Creative Schools: A Book Review by AskteacherZ

Educational Assembly Lines still pump out Model "A" Grades to 21st Century Students!

Little doubt remains that the current emphasis on standardized education squelches creativity. In the book Creative Schools author Sir Ken Robinson, Ph.D. argues masterfully that the industrial aged, one-size fits all, the educational structure of yesteryear exists in our schools still to this day but in a most destructive manner. To curb this continued course and positively transform education it will take a revolution of the masses.

Revolts begin with disseminating information to crystallize the unity of the many. Identifying curricular outcome flaws is often not enough to sway involvement. However, presenting the political purse of maintaining ancient industrial education testing techniques is a powerful motivator.

The sticker price to clone learning costs billions of dollars. Testing and supporting students in the United States is a booming big business. It finances political electioneering and drives the education systems. In 2013 the revenue was $16.5 billion. To put this in perspective Robinson points out that in the same year the U.S. domestic cinema box office grossed a little less than $11 billion and the National Football League (NFL) is a $9 billion business (pg. 165). Moviegoers and football fans would never continue to pay for tickets if their return was anything like what's put in front of students in the form of standardized tests. The current educational system shortchanges consumers. We're purchasing an inferior end product for our students.

Student engagement, learning outcomes and success of career preparedness depend upon allowing individuals the opportunity to pursue their interests, innovate and collaborate within the realm of educational curricula. Now with over 8 million views on YouTube Ken Robinson's TED Talks presentation from 2007 titled Do Schools Kill Creativity is an introduction to this very topic that is expanded upon in his 2015 book. In short, Creative Schools contains all of what he was unable to say in 18 minutes 8 years ago.

The Heart of Education is the Relationship between the Students and the Teacher

As a mission, all teachers enter the profession with the intent of making a difference in the lives of those whom they serve. Regardless of the age, subject or role in education (as I described in my "Bad" blog post in June 2015) all educators want students to become compassionate, innovative and active citizens in the future. Ken Robinson explains and expands upon this perspective very well with his humorous analogies, sarcasm, school and classroom observation examples and educational data.

The drill and test industrial aged education model of old must give way to a modern-day creative one. Project-based learning, maker spaces and a technology integrated curriculum need to be advanced, promoted and implemented in schools. Factors such as motivation, class size and funding can no longer be the crutch to explain the lack of student success. Schools and staff need to be supported and valued more by government leadership to allow for the building of quality relationships with students, parents, and community.

Education, as Robinson eloquently writes, is "...cluttered with every sort of distraction. There are political agendas, national priorities, union bargaining positions, building codes, job descriptions, parental ambitions, peer pressures. The list goes on. But the heart of education is the relationship between the student and the teacher. Everything else depends on how productive and successful that relationship is. If that is not working, then the system is not working. If students are not learning, education is not happening. Something else may be going on, but it's not education (pg 71-72)." Simply put, the priority in education needs to be about discovering individual talent not determining deficiencies. Discovering the gifts of each individual student is accomplished only through the building of positive relationships.

Creative Schools needs to make an appearance at some point on everyone's nightstand. Sir Ken Robinson doesn't disappoint. He's crafted a brilliant, inspiring and thought-provoking book on where education needs to be and how to get there. When finished you'll have a more profound understanding of the education world.

BUILD a Box of 21st Century Learning

Guide your students to BUILD a "Box of Learning."

Each lesson and unit of instruction you plan is spread out across a wide range of mandatory teaching topics; including the necessary curricular content of Common Core State Standards (CCSS), State and local learning benchmarks, as well as, standardized tests that evaluate not just their knowledge but our teaching ability. As a result, hours of time are spent meticulously managing each curricular item and learning benchmark to ensure that it's incorporated on the surface area of the instructional unit. Your plans are written, developed and these items are checked off. When it's all done your lessons cover every curricular need and learning benchmark -- proud you are and proud you should be. Your due diligence has allowed you to embed curriculum across your content. But after some careful self-reflection you realize these lesson/s and/or those of the past are missing depth or mastery of the material and are perhaps uneventful activities. Are you tired of your lessons falling flat on their face like a piece of cardboard? Are you looking to expand your teaching style?

Flat card board lesson planning is many times the result of our fear -- the fear of not covering everything. As educators we become cognizant of the fact that standardized tests contain certain, bench-marked items. Therefore ALL of this earmarked material must be covered or students will perform poorly on the "test" and then we all "fail" -- figuratively and literally.

Let's overcome our fears; let's transform our flat card board lesson planning into a 21st Century learning opportunity. We all start our planning with a flat piece of card board. It's necessary to know the learning benchmarks and the curricular content -- this is the most grueling and time consuming part. Here's our goal: take that flat piece of card board (aka your old lesson/s) and work with students to demonstrate or show them how they can fold it, change it's shape and make it into a box that will hold their knowledge until it can be released, used and then restored again. ALL teachers have card board, the question is how are you presenting it for their learning?

Is it necessary to have a "test" to assess learning? When we utilize diagnostic, formative and summative evaluations it doesn't need to be in the form of a pretest, quiz then a test. Project Based Learning (PBL) using a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), or if fortunate enough to be in 1:1 environment, is a more powerful mode of learning.

Don’t Stifle Learning Paths -- Open New Ones

Embed those curricular and learning benchmarks into an innovative BYOD-PBL Activity using a rubric and let students create from a flat piece of card board their own unique box. Allow students to demonstrate their learning in whatever mode they choose. Perhaps in the form of a screen-cast, a TEDx style presentation, a live puppet show, or they can publish their work to the internet in the form of a blog or web site, etc. Encourage students to collaborate with other students. Open it up not just to work with with those directly in class but perhaps with others across the world using social media. Leave open the option to work individually for those that choose such a route - don't stifle learning paths open new ones.

The goal of 21st Century learning is to allow students to develop career skills within our classes. Let students develop their arsenal within your midst. Unleash student creativity. Consider the box of knowledge to be their portfolio; something that will assist them at the next level and be built upon for years to come. Don't be handcuffed in your planning by curricular demands and benchmark prioritization -- allow students to delve into the content and extrapolate it through their own research, communication, collaboration and development of a product. Be the Lead Learner of Box Building.

Teach Like A Pirate: A Book Review by AskteacherZ

What is a Pirate Movie Rated? Rrrrrrr. My vivacious 9-year-old daughter told me this joke when she saw me reading the book written by Dave Burgess titled Teach Like A Pirate. After the joke she began questioning me about the content of the book. A lively discussion on teaching ensued. She finished by announcing "It takes a lot of work to teach well Daddy."

A captive title, a cute joke, then a student-led, student-centered teaching style is what Teach Like A Pirate (#TLAP) is all about. In this book Dave Burgess has provided teachers with methods, tactics, and strategies that he has found successful. To be completely forthcoming, this is the first edu-pedagogical book I've read since I was forced to do so in my undergraduate studies. Postive twitter traffic and #TLAP chatter on this book sparked my curiosity. And when gifted with an Amazon card from a student I decided to make a pirate purchase. From the time the book hit my doorstep I began to devour it.

In less than 48 hours I finished reading TLAP. Before opening the book, from our tweet exchanges, I knew the author and I had some similarities. Both of us are Social Studies teachers with near the same number of years of experience, we're both coaches, as well as, professional development presenters that utilize twitter as a forum to share, collaborate and perfect our craft. Little did I know, we had more in common than I thought; I had been TLAPing my entire career. Most profound throughout the book is the promotion of an essential attribute of a pirate educator: a never stop learning, never stop creating and never stop collaborating work ethic. Pirate educators are relentless in their pursuit of mastering the craft.

Standing out, among all of the incredible teaching topics covered; that varies from passion, rapport, feedback, analysis to lesson development; is creativity. What struck me when reading Teach Like A Pirate is that some teachers brush aside innovative lesson planning in much the same way a weight-watcher client may fail to lose pounds: excuses. George Washington once wrote, "It's better to offer no excuse than a bad one." Dave Burgess masterfully presents this perspective in a "six-word" paradigm that remains ingrained in my mind. He explained that a teacher once told him "It's easy for you. You're creative." Being creative, innovative, imaginative and inspirational in your practice as a teacher is hard work. Creativity, as he brilliantly demonstrates, isn't an innate attribute or talent that people are born with; one doesn't simply pick up a brush, paint and a few days later show some on-lookers their completed work on the ceiling at the Sistine Chapel. Success is determined by pursuit, dedication, and effort towards mastery of a specific form of art. Creative teaching is an art form; like any form of art, to be highly effective at it, one must put in the time needed to achieve it.

Teach Like A Pirate is about sharing these creative lesson planning strategies. It's about learning how to be a creative teacher. We're all a creative genius in one form or another, but maybe our genius needs to be developed more. Dave Burgess is, within the pages of his work, essentially teaching teachers to do what it is that they do on a daily basis; he's advocating his readers to learn creativity. Even if you're a creative teacher this book will still open up a new world to you. It's with the highest of recommendations that AskteacherZ gives a #TwoThumbZup to Dave Burgess' book Teach Like A Pirate. Pedagogy is all about continued professional development, sharing, and self-advocacy. Get yourself out-of-the-box, put on an eye patch and get into the Burgess Boat as we have; you'll be a better educator as a Pirate.