correction on this but if creativity is an active process then imagination is the 'engine' that drives it.
7. Workhouse,free,innovative thinking,energy,flowing,catalyst,power,engine,process,working core of children's thinking,faculty to be creative,forming new ideas,creative thinking
  1. Words to describe imagination
  2. reflection-in-action,what if? thoughts,As if thoughts,thinking the possimmpoble!ability to improvise,greatest renewable resource!
Week Five
1. Salmon Stage 3
  1. Information Exchange. I have chatted to some people on the cohort specific task about curriculum and encouraged and found encouragement on the questions forum. The ACS3 was informative and the exchange of information between us as a group was great.
2. Challenges
  1. Time management and sleep deprivation again!However I am getting more ideas as I write down my ideas on the map!
3. Successes
  1. See above-writing down ideas and reading other people's ideas/challenges has helped me formulate the content of my video.
4. Aha!Moments
  1. Eisner's take on the implicit,explicit and null curricula in schools was an eye opener-what is not being taught is as important as what is! Where topics appear on the timetable/time spent on those topics/even the layout of a school conveys the value put in learning topics.
  2. Curriculum is always biased and never neutral
  3. 8 Ways
    1. Indigenous 8 ways of Knowing-40,000 years of knowledge-it doesn't need to be reviewed asit teaches how to learn not what to learn!
5. Ideas
  1. Enable children to become mappers of their educational journey-Eisner
  2. History behind ACARA-very interesting
  3. Curriculum is a framework
  4. I manage the curriculum,it does not manage me!
  5. Framework=structure that allows you to do something
Week 6
1. Salmon Stage 3 Information Exchange I have not engaged much with the online CoP this week as I have been trying to get assignment 2 done. However I did chat and exchanged some information with a couple of colleagues regarding editing their video.
2. Challenges-lots! It has been an extremely busy week at school as it is the last before the holidays. We were in Brisbane for a family friend's funeral and I juggled work,church commitments and family to get my assignment completed and submitted on time.
3. Successes-lots! I completed my assignment and submitted it before the deadline and learnt a huge amount in the process!
4. Aha! Moments
  1. Reading curricula from different countries and here in Australia have some similar themes and some different ones.While dry to read as a document I realised that the curriculum really is dependant on the teacher for its creativity and imagination. THe curriculum is really only as good as the teacher delivering it and using it as a framework to teach and encourage learning.
5. Ideas
  1. 8 Ways- The Indigenous Way of Knowing is a good framework to use when planning assignment 3.
6. My experience of making the assignment went fine-it was at the editing and adding sound to my images stage where my persistence and creativity had to come to the fore!I could not add sound to my video along with a soundtrack-it was one or the other.Also my microphone was not working and I couldn't add a narration.I eventually remembered Vocaroo.com,saved it as a JPEG and was able to add it to my video without a soundrack unfortunately but at least there was sound with my images.I was very proud to surmount this technical glich!Note to self-Iron out these gliches before submission day!!
Experience of submitting assignment 2-A Promotional and Transformational Video about Creativity and Imagination
7. Creativity relates to both intelligence and learning. 8. Creativity is a complex multi-dimensional phenomenon and there is no universally accepted definition. 9.Performativity v creativity agenda. 10.The lack of requirement to assess creativity contributes to the undervaluing of creativity. 11. Tracking and mapping v profiling and assessing.
Week 12
Peter Pappas taxonomy for teachers
My Taxonomy Mind map for Self Directed Learning
1. https://bubbl.us/?h=2a38a4/5530d8/272d9UZxBLRiI&r=1354933683
Week 9
1. Salmon Stage 4 Knowledge Construction
2. Ideas: Technology and CIE-there are quite a few apps out there that help develop creativity-ComicLife for one and Taxegdo!
3. Challenges:Technology in and of itself will not encourage creativity.For children less screentime is more-the challenge is to make it count!
4. Aha! Moments!-8 Ways Aboriginal perspectives do not come from Indigenised content, but from Indigenous processes of knowledge transmission
  1. Indigenous perspectives:Canada
    1. In Aboriginal worldviews, everything—people, relationships,
    2. situations—is dynamic. Individuals change, and Aboriginal cultures
    3. evolve and adapt. Learning is recognized as a creative process from
    4. which new structures, forms and practices evolve.
Week 8
1. Salmon Stage 4 Knowledge Construction
2. Question From the Ken Robinson video-'How do you get the ball rolling?'
3. Creswell, J. (2003). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods Approaches
4. Differences between quantative,qualitative and mixed method data collection: Quantative: The collection of data based on a narrow premise and assumption of the researcher; close ended questions. Qualitative:The collection of data based on open ended questions and
5. a desire to engage with the participant's views on the topic and forming a theory from it as opposed to starting with a theory.
6. Mixed Methods: A combination of the two.