My Love Affair With Educational Technology, Teaching, & Homeschooling Part I - Harness Your Creative Energy

in #education8 years ago (edited)


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Hello!

Please excuse the mess! I am working, writing, turning my
homeschooling classroom into an office, and preparing for
for my oldest daughter’s wedding in Sept.

My excitement and love of technology, learning, homeschooling, and teaching are some of the reasons I am back writing. There is so much to explore, write, and discuss that at times I find it hard to stay focused and not get too excited.

Before I continue, I have a question?

Why are we all here? No, I am not asking the meaning of life question. I am asking, why are we writing and sharing our thoughts? I believe it is because we are intelligent, free thinkers and creative people. Also, we all have something to say!

As a teacher, I am constantly searching and trying to find creative ways to reach my students. As a homeschooling mom, I also tried reaching my daughters.


My Daughters

When I became a lover of homeschooling and educational technology I became influenced (in a positive way) by several authors whose works could be applied to all aspects of life, not just education. These authors led me on a journey to be a more creative teacher and person. I learned about personal creativity and attempted to harness my “ creative energy and inner creativity” to become a better teacher.

Creative Something (a really cool blog)
http://creativesomething.net/post/115032844158/harnessing-the-energy-effect-of-everything-you-do

The author I am writing about today is Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, and his book is Creativity. In Chapter 14, Enhancing Personal Creativity, Csikszentmihalyi gives several ways to avoid the obstacles he says prevent people from using their creative energy. The obstacles are laziness, lack of discipline, too many demands, and being easily distracted. Csikszentmihalyi states that the first area to focus on to help people become more creative is the acquisition of creative energy. The next is to focus on internal traits, which as I understand it, is to try to change the way we do things to become more creative. By change, I mean our habits and perhaps some personality traits. Finally, to become more creative one needs to explore the application of creative energy. Some ways to do this are to attempt divergent thinking as it relates to looking at as many viewpoints as possible and finding a special domain.

Well, to say the least, I was excited and intrigued! All the ideas made me rethink the ways I have been creative and maybe not so creative over the years. The reading material also stirred my interest in trying some of the ideas suggested.

So, I set forth trying some of Csikszentmihalyi’s ideas. I started with trying to think of a way I can be surprised by something every day, but I but found it difficult. I tried seeing things from others’ point-of-view (my husband’s view while we were arguing; that was hard too) and I tried meditation techniques (Zen Zoto), which I am still doing! I attempted to surprise myself, which failed. I am still not sure how one can surprise one's self.

But I was successful at surprising family members. I took my youngest daughter to a surprise lunch as well as cooking a new recipe for my husband.

I also tried daydreaming activities; one was while I was on our boat last weekend; I looked for images in the clouds (the old childhood game) and saw what looked like Africa. It was fun!

Remember, I am still on my quest to harness my creative energy to help me become a better teacher.

So, next I tried:

  1. Watching my cat playing in the family room
  2. Watching the TV with no sound
  3. Listening to the TV with my eyes closed
  4. I tried changing my schedule (During my lunch hour I watched a movie; I found it very relaxing. I like the idea of taking charge of my schedule.)
  5. Divergent thinking
  6. Finding a domain
  7. Personal diary

As you can see from the list, I can confidently say I have tried many of Csikszentmihaly’s activities. One that worked for me is keeping the personal diary. Writing helps me to put into terms or try to understand how creativity can fit into my life. Perhaps this is where I can apply Csikszentmihalyi’s internal traits. Maybe, if I try to change something about myself or try to, as Csikszentmihalyi says, “develop what I lack,” I will experience my world from a new perspective, which may make me more creative, a better teacher, and happier.

I can honestly say that I will never think of the word “creative” in as simple of terms after reading Csikszentmihalyi’s work and trying some of his ideas. I have a newfound respect for the word.

I still need to work on my divergent thinking and finding a domain. I like to work on trying to produce unlikely ideas, but it seems that it goes hand and hand with trying to be more creative. As far as a domain, I have tried related domains, such as cross-stitching, scrapbooking, and drawing (all involving art); I would like to try one that takes me out of my comfort zone and forces me to try new things.

With my newfound understanding of creativity, I definitely feel more confident as a teacher and I have to continue to search for ways to be creative.

From my experience and what I have learned about creativity, I would like to encourage all teachers, whether brick-and-mortar, online or homeschoolers to search for creative ways to reach students.

Here is a video I created with iTunes Visualizer for my online Creative Writing class. It is an extra credit assignment (I am not allowed to alter the curriculum). The students are to write a story using the song. I have asked them not to Google the song. This activity is a good example of combining subject areas (Writing & Music). Also, remember it can be used in any classroom (including homeschooling classrooms).

Thank you for reading and sharing this educational journey with me.

Also, if you are interested in Csikszentmihaly, check out his other books!


Csikszentmihaly

Until next time!

Sandra

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Your post is very interesting and inspiring. The only question is if kids are able to develop social skills. But your daughters look so beautiful and happy i think you did a tremendous job !

Thank you for sharing, i lern everyday valuable stuff here on STeemit, its so much better than to surf Facebook (only unintersting stuff from friends) or Youtube (just videos for fun).

Steemit is giving me so much knowledge from different angles, perspectives and thousands of people, i have never found something similar in another platform (maybe Wikipedia, but there you wont find your story)

So i think Steemit will be something totally new, with content unseen in the past!!!

Note to myself, powerup more, Steemit is the future !

Thank you so much and ditto!!

Based on the video, I would write a story about a war between two different tribes of fairies, lol.

It sounds like it would be a fun story!

I am asking, why are we writing and sharing our thoughts?

I think there are many ways to answer this, and each person here has a different answer. Some are only here because there is an opportunity to make money, others are here because of their love the ideals and tech behind STEEM and Steemit, and yet even others here because they simply love social media and wanted a new, fresh platform to share their thoughts on.

Obviously you are a proponent for home-schooling. I'm curious how you feel about the social aspect (or some would argue the lack there of) in regards to homeschooled kids. Do you feel that your daughter's missed out on some social learning and growth that they might have gotten had they attended a public school?

I know there are pros and cons for every parent when weighting the options for our children's education. Homeschool vs public vs private vs charter. My wife and I struggled with out decision this past school year as my daughter entered kindergarten through the public school system. She thrived, grew, and learned beyond what we thought capable, which was a relief to us.

I'll have to check out Csikszentmihalyi's book. Sounds like it's a fantastic read.

I am still on my quest to harness my creative energy to help me become a better teacher

I think this is a statement that we should all be adopting (replace teacher with anything else applicable to each individual. Parent, student, professional, human, etc.) and the quest in itself should be never-ending.

Nice to have you here on steemit, Sandra. Looking forward to more posts from you.

Thank you! Please check out my new post, 22 Years of homeschooling. I think it answers your questions. I have told many parents over the years that children thrive in all different kinds of schools, because they are all different.

this is truly an amazing post i will be featuring it today / please get onto steemit chat https://steemit.chat

Though you only touched on it briefly, I did have a question about home schooling in general. Do you ever worry that your kids are missing out on some of the socializing skills that kids inherently pick up at a larger school? I know there are plenty of environments to socialize your kids outside of school, I was just curious what your own observations have been on the subject.

Hi, good question and one that is frequently asked. I think my next post will be about what I believe are homeschooling myths. No, I don’t think the kids are missing out. Most homeschooled kids have good social skills and can talk to people of all ages. They have not spent large amounts of time with just their peers. They can talk to a small child and elderly with the same level of confidence.

My only experience has been anecdotal and while it does support the stereotype of the home school kids definitely being a little... off, it would be silly to form a judgement based on the interactions with 1 or 2 people. Look forward to reading more about it and becoming a little better informed.

I have actually started my meditation so to stay focus and be creative. Trying hard though. Thanks for your great advise and I luv your post.
Cheers

Keep up the great work @redredwine
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Wow, I am fascinated right now. Have you homeschooled all of your daughters? Did you pull them from traditional schooling at a certain age because of circumstance or was that always the plan?

Hi, I homeschooled all my daughters from the beginning. When my oldest was in 3rd grade, she wanted to go away to school; so we let her go. After two months she was begging to come back home. I made her finish the year because I did not want her to be a quitter. I offered all my daughters the option of going to high school. They did not want to go. My youngest (technically still in high school), age 16, is starting junior college in a couple of weeks. Thanks!

Inspiring. Were there any issues with development of their social skills, how did you go about finding ways to avoid any hangups in that area?

Hi, no we did not have issues with their social skills. When my daughters were young, I started a homeschool support group which helped to get them around their own kind. If you can't start your own, there are plenty of groups all over the country. Also, homeschoolers are known for forming educational co-ops. When they got older, I let them do extracurricular activities at the high school. Homeschooled kids can go into the school system just for sports, band, clubs, chorus, and other activities.

Keep up the great work @redredwine
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