Whether you are looking for a rainy-or-too-hot summer day activity, or a beginning of school project, book spine poetry may be just the thing. Book spine poetry is not difficult to construct, but with it you can create poems ranging from the silly to the profound. The concept is simple. Take a book with a … Continue reading
I love making up stories. I’ve had a lot of fun inventing flying strawberries, extraordinary islands, and talking cats to amuse my young friends. I also love helping young people invent stories—either in school as a teacher or at home with friends and family. This post is about storytelling with gizmos, tools that will make … Continue reading
I really enjoy John Spencer’s blog Education Rethink. I don’t always agree with him, but he always makes me think, and his ideas consistently point both teachers and students toward critical and creative thinking. Today I thought I’d share one of my favorites: his collection of visual prompts. Unlike most such collections, this one is … Continue reading
The International Children’s Digital Library is a wonder.It is a free online library of books targeted at children from preschool into early adolescence, but I could easily browse there all day. Certainly it is wonderful for children, but don’t underestimate its value to older students. And what a great place for summer browsing! The library … Continue reading
I’ve spent a fair amount of time in the last few weeks exploring the web looking for writings on creativity and students with special needs. Guess what? Not much there. I can find examples of art activities to do with students with disabilities, which is fine, but the arts are only one area in which … Continue reading
Recently, The New York Times has been publishing the results of its Found Poetry contest for students. This is a grand opportunity to introduce students to the poetic form of found poetry and to share exceptional examples of work done by high school students. Found poetry takes words and phrases from existing texts, rearranges them … Continue reading
One of the basic principles of creativity is that it often entails looking at something in a new way. Flexible thinking can help us look at something from another person’s point of view, from another angle, with another purpose, or in another form. One way we can help students think flexibly is by asking them … Continue reading
A few years ago Dallas Clayton wrote a book for his son, all about dreaming big. But no one wanted to publish it. Fortunately for us, Dallas Clayton is not easily daunted, and the phenomenon of An Awesome Book was born. Wait! Don’t read on. Go back and click on that link. Read the book … Continue reading
7/17/2012 Currently My Fake Wall appears to be off line. It had been on and off for a while so I continue to hope for its return. Fortunately, “Fakcbook”, from Classtools.net now offers very similar options. You also might want to check out these options from the Web 2.0 blog. What if Christopher Columbus had … Continue reading
“There was a lot more to magic, as Harry quickly found out, than waving your wand and saying a few funny words.” Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, J. K. Rowling A strange thing happened to me on the way to planning a trip to Universal Studios in Orlando. In my search for information on … Continue reading
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