The CREATION AND PUBLICATION PROJECT was constructed to be in line with the Five Global Competencies that make up the backbone of the TDSB’s Vision for Learning.  Below you will find a list of those competencies, and their specific look-fors.  Below each of the look-fors you will find Italicized Text that explains how our assignment connects to each of those points.

Critical Thinking & Problem Solving

• Engage in problem and inquiry-based projects
  • Students must consider what sort of product they wish to create, and how to best place it in the world, while garnering attention towards it.
• Investigate and solve complex real-world problems
  • One problem many people struggle with is what to do with a good idea. While many people may have ideas that can change the world, knowing what steps to take to put those ideas into practice can be challenging.  Students will need to research and determine the best way to bridge that gap.
• Conduct detailed research
  • Research into the best product to create, how to place it in the world, and how to draw attention towards it will be required for the successful completion of this assignment.
• Use a wide variety of digital tools and resources
  • Online sources can be consulted in the research process. It is also suggested that submissions and publicising also takes place through a digital space.  Students will need to determine which tools best suit their needs.

Global Citizenship & Character

• Connect with diverse global audiences using virtual learning tools
  • Having created a piece of arts, students will be submitting their pieces to a larger world audience, which will most likely involve its display ending up in virtual spaces. The use of a variety of virtual tools and spaces is encouraged during this assignment.
• Develop a deeper perspective, sensitivity to, & respect for human and cultural diversity
  • Through connecting with the themes of their selected texts, students will look to empathise with protagonists, and supporting characters. While determining how to best communicate their text’s themes to a wider audience, they must consider how to best make an impact on a variety of individuals.
• Become actively involved in addressing issues of human and environmental sustainability
  • By creating an artefact, and placing it in the world, students will be forced to consider the impact their piece has on the global scale. They will also be required to reflect on the process of becoming a creator moving forward.  While specific attention to sustainability is not required, students may find connective themes that deal with these issues beneficial.
• Gain an enhanced sense of personal and community responsibility
  • By becoming creators, students will consider their place within their physical and virtual communities. They will interact with a number of members of those communities in order to turn their ideas into practical realities.

Communication

• Oral, written, and nonverbal communication skills
  • Students will demonstrate their communication skills through the creation of artefacts, essays, and oral presentations.
• A wide variety of physical and virtual environments
  • By focusing on a range of possible differentiated projects students will need to determine which environments best suit their needs. Experimentation with a variety of environments is encouraged before final selections are made.
• Using a diverse array of digital tools and resources
  • Students will need to communicate through physical, written, and digital means. They will need to consider which tools best suit their specific goals, and switch between them based on the requirements of the assignment.
• Demonstrating effective listening skills
  • Students will need to engage with their peers through oral presentations. They will need to both ask and field questions relating to their newly acquired knowledge and skill sets.

Collaboration & Leadership

• Learn from each other
  • Through being engaged and active members of the classroom audience, students will learn a number of different ways to package, market, and otherwise convert their ideas into creations that have an impact on their community.
• Discover how to successfully navigate digital learning spaces
  • Students will hear a variety of unique voices explaining a number of digital tools and experiences that can aid them in become creators as they move forward with their own ideas.
• Participate in the creation of new ideas, knowledge and content
  • After determining which textual themes to engage with, students will formulate new ideas, concepts, and creations in order to best place their artefact within the world, while drawing attention towards is. Students will discover new ways to turn their ideas and creations into impactful realities that affect those around them.
• Develop a mix of cognitive and social skills, and gain practical knowledge and experiences
  • Students will develop practical knowledge related to placing their artefact in the world, as well as engaging with the process of publicising their piece. Through these processes they will become true creators that learn on both their cognitive and social skills in order to best find a way to bring their idea to reality.

Creativity, Inquiry, & Entrepreneurship

• Collaborative inquiry-based projects
  • Students are given the opportunity to work on their creations in small groups. Each group or individual will be responsible for launching an inquiry-based look into the best way to bring their idea to reality.
• Working on real world problems
  • Focusing on real world problems such as how to create an artefact that can impact a selected community, as well as how to draw eyes to that artefact has long been a challenge for creators. By engaging with this assignment, students will be looking to identify and overcome barriers to success.
• Conduct detailed research
  • Students must engage with a variety of sources related to creation, marketing, and placing artefacts in the world to select the optimal format that fits their own unique needs.
• Develop creative and innovative ideas, knowledge and products
  • The creation process will lead students to craft innovative and creative artefacts that they will then look to place within a wider community outside the classroom through building upon and expanding their knowledge.

What’s Next?

Empowering students to create something and place it out into the world is a wonderful thing, but the journey can seem impossible to a number of them.  By allowing them a glimpse into the process of successful creators they can see that their own journey is no different than that of any who came before them.  Reading through A NUMBER OF INTERVIEWS can highlight similarities between success stories and the roadblocks faced along the way.

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First Steps

• A Brief Introduction

Type of Publication Projects

• The Poetry Publication Project
• The Gender Publication Project
• The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Publication Project

Creation and Publication Project

• Making Projects Meaningful
• Placing Work into the World [Written Work]
• Placing Work into the World [Self-Distribution]
• Placing Work into the World [Media Arts]
• The Creation and Publication Assignment
• Connecting the Global Competencies
• Creator Spotlights

Creator Spotlights

• Richard Ford Burley – Author
• Rob Norman – Author / Actor / Podcaster
• Adam Clare – Self-Published Author
• Anna Zhu – Photographer / Videographer
• Anne Douris (Bossie) – Musician
• Jason Kunin – Videographer / Freelancer