“Good process leads to
good progress.” This was a quote I found on my husband’s FB feed this
past week. (Yes, I hijack his account and follow his friends and
acquaintances.) I thought it was appropriate for this week’s reading and
assignments. Consistently throughout the
weeks of class Dawn has talked about a process that is meant to improve the
effectiveness and scope of our teaching. Whether or not we stick EXACTLY
to the process, in the long run, I don’t think truly matters. I think the fact that we are all considering
another process period, albeit typically a more complicated process than we
might be used to, is good progress for all of our teaching.
The article (The Creative Spirit of
Design) acknowledges that
“there is no best way, and no one way of proceeding” when tackling the problem
of design. McDonald quotes Davies (1978) in saying that “the order, and
manner, [in which design skills are used] depends upon the character of the
problem , and the aim in mind.” But nonetheless, the use of design SKILLS are
used. I think this is the progress that we can’t discount. Being willing to try the new is
important. And not just ANY new; new
thinking and processes with new authentic considerations. And we’re CREATING new as well, according to
the article.
Under the creative
spirit of design, designer teachers are praised for their creativeness in
looking at problems in the classroom and using their imaginations to try what
might be untested to solve them; thus always avoiding that which feels like
routine. Addressing a problem means the designer teachers have to be creation-oriented
and create ways to test and solve and evaluate their solutions. And then the designer teacher has to be
willing to work with and incorporate other disciplines and specialists into the
solution, thereby connecting fields that were previously unconnected. How
powerful this could be for students at the end of it all!
A connection I made with
the article is the suggestion that good instructional designers need to be
flexible and adaptable. What? Teachers need future ready (21st C) skills
too? Why of course we do! That’s what makes us badass in the first
place. But I think this is a different
kind of flexibility than the daily flexibility we are required to use in our
jobs. This is a flexibility that I think has to be ignited in some of us,
me included. There needs to be a
flexibility in our design thinking -- thinking of the unusual, the previously
unthought of or attempted, trying it out, evaluating, and moving on.
Maybe the flexibility comes from looking outside our own discipline for learning
techniques? But maybe that flexibility
also comes from flexing some of our own design abilities previously untapped so
we become great designers.
What a great quote! I also think the idea that there is no one best way in tackling design is really helpful as I am still trying to work on my design document. I know one area that I can really work on is having more authentic activities. The design problem really gets me thinking way out of the box. I know my students especially once they start SOL testing have a really problem understanding there is not just one correct answers. I feel that is another problem with state testing is that they are only focused on finding that one answer. But in the real world and with the spirit of design there are many roads that could lead to a possible answer. I guess that is a much bigger problem that the educational system must resolve.
ReplyDeleteMessy is what Dawn calls it and this keeps coming back to me while reading the weekly blogs. Tackling a problem and creating a design is good progress towards something new and exciting for our students. I felt like my design document was a mess until I got feedback and was able to revisit it recently. Keeping an open-mind and a little creativity along the way and flexibility seems to be the way to designing activities for our students.
ReplyDeleteAs for SOL testing I moved to second grade this year to take a break from it. There is so much testing that I dislike at my school. Why can't we use a well written design document in place of some of these so called tests. Last week I gave my second graders an assessment on the oceans and continents by putting together a large puzzle. They are simply beautiful and all students created their continent and oceans puzzles in a creative way versus paper and pencil tests.
It is so hard to remember that there is not just one way to do it! I have struggled when it comes to PBLs where students should be able to get creative. Being in an SOL grade I need to make sure that my students are actually absorbing the information that they are expected to know. It is a tough balance. I would love to allow my students to be creative more often, but I know that many of them will not get the information on their own.
ReplyDeleteAs I read the article and your blog, I am reminded of the necessity to keep talking to our peers, our colleagues, as we tackle bigger design questions that, on our own, would seem insurmountable. Imagination can only take you so far, if you lack the skills that others have and help you to see things in a different way and help you get what you do not see.
ReplyDelete