BubbleUp Take5: coloring, curation, conversation and more

We've just returned from spring break and are heading quickly towards the end of the year. I always feel like I am sprinting a bit more during this time, head down, pushing forward. So, I appreciate this opportunity to focus on a few things (FIVE to be exact) that have engaged me recently, making me think, bring end-of-year life to our library program, and help me slow down just a tiny bit.

Coloring has most certainly made a comeback. And, setting up a coloring station in your library or classroom is an easy way to let kids chill out. I recently ran across instructions on how to print HUGE & INEXPENSIVE coloring pages from the blog A Girl and a Glue Gun. This idea is PERFECT for a library makerspace to encourage collaborative coloring -- students can come in and add color over time, similar to the way they might work on a jigsaw puzzle. I picked up my huge coloring sheets today and am excited to share them with students -- stay tuned!

A piece  on curation by Jennifer Gonzalez of Cult of Pedagogy sparked my librarian fancy (we librarians are constantly curating!). Gonzalez suggests ways to add higher-order thinking through assignments that ask students to find, analyze, pull together, and group items on a particular topic or content area. She even offers a range of different ideas on how to incorporate curation into classroom instruction.

Buffy Hamilton recently described an activity she used in her classroom called "Conversation Hotspots." This gallery walk-style activity offered a range of topics (in the example all of the conversation topics relate to drones) and required students to discuss in pairs and collaboratively add a pros/cons or clarify something at each hotspot. I think there would be lots of different ways to incorporate conversation hotspots into instruction.

In an EdWeek blog post, Starr Sackstein challenges educators to think about leaving an educational legacy. She makes the interesting point that while we all are often focused on the day-to-day specifics of our classrooms, finding a personal passion within the field can reinvigorate how we go about our teaching. What do you want your educational legacy to be? I need to put some deeper thought into my own.

We live and work in an area with excellent schools and lots of high-powered families. Many students are involved in extracurricular activities and feel pressure to get into our competitive public magnet high school and then top name colleges. Stress is easy to come by. I like the whole-town approach to this go-go-go mindset mentioned in an article from The New York Times that began with some simple painted rocks.

What have you been reading this week? What new ideas have made you think?

​-Gretchen

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You might also like:

• BubbleUp Take5: Writing, Art, Growth Mindset, and more (January 24, 2017)
• BubbleUp Take5: Positive Nudges, Cardboard, Meditation and More (October 31, 2016)