Critical Thinking, Education, K-5, Teaching Tools

Two Stars and a Wish

This post should be tagged, “yet more proof that I live under a rock.” Even though that’s kind of a long tag, and tags aren’t really supposed to be long. Plus, you might be disappointed if you go looking for other posts with that tag because I just thought it up.

If I were going to do “Two Stars and a Wish” on the introduction I just wrote, I might say, “I like how I added a bit of self-deprecating humor to the first sentence and how I warned people they shouldn’t waste their time searching for all of the things I don’t know, since I never thought to tag them and there are way too many.  My wish would be that I should probably explain what I’m talking about.”

Basically, “Two Stars and a Wish” is a very simple type of formative assessment that can be done peer-to-peer or as a self-assessment.  I saw the idea being used by our fabulous librarian, Angelique Lackey, when students were presenting their culminating projects on natural disasters in the library.  It seemed like such a nice way to give feedback that I immediately adopted it and told all of the students it was my idea even though they looked at me suspiciously and said, “Mrs. Lackey was using it before you.”

But it turns out neither one of us came up with the idea.  It’s apparently been around for awhile.  You can even find a bazillion ways to visually present it on Pinterest.  Go ahead and print out some labels while you’re at it.

Image from: Pinterest.com
Image from: twinkle.co.uk

I’m already trying to think of my own version of the idea, like, “Two Pickles and a Cucumber,”  or “Two Pegasuses and a Unicorn Who’s Really Bummed because he doesn’t Have Wings,” but I think should I probably keep brainstorming…

Creative Thinking, Critical Thinking, Education, K-5, Motivation, Multiple Intelligences, Teaching Tools

Creativity Kickers

Jeanne Muzi recently posted two lists of “Creativity Kickers” on the blog, Four O’Clock Faculty. The lists offer great ideas for formative assessments and creative challenges.  In “Creativity Kickers, Part 1,” I found a couple I would like to try in my own classroom, such as the “Yes, And… Cards” and the “Student Created Knowledge Cards.” The second post, “Creativity Kickers, Part 2,” suggests the “Brain Breaks Cup,” which is a great idea that I’ve seen used by one of my colleagues and highly recommend.  The “Character in Search of Setting” suggestion is a fun idea for encouraging some creative thinking that I would also like to try out.

Check out the rest of the options by clicking on the links above!

creativityandintelligence