Week 5, Tech Play 3 - Creativity Tools

Creativity tools are essential in today’s modern classroom.  Not only do students desire to use them daily in school, but they also afford the highest levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy: evaluating and creating.  Social media is ever present not just daily, nor hourly, but is available to students every second they are awake.  Creativity tools are not something that will fade away; moreover, teachers must become aware of how learning has changed and apply their content and pedagogical practices in such a way as to reach this technology-based age group. These tools allow students to apply their content and prove to the teacher the knowledge they have learned through synthesis and application. Traditional methods of teaching can do the same thing; however, they do not allow the learning to be student-centered and inquiry-based, which is what a creativity tool can accomplish.

I tested iMovie, Animoto, YouTube, and Skype this week.  As a person with many apple devices, I found iMovie much more enjoyable to work in than Animoto.  My iCloud connected automatically, and I was able to incorporate pictures and videos from previous years without having to place them on a flash drive or access them from a third party.  Even though there are not a lot of directions, the app is user friendly and is used with common sense, which is why most people who have apple products use apple apps as well.  Animoto is a very similar concept as iMovie.  Both allows the user to incorporate pictures or videos and give options for sound effects.  The use of either product in my classroom would depend on the school district and what type of technology was available: iPads or Chromebooks.  Both accomplish the same goals; having more knowledge and hands-on experience with Apple products, I would feel more confident using iMovie in my classroom.  This does not mean that there is no value in Animoto; in fact, I feel it would be easier for younger students to create and produce a project with it.

Personally, using Skype would be my preference to connect with others.  It is easy to contact someone who is out of cell phone signal strength but may have internet access.  I can see using this in a classroom with having a classroom virtual pen pal.  Both classes could read a novel and then interact with each other over discussion questions via Skype.  This could also allow students to connect with professionals or experts in a particular subject area as a supplement to basic book content knowledge.  Seeing the application of the knowledge first hand in a virtual field trip format can inspire and show relevancy to students.

YouTube was interesting to research and tech play.  My husband and I both have used YouTube for our may diy projects and find many answers to things which we are not masters: car mechanics, installing a shower, moving a shed across our property.  Professionally, I have used YouTube in my classroom to show clips from tv shows that show certain literary devices: Tim Taylor and Al Borland to show examples of Foils for characterization purposes. However, I had not given much thought on YouTube usage for my students.  After thinking through the TPACK model and its application with certain creativity tools, I realized YouTube could help connect my parents to their children’s’ works in my class and could allow students to review others work. 

Traditionally when teaching Shakespeare, I would read the script in a read-aloud format in the classroom and then supplement the reading with a professional video of the Act that had been read.  I would review specific concepts and then test them with traditional paper and pencil.  I could do the same thing through creativity tools.  Students could form groups to rewrite the script in different time periods or settings, then film the reenactment.  They could place the videos together in iMovie and then upload them to a closed YouTube channel where we could watch them as a class.  I could grade the project which not only tests their knowledge but their application of the content through technology.  Parents could then login to the channel and view their child’s creation.  Students could also review others work and see different interpretations of the same material.  This allows the student to control their learning and provide them with options in displaying their knowledge.