Fairytales - Norway
My group got Creativity. At first, I thought this would be an easy task, but after reflecting on it I found it to be very difficult. It’s one thing for me to be creative in my teaching, but it’s very difficult to get the students to be creative on their own without me leading them too much. I chose the subject Norwegian with my 8th graders.
We had been learning about fairy tales and I divided the students into groups of four and five. They had to choose one fairy tale and modernise it. Then they had to present it in any chosen way. Here they had the chance to be creative. Both in how they modernised the fairy tale and how they presented it.
Reflection:
How do you think your teaching resource, developed as part of the intermission work, lead to development of your C?
I had to think long and hard about what task to give my students that wasn’t to controlled by me. At first, I had many ideas, but they only showed my creativity - not my students’. I found it much harder to find a task that opened for them to be creative.
What parts of the teaching resource lead to development of your chosen C’s and why?
The students got to be creative when they rewrote the fairy tale into a new one that was more modern and fits into today's society. They also got to be creative when they together had to find out how they wanted to present their work. At the same time, they also used a lot of collaboration and communication.
Did you experience the student achieved the teaching goals as you worked with the C?
I think they were creative when they rewrote the fairy tales. In a way they were also creative when they presented it, but between all the groups they only chose two options. They either put on an act/show in front of the class, or they used their phones and filmed the act and we watched it on a big screen.
Were your students capable of taking what was learned in one situation and applying it to new situations (Deep learning)?
I’m not sure if we got to explore this so much. They managed to use what they had learnedabout fairy tales and make new ones. They also managed to make the fairy tale into a play that they performed. Some of the groups that filmed their act also used a program to edittheir film. Still I’m not so sure about deep learning.
Have you experienced some teaching methods/ways of working at school which contribute in a positive way to develop one or more of the 6C’s?
Working in small groups develop many of the 6 C’s. There is collaboration, communication and character. Depending on the task they also develop creativity and hopefully critical thinking. I am very fond of teaching the students how to reflect on things and to be critical thinkers. In subjects like religion and social science I like to ask questions where they must put them self in a given situation and reflect on how they think it would be. This also sometimes develops citizenship, to put themselves in a situation in another part of the world.
Is there something you think we have to be aware of? Something that might decrease the development or lead to negative aspects of the skills?
I think it’s important to try and let it come as naturally as possible. If we force it on them,they might not be so positive.