Creativity in the Classroom

Since I wrote this book, Connecting Students to STEM Careers, I've had to do some soul searching. With students and teachers tethered to Common Core standardes, tests and policies, I wonder: Have we lost the ability for teachers and students to be creative? Are you encouraging your children/students/yourself to use the fabulous digital tools to have fun and to be creative?

Here are some basic resources:

• Build you own website with Joomla: www.joomla.org
• Host an educational blog with Edublogs:  http://edublogs.org
• Or use the popular WordPress to start a classroom blog: http://wordpress.org
• Create podcasts with your students and post them on your blog through the Education Podcast Network: http://epnweb.org
• Of course, you will need some tunes: www.itunes.com
• For the literary bent, visit Goodreads where users share book lists and faves lists: www.goodreads.com
• Bookmark your favorite digital site using Delicious: www.delicious.com, this is a social bookmarking site where you can organize and share web pages; discover what others are using around topics of interest....all of these tools allow students and teachers to collaborate between classrooms and across the world.
• For all the latest in what's happening in the world of digital media, be sure to follow Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators: http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/sci-tech/scicom.html

Forget about those tests for a while, keep an open mind and an open heart for the individual student--allow them to explore the possibilities and apply these to their own dreams and desires and interests. The results might be new relationships between teachers and students who are learning and adapting across generations and across cultures.

Find more of these resources in the book: Connecting Students to STEM Careers

Order information can be obtained by clicking on the cover of the book in the upper right hand corner of the page.