Everyone a Creator: Design Thinking and Iterative Prototyping
Help me give my students acrylic sheets and crafting leather for use in designing and fabricating with our laser cutting and engraving equipment in our school CREATESpace.
Everyone a creator! My grade 9 students come from neighborhoods across the entire city, from all walks of life, from diverse backgrounds and life experiences. Whether scholar or athlete, gamer or artist, dreamer or doer, my students come to me with diverse values, passions, interests and goals. My students are welcoming and inclusive...influential…a vehicle for change.
I believe all 9th graders are creators able to envision and create individual and collaborative projects that demonstrate their creativity and address the needs they see in our community.
I have the great fortune to get to work with EVERY student that comes through our campus as I teach a required grade 9 transition course in college & career readiness and computer literacy. My students gain hard and soft skills while building a dynamic and inclusive classroom culture.
My students want to connect with others. They hunger to express their individuality and unique complexity. As young adults, they thrive in rallying the community to their cause. They want to start a conversation, express their inner selves, and inspire others.
My Project
CREATE embraces the design theory cycle --empathize, define, ideate, prototype, test-- to complete creative projects in STEAM subjects with real-life applications while building essential social skills and bonds. Students learn and apply time, project, and stress management skills. Working individually and in teams, students envision and produce creative projects using electronics, code and hand-crafting resources. Students finish projects with tangible items and can say "I made this!" The CREATE project, embedded throughout our year-long grade 9 transition course, provides students 21st century skills for use in life, workplace, and society while providing a scaffold for transitioning successfully to high school.
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Carr and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
