Toward the end of the year, I remember feeling absolutely exhausted as a teacher. Once the testing is over and the pressure is gone, there’s this sense of relief. However, this was nothing compared to what my eighth graders experienced. You could see it in their slouched shoulders and the glazed-over look in their eyes.
They were done.
And yet . . .
They were done with school but they weren’t done with learning. They were done with consuming and not creating. They were done with having compliance. They were done with routines. They were done with repetitive work. But they weren’t done with choice. They weren’t done with creativity. They weren’t done with deep conversations.
It took me a few years to realize that once the test was over, I had two choices:
We could check out and consume or we could engage in creative projects. So, we started creating games on Scratch instead of playing games online. We started engaging in hands-on design projects. We engaged in Genius Hour instead of free time. We filmed a documentary instead of watching movies.
In other words, we chose creativity.
I’m not against consuming. After all, I want students to consume well. And there is nothing wrong with having fun and playing together as a class. Note that there’s nothing wrong with the stuff on the left side of the list, but what if we took the end of the year as a chance to pursue the options on the right side of the list?
But this is the chance to be creative. This is the chance to take creative risks. If the policies and the standardized tests limit the types of creative work you can do in your classroom, this is your educational Get Out of Jail free card. If an administrator questions that amazing Genius Hour project, just point out that there is another teacher in the building showing Frozen for the thirteenth time.
Here’s what I discovered in my third year of teaching when I shifted toward creative end-of-the-year projects: it changed my practice. I began to see that these projects didn’t require a ton of extra resources. I realized that students could thrive on autonomy. I began to see how I could tie the projects to the standards. Eventually, the way I taught at the end of the year became the way I taught year-round.
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It is refreshing to read your thoughts and to know that I am not alone in my philosophy of helping students reach their full potential by discovering their passion in life. I love your suggestions for incorporating technology as a path for creativity. You and other teachers like you are making a difference in the world, one child at a time!
I am a certified teacher with a passion for promoting creativity and art education. My specialty is pottery, but I also teach drawing, painting, and other mixed media classes. My goal is to inspire children to live purposeful and meaningful lives, and to express themselves through art. Creativity builds self-esteem and contributes to a child's well-being, helping them to grow to become productive and happy members of the community.
I encourage all teachers to incorporate art into their lesson plans and help their students to experience the peace and joy it brings. It's a great stress-reliever, and it promotes creativity and innovation that could potentially benefit our society.
Many people believe a "natural ability" is needed to be an artist, but we were all actually born with this intrinsic love of creating things. This desire has diminished over the years because of criticism from peers and well-meaning adults with their specific "instructions" and their unwavering "outcome-based goals". I agree there needs to be general instruction and the teaching of specific techniques, but individualism should also be incorporated into these learned skills. Pablo Picasso said it best, "All children are artists, the problem is how to remain an artist when they grow up."
As teachers, we should set aside class time to encourage students to "let go" of formalities and structure and to explore their passion within. I have found that children are accustomed to being told exactly what to do instead of learning to think for themselves, and this keeps them from making decisions and trying new things on their own. We need to encourage innovation without limits instead of discouraging creative thinking with too many rules and procedures. I am thankful to find like-minded educators who realize the importance of helping children to discover their passion and purpose in life!
Thank you for sharing these idea. They opened up my mind to new possibilities. I teach 4th grade and would love to give my kids more of that autonomy you describe. When I was reading your post I thought about the students making movies in Social Studies would be a fun idea. Maybe even a play. Sometimes I think these things are easier with the older grades, but even if I gave them some sentence starters, or something with ideas to get them started.
I am also very interested in finding out more on Genius Hour and Scratch. Sometimes my class has about a 10 minute transition period between two classes, and there is not much you can do in such a short time, so it ends up being some sort of free time. I would love to incorporate something like Genius Hour though.
Lastly, to speak on the idea of teaching more in the realm of projects, I too leave a lot of mine to the end of the year because of how testing is set up in our country and state, we end up with about a month left of school when supposedly curriculum is taught and done. Therefore we have now all this time to teach in a fun, creative way. I want to start doing that more throughout the year instead of leaving it till the end.
Thank you!
Thanks for these ideas and ways of thinking about the end of the year. I agree that my students seem to be "burned out" after testing and it is so hard to get them motivated to be engaged for the last couple of weeks. I appreciate that you admit that consuming is important for students, but also that creativity should have a place in the classroom as well. I teach 7th grade math. This year I have decided to leave a statistics project where they get to interview their peers for the 2nd to last week of school, hoping that since it is very open ended they will be more excited about it. In my class my students play a lot of review games online and love them so I would be very interested in learning about Scratch. It sounds like it might fit perfectly into some of the things we are already doing in my class but also take those next creative steps you are talking about. I will be sure to try to learn myself how to do it and then pass it on to my students. I always find it interesting and exciting to see what my students can create. Thanks for the great ideas!
John,
As my school year is coming to an end, I was thinking about just what you wrote about. I am currently taking an educational technology class in my master’s program, and have been exposed to all these new programs out there that I’ve no idea existed. I just learned about “Genius Hour”, and I’ve decided to try it out with my 2nd graders. From my master’s class, I learned to use this creativity tool called Educreations. It’s a perfect tool for 2nd graders to handle – very user friendly for the little guys. So I’m going to try “Genius Hour” with Educreations where my students will work with a partner to make a “How To” lesson. It could be how to tie your shoes, how to make scones, how to add 3-digit numbers with regrouping, etc.
You’re completely right about bringing creative learning into our classrooms not only at the end of the school year, but throughout the year. Daniel H. Pink made a great case in his book Drive that what motivates us are autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Allowing our students to work on projects creatively is the way to go to motivate our students to learn, excel, and grow.
My school is entering the testing period this week. It will take up two weeks of my ELA class, as we are keeping our normal daily schedule and having the students test during their ELA period. Two weeks after that, they will do the same with math. After testing we will have a month left of school. Having 8th graders, I will have approximately two weeks of their mental faculties. These suggestions are great for the erratic time that scheduling and end of year activities bring. I had overhead a colleague talking about genius hour the other day, but didn't know exactly what it was. I have an overflow of students concerned with the end of the year standing. None of them realize that most all the work is done, and I hate coming up with significant units at this time do to the interruptions, just to raise students’ grades. These activities are great because they are engaging, keep the students working, and allow me to have something to assess students.
I teach High School and my worst enemy in the classroom is the Cell Phone! My students don't always have a pencil but they all have cell phones. They hurry through an assignment or test just to get back on their phone; mostly because they don't know what else to do. What I found is that the typical high school student still loves to get his/her hands on a crayon or marker and being creative for all to see. Your suggestions are just what I needed to freshen up my enthusiasm and my students to show off their creativity and get off of their phones. Thank you!