In the United States, The Common Core State Standards Initiative is one of the most powerful forces we’ve seen in education in a long, long time. So what is it? And how does it influence teachers’ options for developing creativity in classrooms? This is the first of several weekly posts on the Common Core and … Continue reading
I am fortunate enough to live just a quick-trip-down-I94 from one of the country’s most interesting museums, The Henry Ford. While there as part of a one-day vacation recently, I discovered a treasure trove of resources for teaching students about innovation and creativity. Home base for the materials is a site called On Innovation. There … Continue reading
Having a more creative school year not about cute bulletin boards or expensive materials—it is about becoming a classroom in which students are encouraged to be their most creative selves, while engaged in your interesting learning activities. Here are a few places to start. First, think about your classroom. 1. Consider the physical atmosphere in … Continue reading
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
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
This is the story of three “aha” moments regarding students with special needs and creativity. A few years ago I was teaching a basic research class that is taken by students in a number of masters’ degree programs. Several of the students, knowing I had written Creativity in the Classoom, asked if I could take … 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
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
It’s April already–let the (real) spring begin! Spring brings thoughts of growing things and, for many, the health of planet earth. With Earth Day coming up, it’s time to think about incorporating creativity in solving some of our earth’s many problems. The Earth Day Network’s educator site has lots of materials for Earth Day, including … 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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