Ted added the conversation about what makes an important, memorable project in Town Hall last Wednesday. He posed the questions of "What problems do you want to solve?" and "What ideas, thoughts, feelings, or stories do you want to express?" He also shared a project from the Boston Arts Academy, and asked all to consider what makes an interpretation creative or innovative. Look for more on creativity from Ted in your inboxes this semester.
The example projects we proposed and revised as groups last week are important reminders of how an openness to seeing beyond what we already know and holding ourselves to high project expectations can lead to better ideas. One example that resonated was a project that began with the topics of "coffee" and "my little pony." The question posed was "How does our taste change with age?" and the project idea was something along the lines of looking at how taste buds develop as we age, photographing tongues as part of the art form. Then we nudged this idea. Through discussion and continual asking of "so what" problem does this really address, we came to the conclusion that the real problem was about the concept of satisfaction. "How can we use our understanding of taste and nutrition to ensure that every eating experience has optimal taste?" While we might be able to change the biology of our tongues as a project we can change the way that we look at, prepare, and talk about food. If Allison Wood can make sound real, what would it look like to make taste real and responsive to our development? Remix!
This week! This week, we will focus on developing our own project ideas through remembering, reflection, and refinement. Proposals are due on Thursday. Staff is encouraged to prioritize time for students to ideate during project block. 1:1 conferences are the reason we have such small groups. Some questions to guide 1:1 conferences:
- What are you working toward as a person, a professional, an artist?
- What inspired you to do, say, write this?
- How did you get to this idea?
- How would this idea be different if we remixed it to one of the concepts in the hallway?
- Why is this project more meaningful, impactful than existing work on this topic by you or other people in the world?
- Who could you talk to stretch or strengthen your thinking about this idea?
- So what?
We will continue to make thinking visible throughout the ideation process, so that we can see how our thinking changes, what influences us, what challenges us, and how we use our community and resources to learn and create. Keep group thinking alive in the room. Keep individual notes in the manilla folders we started last week.
OBJECTIVES THIS WEEK
- Accept the challenge of stretching projects toward greater extents of innovation an more profound creativity.
- Reflect on Habits of Learning: As part of our lifelong pursuit of learning, in the face of unprecedented technological, global, and professional changes that will require continual learning, we strive to...
- APPROACH TASKS WITH AN OPEN MIND
- ACCEPT CHALLENGES
- SEEK TO UNDERSTAND WHEN WE DO NOT UNDERSTAND
- USE EVIDENCE TO DOCUMENT LEARNING
- Apply and name Habits of Mind through the creative process
- Analyze and select professional models and inspirations related to a particular concept in academic content or creative form.
- Develop generative and focused questions.
- Engage in open dialogue with peers and professionals about project ideas.
- Make Thinking Visible in order to understand details of passions, skills, interests, etc that might seed incredible projects.
MONDAY>>
We will remain in the same groups as last week. We will begin by establishing our digital organization system for the semester and reflecting on our Habits of Learning. Today's primary focus will be on generating project ideas. There will be time to visit with collaborators and staff. A gallery of project suggestions will live in the hallway.TUESDAY>>
Continued ideation toward project proposals. Students will collect inspirations from their own experiences and from staff suggestions. Initial project ideas will be tested against the criteria established for creative and innovative projects.WEDNESDAY>>
Focus on questions. Students will sift through ideation notes, narrow their project focus and begin developing open and closed questions to guide their projects. All of this is done with an emphasis on proposing a project that addresses a meaningful problem and/or expresses an essential idea, feeling, or thought.THURSDAY>>
Write project proposals. They are due today! All students will share documents with Kimberly. Staff will gather after school to determine project advisors and provide feedback.FRIDAY>>
Students will review feedback on their proposals and make revisions, clarify details. We will be in disciplinary groups next Monday.
