I’ve been thinking about this analogy and I think that it fits – Innovative Arts (as it stands right now) is like a plate full of candy next to steamed broccoli. We have some great ways to learn about creativity, grow over time, reflect, and document awesome work… but kids want the work time, only the work time on projects.

Just like a real dinner of sweets and veggies, resisting the healthy parts and gorging on the sweets will actually make the healthy part of the class taste even worse. I find myself getting frustrated and wasting my positive relationship capital on getting the basics for our class completed.

Two final thoughts: I am getting better at making the broccoli taste better and pre-teaching the necessary steps to class.

Lastly, I want to delineate ‘brain time’ from ‘build time’ because those two modes will help us to set a routine, expect to use our brains, and hopefully enjoy the learning aspects of class more.

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Idea: I want to become a better writer and know that I have a long way to go. So here is an idea – I’ll input everything I typed above into chatgpt with the instruction: “Rewrite this but better”.

My hope is to see enough examples of good writing that I will be able to make some for myself. Does the AI version actually improve the post?

This post, rewritten by AI:

As we continue to develop our new class, Innovative Arts, we’ve been reflecting on our progress so far. One analogy that comes to mind is that the class is like a meal with both candy and broccoli. While we have some great ways to learn about creativity, such as reflecting on our work and documenting our progress, we’ve noticed that students often prefer to spend most of their time working on projects.

But just like with a real meal, if we only focus on the fun parts and neglect the more challenging aspects of the class, we’ll miss out on important opportunities to grow and develop our skills. As teachers, we sometimes find ourselves frustrated when students resist learning the basics or completing necessary steps for their projects.

To address this challenge, we’re working on making the “broccoli” taste better – that is, finding ways to make the more difficult aspects of the class more engaging and rewarding for students. We’re also focusing on pre-teaching the necessary steps so that students have a better sense of what’s expected of them and can approach their projects with more confidence.

In addition, we’re experimenting with different modes of learning, such as “brain time” (when we focus on brainstorming and planning) and “build time” (when we actually work on our projects). By separating these modes, we hope to create a more structured and enjoyable routine for students that will help them make the most of their learning experience.

Overall, we’re excited about the potential of Innovative Arts to give students more autonomy and teach creativity in middle school. By focusing on both the fun and challenging aspects of the class, we hope to create a balanced and effective learning environment that will help students thrive.

Yeah, I have a ways to go in my writing clarity.