With the click of a button, I can send my work to the entire world. It can feel empowering. I tap a screen and suddenly my ideas can reach a larger audience.
But what if that’s not always ideal? True, audience matters. But so does solitude. There’s power in disconnecting and creating art for an audience of one.
See, when I’m publishing to the world, I’m thinking about how my work will be perceived. I want people to love what I made. So, I’m sharpening my ideas. I’m reshaping my words. At times, I grow risk averse.
I start caring too much about what other people think.
And it makes me less creative.
But when I’m alone, I can make mistakes. Big mistakes. Nobody knows. Nobody cares.
This is why I journal.
My journal is a forest filled with scribbles and sketches and wild ideas sprouting everywhere. I can go anywhere and nobody knows. I can dance and sing and yell. I can wander and wonder. I can take a creative plunge into the unknown. Everything is an experiment.
That’s the power of journaling. It’s this secluded space of creativity. And this space, as low-fi and personal and constrained as it may be is often the exact thing I need to take creative risks.
Vintage Tools in Modern Classrooms
I believe in the power of student blogging. However, I also believe in the power of student notebooks. I love seeing students craft documentaries through multimedia editing tools. However, when I taught science and I wanted students to learn the art of observation, I had them use colored pencils and plain white paper.
This is why I love cardboard and duct tape. Don’t get me wrong, a 3D printer can be a fantastic way to teach prototyping. However, if you want to embrace a maker mindset, cardboard and duct tape are powerful tools. There’s something about the simplicity and malleability of the materials that lead to creative breakthroughs for students.
I’m also a fan of journals, or interactive notebooks. I know, I know, people mock journals in light of digital tools. However, when students can create pictures, concept maps, and diagrams, they are often creating content in ways that are too cumbersome with a tablet or a laptop. It’s no surprise that sketch-noting has grown in popularity. There are things you can accomplish with your own two hands that you can’t do with a template or an app.
True, I love seeing students code. However, I also love seeing students engage in debates and mock trials, singing in the choir, playing an instrument, or doing live theater. I love seeing schools that have gardens. One of the things I love about Tim Lauer’s Instagram feed is the sheer number of pictures that take place at the Lewis Elementary School garden. It’s a reminder that in a techno-digital age, there is value in feeling the dirt between our hands and watching life grow from virtually nothing.
That’s ultimately why I want to see schools embrace the vintage as often as I embrace the latest technological developments. It doesn’t have to be either/or. I want to see kids publish to an audience. But sometimes I want that audience to be an audience of one. I want to see kids code. But I also want to see them draw and write and color. I want to see kids create multimedia content. But I also want to see them make stuff with cardboard and duct tape.
I want to see them geek out on the latest gadget, but I also want to see them set the gadget down and geek out on what they’re making with their own two hands.
Gold
Well said!!! I could not agree more! All your point speak to me so much. They speak to me a a mother. I want to nurture and develop the love for coding and use of digital tools with my daughters but I also want them to write and create and keep their imaginations strong. As an educator I am feeling your exact pull as well. I find my philosophy shifting and being questioned and my thinking about technology use being challenged. It is totally a good thing but a change in thinking. Your words explain it perfectly.
Love this post, thank you for putting into words what I have been feeling for so so long!
I'm an elementary school teacher who has just started exploring blogging. I discovered your blog and have really enjoyed reading your posts and watching your animated sketchy videos!
What you said about how vintage tools totally belong in the 21st century classroom really resonated with me. After teaching in the classroom for many years, I accepted the position as the new STEAM/Technology teacher at my site this school year, and it has been so much fun learning and teaching new technology tools and trying to support K-5 teachers and figure out new ways to integrate technology into classroom activities. But when I saw a documentary called Caine's Arcade, I was blown away by the creativity a child could show with just some plain old cardboard boxes and a roll of duct tape. I showed the video to my staff and got a 5th grade teacher on board with me to plan our own cardboard challenge. As a result, we had two 5th grade classes working in small groups to build the human body systems out of cardboard boxes, packaging tapes, and other recycled materials. Yes, I did provide them with iPads to go online and research for more details than what was in the science textbook, and I did ask them to document the process by taking pictures of the different stages of this project with their iPads. Nevertheless, their main tasks were to use paper and pencil to sketch out their ideas, collect recycled materials from home, cut and tear and tape and glue all the pieces together, and test out if the system actually worked. It was AMAZING how these kids turned the simplest materials into something complicated and interesting. I’ve taught 5th grade before, but never had I seen such enthusiasm from students when learning about the human body systems.
So when I read your blog, I really appreciate how someone who is so knowledgeable in technology also embraces the art of making something with two bare hands. Thank you for your sharing!
Hi there John!
My name is Sergio and I am a High School Spanish teacher in L.A. I am new on the blogging world, and I have been investigating blogs for a little while now. I have to tell you that your blog has totally caught my attention, not only for the user friendly format of it (thank you), but also for the content, I love the topics that you write about.
Regarding your topic about vintage tools, I really can not agree with you anymore. I truly think that just because technology is changing everything nowadays (specially education), we should now break up with the past and change the way we have always done things before. Kids nowadays must be exposed to ALL kinds of tools surrounding us, not only technological tools (and I absolutely love technology). I am a firm believer in going to school in order to interact, collaborate, help each other, and socialize. Being a language teacher, I have seen how technology has brought many useful resources my way in order to help students benefit from all those sources, but I must admit, that sometimes technology gets in the middle. We still enjoy in my class old school activities as role play, show and tell (including realia in the lesson), creating a construction paper project with images that will help students transform them into speeches in the target language, and many others… and then some more.
I will never close the doors to learning and using technology with my students and having fun while we benefit from 21st century learning, but I will not close doors either to having students create with their two hands, as you call it, and fun with it as well. In this particular case, we can not say that "less is more".
Thank you so much for your blog. Sergio Lopez.
This article caught my eye first thing. Though brief, I could not put it down until I finished. For days after, I continued to reflect upon your words of wisdom.
I agree with what you said about how some of the “old fashion tools” need to stay in today’s classroom. The example of the journal writing was especially good and hit home with me. My own children at home are teen and pre-teen. My girls, especially, were avid writers and would put their thoughts into journal writings and diaries. Those, however, were the pre-tech years. These days, my kids spend almost all of their free time on electronic devices and I think that this new habit is robbing them of the creative development that come from personal free writes.
Another example that I point out is one from my own classroom experience. I had created a student project that involved both tech and mathematics (statistics specifically) in which, the students would need to combine three or four Google applications in order to complete the project. Prior to starting the project, I required the students to checkout the Google products that were available to them, since they were new to Google apps. When I recently assigned the project, an online survey, I was hoping that the novelty of using the Google products had worn off enough for them to work on designing there project before the got started with the computer. That however was not the case. Even after great attempts on my part to get the students to do otherwise, they skipped the design phase altogether and just dug right in with their new Google products. I am not sure what went wrong in this case. It might prove to be an interesting experiment: What happens when you start writing without doing the pre-planning. What do you think?
Roger Hill