Skills Swap

I've had a go at creating a poster for Skills Swap. can you tell me what you think? Is the information OK? Have I missed anything? I'm going to take some more photos of staff and younger students so this can one of a series. Any comments would be gratefully received. We're hoping to launch the first Skills Swap session soon so I hope members of the ARG will come along for tea, biscuits and skills swapping type activities.

Mr N

Skills Swap

Skills Swap is an idea that we discussed last year. It's simple really. One night each week, students and staff meet to share their skills. That's it. This advert for Skills Swap was made using Xtranormal. It's great fun and very easy to use. I'm going to try to create some images this week to help advertise Skills Swap. Mr Hodges came up with the excellent idea of basing them on Gillian Wearing's photo series "Signs that Say What You Want Them To Say and Not Signs that Say What Someone Else Wants You To Say". Here's an example:

I'm going to need some volunteers to hold up a card that says:

I can .....

I would like to be able to ....

I trust I can rely on you lot! You might want to have a think about what skills you could swap and what skills you'd like to have.

Here's the second advert in the series featuring me and Ms Beauchamp. Why don't you have a play with Xtranormal. See what you can come up with...

Voice Thread

Mr Hawes has begun a VoiceThread about the new Tallis LAB course. It would be great if you could add your thoughts about the skills that students could develop on the course next year in Years 8 and 9. This will be shared with colleagues teaching the course next year at the training session on Friday. You can add a text comment or record some audio. You will need to register with VoiceThread first but it's free and easy.

Back to the Future

I've just been reading the posts we made when we first set out as an Action Research Group and used the school's website to share our thoughts. Here is a post from way back in January 2008 about conditions for creative learning in schools. It's really important we keep returning to these key ideas and observations to see how much progress we may or may not have made as a group in influencing the creativity agenda. I think we still have a job to do in helping to define creative learning, describe what it might look like and suggest ways of fostering it in (and outside) school:

Definition of Creativity
Mr Nicholls 08 Jan 2008 17:46

This is the definition provided by QCA and is based on All Our Futures:

First, they [the characteristics of creativity] always involve thinking or behaving imaginatively. Second, overall this imaginative activity is purposeful: that is, it is directed to achieving an objective. Third, these processes must generate something original. Fourth, the outcome must be of value in relation to the objective.

I would add that the skills required in order to think and learn creatively are, perhaps, what we should be concentrating on defining as part of the KS3 review process. Also, what would lessons look like if we were requiring students to think and behave creatively?

Here is some information from the excellent Learning and Teaching Scotland website:

The following approaches can help teachers to promote creativity in the classroom.

• Ensuring that planning incorporates a range of teaching and learning styles.

• Providing regular opportunities for hands-on experimentation, problem solving, discussion and collaborative work.

• Creating opportunities where pupils are encouraged to actively do the work and question what is going on.

• Making use of creative thinking techniques such as Brainstorming, Thinking Hats and PMI.

• Sharing the learning intentions with pupils and providing them with opportunities for choosing how they are going to work.

• Encouraging pupils to improvise, experiment and think outside the box.

• Actively encouraging pupils to question, make connections, envisaging what might be possible and exploring ideas.

• Asking open-ended questions such as ‘What if…?’ and ‘How might you…?’

• Joining in with activities and modelling creative thinking and behaviour.

• Encouraging pupils to develop criteria that they can use to judge their own work, in particular its originality and value.

• Facilitating open discussion of the problems pupils are facing and how they can solve them.

• Encouraging pupils to share ideas with others and to talk about their progress.

• Using failure or setbacks as opportunities to learn.

• Ensuring that assessment procedures reflect and reward creativity, enterprise and innovation.

• Making effective use of encouragement, praise and positive language.

• Creating opportunities to learn through the imagined experience, giving them a safe context to explore ideas using drama techniques.

Developing creative thinking skills are fostered when learners are given:

• authentic tasks that are relevant and which have a real purpose;

• meaningful responsibility to think for and organise themselves;

• real accountability in terms of setting standards for their work and agreeing these standards through discussion and collaboration.

Felix's School of Rock

Over the second week of half term I was working for Felix School of Rock which is a week course where kids can go and join with some other kids to form a band and they learn 3 or 4 songs to perform in a gig at the end of the week, which I think is a wicked idea. Anyway I was working there as an assistant so basically I had to help teach some stuff a bit and set up the rooms for the bands and I had to set up the stage for the gig. When I got there Felix said I would have to play for a band because they didn't have a Drummer which was wicked! Seriously I had so much fun and I got to play at the gig and do the Drumageddon which is where each drummer comes up on stage and does a 1 minute drum solo (I was the best of course!) Check out my my Drum Solo in the video at the bottom of the post. Check out my behind the scenes photos on Flickr. This doesn't have much relevance to what we were talking about but I just wanted to tell you what I got up to during the holidays. What about you?

New Media in Action

To continue a theme raised in the previous post on 'The Creative Economy' I thought it might be a good idea to look at a recent relevant example of creativity in action. Miss Piwko has worked with two year eight students and their Geography teacher to produce a wonderful film on the Kobe earthquake.

The film is obviously fantastic, but as well as enjoying it, it might be worth thinking about the process that made it. Firstly we had a teacher who encouraged students to explore a range of ways of demonstrating and extending their understanding. Secondly we had staff who were keen to share good practice and explore news ways of working and liaise to make the film happen. Lastly we had a way of working that was great fun, totally engaging and produced something that people can share and use again and again.

What would happen if more students had the expertise and access to technology that helped make this film? What impact would it have on motivation and student independence and self-esteem? How would the school benefit from students being able to share their work with peers and future students in such a fresh and effective way?

Congratulations to Dayo and Unathi, Miss Piwko and Mr Greig for a fantastic example of what can be achieved.

Mr. Hawes