1a-done

a. promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness.
 * 1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity** Teachers:




 * Description**

This student project (included with parental permission) is one I assign to eighth grade students. The project asks students to do some research on a famous person and create a comic strip about that them using some of the biographical information. However, I ask that it not be just a biography. They are allowed to be creative about what the person's capabilities are and use creative license with the details they include. How I explain what I mean is my using the example that if I were doing mine on Tom Brady (the New England Patriots Quarterback), then perhaps I'm making him a superhero with a button he presses on his arm that allows him to throw the ball accurately to a wide receiver.

The page set-up, colors, print, etc. are all decided by the students. This is intended to have them do a little research using digital tools and be creative. I show students examples of other comic strips that exceed my standards, meet the standards, and need some attention and include the reasons why each project qualifies as one of those.


 * Analysis**

I included this artifact, because I believe it is a great representation of the ISTE standard above. By asking students to do this with minimal guidelines, I allow them to investigate someone of interest and be creative in the processing of the information they glean. I want students to not only be able to report the information they find, but truly synthesize it, bend it, and explain it in a method they choose. I support creative writing, as well, since the story is only limited by their own thoughts.

When a student passes in a project to me, if they have not met the requirements for exceeding standards, they are allowed to make alterations to improve it. For those who do not meet the standards, the rough draft I get is a typical biography. When their "a-ha moment" happens and they realize they get to use their creative license, it's amazing what they come up with. That creativity is innovative thinking...they include details they've learned from other classes (frequently science) in thinking about what would be possible or not and how they can make it happen. Students include pieces that require them to invent, such as buttons or special potions.


 * Appraise**

First and foremost, almost all students LOVE using ComicLife. And when they get the opportunity to use it based on a person of their choice and be creative about the details they include, they really shine. With all the different groups of students we have in schools today (the preps, the jocks, the emos, the goth, etc.) I find that in general, most like to laugh. The comic strips they create represent that. In the two years I've assigned this project (as of the summer of 2009), I've not received one that is dark and gloomy, even from a student who seems to have that type of mood. When these projects are shared, it puts all students on an even emotional playing field, taking away some of the stereotypes about what clique they belong to.

It's also interesting to me to see the people on whom they choose their projects on, frequently based on who they've been discussing in other classes. When students are covering the Civil War in social studies class, I typically see projects on President Lincoln, General Lee, or General Grant. In science class, students do a project on a scientist of their choice and often I see those become the subject for their comic strips. My students who constantly have ear plugs in before and after school listening to their iPods or other mp3 players typically choose their favorite musician. And sports enthusiasts often choose an athlete from their favorite sport (like the example above).


 * Transform**

After having taught other subjects with stricter guidelines of what must be included in the curriculum, computers allows me to see a different side of students and get to know them at a different level. Their creative juices run rampant and, so often, they don't get to share those thoughts. This project is an example of allowing students to share them.

For a few years, I got caught up in the feeling of being overwhelmed by the content information my students were expected to learn throughout the year until one day the following details hit me: 1. The students we teach are still kids. 2. We don't provide enough chances for them to "play". 3. We need to help them build their ability to make decisions.

I find many of the topics we discuss in schools at the middle level are much more sophisticated than what I covered that age. Regardless of that, we need to remember that these students are mostly 12 or 13 years old...still developing, some not having hit puberty yet. So, they need chances to play, not necessarily following the rules of a game, but letting their creativity take over. More importantly, our students have fewer and fewer chances to make decisions. They go from one activity to another, with their lives planned by adults. In having students complete this project, I give them the opportunity to address the last two points.