Our #10in10 Challenge

A little less than two weeks ago I challenged students in my class to attempt a #10in10 blog challenge, that is 10 blog posts in 10 days.  While not every student chose to participate a significant number of students did elect to.  I even had a few student who thought they would jump the gun and write 10 entries in one day and then post them out 1 per day over then 10 days.  Most who participated wrote their one entry a day and successfully completed the challenge.  I on the other hand failed to date at completing the challenge myself.  I have written 5 entries on the 10 day period, this if we could count it would be my sixth.  I must remember that blogging requires time and that time must be set aside if I am to be successful at maintaining an up to date and current blog.

So here are a few of the entries my students wrote over their #10in10.

http://parthm.edublogs.org/2016/02/04/polluting-the-earth/

http://nithushar.edublogs.org/2016/01/27/day-2-a-delicious-food/

Challenge Day #10 10 Blogs In 10 Days #10- Pure Substances and Mixtures

http://kadiyat.edublogs.org/2016/01/27/who-invented-basketball-day-3-of-challange/

http://harshm.edublogs.org/2016/02/02/creativity-taskgenius-project-challenge-day-9-10-blogs-in-10-days/

http://harmanb.edublogs.org/2016/01/27/day-310/

http://guneetl.edublogs.org/2016/01/28/uniforms-in-england/

http://844058.edublogs.org/2016/01/28/day-4-challenge-deforestation/

Rekindling the curiosity and creativity….5/10 #10in10

Somehow I let my #10in10 get away from me…I knew going into this challenge that blogging over the weekend would be my greatest obstacle…unfortunately avoiding a  weekend was an impossible if I was going to blog for 10 consecutive days.  As such my 10 in 10 will be stretched out and more like a 10 in 12.

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I teach a group of 27 grade 7 students who have had the better part of 9 years of education and 9 years to  be trained to learn in a particular style.  They come from communities from around and beyond the GTA with learning experiences that very greatly and so when they are asked to think freely, I often get questions like, “How do you want me to do that?” or  “What should this look like?”  Two TED Talks come to mind when thinking about what students bring to the classroom in terms of their love for learning…

In Tony Wagner’s TEDxTalk he discusses the 7 core competencies a young person needs to be successful.  While all are equally important the one that sticks in the last, #7, “curiosity”.  Do kids demonstrate this curiosity as they get older and move through their elementary grades or do they lose it?  If they lose it, why so?  Why do some retain the curiosities? How can we REKINDLE to early childhood curiosities?

Sir Ken Robinson speaks of schools killing creativity…I wonder, do schools really kill creativity?  Is he correct when he says, “I don’t think there’s a kid in America, or anywhere in the world, who gets out of bed in the morning wondering what they can do to raise their state’s reading standards.  They get out of bed, if they’re motivated, by their own interests and their own development.”  What are your thoughts?

I would love to hear what others are doing to rekindle the creativity and curiosity that children begin their lives with.