The joy of creation

Being a tech ed teacher gives me a slightly different perspective on how students spend their day. When surveying my students via Google Forms I ask them about things that I am doing and what I can do better. Teacher evaluations are one thing, but student evaluations are so valuable to me.

One of the themes that consistently emerges from my surveys is that students like that they get to design, build, and test their ideas. When I was a student teacher one of my co-op teachers told me, “always give them something to take home.” There is a certain power to having an idea and actually making it. It feels primal and necessary.

Perhaps that’s not a feeling that is felt by everyone and maybe it’s one of the reasons that I became a tech ed teacher. Living outside of the D.C. metro area gave me the opportunity to have the last few days off of school thanks to a big-o-snowstorm. My district closed on Friday which gave me Friday morning to do something pre-snow. My creative juices began flowing and I designed a few items that I have been wanting to build.

I made a quick trip down to the hardware store, purchased my lumber, and quickly got back to start cutting. The images below are of some of the things I’ve been working on.

I have a lot of projects in the works for my students and the biggest one, gamifying my classroom, requires lots of creative powers. While I will be producing digital goods I still get the same feeling as producing something physical. I hope that my students get to know the joy of creation in and outside of my classroom.

I share this not for any other reason than to say that I love the feeling of creating.