The 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics is now over, however, our inquiry, "Going for Gold", continues! We have been reading many books and articles about achieving success, having courage and showing respect. A wall of our thinking is starting to emerge (see below). Students refer to this board as they begin thinking about the dreams they have for their own lives. It is also a way to make our thinking public.

After reading the book, Dream, by Susan Bosak, I gave small groups samples of the artwork found inside this beautiful book. They had to think about how the artwork connected to the overall idea of following one's dream. The conversations that occurred were priceless. Students had to look at the emotions, colours and objects in each illustration to help them articulate an overall message. Talk about critical thinking!

I decided to give students an "App Smash" challenge. This is when students use more than one app on their iPad to produce a final product. The first app they used was PicCollage. They had to create a collage incorporating their artwork and a quote of their own thinking. Below is an example:

The next step was for students to take what they created in PicCollage and incorporate it into the app,  Tellagami. Tellagami is an app that lets you create a short video called a Gami. I thought this would be a great way for students to share their thinking about dreams with each other. See some of our creations below:

Example One

Example Two

Example Three

Example Four

Example Five

Example Six

Example Seven

Example Eight

Example Nine

Example Ten

Example Eleven