My name is Carey Conner and I am the art teacher at Graham Elementary. I have been a fan of the CIC blog posts but had no idea how to make one until today.
Recently, as part of the technology leadership pathway, students have been using an online journal to communicate their next steps. To give you a better idea, fifth-grade students were working on a ceramic project. They went through the learning process during class, learning about clay and having time to explore. As the project went on and students became more adept with the medium, they would check-in with me on BLEND (Canvas) and tell me their next steps at the end of class.
Initially there was an online journal prompt and students largely asked logistical questions about the why’s of ceramics. As the experience became more advanced students began to create feedback about what they needed to learn, or complete, in order to achieve the goal of actually creating something they could keep. The final clay creature project became rather elusive as students realized they were not able to move quickly enough, during the time allotted, or with the expertise needed to complete the creature.
If you can imagine an open-ended individual dialogue with an entire fifth-grade level well that was what I had. I learned about students’ personal lives, reflections on their choices and what they needed help with. Students gave me ideas and I was able to send images for them to consider. Students began to take ownership of the next steps, as they became masterful at all the steps before, and they knew what they were missing.
You can listen to what students took from the experience through their voices in this audio.
Connect. Design. Learn 