Today I joined Massively Minecraft, “a learning community exploring how to live, work and play in Minecraft“.  I’ve posted before how this world is where my younger daughter, Megan has developed her ‘voice’ (see Of Hopes and Dreams).

I watched her play – and learn so much – in the last 3 months; a source of vicarious learning for me.  Megan has developed in so many ways but this post is not about her.  This post is about me in Ms10′s world.  Here she is, watching over me with one of her epic builds as a background.

Megan in yellow, hovering over me.

In this world, Megan is literally watching over me.

Technical how-to’s I’ve learned today (my first outing):

• go to bed (must be night-time)
• fly and how to get down
• pop blocks (destruct) and build (construct)
• see myself (great for taking pictures with my daughter)
• move around – forward, back, left, right, jump
• change settings
• accept teleport invitations
• go to Jokaydia base and get stuff like food and tools

Personal things I’ve learned today:

• I’m really bad at moving around, even just around the house my daughter built for me
• I struggle to move around and read the in-world chat
• It’s fun to explore with Megan within her world
• Megan is really helpful and supportive
• I’m okay being a total novice AND being helped by my 10 year old

It’s amazing how a year can turn out really.  I like to plan and organise; I’ve learned to be good at these, in fact. Yet, looking back at 2011, I can say that much of the amazing things have not been planned at all.  No real agenda but an attitude of “Let’s see what happens if I….”

Here’s what happened:

My 2011

I abstracted a list of my 2011 highlights and popped the words into Wordle.  I think it’s wonderful that the main themes (patterns) are an alliteration: connect, create, community.  Rather belatedly and with a touch of personal surprise, this makes evident that in 2011, I have followed my bliss.  Fancy that!

I’ve long given up new year’s resolutions.  Change can happen any time especially if I’m open to it.  How can I not want more of the same?

So my 2012 wish is to have more of the same!

Happy New Year everyone.  

If you were a part of my 2011 (and if you’re reading this, you most likely were),

may we continue to connect in 2012.

Yesterday I read 2 dads blog about their daughters.  @MrWejr said his world changed a year ago. @damonayoung used Nietzsche’s view of happiness to frame his view of his 3-yr old (yes, Damon is a philosopher so that’s not so surprising.  What surprised me personally is that I never would have used Nietzsche on the same line as happiness…which is why I’m not a philosopher).  The love both dads have for their daughters are apparent, though expressed differently.

Beyond this articulated love, what also struck me was that both said they’ve learned from their kids. Isn’t that awesome?  Parenting is a 2-way learning street.  I am happy for both dads as well as their daughters – they are loved!

I have 2 daughters and, for the first time and with much mulling over, I will introduce them with names – not bub1 and bub2 or Ms14 and Ms10 but as Vanessa and Megan.  That’s who they are and I love them.  I’m blessed to have them both and I’m very proud of them.

But this post isn’t just about expressing that love.

This is about hopes and dreams, shaped by what I have learned from them, so far.

Vanessa

Like Damon’s daughter, Vanessa was born with an “intense, interrogative gaze”; pensive even.  She was very good with words  and articulating her thoughts in a relatively clear way.  We thought she would ace English as a subject….she finally got her first A in English in year 9.  For years, she didn’t think she’s  particularly good with words really.  So what happened?

I don’t know how it is that she has literally found her voice on stage instead – singing and dancing.  Perhaps it was her kindy teacher who picked her as the kindy soloist in the school Christmas concert.  Perhaps it was her stint in the musical Annie playing Pepper (now the story behind that is a tale in itself).  Perhaps it’s her growth to stardom in the Scouts Gang Show.  Perhaps its her Year 8 Music teacher who told her she’s good and encouraged her to become part of the choir, take up singing lessons and study Music as an elective. Perhaps it’s all that and more.

Vanessa is not the best singer or dancer but she has stage presence.  I am biased, yes; that’s a parent’s prerogative.  However, many have told us – strangers in the audience really – who have validated such bias.

We thought she would love to pursue a career on stage but really, Vanessa wants to be a primary school teacher.  She dreams of building a school in *insert a 3rd world country* and for her school to spread widely so all kids can be educated.  Oh, she indicated she intends to sing to her students.

Megan

Megan was a happy baby.  She hardly cried and settled easily.  She loved playing with and in boxes. She loved to draw.  If words escaped her – often – she would tell her story while drawing.   She was also shy.

Coming 4 1/2 years behind her big sister, she was exposed to the same things. Dance. Netball. School band. Her teachers have been known to call her Vanessa. (Truth is, though they looked alike as babies, they don’t really past the age of 3). Anyway…

We tell her she’s good at art and we’ve got tons of her artwork.  Her teachers tell her she’s good at drawing; someone even told her, I’m lucky to have known you before you’re famous and that’s when Megan was in year 1!  Her year 4 teacher now believed in her and challenged her to work and think harder than she’s ever had; Megan loves to cruise.

She’s given up dance in lieu of Tae-Kwon-Do. She’s also given up band which I’m a lot less happy about.  What she did pick up is #massivelyminecraft.  She’s a gamer! Who knew? Here she can build in digital boxes and tell her story as a 3D drawing, so-to-speak.  She is learning to ask for help because it’s a good way to learn (“if you don’t learn, you die”).  She is always keen to help.  She is showing some ambition (she wants to be a mod).  She is better at Skype than me.  She can tell us stories after stories about her adventures without having to draw it for us.  She has friends and mentors there.  It is her world and in there she is well and truly herself.   Megan is less shy now.  For this, I thank @vormamim and @jokay; they’re vision, dedication and skill are inspirational.

Meagn is only 10 and a little young to consider career choices.  At the moment, she is saying she wants to be an architect (yep, building!).

A note to parents

Many parents will say that all they want for their kids is to be happy.  I used to say that, too.  I’ve changed that now to …. all I want for my kids is to find their voice and be confident enough to express it.   “Happy” is vague. “Find and use your voice” is concrete; it’s practical and achievable.  It leads to happiness, in my opinion.   My kids are on the their way.  I am happy about that.

We expose our kids to many experiences in the hope that one of those will spark an interest, a burgeoning passion, a platform for self-expression.   Let’s not get caught up in the busy-ness of all that ferrying from one activity to the next. Let’s pay attention to what is really happening and give things a chance to grow and blossom.

Help kids find and use their voices. Listen.

A note to teachers

Never underestimate your (our) influence on children.  Really see them – where they’re at and where they want to be.   Know that most parents have hopes and dreams for their kids (quite likely to be happy, but you know  better now right?).  Know that some kids don’t have such parents.

Kids may look alike (there is a reason I used the photos I did), but they are not.  Kids are individuals.   It’s not about ‘being special’. It’s about holding one’s own – an individual in a sea of commonality.

Give kids a voice. Listen. 

To my kids’ inspirational teachers….THANK YOU!

I’m passionate about creativity so it doesn’t take much prodding to write about it.

@whatedsaid asked “How could these two videos help us improve student-learning? http://wp.me/p1ZuBL-ai / by@sherrattsam always guaranteed to make me think!”  Both of them encouraged me to write a post so here I am.  I will include the videos here but please do visit the linked post because it offers more things to learn.

My plan here is to express my thoughts on each video briefly and then go into answering Edna’s question.

Time and Focus

In this video, the kids were asked to complete the picture, twice. Once with just 10 seconds, the other with 10 minutes. The time was variable but the focus was constant, i.e. complete the picture.  What if time was constant and focus was variable? For example, keep the 10 seconds rule but say ask first to “complete the picture” and the other time to “draw a picture”.  Both approaches encourage creativity.  Play factors in too and that seemed more encourage for the second opportunity of longer time.  I reckon saying ‘draw a picture’ would give that sense too.  

My 10minutes sketchbook project is very much an experiment in creativity.  I change the variables and see what I come up with. Sometimes I constrain the time, as with the work on the cover.  Often, i change the focus. And often, too, with an element to play.

Inspiration

In this video, Louie Schwartzberg talks about gratitude.  The beauty of nature is all around us.  So is the beauty of man-made things and ultimately of people and our interactions with them.  He encourages us to have a closer look and  be grateful.

Inspiration is everywhere and sometimes we do have to look closer.  Just as important is this standing back and looking at what we have created, perhaps with fresh eyes and thus a deeper appreciation of what he have achieved as individuals and collectively.  Drawing such inspiration is critical to the creative process, an impetus to get the creative juices flowing.

In the classroom

So how can we use the two videos to improve student learning?

1. Change the creativity variables. Change the constants. Ask the question differently.  It is okay to constrain time, really.  Creating artificial deadlines or time-chunking – is a good strategy for task and time management (read more here)
2. Make time for play.  This is important, too, when introducing new technology.  Give kids time to ‘shake the sillies out’.
3. Provide plenty of inspiration.  Point them out if you have to.
4. Showcase work.  It is good to look at what has been created and share in the joy of having achieved something on one’s own or with others.  With technology, it’s even easier to widen the audience beyond the classroom or school.
5. Encourage this action-reflection cycle and teach kids about this explicitly.  Creativity involves a combination of being-inspired and actually doing.  Action without reflection and inspiration will eventually burn out.  Reflection and inspiration without action will not lead to anything concrete or improvements.  We need both.

I’m sure more can be drawn from these two videos so please feel free to add your thoughts.

I think that these are good things to consider in Project-Based Learning as well so will add this to my PBL page.

UPDATE (5 Jan 2012)

I think this doodle by Giulia Forsythe captures the sentiment well, with a quote from Jason Zweig: “Creativity is a fragile flower, but perhaps it can be fertilized with systematic doses of serendipity.”

  by  giulia.forsythe 

Some of you may know that I’m participating in the The Sketchbook Project 2012 World Tour and that I’ve even got a companion blog for it, 10minutes.   I expected this project to be a creative outlet for me and that is certainly proving to be true.  What I find surprising is the number of people who seem to be inspired by it.

10minutes, the blog, is me playing in public.  I am not a professional artist and participating in The Sketchbook Project 2012 World Tour is my ticket into ever having my work in an Art Gallery (Brooklyn).

It is serendipitous that @gcouros asked me to create a video for the opening of his K-12 Online Conference. You can read the rest of the story in the 10minutes post: Playing in Public - perhaps the most popular post in that blog.  What I want to do here is to share the sketch, the video and what I’ve learned from this experience; after all this is my learning blog.

What have I learned?

1. Many adults still like to play. in public even.
2. Sharing begets sharing. This video has inspired more videos from dear Twitter friends. Here’s one from my sketchbook buddy @janellewilson, one from @stefras – (you have to read his post) and one from @7MrsJames. Granted the latter 2 were pushed along by @gcouros’ appeal for more sketches as inspired by mine; this included this video from @edusum. Apropos sharing, my Be Amazing post further validates this point.
3. I can be a bit more confident about my creative talents, rusty though they may be.
4. Playing in public invites others to play along, with, or on their own.
5. Playing encourages conversations that may never would have happened otherwise.  Maybe it’s because we ‘let our guard down’ when at-play and that helps build friendship.   Such a conversation has led me to my next piece of artwork on organ donation.
6. Sense-making is a personal thing.  People have told me various things they’ve taken away from this singular playing in public effort.  What they make of it is influenced by their own personalities, culture, interest and individuality.
7. Playing means lots of different things.  Defining it is difficult because it’s not black-and-white. It’s a spectrum, a colourful one at that. Fun. Challenging. Purposeful. Creative. Destructive (as in, it can be fun to squash sandcastles at the end of the day). Process. Mindset. Context of and for learning.