I would like to use this document to remind us all of why we are here, and to provide some direction to those of you who may be having a hard time starting YOUR project. WE HAVE BECOME MIRED IN THE DETAILS AND ARE CURRENTLY LACKING AN APPROPRIATE VISION.
The premise for our community problem solving project is as follows:
1. America is facing a creativity crisis.
2. That crisis can be addressed by providing more opportunities for students to think creatively in our public schools.
3. We don't need to reinvent the wheel to do so.
4. In searching for solution ideas we came across The What If Conference and decided that it would be an excellent model to provide more opportunities for creative thinking in our public schools.
5.We met with the organizers of What If and decided to join forces to promote The What If Conference in Columbia Public Schools in as many ways as we can.
6.We decided to use the What If model to propose visions of what a school of the future may look like. The presentations will then be used to conduct a What If comprised of educators, administrators, community members, and current CPS students
7. Each group decided what angle they were going to take. Some focused solely on promotion of the concept, others chose to develop their own What If for presentation at the conference, and several groups decided to use the model propose their idea of the school of the future.
This is where we are currently:
We have successfully identified the challenge of increasing creative thinking in the classroom, while simultaneously accessing the core curriculum.
We have a group made up of students from both schools working on developing and finalizing the Official CmPS packet that will be submitted for evaluation at the state level. (Elaine, Gillian, Vy, Amanda M. and Caroline)
We have a group that is working to develop the Public Relations and Social Networking elements necessary to spread the word about What If.
(Joey K, ?...)
We have a group that is working to create a YouTube video that will be used to promote the What If Conference.
(Julia H, Leo, Brady, Sherry?....)
We have a group that is creating a presentation that reimagines the nature of food services and real world application of learning in our schools.
(Alex S, ?....)
We have a group that is creating a presentation that reimagines the physical space of our learning environment.
(Jake J, ?...)
We have a group that is working on creating a tiered problem based learning model that accommodates both students who understand the material and need the freedom to learn in their own way, as well as those students who need a more structured learning environment to achieve. (Sherry, Amanda, Sydney)
We have a group that is developing a program to break down social factions and divisions amongst students in school by relying on social projects that better the community, through collaborative creative problem solving, that focuses on service learning projects. This model will serve as a transition between contemporary and futuristic educational platforms. (Annas)
We have a group that is working on creating a video that will expose people to a brand new vision of what the school of the future could look like. (Logan, Nick E, Noah, Julia H, ?...)
We have a group that is creating a presentation that proposes we use businesses in our communities, in problem based learning partnerships, which help students understand the connection between the content they are learning, and the real world application of that content.
(Emma, Sam S, ?...)
We have a group that will work on recreating the idea of standardized testing.
(Vy, Gillian)
We have a group that is going to create a presentation that examines a completely new vision of public school that is based on merit level wherein students are allowed to level up when they learn the concepts necessary for mastery of their level. (Nathan, Michael, Stephen, Dinis)
MY PERSONAL IDEAS THAT I THINK SOMEONE MAY HAVE MISSED;)
Someone needs to contact Matt and Andrew to organize the smaller What If.
We have also been asked to put on a What If at the Future Problem Solving State Bowl in March. My suggestion is that we think about either combining the two, or using the same presentations for both. THIS IS A CRITICAL PROJECT! We need to contact the Superintendent, Asst Superintendent, Board Members, Building Principals K-12, K-12 Teachers, Parents, community members, and students to get them all together for this conference. Matt and Andrew will need to be there to facilitate and to talk about how their concept can infuse instruction with creativity.
When problem solving for the future, one must always consider the phases that projects go through. Your solution WILL NOT change things over night. We may want to consider forming What If groups/clubs in each of the high schools. This of course requires long range planning, but could be accomplished very easily. Imagine a club where you could sit and propose outlandish What If discussions, have fun with creativity, and culminate your club year with a super cool What If lock in..... Imagine the potential. You could find the coolest teachers on campus to sponsor your club, because everyone would want to be a part of it. A CLUB THAT FOCUSED ON CREATIVE THINKING!
HERE IS WHAT WE STILL NEED TO FIGURE OUT:
We need to talk to Matt and Andrew about their vision for What If in the classroom. Do they have a curriculum? If not, can we create one? Should there be a basic criteria rubric for proposal acceptance? Teachers and students will want to know.
We need to figure out how we are going to spread the word about What If in Columbia Public Schools and beyond.
*reimagine the current What If proposal format to be more exciting, interactive, and engaging
If our goal is to bring more creativity into schools, then how are we going to use the vehicle of What If to accomplish this?
*organize a small What If targeted at teachers and administrators where we will demonstrate creative thinking and the model
*bring Matt and Andrew on board to help organize and conduct the Educator What If
Could we petition teachers to take time out of their busy schedules to allow students to use what they have learned to develop their own What If?
If that is too much, could we at least present the concept across a few classes to introduce students to the concept?
*create an e-mail to introduce our project to teachers and solicit their participation
*create an e-mail to introduce our project to administrators and have them encourage teacher participation
*create something that gets kids excited and has them create their own What If on their own time
If we do, then what is that going to look like? How do we sell it to teachers in a way that allows them to see the benefit? How do we design the proposal in such a manner that it both inspires creative thinking, but is also linked to the core curriculum?
IF WE FAIL TO USE THIS SOLUTION TO PROVIDE MORE OPPORTUNITIES FOR CREATIVE THINKING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS, THEN WE HAVE FAILED IN OUR PROBLEM SOLVING. WE ARE GOING IN TOO MANY DIRECTIONS AT ONCE, AND WE NEED TO FOCUS TO MOVE FORWARD. IF YOU ARE SERIOUS ABOUT THIS, THEN YOU NEED TO SPEND YOUR TIME IN HERE ON TASK. IF YOU ARE PLAYING AROUND ON THE COMPUTERS, OR USING THIS AS A SOCIAL TIME, THEN MAYBE YOU NEED TO JOIN A DIFFERENT CLUB. WE ARE HERE TO SOLVE PROBLEMS AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE. THIS PROCESS TAKES SUSTAINED CONCENTRATION AND EFFORT, AND OUR CURRENT STATE OF PROGRESS REFLECTS THE FACT THAT TOO MANY OF YOU ARE SIMPLY GOOFING OFF.
We need to create a working timeline that will outline when the most important aspects of our plan will be carried out.
We need to plan our strategies for gaining acceptance and cooperation of the people in our school and community.
We need to FORMALIZE our action plan by specifying WHO will do WHAT, WHEN, and HOW.
We need to systematically collect any and all documentation of interviews, e-mails, surveys, phone calls, newspaper articles, letters, etc... for the addendum.
We need to carry out our plan while simultaneously thinking of possible FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS.
WE NEED TO COME UP WITH A REALLY COOL NAME FOR OUR PROJECT!
We need people to serve as:
RECORDERS
PROJECT PHOTOGRAPHERS/VIDEOGRAPHERS
WHAT ELSE?...
Do we need to break into committees?
We need to organize meeting dates that go beyond our regular 1 hour weekly meetings.
I will assign tasks if no one chooses them.
We need to talk about fundraising opportunities. (because we are going to win!)
We need to seek out business sponsors.
We need someone to create our project scrapbook.
I think we need a group of presenters to go into willing classrooms to talk directly to students about What If. We are promoting an idea here right?
TIMELINE:
AUGUST: Formed the Columbia Public Schools Community Problem Solvers (C.P.S.2)
SEPTEMBER: Brainstormed and identified challenge areas in our community, narrowed our ideas to a few. Began fact finding mission to narrow to one.
OCTOBER: Met with Matt Murray from Westminster University to discuss The What IF Conference. Decided to focus on the Creativity Crisis. Decided that we needed to focus on providing more opportunities for creative thinking in public education. Creativity in Schools became primary focus. What If would be the solution vehicle that we would use to provide more opportunities for creative thinking in public education.
NOVEMBER: Identified challenges observed from our Creativity Crisis fact finding mission. Decided to use What If to share the power of creative thinking and collaboration with administrators, teachers, students, parents, and community members in a format that would be readily accessible, and easily implimented with the existing curriculum. Students began projects that either promoted The What If Conference, or presented their vision of Creative Schools of the Future through the What If format.
DECEMBER:
JANUARY:
FEBRUARY:
MARCH:
APRIL:
MAY:
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