Yes, (in case you wondered after my “learn from failure” post) I’m still taking French. For fun. This semester I’m taking a conversation class in which we do a variety of activities to attempt to communicate in “spontaneous French.” Easier said than done! But during class we ended up discussing the challenges of the process … Continue reading
Emotions and creativity seem always entwined. Our creativity can be affected by our moods, our confidence, and our ability to deal with frustration. New creative products can feel personal and touch a tender part of our hearts, whether they be a new painting or a new business strategy. I can’t think of an instance in … Continue reading
I’m not a regular watcher of America’s Got Talent, but the pandemic changes many things. So, recently, I ended up watching the last few episodes of the talent competition. There were singers, lightening-speed dancers, magicians, death-defying aerialists, and one extraordinary spoken word artist, Brandon Leake. The first time I heard his poetry, it took my … Continue reading
If there is one thing teachers and parents could use about right now it is something new, something productive, something that kids will enjoy, right? As a bonus, how about something that can teach a variety of skills in an interesting interdisciplinary way? Let’s talk about inventing. Thinking about inventors and inventing can fit into … Continue reading
If I were to stop 50 random people on the street and ask each one to name a creative person, I suspect very few of them would name teachers. When we think of creativity, many of us think first of artists or musicians, then perhaps great scientists or inventors, but creative teachers don’t often enter … Continue reading
Whether you are teaching in person or online, helping young people understand COVID precautions is likely to be a part of your job. One way to do that creatively is through the website Wash Your Lyrics. I discovered the website in my own university-required COVID training. Wash Your Lyrics allows you to create your own … Continue reading
Failure is not an upbeat subject. Now, as the school year begins, even in this strangest of school years, few of us are likely to be thinking, “OK, let’s go in there and fail!” And yet, I’ve been thinking about failure a lot. First, of course, I’m thinking about failure because it is the last … Continue reading
I’ve always been a curious person. Most of the time that has served me well, though when I was young, it occasionally led me into trouble. Observing the insects in the yard was interesting. Exploring the plants in the nearby woods was problematic, when some of them turned out to be poison oak. The only … Continue reading
For the last few weeks, I’ve been thinking about the affective or social/emotional elements of creativity—the attitudes and habits of mind we must support if we hope to help our students develop their creativity. I started my explorations with Modeli, a model of innovation from The Henry Ford museum. Unlike many models of design thinking, … Continue reading
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a list of characteristics associated with creativity that didn’t include some version of “risk taking.” Creativity, by its nature, requires going beyond the norm and trying something new—always an endeavor that requires some risk. Most creativity doesn’t involve physical risk but it does require risking looking foolish, being thought … Continue reading
