Context
Over the course of three days, a student works to create wings during free exploration time. She even inspires seven of her peers to create their own wings.
Illustration
Activity Photo
Student Reflection
I make my wings as beautiful as I could out of beautiful shapes and then I fly it to the sky. I’m a peacock bird and I can jump. But I had to take a long time to make them. I used my paper, I used some drawing, smelly markers and I used some glitter pens.
Teacher Reflection
It continues to amaze me how repeated experiences with open ended materials can engage students to further develop who they are, including their passions, interests, and strengths.
I wonder what the student might have said at the beginning of the year when she had less experience with reflective thinking. Her reflections would have been simpler; for example, “I made wings, I love them so much.”
I can get new ideas or build on or combine other people’s ideas to create new things within the constraints of a form, a problem, or materials.
I can get new ideas to create new things or solve straightforward problems. My ideas are fun, entertaining, or useful to me and my peers, and I have a sense of accomplishment. I can use my imagination to get new ideas of my own, or build on other’s ideas, or combine other people’s ideas in new ways. I can usually make my ideas work within the constraints of a given form, problem, or materials if I keep playing with them.