Plan Your Lessons Differently
Teacher-tested tips, strategies for Graphic Organizers
Now that you know your students a little bit better and they know what to expect from you, it's time to put on your creative hat. I'll try to give a few teacher tested ideas for what I consider 'creative' in the light of Vygotskian inspired learning.
For starters, creativity in the light of student and teacher growth may involve introducing more visually appealing activities. I find Graphic organizers are conceptually creative in terms of their visual layout yet they also appeal to a variety of multiple intelligences and cater to a variety of learning styles. They stimulate a more different way of thinking which is more inductive in nature. Kids appreciate the visually appealing graphic organizers. They are functional for every topic, teaching idea or skills and generic enough for all subjects. Bookmark this site. It is full of samples of graphic organizers and among other stuff.
The rationale behind creativity is enhanced by the theoretical premise that once the maturation processes within our students are completed, the student will be able to deal with more complicated skills. This is Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development. You as their teacher can see where they are in terms of their learning. Perhaps in the meantime, they need more lead in activities, more opportunities on helping them solve mathematical equations with more inductive strategies.
Experiment is the key. You will never know when your students are 100% ready to try something new so you will need to keep your feelers up and use your intuitive teacher sense. Join the discussion about creativity and send a note of your work and progress.
