Wonderful example of action: Band promotion

Returning from a staff meeting which included discussion of our upcoming Year End Show, I found this charming handmade envelope on my desk.

Who is 'lucky 5'? My first guess was that it was a group of second graders who had invited me to listen to their band in the Performing Arts studio. I enjoyed their music and suggested that they might perform a number on stage at the show. As the school's Performing Arts Coordinator and producer of shows, it would be easy for me to find a place for them in the program. All they needed was a name...

I'm looking!

Introducing myself | CLMOOC 2015 Summer Unschool

Having stowed away on the first Making Learning Connected voyage in 2013 but remaining ashore last summer, I'm excited to set sail again this year onto the open seas of connected maker learning.

This year, CLMOOC will be a part of a personal/professional project: Summer school for my three year old son! In her post, Learning to learn., my wife recently reflected on our decision to keep him home from school in the next school year due to an array of extenuating circumstances.

Whatchu talkin' 'bout? #child #face #portrait #attitude #vscocam

A photo posted by Bart Miller (@botofotos) on Mar 1, 2014 at 11:59pm PST

I think my son will learn more by continuing to explore his curiosities and helping to take care of his new baby brother. July is going to be a research project for me to document his formal learning along this wandering informal path. He is already well versed in playing and being generally silly.

Bag on his head. #toddler #cute #play

A photo posted by Bart Miller (@botofotos) on Dec 7, 2013 at 6:25am PST

He has loved to draw since he could hold an extra thick crayon and now fills notepads of recycled paper at a staggering rate.

Toddler art! #action #child #toddler #art #crayon

A photo posted by Bart Miller (@botofotos) on Dec 9, 2013 at 3:51am PST

Luckily, pads of paper are cheap.

Last, but the opposite of least, he is a maker. He loves to mess around with legos, blocks, cardboard, tape, household objects, and anything else that he can pretend is something else. In a word, everything.

Here is one of his 'makes' from this past Father's Day:

Coffee truck made by my son. #Lego #fathersday It even has a rotating serving tray in the back! #twtpic

A photo posted by Bart Miller (@botofotos) on Jun 20, 2015 at 8:25pm PDT

Sometimes, he invites collaboration:

My challenge is to channel some of his fun, creative energy toward various 'formal' learning activities. My method is to:

1 Authentically channel his informal learning toward formal content.

2 Document the formal learning in his informal learning adventures.

In many cases, this is already happening naturally.

Since I will be on vacation throughout July, I intend to schedule a number of field expeditions. I also intend to not schedule some, and simply let his inspiration spill out onto the street and see where the current carries us.

If you've learned with me in CLMOOC or read my blog before, you know that I love Google forms for documentation. I'm currently designing a form to use this summer. I expect that it will have traditional categories, perhaps Language, Mathematics, STE(A)M, Physical, and Social Emotional. These could be coupled to reflections based on Connected Learning principles or the Learning Dimensions in the chart below from Tinkering Is Serious Play by Bronwyn Bevan, Mike Petrich, and Karen Wilkinson.

My summer vacation will not begin until the middle of next week, so I have a bit more time to plan and prepare before our CLMOOC 2015 Summer Unschool begins. Suggestions are certainly welcome!

Creativity = Motivation + Discipline

All I need to write by Grant Snider

This post started as a quick reflection on my personal journal on Tumblr and why I haven't felt like posting lately.

But the more thought and consideration I put into it, the more it seemed appropriate to write a more formal article to reflect on and share my creative process. I have always been frustrated with my creative output, and a self study was long overdue.