• Building a Bridge from the Content
  to the Student
• How Do We Teach Creativity?
• Case Study: Using the Ignite!
  Curriculum with ESL Students
• Preventing "Learning-Loss" this Summer with
  the Ignite! Summer Quest
• Ignite! User Groups and Professional Development

Building a Bridge from the Content to the Student

One recent night, I heard a thump and then loud crying. I got there fast, and found that my two-year-old son had succeeded in climbing out of his crib and then had learned a hard lesson from Gravity University about what happens next. Fortunately in this case the tuition was low, just a bloody lip and a few tears.

How did he learn to do that? Nobody taught him. He's just a self-motivated student of climbing, and it is 100% non-controversial to say that the best learning happens when learners are intrinsically motivated and engaged. There's no reason for a teacher to make the lesson relevant; it's inherently relevant. You couldn't stop the kid from learning. The famous mythologist Joseph Campbell said "Follow your bliss," and we've all had those blissful learning experiences. Maybe you wanted to be the next Jacques Cousteau, or you were irresistibly drawn to dinosaurs, or horses. Maybe you were one of those kids who broke open your etch-a-sketch to see what's inside. I can tell you, it's mostly a fine powder, plus a bunch of tiny plastic beads. In an ideal world, all learning would be driven by intrinsic interest like that. But we don't live in an ideal world.

In the world we live, the students are required by law to be there. While they're there, the state government has said that they have to learn particular things. There is a pretty long and detailed list of what those things are, and it's not driven by where their bliss might have led them. That same state government has certified you, and the local district has employed you, to carry out that mission. By year's end they are supposed to know-and you have made it your business to see to it that they know-that the French controlled the Great Lakes area prior to the French & Indian War (and why that is), or that fossils are found specifically in sedimentary rocks (and why that is), or that the fraction 1/5 expresses the same value as 20% (and why that is).

The situation isn't like the bliss of someone intrinsically born to climb. It's more like a beleaguered dad having to solve the problem of converting a crib to a toddler bed. To get what I want-for my son to be safe-I have to set aside my guitar and my mystery novel and my cold glass of beer, and follow confusing instructions written by some sadist at the crib company. I'm not irresistibly drawn by my love of learning to do this. It requires delay of gratification, an exercise of discipline, things which are not the strongest traits of middle-school learners.

With younger children, natural curiosity is closer to the surface. Compared to middle-school students, they're more open to learning and less resistant to authority. With high school students, many are starting to get a grip on what it means to delay gratification in the service of achieving a larger goal. This, then, is the challenge of engagement, motivation, and relevance for middle school education: students need to be gaining increasingly complex knowledge and skills to which they are not intrinsically drawn, at an age when they have not yet developed the habits of goal-directed discipline. Let's imagine a continuum of engagement. To the right, there is the fire of intrinsic learning. To the left, there is the boredom of disengaged students who view the material as irrelevant. The challenge every day is how to nudge the classroom reality rightward. Daunting as that task seems, somehow teachers do it!

When students are checked out, we know how that classroom looks and sounds. Many heads are down, off-task conversations abound, and the innovators in the class are developing new and improved disruptive behaviors. It is a testament to teachers' creativity and dedication when we see the flip side of that picture, the lesson that has brought minds fully awake. When hands are raised, when students are asking great questions, when heads are nodding in a good way, that teacher has somehow made extrinsic learning feel like intrinsic learning. A bridge has been built from the content to the kid, and the way that happens is always by making connections. Whether the connection is to everyday life, the student's particular interests, something in the news, or something the student learned in another class, these connections help make the material relevant.

At Ignite Learning, we are obsessed with building excellent tools to support teachers in this task. Whether it's framing the lesson in terms of a provocative question, showing how the new lesson relates to an old lesson, using intrinsic humor or music, or developing problem-based media based on constructivist principles, that goal is always there: to help the teacher build the bridge to the student. Even though the reality of the learning situation isn't one where students can just follow their own intrinsic interests wherever they lead, educators can move the lesson rightward on the continuum of engagement and make the learning experience less like a confused dad scratching his head at crib conversion directions, and more like the joyful persistence of a kid who was born to climb.

How Do We Teach Creativity?

By Mitzi Brenner, Product Manager 

Americans increasingly recognize that the United States education system can and should do more to prepare our young people to succeed in our rapidly changing world. Skills such as problem solving, innovation, creativity and collaboration have become critical in today's society in order to succeed in our interconnected workforce and compete in a Global Economy. The Partnership for the 21st Century has created an online resource for educators at http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/ to help educational leaders and policymakers implement 21st century teaching and learning. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills launched Route 21, an online resource for 21st century skills-related information.

In a recent national poll conducted by Public Opinion Strategies and Peter D. Hart Research Associates on behalf of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, an overwhelming 80 percent of American voters say that the kind of skills students need to learn to be prepared for the jobs of the 21st century is different from what they needed 20 years ago. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has developed a unified, collective vision for 21st century learning that can be used to strengthen American education.

One of the four Student Outcomes that the 21st Century Partnership focuses on is Learning and Innovation Skills. More specifically:

• Creativity and Innovation Skills
• Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Skills
• Communication and Collaboration Skills

These Student Outcomes are a few of the skills, knowledge and expertise students should master to succeed in work and life in the 21st century. Without the skills needed to reflect today's workforce demands, young people may face tougher challenges earning a living wage, and maintaining U.S. competitiveness than previous generations did.

Past generations most likely heard their teachers say:

• "Give the right answer"-often times there is more than one right answer.
• "Use critical thinking, problem solving and creativity"-but the approach to the problems was already defined.
• "Don't talk to your neighbor"-but how can we improve collaboration and communication skills?

Few would disagree that we have to let go of this traditional teaching approach in order to prepare our youth for the future. The good news is that thousands of schools are making this shift; however, there are still many educators seeking to find answers to questions like, "How do we teach creativity?"

The book A Whack on the Side of the Head by Roger von Oech tells the story of a sophomore English teacher who conducted an experiment with her class. She put a large dot on an empty chalkboard and asked the class, "What is it?" The class sat in silence looking at the dot and then one student finally replied, "It is just a chalk dot." The teacher looked rather disappointed and replied, "You know, I did this with a group of kindergarteners yesterday and they said, "It's an owl's eye, a cigar butt, a squashed egg, a pebble. They went on and on."

The important question is, what happened between the years of five to sixteen to kill expression and imagination?

How about the imprint of eleven years of only being asked to repeat back or write down the one right answer? When you are only asking for the one right answer, gradually spontaneity and creativity, two qualities essential to our more complex, fast-moving information world, are killed off.

As educators we can foster creativity, critical thinking and collaborative skills in students by using group brainstorming, collaboration, student inquiry, group investigation projects and open ended reflection questions. All of these teaching strategies will help students master Creativity and Innovation Skills, Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Skills and Communication and Collaboration Skills and therefore be on the right path to succeed in the 21st century.

Case Study: Using the Ignite! Curriculum with ESL Students

You're the expert and we want to hear about your stories! At Ignite! we believe each educator impacts their students in unique ways. We want to learn more about how you're using the Ignite! curriculum in your classrooms so we can share your ideas with the Ignite! Neighborhood. Read a Sample Case Study about using the Ignite! curriculum with ESL students and then submit one of your own.

Sample Case Study: In 2007, Ms. Price was one of two 7th grade science teachers seeing 122 students on a daily basis. Due to the high ESL population, Ms. Price struggled with ways to reach these learners.

After only 3 months of using the Ignite! Science curriculum, Ms. Price saw a 30% increase in students' benchmark scores. Students came to class requesting the Ignite! curriculum, both motivated and prepared to learn that day's material.

Visit www.ignitelearning.com/casestudy to read the complete case study sample, and to find out how to submit your own story. You could be featured in the next issue of Ignite! Wire.

Preventing "Learning-Loss" this Summer with the Ignite! Summer Quest.

Teachers work tirelessly during the school year to ensure their students master concepts in math, science, social studies, reading, and language arts. Knowing that most students lose some of that knowledge over the summer break can be frustrating. According to the Johns Hopkins University Center for Summer Learning:

• All young people experience learning losses when they do not engage in educational activities during the summer. Research spanning 100 years shows that students typically score lower on standardized tests at the end of summer vacation than they do on the same tests at the beginning of the summer (White, 1906; Heyns, 1978; Entwisle & Alexander 1992; Cooper, 1996; Downey et al, 2004).
• Most students lose about two months of grade level equivalency in mathematical computation skills over the summer months. Low-income students also lose more than two months in reading achievement, despite the fact that their middle-class peers make slight gains (Cooper, 1996).
• More than half of the achievement gap between lower- and higher-income youth can be explained by unequal access to summer learning opportunities. As a result, low-income youth are less likely to graduate from high school or enter college (Alexander et al, 2007).
• Parents consistently cite summer as the most difficult time to ensure that their children have productive things to do (Duffett et al, 2004).
  
  
http://www.summerlearning.org/

One way to ensure your students have access to productive activities this summer is to tell them about the Ignite! Learning Summer Quest. The Summer Quest gives your students a fun way to keep busy this summer, as well as a chance to win a great prize.

Students will use their knowledge of math, science, social studies, reading, and language arts to complete activities related to zoos, roller coasters, world travel, and more! For each activity the student completes and returns to Ignite! Learning, they will be entered into a grand prize drawing for a $100 gift card. The more activities they complete, the more chances they have to win!

Teachers have a chance to win too! The sponsoring teacher of the winning student will win their choice of Ignite! Math, Science, or Social Studies curriculum for his or her classroom.

Encourage your students to go to www.ignitelearning.com/quest, and register to participate in the Summer Quest. (Parent permission is required prior to registration.) Activities will be posted on June 1st, and all registered students will receive an email notifying them when the activities are available.

What a fun way to practice skills and have a chance to win an incredible prize! Call 866-464-4648 with any questions about the Summer Quest.

Ignite! User Groups and Professional Development

We want to say thank you to the educators in Laredo and Houston, Texas who attended our User Group events in early May. We were excited to see so many enthusiastic Ignite! users gather to experience professional development from Ignite! Learning where we discussed:

• Reaching the 21st Century learner
• Using knowledge structures to help students make connections
• Incorporating instructional strategies for the multiple intelligences
• Developing strategies for collaborative learning
• Using energizers to reinforce concepts
• Developing questioning skills to help with retention of knowledge

Ignite! Learning offers ongoing support to educators through our half-day implementation session, our full-day seminars, and online professional development experiences. To schedule professional development at your school, call 866-464-4648.

Ignite! Your Classroom. • Call 866.464.4648!