Early Adventures
For our first adventure for puzzling Amanda and I have chosen to go and get our puzzle. I have noticed first off then with group projects I always feel the need to take control. As a teacher I am interested in my need to be this way. I know that it will help me to keep control over my class but will it allow me to set them free? (As a side note when I gave my media project to my group I constantly felt like giving new ideas and not just as helpful hints but I felt as though I needed to push them along so that they would be able to finish.)
I also felt like I wanted to find a picture for our puzzle that represented to me something that we are trying to attain in this class. Amanda was thankfully patient with me over this and we found an amazing puzzle that looked like a Salvador Dali painting where butterflies are the sails of a ship.
I enjoy this idea because one part of education that I feel very unsure of is the use of Famous or Historical Art. This way we are starting off with using a puzzle that is inspired by a famous artist. I also love the idea of butterflies for sails because this is the magic of possibility and an idea that goes beyond a traditional boat rendering. This is how I see working with children, each idea has the possibility to become endless and creative.
Our first puzzle day. I remember my Baba (Grandmother in Ukrainian) telling me when I was very young that the easiest way to start a puzzle is to make the border. I completely agree and part because I know she is a wise woman and also because it gives the rest of the puzzle a place to work from as the outside of the puzzle will distinguish where on the image on the box relates to the boarder that has been created. I started to pull out those puzzle pieces and Amanda had another goal and it was to separate all of the pieces into the different groups of colour and patter that made up different objects. We were both able to see that we could either work alone to perform our own objectives or we could work together. Without saying it aloud we both started to put the boarder pieces to one side while we continued to separate the other coloured pieces. This was exciting because often we lose the ability to work on intuition and rely on formal conversation. Children are not necessarily slaves to social constructs and so it can be useful to acknowledge that students may not interact with one another or communicate with one another in expected ways and as a teacher having different modes of communication available would be an asset. We both have come to realize that we both feel the need to be organized and we also know we want to start attacking our puzzle so we have become resourceful as we got little Ziploc bags for our separate pieces and also have decided to use Amanda's old portfolio as a board to start laying out the border. * Note important to remember that creative experiences can come from anything as long as students can be resourceful. This is also seen when we have done our media work. Limited knowledge can create opportunities for creativity.
Continued Adventures...
Amanda and I made the boarder and with the help of Caitlin we finished sperating the pieces. Amanda and I though got an itch for our puzzle and we decided to stay and work on it a bit after class. We actually filled in our entire water portion. We figured that it was unfair on the rest of our group so we actually took apart a piece of the puzzle ( I secretly put it into a plastic bag so that the other ladies could find that part right away which may make them feel pumped!!!) I think this important to consider because we will have students who will feel passionate about one activity or a lesson and if this happens instead of cutting them short perhaps giving them the option of using that work in other projects or even an extra project to be completed with their family at home would be useful so that they can further their passion. I believe too that people naturally have morals and feelings and if we allow children to react naturally instead of telling them what is right and wrong to feel they will act appropriately (idea of the Golden Rule) Amanda and I are an example of this!
I believe puzzling makes my eyes concentrate and then allows my brain to explore. I noticed that each time we begin puzzling I get chaotic in the sense that I see random pieces all over the place that fit together and then I get lost. I find that I coach myself into finding an area and then calming down and focusing on that area. I like this because I have found that Puzzling becomes like a mantra in that it calms me down for our class and it is also important to be able to realize when I need to focus and to try to find ways for me to do so. As a teacher I will have to try to engage all of the students ina project and I will have to find ways to keep them on task, and even more so if they aren't on task can their tangent apply to what the class is working on?
MIDDLE OF OUR PUZZLE ADVENTURES
Today Amanda and I got on a ridiculous puzzling streak. We filled the entire boat. Amanda is extraordinary which is great because she gives me confidence to keep plugging along. I believe that peer teaching has the same affect in the sense that if children who are strong in one area can assist others then it is could help them to feel safer or possibly more willing to ask questions. On that same note of peer teaching though I worry about students who lack confidence to begin with. If they are put with students who are more advanced then themselves they may feel inadequate, in this case I think the teacher would then be responsible to find areas for strength in each student so that they are given the chance to help their peers.
ENDING TO PUZZLE NUMBER 1
We are sadly nearing the end of our puzzling. Today we are working on the sky which is brutal because it all looks so similar. The nice part of this though is that our entire group is working together. I love the chatting that takes place during our project. We talk about our everyday experiences, but we also talk about each other ideas about our projects and what we have learned from our experiences. This is so great because it happens in an involuntary way as out hands are busy at a physical task and our minds are able to wander. This way we can get out our questions and ideas without fears without worrying about being fully concentrated on. This I have noticed with students in my theatre for young audiences class. When we work on masks the students will talk about the events in their lives. If a teacher listens to this it can be useful as they can understand personal conflicts in their students lives and they can also hear about the social construction of the class society, who is included and who isn't?? Conversations during artwork can also be used to stimulate creativity. I have found that if you guide the conversations of the students towards other projects that they maybe working on or about stimulating ideas for the project that they are currently working on the students will be able to get advice from their peers and will be able to use their critical skills to suggest ideas of their own. I believe this is important because it is always better to have many ideas as opposed to just one.
Our last day with our puzzle. It was sad to be at the end of our puzzle but instead of quitting all of us were more than excited to start a new puzzle and Amanda and I are helping other groups. I have to say helping Brenda's group way brutal at first because I felt so lost the pieces are all different shapes and I was completely unsure of what the image was. I did get to help a bit though and maybe it was a new pair of eyes that were able to look at pieces that weren't close to one another.
NEW PUZZLE!!!
Today is a new puzzle and Amanda and I are unsure of what to use as a board so we are separating our puzzle pieces. This puzzle is more exciting because it is a an ocean scene which looks to be way more challenging but at the same time I feel half bored and half stressed out. We have Amanda on our team and so technically we should kick butt however she has to help other teams and the rest of us aren't fully into the puzzling in the same way. I know this is a chance for us to step up but considering we have so little time it still seems just so stressful. I believe that this is important to note because when students are given a project if it seems like too much or if it is a project that is the same as before the students may just step back and tap out. Teachers will then have to consider will positive reinforcement be enough? Will students need to be given ideas or objectives?
