CCES Bulldogs Ignite

Innovation, in our classroom, happens when the students are solving real-world problems and answering questions using their own ideas and their own designs. Over the past two weeks, we have been discussing weather and its effects on climate.  Yesterday, the students worked in small groups to put together a paper house.  The same materials were given to each group to ensure that the houses were the same.  The groups then attempted to use wind to knock their house over.  Now, I know what you're thinking!  This is not very innovative.  Well, you are correct; it is not.  However, what the students did next was not only innovative but awesome! I set out a variety of materials that the small groups could choose from in order to reinforce their houses and make them stronger.  The students were more than eager to begin making the strongest houses possible, and they were extremely creative in how they chose to strengthen their houses! Innovation, eng...

Watch this youtube video. Pay close attention to the "color" of the characters.  Innovative instruction is a way to teach students the content while keeping their curiosity--their color-- alive. In the book, Empower, by John Spencer and A.J. Juliani, a conflict is posed between compliance vs. empowerment. “If you grew up in an education setting like we did, then you spent much of your time being actively compliant--trying to navigate a system that was designed to produce people who followed the rules and waited to be told what to do. Then you graduated. And you waited for someone to tell you what to do.” This is exactly what we see in the short film. The boy becomes compliant--follows the rules, completes the assignment based on the rigid expectations, even robotically puts his arms up for his backpack to be placed on his back. But what happens to his color, his essence, that spark that encourages him to play, to daydream, to take risks? It is snuffed out in orde...

Welcome Cox's Creek Leaders! The CCES Bulldogs Ignite Blog is a window to innovation in the classroom here in our school community. The CCES Ignite Team will be posting tips and tricks for implementing innovative instruction, as well as celebrations and failures as we travel through this unpredictable journey! Please stop by and visit us through this blog to support us and our students on our #NCnov8 adventure!