Bust the Post-Thanksgiving Slump by Injecting Classroom Creativity

With Thanksgiving behind us, many people may have a fresh memory of the lethargic, sleepy, sluggish feeling that comes after a big meal. Let's face it, the period between Thanksgiving and winter break can feel a lot like that post-meal slump. Students can be antsy, motivation wanes, and even some teachers can find themselves stuck in a rut. But before you resign yourself to weeks of rote learning and low energy, consider injecting a little creativity into your daily routine as a spark that reignites the flame of engagement in your classroom to carry both you and your students to winter break with renewed energy and excitement.

Many teachers balk at the idea of creative projects this time of year. For one, you may be experiencing a "content crunch" in which you have too little time to finish a unit of study before the extended break. In addition, the idea of a busy, weeks-long project just doesn’t make sense right now. Forget about the elaborate, time-consuming projects you envision taking home to grade over your holiday break. Instead, think small, quick, and impactful. Here are eight ways to inject a burst of creativity into your lessons without adding extra workload to your plate:

1. Interactive Storytelling with Keynote: Ditch static presentations and turn your students into digital storytellers. Using Keynote's animation features and audio recording tools, they can craft engaging narratives with voiceovers, music, and dynamic visuals that will breathe new life into a presentation. Instead of using class time to deliver a teacher-led presentation, give the Keynote file to your students and let them engage with the material and personalize their learning. 
2. Mind Mapping with Jam Board or Freeform: Brainstorming doesn't have to be boring. With Jam Board (Google) and Freeform (Apple), students can collaborate on mind maps in real time, adding text, images, and even scanned images to create personalized learning resources and visualize complex concepts.
3. Interactive Maps with Keynote: The Logitech Crayon allows students to annotate maps and images directly on the iPad, adding pins, drawings, shapes, and voiceovers to personalize their learning and create interactive quizzes, historical timelines, or virtual treasure hunts. History students can use Magic Move in Keynote to demonstrate movements in key battles and migration patterns or create moving graphs and stories. 
4. Music Composition with GarageBand: GarageBand provides a variety of virtual instruments and sound effects, letting students compose original music, record podcasts, or experiment with sound design for their projects. Allow students to add a soundtrack to a digital project or create music that fits their confidence in their knowledge. High school students reviewing for finals? Let them make sound effects for review games. Using the Loops feature, it only takes a few minutes and almost no musical skill to create professional-sounding soundtracks. 
5. Collaborative Art with Jam Board: Jam Board allows for simultaneous drawing and sketching, both physically and virtually. Students can brainstorm ideas, create mind maps, or collaborate on collaborative digital art projects.
6. Interactive Presentations with Keynote Live: Turn presentations into interactive experiences. Keynote Live allows students to present their work in real-time to a broader audience, incorporating annotations, questions, and feedback directly on the slides for a dynamic and engaging learning environment.
7. Sketchnoting and Visual Thinking with Notes: Elevate note-taking by encouraging students to use the drawing tools in the Notes app or Keynote to create visual summaries of key concepts, sketch diagrams, or design characters for their stories, enhancing their learning and understanding through visual representation.
8. Video Reports with Clips: Instead of writing a traditional report, students can create a video trailer or review using the Clips app. This allows them to be more creative and engaging while still demonstrating their understanding of the topic.

These are just a few ideas to get you started. Remember, the goal is to inject short bursts of creativity into your existing curriculum, not add to your workload. By incorporating these quick and easy strategies, you can help your students and yourself overcome the post-Thanksgiving slump and recapture the energy in the push to winter break.