Creativity: It’s Not Just for Art Class

1. Creativity: It’s Not Just for Art Class Penfield PACE Jan. 2012 Presenters: Karen Graham Cynthia Salsedo Kerry Young Enrichment Specialists Bay Trail Middle School, Penfield, NY

2. Who are we? (And why are we here?)

3. Creativity Can it be taught?

4. Traits of Creativity • How do we use these in the classroom to begin building creative habits of mind and routines?

5. FLUENCY FLUENCY refers to the production of a great number of ideas or alternate solutions to a problem. Fluency implies understanding, not just remembering information that is learned.

6. FLEXIBILITY FLEXIBILITY refers to the production of ideas that show a variety of possibilities or realms of thought. It involves the ability to see things from different points of view, to use many different approaches or strategies.

7. ORIGINALITY ORIGINALITY involves the production of ideas that are unique or unusual. It involves synthesis or putting information about a topic back together in a new way.

8. ELABORATION ELABORATION is the process of enhancing ideas by providing more detail. Additional detail and clarity improves interest in, and understanding of, the topic.

9. Fluency

10. Exercising Fluency in the Classroom: Ways teachers can do this with students- • Write down as many 3 syllable words as you can in 3 minutes • Name all the polygons you can in 1 minute • Write a persuasive essay in 10 minutes

11. Your Turn! Write a short paragraph about Wegmans… without using the following words/phrases: • Grocery store, groceries • Food • Shop or shopping • Buy or buying • Selection, variety, a lot • Big, huge, large • Danny Have students generate this kind of list before they write!

12. How can you help your child exercise fluency at home? • Generate a lot of ideas about something • Think quickly about all the choices we could make

13. Flexibility

14. Exercising Flexibility in the Classroom: Thinking in Metaphors Teachers can do these with students - • Create analogies _____ is to _____ as _____ is to _____ • Create a metaphor for justice in the next 5 minutes (also fluency)

15. SynecticsPutting together two disparate ideas Your turn! • How is a snake like a doorknob? • Write your own!

16. Flexibility – how can you encourage this in your child at home? • Thinking from different points of view • Different uses for things • Trying/thinking of strategies different from what we’re used to – what’s another way we could approach this?

17. Originality & Elaboration

18. Exercising Originality and Elaboration in the Classroom: • Writing children’s stories based on facts and concepts from content area Example: periodic table of elements stories • Creating political cartoons based on a well-known story Example: Three Little Pigs/Political Parties

19. Students work with a partner or small group to write collaboratively online • Using Titanpad.com for collaborative writing • www.grabbabeast.com

20. How can you encourage Originality and Elaboration with your child? • New ideas – inventions • Asking for details – why do you think that? • Putting two things together to make something new

21. Putting it all together Fluency Flexibility Originality Elaboration

22. Exercising all aspects of creativity in the classroom: • See-Think-Wonder Project Zero Visible & Artful Thinking Routines Examples: artwork, photographs related to curriculum, artifacts and objects, worksheets

23. Using Improvisational Theatre in the Classroom • Expert Explanation • I am a tree…

24. Improvisation Activity: Expert Explanation Goals – • To communicate verbally and non-verbally who your partner is • To listen • To use questions appropriately • To explain your topic • Honesty/openness Directions - • Two person scene (Person 1 is an “expert” on something, Person 2 is a scene partner) • Person 1 should establish (in her mind) who the partner is in relationship to her and talk about her topic • Person 2 should listen to Person 1 and try to determine the relationship and respond accordingly

25. Improvisation Activity: I Am a Tree Goals - • To act quickly (jump in!) • To be physical – use own body, use others’ bodies • To participate in team work • To “yes, and…” • To create an environment Directions -   • One person starts with “I am a…” • Second person adds to the scene with “I am a…” • Third person adds more to the scene with “I am a…” • First person taps one of the others, those two leave the scene • Last person left, repeats line “I am a…” • New person joins Content – Related Elaboration – Use I am a Tree as a starting point - Create an Environment and have a scene – related to the curriculum Rules: no blocking (denying established reality), yes and, don’t ask a lot of questions

26. How can you encourage your child to think visibly and improvise? • Really look at things – the parts, pieces, functions • Make up stories, songs, role play • Word association – Clover; one word at a time stories • Lateral thinking, brainteasers that require thinking in new ways or from different perspectives (Nathan Levy – March 5th)

27. Resources • www.pzweb.harvard.edu • www.titanpad.com • www.grabbabeast.com • Improvisation: Use what you know – make up what you don’t by Brad Newton • Theater Gamesfor the Classroom by Viola Spolin • kyoung@penfield.edu • kgraham@penfield.edu • csalsedo@penfield.edu