In the last post, I talked about the natural partnership of creativity and tinkering.  Once again, I am inspired by Dr. Henry Olds and want to expand on the idea of play. In his article, Iconic Pattern Play, he finds, with Dr. Walter Drew, that "unstructured, child-initiated creative play can strongly contribute to children’s growth and development."

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Topics: engage, students, learn, play

Topics: pixie, students, 21st century classroom, project-based learning

While digital natives may be the current rage in the media, our classrooms are also full of students who are not prepared for work at grade level and are not interested in school. Many have disadvantaged backgrounds, some need help learning even basic skills, others are bored because they aren’t being challenged. Without a rich and powerful educational experience, these students will have a harder time succeeding in the world outside of the classroom, now and in the future.

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Topics: creativity, engage, literacy, students, learn, 21st century classroom, technology integration, multimedia, constructivism, adolescence

 Learning in the 21st Century is a hot topic in education these days. Students need to find ways to get engaged and excited even more--what better way than to get your students to join a weekly blog?

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Topics: creativity, engage, students, learn, blog