Back in the U.S.A. with two intellectual “quilt” challenges
During my stay in China, I received notification that my two proposals for the ISTE conference in June, 2011 had BOTH been accepted. I am flabbergasted, excited, and a bit daunted by the challenge of putting together two very different presentations to be given within the same morning. What an opportunity!
One is on the cyclical nature of creativity and how that can be respected and fostered in an education world of linear, point-A-to-point-B accountability. The second is on taking the control of IWBs (interactive whiteboards) out of the hands of teachers and making them student centered for learning. While I will be sure that both presentations have practical, learning-friendly strategies that teachers can envision and implement, they begin from very different directions. One springs from a deep philosophical discussion about the nature of creativity (born of my interests in the humanities and listening/reading/teaching about creative process). The other bounces defiantly out of the back alleys of argument that began with Bill Ferriter’s blog post almost a year ago, “Why I Hate Interactive Whiteboards” and the unfortunate practice of distributing technology hardware as a teacher-centered panacea for student achievement.
So I have a lot of work to do between now and the spring to piece and quilt two separate presentations. In the meantime, I will enjoy “collecting things” for both. Sometimes the pre-presentation, messy time is the highlight of my own creative process as ideas, images, and examples collect like scraps for a quilter. The virtual floor of my office (a.k.a. my MacBook) is going to be deep in material.
Hi Candace,
I really enjoyed reading your thoughts on your visit to China. My husband and I once hosted several Chinese teachers for a weekend gathering and it was a wonderful learning experience for us and hopefully for them also.
I am writing to inquire about the progress of your IWB quilt challenge. Last year my school purchased several classroom IWB’s. The boards were not permanently mounted so several of the classrooms shared the boards. I was the tech teacher, so my job was to help the teachers learn how to use the boards and to use them with the children. I have to admit I had limited success with the project, but I don’t want to dwell on that aspect. It was the successes that were amazing. One was in the Kindergarten class where the teacher used the board as a center when I was not in the classroom. I think the teacher was successful for several reasons and on several levels. I will send you more thoughts about this later.
Stephanie Ryall
Comment by Stephanie Ryall — January 19, 2011 @ 8:30 am