Creativity Tools

Since I teach English, I explored three tools that I could consider useful in my class. The first is Canva. I really like Canva's easy-to-use format. This design tool's templates are great and there are more options for creativity than you can count. There's not really anything I don't like about Canva. The second is Goodreads. This online book-centered website could be used in a variety of ways in my classroom, including reading lists and like-book searches. The biggest negative is that it is a little "clunky" and sometimes hard to navigate. The third tool I explored was Pixton. This comic-creation tool could be used to add a creative element to student work and would really come in handy when we create our own comic strips. The biggest negative is that it is not free.

Ultimately, I decided to go with Canva because it is such a rich resource. It may be as simple as a poster or as complex as a multi-slide presentation - Canva can help you and your students do it all. While being easy-to-use enough for anyone to jump right into using it with the amazing templates provided, it also offers creatives a blank page and access to an extensive library of graphics, photos, art, elements, and fonts to compile on their own. This range of usability is so important for the classroom because everyone can come to the page at their own level and build from there. Canva also provides how-to lessons, has a space for the sharing of teachers' lesson plans, and offers "design school workshops" to help you and your students learn and share. Everything you do in Canva can be downloaded, shared, or printed, as well as used across email, websites, and social media.

In my class this year, we will be creating getting-to-know-you presentations. Learners will use Canva and student choice to make decisions about, design, and build their own projects. Through this, most of them will be able to demonstrate their knowledge and use of both written and oral language. (C) Self-reflection is a key to this presentation, as one thing they will be including in their personal story is something they have learned that is really important to them and relaying why it is important for them today and in their future. (P)  Whereas the students may have, in years past, written a paper about themselves or drawn a picture to show an important event, instead they would be creating a presentation and showing it to the class. (T)

Near the end of the year, students will participate in a book club and each week of the session will have a project. Students will be able to use Canva to do all four projects and combine them all into one final presentation for a test grade. One project will be the student creating a movie poster for a spin-off featuring a minor character in the book. This would demonstrate comprehension and demonstrate understanding of the text. (C) They would get some direct instruction, but also have the opportunity for creative, reflective work that would demonstrate they are constructing their own knowledge. (P) The use of technology would be reflective of the story they are creating, so while the output might be simple, the ability to convey the idea for the spin-off story in graphic form would demonstrate their knowledge and skill rather than simply writing the story. (T)

It's important that we know how to use creativity tools because, for starters, technology motivates students. In this technological society we live in, there are many kids who have turned to creative outlets who otherwise would not. The ease of use and the ready availability make creative tools a good outlet for kids. Where many past tools may have become a bit redundant and rote (there are only so many times one can play "around the world" before the kids are falling asleep,) creative tools allow for a "blank page" every time on which the student can create. I think, as with most technology, we can find value in learning new technology and allowing our students to explore options that we may not even necessarily "like" because the more options our kids have, the more likely they are to find one that they prefer. And when they find something that they like - even if it's a learning tool - they are much more likely to engage, to tell their friends about it, and maybe even get excited about learning or doing something new.