An Oasis of Creativity

Over the past two weeks I've been trialling a learning experience with my students which I call Oasis Time. I've borrowed the term from John Cleese, who coined it during a lecture on creativity. You can watch a short section of it below or for the full version click here. Before I go on, however, lets be frank, Oasis Time isn't exactly a ground-breaking idea and I'm certain something similar been arranged in many classrooms around the world. I'm simply sharing a process that I have found to be effective for me. Hopefully it can also work for someone else - or they can adapt it to suit their needs.

The idea: The two goals that I based this class time on were (i) Increased motivation for my students to learn and (ii) Greater opportunities to develop and display creativity. 

Oasis Time essentially only has two agreements that need to be followed. 

• As long as you try your best to follow the five conditions of creativity (outlined below), you can work on anything you wish to inquire into. 
• At the end of the week you have to be willing to share with the rest of the class whatever it is you're currently working on. This doesn't mean you have to be finished, just willing to share your progress.

I've observed that when students have the opportunity to explore personal inquiries then they have the best chance to problem-pose, which is a common missing link in many inquiry classrooms. I also find, that for whatever reason, this is one of the most difficult skills for students to master. By exploring personal inquiries, the students are practicing problem-posing and other useful skills of inquiry (such as making connections and patterns in learning, going beyond factual information and exploring things in conceptual way and collaborating) in an authentic way. 

Throughout my teaching career I have always had the best intentions to allow my students the time to explore their own inquiries. Unfortunately these sorts of initiatives tend to be the first abandoned when time becomes limited. This is frustrating because it makes it seem like these learning experiences aren't valued as much as they probably are. By specifying a name for this time and sharing it with my students I have set up structures that everyone has a certain level of control over, and this helps ensure that Oasis Time regularly takes place. 

The 5 Conditions Of Creativity: So, in order to encourage creativity amongst my students I decided to follow five conditions outlined by Cleese in this section of his speech. As he says, these conditions won't guarantee creativity, but they can certainly help encourage it.

Space: Cleese explains that you need to create a personal space where you will be undisturbed. If you are surrounded by the everyday pressures and constraints that inevitably occur then you will most probably find it difficult to use your mind in a creative way. When managing these pressures your mind operates in a closed, systematic way. Although it can sometimes be difficult in the classroom, especially when the weather isn't suitable for making use of the outside learning environment, my students are encouraged to find a place where they can work undisturbed. This doesn't necessarily mean that they have to work independently, but they are encouraged to position themselves away from elements of the classroom that have a distracting effect on them.

Time: The first aspect of time that needs to be followed is that which refers to the amount of time spent on your creative work. Cleese recommends specifying a distinct start and finish time for your work. He says that this needs to be an extended period of time (up to an hour and a half), not just a 20 minute filler before lunch break. When you have a sustained period of uninterrupted time, in a space that we feel comfortable working in, then you're giving yourself the best opportunity to spark your creative mind into action. However, once you've set aside an extended period of time in a place that you feel comfortable working in, your mind will generally begin to think about all of the mundane things that you 'need' to do - most of which require low level cognitive processing and are things that you're familiar with. Cleese states: 

'It's easier to do trivial things that are urgent than it is to do important things that are not urgent, and it's also easier to do little things that we know we can do than to start on big things that we're not so sure about.' 

By spending the required time to push through this phase of your brain activity, you allow your brain to enter what Cleese calls the 'open-mode'. It is in this mode where creative thinking can really take effect.

Time #2: The second aspect of time refers to the amount of time that you spend allowing your mind to consider solutions to your problem or idea. It is easy to accept the first solution that presents itself when a problem is posed. However, creative people spend the time required to push through the feelings of anxiety, caused by not having 'the answer', in order to come up with an original solution to a problem. There is a powerful lesson here for students (and teachers!) in letting go of 'the known' and being prepared to remain in a state of 'unknown' in order to develop creative solutions. When we are in a state of unknown then there is generally a feeling of agitation that encompasses us and the easiest thing to do is to accept a solution, therefore removing the feeling. Many times, however, the solution you accept may not be the best one available - it is simply a means to an end. So, if you're prepared to spend the time feeling uncomfortable then you're more likely to be able to discover creative solutions to your problems or questions. Cleese mentions that he finds the most frustrating people to work with are those who feel that they need to be decisive and confident - hence accepting the first (and sometimes easiest) solutions that present themselves.

Confidence: This condition refers to the ability to be open to the possibility of being wrong - and be confident that your experimenting will lead to something creative. Cleese states that it is important to develop a mindset that ensures that, whenever you are in the creative mode, nothing is wrong. Any idea can be put on the table and explored and it is possible that by taking one of these risks it may lead to a breakthrough. In my experience, this can be one of the most difficult aspects for students to grasp. I regularly notice that the feeling of 'being wrong' or in 'the unknown' is something that many students feel uncomfortable with. This then can restrict them from taking the risks that are essential for discovering creative solutions. Developing a class environment that encourages risk-taking and where students feel at ease with the idea that there may be alternative solutions to the obvious one jumping out at them is paramount for this condition to be met.

Humour: For this condition Cleese points out that humour brings relaxation and he believes it is the single most effective factor in moving our minds from the closed mode to the open mode. He also states that humour is an essential part of spontaneity, playfulness and, therefore, creativity. He goes onto suggest that people often confuse seriousness with solemnity, and that anyone can be discussing or working on serious inquiries while still laughing - it doesn't make them any less serious.

Motivation: The second element to Oasis Time that I wanted to achieve is that of increased motivation for learning. I borrowed the idea of working-on-anything-provided-you're-willing-to-share-it from an edited speech that Dan Pink once gave. In an effort to raise the intrinsic motivation to learn amongst my students to a whole new level, I employed some of the principles that he addresses in his talk. The idea is that the students are still using the key inquiry and transdisciplinary skills that I want them to develop, but  they are using them for things that they are truly passionate about about and this will help them to see their usefulness.

Results: Although this is still a relatively new initiative in my classroom I have already seen some fantastic results. In terms of motivation to learn, Oasis Time has been a major success. My students can't wait to not only get the chance to work on their inquiries (and many have taken their learning home to continue developing), but they are also extremely enthusiastic to share their work with the class. This has been a very pleasing aspect of Oasis Time. 

There have been some creative solutions and ideas developed by the students. Some found it difficult to accept that they had totally free choice to decide what to do and needed a lot longer to get started. Initially, I saw this as a sign that they weren't prepared to take risks as much as some of the other students. However, upon reflection I considered that these particular students were putting into practice one of the key conditions - time. They weren't accepting the first idea that came into their head because they didn't think it was the right one for them. They were prepared to designate their Oasis Time to coming up with an inquiry that they felt would be interesting and meaningful for them.

As this school year sadly draws to a close, I will definitely use Oasis Time with my students next year. I'll be teaching students of a different age then so it will be interesting to see if there are any differences between the two groups. Some improvements that I'd like to make is to make sure the inquiry skills are clearly explained and discussed with the students. I would also like to develop some form of planning or reflection sheet for the students to use when they conference with me. This would give us the opportunity to consider all of the elements of inquiry that the students are using. I think it would also be interesting to set up a network of schools that are timetabling something similar to this so we could all share our ideas and successes with a wider audience.

Transforming learning

Today we are having Student-Led Conferences at my school. For those who are unsure what this process involves, the conference involves students leading their parents through evidence of their learning. The students are responsible for discussing and demonstrating their work and progress with their parents and it is an opportunity for them to report to their parents the skills and attributes they have learnt over the school year. I really enjoy this process as it allows the parents who don't always get the opportunity to get into the classroom a chance to see what has been happening. It also allows the students to demonstrate some of the understanding they've developed by taking an active role in the process. Although this isn't a time for parent meetings with the teachers, there is an expectation that the teacher will be available to welcome and acknowledge the families when they arrive.

One of the things that the students could share was the work they had been doing during Literature Circles. After discussing and reading their books over a period of 3-4 weeks, the students created a book report style presentation using an on-line tool called Wevideo. The students were introduced to the Wevideo tool as a way to contribute to the school community through the recommendation and review of the different literature they have read. As the tool is collaborative and hosted on-line, it has benefits over other movie making programs that are only hosted on a singular computer. With Wevideo the students can share resources and ideas as they create their responses. All of the groups first discussed the elements of a book review and highlighted specific aspects that would relate to their audience. One example that they came up with was that in order to keep the viewer engaged the project shouldn't be longer than 2-3 minutes. Each group then planned out what their project would consist of and the order that it would follow on storyboards. Once they were satisfied that they had identified exactly what they needed to include, and why, they were able to begin the process of creating their movie review. The movie making process involves the students selecting text, images, music and other effects to create a review of the book they had read. These movies are then going to be displayed in the Library as advertisements for the other students in the school.

During a discussion I had with one of the parents, they were referring to the Wevideo part of the process when they said 'this is really just the icing on top, wouldn't you agree?'. I had to answer that I definitely disagreed with that statement and was grateful for the opportunity to explain why I didn't hold the same perspective. If I think back to when I was in Primary School, a book review meant that I had to read a book and write a description about what the storyline consisted of, whether or not I enjoyed it and if I could choose to read any other books by the same author. This was handed into the teacher who marked it and gave it back to me. By completing the Wevideo version of this the students are still required to add their personal thoughts and opinions on their book. Additionally, they are required to consider which music, images and text best represents the book. There is a whole new layer of meta-cognitive processes being asked of them in order to produce a good book review.

Not only does this learning experience require more from the students at the cognitive level, it also provides them with an authentic audience that will be viewing their products. Recent research into neuroscience has uncovered a wealth of evidence supporting the notion that the brain learns best in context. By making the purpose of this task clear for the students, they were able to better understand the work that they were required to do.

The idea that we use Wevideo, or any form of technology, for these things simply as a way to 'prettify' students' work is misguided. Clearly there are additional and sometimes new skills and processes that are introduced with the use of technology. It is not simply enhancing the products of student learning, in many cases it is totally transforming the entire learning process. The viewpoint of technology as a 'distractor to learning' is rooted in the past. Students are responsive to technology, and learning the appropriate skills required to use it effectively are no longer a choice, they are life skills.

Quad Blogging action research

Quad Blogging is an activity which involves four classes communicating together by commenting on each other’s work. The process works by each class taking it in turns to comment on each other’s work. In advance, the teachers nominate one class to be the focus each week and students from the other three classes browse through the work providing quality comments as they go. Then the focus rotates to the next class and you carry on in that pattern. 


Over the past four weeks my class has been involved in a quad blogging action research project that has included students from Grades 3 - 5 from schools in Thailand, USA, Czech. Republic and Switzerland. Along with Maggie Hos-McGrane (the IT Team Leader in the Elementary school), who has been acting in a coaching role for me and my students, we have guided the students through the processes involved with the quad blog. During this time we have been observing, discussing and researching whether or not this experience can improve the writing skills of students, and offer new ideas and insights for teachers into the instruction of writing in (and out of!) their classrooms.

Quad Blogging Trailer from langwitches on Vimeo.


Some potential roadblocks that were suggested at the beginning of the project were that whether or not I would be able to incorporate blogging experiences into my daily language time in the classroom. Good blogging requires first  having to read the posts you are looking at before you decide either what to comment on, or whether or not this post might inspire or encourage you to write a post of your own. Luckily, I didn't find it difficult to dedicate time in my schedule to allow for reading of the blogs. I found that the skills required for quad blogging are transferrable to other forms of writing so didn't see this as an 'extra' thing to add onto the timetable. My students were enthusiastic about reading their peers' blogs because they had an authentic purpose and and also made personal connections throughout the quad blogging process.


The writing side of the experience related to the reading in the sense that many of my students wanted to leave comments on people's blogs that they'd viewed before, or if that person had written on their blog previously. By having a contextual purpose for their writing, they not only thought carefully about what they were writing (in terms of content), but they also showed great enthusiasm to write. Many students chose to comment on several other students' blogs as well as their designated buddy. 


We were also able to refer to two rubrics that highlighted some important aspects of both blogging and commenting. These rubrics allowed the students to self-extend their own writing by reflecting on whether or not they had included all elements that were required to be an 'expert blogger'. Several students also commented in their reflection that they felt that by having the rubric accessible to them (I posted it on the class blog), they were able to take their time and think about what certain things meant. This helped them to understand more about blogging. 


The students also reflected on some other things that they felt like the process helped to improve their writing: 

• "It allowed me to get some more feedback about my writing"
• "It helped me to learn new words"
• "I improved at writing because I had to make sure my spelling and grammar were aways correct because everyone was reading it"
• "I became much better at keeping a conversation going, which I wasn't good at before"
• " I was able to make some connections to my other writing. Like, when I write a story and in the story there is some information about something, it's like in blogging when I make a hyperlink to another blog post"
• "It helped me to read some other blog posts so I could see what good writing looked like"

Although at the start of this project I predicted that it would help my students to improve their writing skills, I never expected it to be this successful. The comments and conversations provided by my students showed to me the widespread impact that this has had on their writing. By providing a real purpose for the students, the volume of their writing increased dramatically. Perhaps not as much for the students in my class who were already prolific writers, but for those who are sometimes reluctant to write it gave them a great opportunity and purpose. It also incorporated several other useful skills, such as meta-cognition, time management and collaboration. By having this during the second half of the year, I was able to ensure that my students were tech-savvy enough to be able to self-monitor their own blogs, although I believe that this could also have been done during the first half of  the year as most students are familiar and capable with this sort of technology - it's part of their everyday life. 


Having the IT help was certainly beneficial. I'm reasonably competent with the technology we were using so this allowed Maggie to take on more of an observing role, which was great for the assessment process. She was able to capture the students on video going through the processes in real time and this helped to provide a great insight into their thoughts and understandings. She also went through each student's blog and took screen shots of each of their comments. This allowed us to compare their writing at the beginning and end of the process - and the results were clear to see. However, for those teachers not confident with this sort of technology then this coaching role would look different.


Although I would have previously already recommended quad blogging to any teacher, now I am thinking that we should be really insisting that something along the lines of this sort of learning experience really should happen in classrooms. The benefits were clear to see and I'm looking forward to continuing this with other classes that I've connected with before.

A dividing inquiry

This morning my students tackled a problem that required them to use a variety of skills and processes they have recently been working with. You might be able to see in the picture below that they had to find a way to split up some distances of a relay race. The race was 26km long and they could choose as many runners as they want as long as it was between 3 and 10 (including those numbers).


I encouraged them to start off by using one of their problem solving strategies - identifying the key words. 

It was decided that the key information was: 

• The total distance was 26km.
• There had to be between 3 - 10 runners.
• Each runner had to run an equal distance.
• We had to be as accurate as possible with our answer.

The students then set to work with a partner in order to find out a possible answer for this problem. Although we have recently been investigating division, fractions and decimals, I didn't give any indication to the students that they might need to use these skills for this problem. I was interested to hear the some of the questions and comments that arose during their discussions:

- "How are we going to break them up?"

- "We should find an equation that goes into six. Nine goes better."

- "You have to halve it. I did five and a half and I'm left over with five."

- "Argghh....we've got leftovers! What if we try four?"

- "Four doesn't work, does two?" "Two is below three so we can't use it"

- "Something has to divide into 26"

- "We need to do fours." "But 26 isn't into the four times table"

- "I tried seven, its impossible"

- "Let's go through the tables and see which works. It has to be equal. If we use the fours then we have two left over."

The students used a variety of strategies to organise their thinking. Some created tables, some glued their work to their page so they could keep track of them and others cut out their sheet to group the kms together.

From here, some students became stuck and needed some thinking time in order to go any further. A popular strategy was to try and add more kms onto the race in order to make the groups fit exactly with their chosen number of runners. Others started to make some connections between what they had learned previously and  where they could go next:

- "We can change the numbers. The numbers can be parts of kms too."

- "You could break one km into three and then the other one into three."

- "We can split a km in half and make it meters."

- "We can use some from this one and some from the other one."

- "Can we use numbers like 4.5? Can we use decimals?"

These statements kicked the investigation up a level. Students realised that it didn't have to divide by 26 equally in order to work and began exploring the possibilities. Before too long we had solutions using 3, 4 and 6 runners. These groups organised their leftovers into fractions and distributed them accordingly so that each runner ran the same distance each. In order to achieve the accuracy component of the lesson, I challenged some of the groups to explore ways that they could convert their fractions into decimals so that the runners would know exactly how far they would have to run.

We finished up by discussing why each group could calculate a different answer. One of the understanding goals for this unit of work is that students can see that all numbers can be broken up into smaller amounts, and that this can be done through many different strategies. Today allowed them to use their knowledge of fractions, decimals and/or division strategies. It was good to see that the students are well on their way down the track with this. It was also a good opportunity to see the students bring their problem solving strategies into play and gain more experience working collaboratively with their peers.

What a rush

There has been a lingering voice in the back of conscience over the past couple of weeks telling me that I should have updated my blog long ago. I can hear it loud and clear but haven't done anything about it until this afternoon. Sometimes I don't have a thoughtful enough topic on my mind to blog about. Usually, however, I simply don't have enough spare time to sit down and craft out the next literary masterpiece* that will be posted onto my blog.

If I can't write a post that I feel happy with then I will either save it in it's current state as a draft and re-visit it later or, depending on how far I've got, delete it entirely. This blog is not private - anyone can read it. Furthermore, I only blog about issues, ideas and topics that are related to my professional life and it wouldn't be hard for one of my colleagues to track it down on the net. So I have a personal responsibility to myself to ensure that the work that I publish is of a quality that I deem acceptable. Once I've put something out there it's out there for good and represents me!

This got me thinking about my students. Whether its written book work or something that they compose on-line, there are some students who take their time and worry about every letter of every word they write. There are others who have to be the first finished despite the quality of their work. There are those who don't care what they produce or if they even finish - although I've gladly never experienced many students like this. Others fit somewhere in between these groups. In Grade Four, and other grades, we focus heavily using the writing process when we complete our work. Traditionally my students have had experience using this when authoring work for a particular genre. Sometimes on a computer, but not always. We try to emphasise that this process of planning, drafting, editing, re-drafting and publishing isn't only limited to story writing - it's used everywhere in some shape or form.

In my class we've recently been participating in some quad blogging with three other classes from different countries around the world. It's been great for my students to connect with these peers and have the chance to offer and receive feedback about their work. We've also been talking about 'quality comments' and what they involve. Some of the students have written fantastic comments, really thinking about what they can say to praise and also improve the work that they've looked at. Others have found it more difficult and are still writing comments that are shallow and don't really offer much feedback. The authoring process applies here just as it does when writing a story, report or poem - perhaps in a different form, but it exists nonetheless. When my students post a comment they are posting a representation of themselves and if it isn't of a quality that reflects them then its stuck out there forever for anyone to see.

Next month my class is participating in an action research project which will explore whether quad blogging can improve the quality of writing amongst students. We will pre and post assess the students based on certain criteria with the goal to discover if the four weeks worth of quality commenting will improve the students' writing. It's important that the students understand the purpose for this writing and take as much time as they need so they can contribute something that they truly feel proud of. I'm looking forward to working through this process with them.


* Errant ramblings.....