Declaration of Innovative Arts
I input the prompt – “Rewrite the declaration of independence but it is for a class called ‘innovative arts’ where students are breaking from the…
Category: Daily Blog Post
And now for something completely different
Being committed to writing a blog every single day is probably counterproductive in some ways. I’m usually tired, it can disrupt a nighttime routine, and…
Routines like Railroads
I made a tool that will help on the first day of class – it uses the analogy of a train on a railroad track…
The Creator Mindset Spectrum
The apathy that we see in students has many causes. I am able to experience part of the problem first hand every August. On inservice…
…invented a better wheel
Yesterday I wrote about reinventing the wheel. I hope I’ve invented an even better wheel in the case of feedback for projects. The image below…
Designing feedback systems
It is time to develop a system of feedback in the Innovative Arts routine. Every 6-8 days, we have a ‘Check-in’ that gets students to…
Becoming a content creator
I’ve developed the ideas (links below), sorted them, piloted them, and started systematically deploying them in my classroom. The last step is to share them.…
Communicating intentions
Ideally, everyone is walking into every class knowing that we are there to learn, grow, and get better. But I teach in a middle school…
Re-envisioned 3D Design Instruction
A few years ago, I made a series of videos that taught how to use TinkerCAD – a free, simple 3D modelling program that kids…
Have it to get it
There are things I’ve been trying to implement for years that are finally starting to work. The projects are supposed to be customizable and fun…
Staying the course
Today there was another strong indication that Innovative Arts class is coming together. The vision hasn’t changed, it is still mostly projects, curiosity, autonomy, and…
Journaling
I have a custom leather case for my journals and it is turning into my favorite object. I made it because I kept wrecking the…
Making Puzzle Shift Create useful
This site started as a blog, the first posts talked a lot about positive mindsets and learning through creating. It then started hosting resources that…
Encouraging emulation
A part of Innovative Arts is teaching how creativity and being great at something do not just spring out of you from nowhere. We all…
‘Mindset Topics’ in their final form!
I’ve tried a fair number of techniques to document and share the class “Mindset Topics” and finally have a solution that is flexible enough and…
About a million ideas (for starters)
I’m still plugging my way through ‘Serious Creativity’ and it is laying out how to break things down into ideas, concepts, and a whole list…
First Year Teacher Resource, Guidance, & Advice
I’ve been working on this for some time but don’t think I should finish it. It is turning into a book. I’ll publish it as…
The new career pathways and new old ways
It is time to admit that ‘content creator’ is a real career pathway that didn’t exist just a few years ago. I was asking chatgpt…
Serious Creativity
By Edward De Bono, 1992 Here is the table of contents and a few notes from part one. It’s fascinating! I plan on wading into…
Intro to an open-ended but structured project
Here is the opening to the project were projects are just amazing! So much creativity, so much excitement in class! Teacher Overview: Why, how, and…