Dr. Bruno's Home Base
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Repurposing Unit
After a rather arduous six weeks of research and writing, it's time to use our brains in other, more creative ways. Turning our focus to the Effective Lifelong Learning Inventory (ELLI), we will be focusing on the development of our creativity and learning relationships as we work in teams to "think outside the box."
As you may remember, creativity, as defined by the ELLI, allows the learner to look at things in different ways. These learners are imaginative and believe in new possibilities. They enjoy playing with new ideas and looking at things from different perspectives. But it is not that they are just more playful; they are also more focused and purposeful in their learning.
With regard to learning relationships effective learners are well balanced and are able to be both private learners and social learners. They know the value of watching others to learn, and make use of others knowledge to expand their own. They understand that others provide resources as well as support.
While other domains within the ELLI profile will be used during this unit of study, creativity and learning relationships are the two learning characteristics we will be targeting. Each student will be asked to bring in one item that they will contribute to their team and that will be one of the foundational pieces used to develop their creation. That item can be as small as a paper clip and as insignificant as a used soda can. Whatever the item, however, please note that it will be altered in some way and must be something that has no value, as it will not be returned.
Once all students have submitted their items, teams will be developed using a random selection process. This decision is purposeful (and not particularly popular among the students). The skills needed to work with others in the imagining and developing of new ideas are critically important to the creative process and ultimately the end result. Doing that within the context of good friendships has the potential of having students fall into expected roles and established dynamics. It may not challenge them to use the skills necessary to successfully collaborate with others. With the goal of developing strong learning relationships it is important to challenge students to take risks, actively listen to others' ideas, and respectfully express their own in groups of individuals that they may not know well.
Once the groups are established, each student will contribute their item to the project with the ultimate goal of combining these items to create something useful. It is this development stage that is the most critical, because in order to be effective, students must listen to all ideas, consider all suggestions, and record them all before decisions are made. Therefore, before they begin, each group will establish their own "Covenant of Behavior" or rules that will be established in order to insure that the process is democratic and productive. It is at this time that each team will identify the roles needed to achieve their ultimate goal and whom would best fill those roles.
Once the operational guidelines are established and the responsibilities delineated and assigned, each team will begin brainstorming ideas. In developing those ideas, they may use additional items, but they may NOT remove any of the original items submitted. Additionally, the final creation must serve a particular purpose. In order to insure actions remain focused and purposeful, teams will submit an exit sheet at the end of each day that records what was achieved that day and what homework assignments and responsibilities were given in order to prepare for the next day's work.
Upon completion, each team will be presenting their creation to the whole class. That presentation must not only address the final product, but must also describe the creative and building process experienced by the team. Therefore, each group is responsible for documenting with notes and pictures their creative journey in order to provide the evidence needed to support their presentation.
The presentation will assess performance on three Common Core standards: one that requires them to "present claims and findings, emphasize salient points in a focused, coherent manner using relevant evidence, and sound valid reasoning" for the decisions made; one that requires each team to "integrate multimedia and visual displays into their presentations to clarify information, strengthen claim and evidence, and add interest," and one that will require them to demonstrate "command of formal English" and "use appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation."
Mrs. Kellam, our district's Instructional Technology Specialist, will be joining us this week to share with the students the variety of technology that is available to them for their presentations. Ken Harbauer, the district's Webmaster, will be joining us periodically to film the student throughout the "documentary" of the process. When all is complete, it is my hope that the presentations, along with the documentary, will be made available on my website.
It should be a challenging and fun couple of weeks as we move toward our winter holiday!
