IATEFL Bits - Beauty Lesson

Two weeks in modern life is almost a past life. I've read wonderful accounts of the IATEFL conference in Brighton, some which I experienced myself, mainly related to the interconnectedness during the days and nights there, and to the inspiring sessions I've attended. Because of a whirlwind of events and things to do just after I came back to Brazil, I've decided that instead of trying to excel in what others from my educators' network have done with such care (see here the reports), I'll go bit by bit, trying to blog about what I saw and experienced, but with a more practical approach to it. I have no idea how long I will take, but with my digital notes, which are an extension of my memory, I'm sure there will be a lot of ideas to share starting now.

Here's the first one. Inspired by Ceri Jones' presentation "Unleashing the Power of Images", I've created this Animoto about Beauty with my own Flickr photos to use it with my students, but also in the hope to inspire other educators.

In my classroom, we've already explored the concept of beauty using the quote "beauty is in the eye of the beholder". Students have decided for their own concept of beauty and have chosen an object, place or person to express its beauty. In a very relaxed, informal way, they showed pictures and talked about beautiful aspects of our lives after we had explored some vocabulary beyond the usual beautiful/pretty words. With their cell phones in hand, they looked for more powerful adjectives to express beauty and came up with this list:

Amazing student written and oral production and they were consciously trying to use the new vocabulary.

During her presentation, Ceri gave many ideas to use still images, which I love. However, I decided to use Animoto to add a bit of movement and personal touch to my own idea of beauty, but having Ceri's own words in mind of using images to "trigger our students' minds", to make English as part of "the students' identity, not external learning", to help them develop a sense of "being a user of English, not a learner". So, as a second part of the lesson, I intend to send the video to my students and ask them to make their own definitions of beauty.

One approach that could be used to develop students' Critical Literacies - a topic Lindsay Clanfield explored during his presentation -  is to ask students to watch the presentation and start a discussion:

• Where do you think this person comes from? Why?

• Is the producer of this video a man or woman? How old?

• What are the key concepts of beauty for this person? What truly matters for him/her? How do you know?

• Check the photos the person used for the video production, choose one to represent your own concept of beauty. Write your beauty definition on the photo comment area. 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/carlaarena/sets/72157626637445448/

For further exploration: The producer didn't use some of the images in the set in the slideshow presentation. Why? 

From there, students can make their own digital creations to express beauty.

Any other suggestions?

DESIGN Series - Uniqueness and Beauty in a Lesson Plan

Teachers are generally so overwhelmed by the load of information they have to deal with, be it pedagogical or bureaucratic, papers, tests, lesson planning that we tend just to go with the flow using the repertoire we already have to make things more time-efficient. In this bulldozing routine, common place is what our lessons become. And, in many cases, boredom is what we get.

With very small shifts, we can re-energize our classroom. Maybe the kind of examples we use in class might work, or the kind of activities we ask students to perform can be effective. However,  a more ambitious, but rewarding change that focuses on uniqueness and design, can do wonders. How about going beyond Youtube low-quality videos and clipart and finding multimedia that inspires, instigates, that asks for action, resources that are appealing, daring? Yes, we can be designers of change that bring a bit of delight to our learning environment.

Daniel Pink, in his "A Whole New Mind" says, "We may not all be Dali or Degas. But today we must all be designers". We can be inspired and inspire our learners to appreciate their surrounding and to add uniqueness to their own ways of thinking and acting. This might be an ambitious dead, but, bit by bit, we can make a difference. Daniel Pink goes on saying that "good design offers us a chance to bring pleasure, meaning and beauty to our lives. But most important, cultivating a design sensibility can make our small planet a better place for us all".

Let me just give you a very simple practical example. In every school book, there's a topic related to cities or the place we live, right? Think of the last time you taught this lesson. How did you teach it? What resources did you use?

Here's one beautifully-produced short Brazilian video that can be used in the classroom to discuss the topic:



From there, some pedagogical ideas:

• Explore the concept of uniqueness in your city. What makes xxxxx unique?
• How can you make the ugly beautiful?
• Urban sprawl: You are the mayor of a big city. Traffic is chaotic, peoplre are stressed out. You don't have many resources, but there is a group of artists willing to change the lives of its inhabitants. What could they do to help you make life in the city more enjoyable?
• Use other city shorts videos and ask students to compare cities, to decide where they would live if they had the chance, for example. (Rotterdam, New York , Berlin, Istanbul, Seoul)

Remember: design in our lesson plans is two-fold (1) thinking of activities that are pedagogically-sound and follow a logical, contextualized sequence (2) finding resources that are visually-appealing and enhance meaningful interactions in the classroom.

We tend to focus on the first aspect, but forget how important it is for the eyes and the mind to enhance critical thinking, joy and change in the learning process.

Follow up:
Students check some multicultural projects http://multiculturaluniqueness.pbworks.com to get inspiration to produce their own digital artifact to answer the question: "What makes (their city) unique?"

"It's not true that what is useful is beautiful. It is what is beautiful that is useful. Beauty can improve people's way of life and thinking." 

Anna Castelli Ferrieri, furniture designer