A micromoment is an unplanned, unexpected moment, perceived as a rupture from the routine, in which creative potential emerges. Micromoments are part of creative learning, which is personal meaning making (in a given context). When students are able to make meaning in personally relevant ways, they are able to remember more, make more connections, problem solve and come up with (create) new ideas. In this Power-Up, scholar educators will learn to recognize micromoments in classroom interactions and examine how micromoments play a role when planning and implementing instruction and in developing inclusive learning environments.
The educator scholar will examine micromoments for:
flexibility in learning experiences and performance tasks that supports rigorous and interdisciplinary learning,
formative assessments for teacher decision making, and
increasing classroom culture for inclusivity and belonging.
PLO Progression: DDM1 Instructional Design, DDM3 Equitable and Inclusive Learning Environments, GLAE3: Supporting Educational Contexts, GLAE5: Ethical Issues in Education.
INTASC: Standard #7 Planning for Instruction: 1. The teacher selects, creates, and sequences learning experiences and performance tasks that support learners in reaching rigorous curriculum goals based on content standards and cross-disciplinary skills. 2. The teacher plans instruction based on information from formative and summative assessments as well as other sources and systematically adjusts plans to meet each student’s learning needs.
Completion of the application activity.
Full credit in all areas of the Power-Up rubric.
View the Introduction to Micromoments videoLinks to an external site. and two readings in the Required Resources section (Beghetto’s In Search of the Unexpected and Molinari & Canovi’s).
Observe your teaching, either by video recording or paying close attention and journaling after, or observe another class interacting. Note moments that could be considered micromoments.
Read the last reading in the Required Resources section (Glaveanu & Clapp’s).
Examine the observed micromoments trajectories for: (a) flexibility in learning experiences and performance tasks that supports rigorous and interdisciplinary learning, (b) formative assessments for teacher decision making, and (c) increasing classroom culture for inclusivity and belonging.
Choose one of the micromoments you observed and create a movement map, or trajectory, that includes:
how/if it moved towards supporting rigorous and interdisciplinary creative learning,
how/if it was used as a formative assessment during the implementation of the lesson/task, and
how/if it contributed to the development of a classroom culture of inclusivity and belonging.
This map can be produced in a variety of ways, including but not limited to, a flow chart, mind map, doodles, timeline(s), topographical map, blueprint(s), football plays, dance choreography, etc. The presence or absence of all three points must be included.
Introduction to Micromoments by Ananí M. Vasquez for www.neuroplexure.com. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPKFlKnJgoQ
Beghetto, R. A. (2009). In search of the unexpected: Finding creativity in the micromoments of the classroom. (
. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 3(1), 2-5. Doi: 10.1037/a0014831
Glăveanu, V. P. & Clapp, E. P. (2018). Distributed and participatory creativity as a form of cultural empowerment: The role of alterity, difference and collaboration. In A. U. Branco & M. C. Lopes-de-Oliveira (Eds.), Alterity, Values, and Socialization, Cultural Psychology of Education 6 (pp. 51-63). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70506-4_3.
Molinari, L. & Canovi, A. G. (2016). Seizing the unexpected and creative meaning making in the unfolding of classroom interaction. Educational Process: International Journal, 5(3), 254-263. http://dx.doi.org/10.12973/edupij.2016.53.6.