Cultivating Creativity in our Schools

ACAMIS Guangzhou 2015

For more conversation:

Rick Wormeli 703-620-2447 [email protected]

@rickwormeli2 (Twitter)

q p c d

Which letter does not belong, and why?

“Humanity has advanced, when it has advanced, not because it has been sober, responsible, and cautious, but because it has been playful, rebellious, and immature.

” -- Tom Robbins

Processing Activity:

“

I used to think…, but now I think…

”

In order for someone to accept feedback or take a risk with your new idea, he must admit first what he was doing was less effective than he thought it was.

We are hired for how we are similar to a company, but we advance based on how we are different.

Consider:

Rhodes Scholarship Candidate struggles

Transcend formulaic responses. “

Please paint the transit buses in an interesting way that breathes a little more life into our city.

”

Video: When There is a Correct Answer

Our future depends on this one here .

Tenets: A. It takes creative and critical thinking to achieve standards. B. Thoughtful classrooms create thoughtful students. We do not get creative students from non-creative classrooms.

C. Students who think creatively and critically perform better on tests, standardized or not.

If we find ways for colleagues and ourselves to experience curiosity, awe, induction, deduction, analysis, synthesis, resilience, empathy, extrapolation, juxtaposition, and other mental dexterities in their own development, they are better thinkers of our discipline. They can solve their own problems, connect with others and among ideas, innovate their way to meaningful contributions, and persevere in the midst of challenge.

Our job is not to make up anybody’s mind, but to open minds and to make the agony of decision-making so intense you can escape only by thinking.” - Fred Friendly,

broadcaster

”

All thinking begins with wonder.

”

-- Socrates

Create a sense of wonder!

•Verbs •Pronouns •Newton’s Laws •Put on Scuba Gear and climb out of an eyeball •Velcro props •Compare Not-so Pretend Constitutions

Embrace the fact that, “[l]earning is fundamentally an act of creation , not consumption of information .” -- Sharon L. Bowman, Professional Trainer

(Sampling from Innocentive.com, page 1, downloaded June 24, 2012)  Seeking Orthogonally Functionalized Cyclobutanes  Navigating the Inside of an Egg Without Damaging It  Cleveland Clinic: Method to Reconnect Two Tissues Without Using Sutures  Seeking 1H-pyrazolo[3,4-b]pyridin-3-amides  Synthetic Route to a Benzazepinone  My Air, My Health: An HHS/EPA Challenge  Mechanistic Proposals for a Vanadium-Catalyzed Addition of NMO to Imidazopyridazines  Seeking Highest and Best Commercial Application for Breakthrough Innovation in Building Technology/Structural Optimization  Desafio da Educação: Como atrair pessoas talentosas para se tornar professor na rede pública brasileira

“ The problem solvers...were most effective when working at the margins of their fields….While these people were close enough to understand the challenges, they weren ’ t so close that their knowledge held them back and cause them to run into the same stumbling blocks as the corporate scientists.

Lehrer) ” (p. 121,

Check out InnoCentive at www.innocentive.com/ar/challenge/browse

What would this look like in education?

Could you teach the differences between architecture in the Middle Ages and architecture in the Renaissance period in such a classroom?

How about the principles of algebra here?

Information

Age is old school. We ’ re in the

High Concept

Age, and we have the tech to pursue it:  Twitter and other social media  Daily newspapers downloaded for analysis  Museum school partnerships and Virtual Tours  QR codes attached to classroom activities  Student-designed apps  Khan Academy and similar on-line tutorials  Graduation in four states now requires one course taken completely on-line  Google Docs  Google Glass/Eyes – wearables, implantables, augments

 MOOCS – Massive Open On-line Course  Crowd-Sourcing  MIT Open Courseware  TED talks and ed.Ted.com

 Screencasts (ex. Camtasia Studio)  Voicethread   Moodle PBL ’s  Prezi  iMovie  Edmodo

Make it fun.

Fun Theory - Ice Skater – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1 Bt1xm4w_CM

“We went to school. We were not taught how to think; we were taught to reproduce what past thinkers thought….Instead of being taught to look for possibilities, we were taught to exclude them. It ’s as if we entered school as a graduated as a period.

” question mark and

-- Michael Michalko,

Creative Thinkering,

2011, p. 3

Consider:

It’s not an answer chase.

It’s a question journey.

“

Do they know how to ask good questions?”

-- Tony Wagner, The Global Achievement Gap , 2008

Techniques and Elements that Cultivate Creativity

Creativity is making connections between dissimilar things in such a way as to create something new. It ’s often about recombining old ideas and things for new purposes or perspectives.

From Professor Alane Starko in her book, Creativity in the Classroom:

Gutenberg developed the idea of movable type by looking at the way coins were stamped.

Eli Whitney said he developed the idea for the cotton gin while watching a cat trying to catch a chicken through a fence.

Pasteur began to understand the mechanisms of infection by seeing similarities between infected wounds and fermenting grapes.

Einstein used moving trains to gain insight into relationships in time and space.

”

“Consider Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. He did not invent the concepts of energy, mass, or speed of light. Rather he combined these ideas in a new and useful way.

” -- Michael, Michalko, Creative Thinkering, Machalko, 2011, p. xvii,

Combination and Re-Combinination

• • • • • •

Hall duty and Teacher Advisory Service Learning and Students in danger of dropping out Miniature Golf and lesson sequence Students’ cafeteria behavior and architecture Unmotivated faculty and farming, astronomy, or marble tabletops. Parental involvement and medicine

Grades are compensation.

Tomlinson: “ If I laid out on my kitchen counter raw hamburger meat still in its Styrofoam container, cans of tomatoes and beans, jars of spices, an onion, and a bulb of garlic [and told

guests to eat heartily]….

My error would be that I confused ingredients for dinner with dinner itself.

”

Tomlinson: “ One can make many different dishes with the same ingredients, by changing proportions, adding new ingredients, using the same ingredients in different ways, and so on.

”

“

Creativity is making mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.

” - Scott Adams, The Book of Positive Quotations

Our greatest Compass Rose:

Doubt

“It’s not what you don’t know that gets you into trouble, it ’s what you know for sure that ain ’t so.”

- Mark Twain

Writer and educator, Margaret Wheatley, is correct:

“We can’t be creative unless we’re willing to be confused.”

Do I dare disturb the universe?

Teams and individuals need clear vision for how to fail, even in multiple attempts, before succeeding. Be realistic: “Wow, this is taking longer than I thought it would, ” and constructive, “That’s one thing I ’ll never forget the next time I do this!

”

Taking Positive Risks

“The fellow who never makes a mistake takes his orders from one who does.”

-- Herbert Prochnow

“If I had been a kid in my class today, would I want to come back tomorrow?”

-- Elsbeth Murphy

“Nothing ventured, something lost.”

-- Roland Barth

Negating Students ’ Incorrect Responses While Keeping Them in the Conversation • • •

Act interested, “Tell me more about that…” Empathy and Sympathy: “I used to think that, too,” or “I understand how you could conclude that…” Alter the reality: -- Change the question so that the answer is correct -- That’s the answer for the question I’m about to ask -- When student claims he doesn’t know, ask, “If you DID know, what would you say?”

Negating Students ’ Incorrect Responses and While Them in the Conversation • • •

Affirm risk-taking Allow the student more time or to ask for assistance Focus on the portions that are correct Remember: Whoever is responding to students is processing the information and learning. Who, then, should be responding to students in the classroom? Students.

Tenets for a Positive Culture for Failure

• • • Academic struggle is virtuous, not weakness.

Failure can teach us in ways consistent success cannot. Initial failure followed by responsive teaching that helps students revise thinking results in greater long term retention of content.

When providing descriptive feedback that builds creativity and perseverance, …comment on decisions made and their impact, NOT quality of work.

The amount of risk someone takes in the work place is directly proportional to his sense of strong relationship with the person in charge.

Re-Do’s & Re-Takes with students and their teachers: Are They Okay?

More than “okay!” After 10,000 tries, here ’s a working light bulb. ‘Any questions? Thomas Edison

F.A.I.L.

First Attempt in Learning

Recovering in full from a failure teaches more than being labeled for failure ever could teach. It

’

s a false assumption that giving a student an

“

F

”

or wagging an admonishing finger from afar builds moral fiber, self discipline, competence, and integrity.

Rigor

versus

Difficult Difficult Difficult Difficult Difficult Difficult

Does providing more support mean it’s less rigorous?

On the contrary, providing support for complex, multi-faceted applications is MORE rigorous.

One way to embrace creativity…is to let go of comparison. If you are concerned about conforming or about how you measure up to others ’ successes, you won ’t perform the risk taking and trailblazing inherent in creative endeavors. -- P. 57,

Creative Confidence

, Kelley and Kelley, 2014

Build instructional versatility.

We can

’

t be creative with what we don

’

t have. Remember?

Participate in the larger profession.

Professional inquiry via personal action research projects, Professional Learning Communities, subscriptions to professional journals, participation in on-line communities: listervs, Twitter, Blogosphere, Webinars, Nings, and Wiki ’ s; professional conferences, instructional roundtables in the building We get more ideas/tools, and creative people are inspired by people around them.

Read professionally and personally

Write in the margins, make personal reactions to text. Share text/comments with colleagues. Occasionally do intense, focused time immersed in one topic via Literature, blogs, videos, lectures, and other resources.

Practice looking at objects, situations, ideas from different perspectives

•Argue from opponent ’ s point of view •Re-tell the story from a different character ’ s point of view •Imagine a day in the life of…(animate, inanimate) •If decision is made, imagine the response of different groups of stake-holders •Pursue methods to achieve empathy

Suspend judgment.

Humans naturally categorize and judge. Fight the urge to label or automatically dismiss something – which are both hard to do when in survival mode, agreed. Discern between exploring and judging, and lean toward exploration only. “Tell me more about…” “What would happen if we…?” “Have you considered…?” Choose “Yes, and…” over, “Yes, but….” comments.

Practice Complex-ifying. ‘ Really. ‘ A lot.

Practice turning regular and advanced education objectives and tasks into even more complex objectives and tasks.

Be careful to change the nature of the content/task, not the difficulty or workload.

To Increase (or Decrease) a Task’s Complexity, Add (or Remove) these Attributes: • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Manipulate information, not just echo it Extend the concept to other areas Integrate more than one subject or skill Increase the number of variables that must be considered; incorporate more facets Demonstrate higher level thinking, i.e. Bloom’s Taxonomy, William’s Taxonomy Use or apply content/skills in situations not yet experienced Make choices among several substantive ones Work with advanced resources Add an unexpected element to the process or product Work independently Reframe a topic under a new theme Share the backstory to a concept – how it was developed Identify misconceptions within something

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • To Increase (or Decrease) a Task’s Complexity, Add (or Remove) these Attributes:

Identify the bias or prejudice in something Negotiate the evaluative criteria Deal with ambiguity and multiple meanings or steps Use more authentic applications to the real world Analyze the action or object Argue against something taken for granted or commonly accepted Synthesize (bring together) two or more unrelated concepts or objects to create something new Critique something against a set of standards Work with the ethical side of the subject Work in with more abstract concepts and models Respond to more open-ended situations Increase their automacity with the topic Identify big picture patterns or connections Defend their work

•

Manipulate information, not just echo it:

–

“Once you’ve understood the motivations and viewpoints of the two historical figures, identify how each one would respond to the three ethical issues provided.”

•

Extend the concept to other areas:

–

“How does this idea apply to the expansion of the railroads in 1800’s?” or, “How is this portrayed in the Kingdom Protista?”

•

Work with advanced resources:

–

“Using the latest schematics of the Space Shuttle flight deck and real interviews with professionals at Jet Propulsion Laboratories in California, prepare a report that…”

•

Add an unexpected element to the process or product:

–

“What could prevent meiosis from creating four haploid nuclei (gametes) from a single haploid cell?”

• • •

Reframe a topic under a new theme:

–

“Re-write the scene from the point of view of the antagonist,” “Re-envision the country’s involvement in war in terms of insect behavior,” or, “Re-tell Goldilocks and the Three Bears so that it becomes a cautionary tale about McCarthyism.” Synthesize (bring together) two or more unrelated concepts or objects to create something new:

–

“How are grammar conventions like music?” Work with the ethical side of the subject:

–

“At what point is the Federal government justified in subordinating an individual’s rights in the pursuit of safe guarding its citizens?”

William’s Taxonomy

Fluency Flexibility Originality Elaboration Risk Taking Complexity Curiosity Imagination

Frank Williams ’ Taxonomy of Creative Thinking

Fluency – We generate as many ideas and responses as we can Example Task: Choose one of the simple machines we’ve studied (wheel and axle, screw, wedge, lever, pulley, and inclined plane), and list everything in your home that uses it to operate, then list as many items in your home as you can that use more than one simple machine in order to operate. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Flexibility – We categorize ideas, objects, and learning by thinking divergently about them Example Task: Design a classification system for the items on your list.

Frank Williams ’ Taxonomy of Creative Thinking

Originality – We create clever and often unique responses to a prompt Example Task: Define life and non-life. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Elaboration – We expand upon or stretch an idea or thing, building on previous thinking Example: What inferences about future algae growth can you make, given the three graphs of data from our experiment?

Frank Williams ’ Taxonomy of Creative Thinking

Risk Taking – We take chances in our thinking, attempting tasks for which the outcome is unknown Example: Write a position statement on whether or not genetic engineering of humans should be funded by the United States government. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Complexity – We create order from chaos, we explore the logic of a situation, we integrate additional variables or aspects of a situation, contemplate connections Example: Analyze how two different students changed their lab methodology to prevent data contamination.

Frank Williams ’ Taxonomy of Creative Thinking

Curiosity – We pursue guesses, we wonder about varied elements, we question.

Example: What would you like to ask someone who has lived aboard the International Space Station for three months about living in zero-gravity? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Imagination – We visualize ideas and objects, we go beyond just what we have in front of us Example: Imagine building an undersea colony for 500 citizens, most of whom are scientists, a kilometer below the ocean’s surface. What factors would you have to consider when building and maintaining the colony and the happiness of its citizens?

Steal, borrow, and steal some more.

Incorporate others ’ work and ideas in your own. From T.S. Eliot: “ Immature poets imitate. Mature poets steal.

”

Share freely.

We are often better served by connecting ideas than we are by protecting them. (P. 22, Johnson) P.61 – “ Instead, most important ideas emerged during regular lab meetings, where a dozen or so researchers would gather and informally present and discuss their latest work. If you looked at the map of idea formation….,

the ground zero of innovation was not the microscope. It was the conference

table.

” The Fox televsion show, “ House, ” frequently. used this model

Children are creative because their filters and censors haven ’t activated yet.

“You are seven years old, and school is canceled. You have the entire day to yourself. What would you do? Where would you go? Who would you see?

” Two groups, one with these instructions and one with the same instruction minus the first sentence. Both groups wrote ideas for ten minutes. Then given various tests of creativity, such as generating alternative uses for an old car tire or a brick. The group that experienced imagining being seven years old came up with twice as many ideas a the other group. (P. 110, Lehrer)

1 1 1 2 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 1 3 1 2 2 1 1 1 3 1 1 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 3 2 1 3 2 1 1

Discern the Pattern and Fill in the Last Row of Numbers

- From,

Creative Thinkering

, 2011, Michael Michalko, p. 44

Regularly do automatic tasks and let the mind roam.

Walk, run, drive a long distance without listening to music, take an extended shower or bath, wash a lot of dishes, mow the lawn, weed the garden, paint a room, crochet, clean gutters, shovel snow, stare at the ocean, watch birds for 45 minutes, swim freestyle, water walk, or tread water for an extended time. All of these put us in a more associative state.

Do activities that have no extrinsic reward associated with them.

In Drive, Daniel Pink reminds us that, “ Rewards, by their very nature, narrow our focus.

” (p. 44) Creativity happens more often because people are curious, not because it satisfies financial incentives. Yes, we do some things in order to increase our salary step or receive a bonus, but creativity is usually a casualty of such approaches. Teachers can write articles and blogs on topics they enjoy, not just on topics that get pay. As we have time and interest, we can mentor new teachers, sponsor a club or sport of interest, write articles and blogs on topics of interest, and we can participate in training and teach a class about ELL, gifted, technology, coding, library/media services, learning disabilities, and drama.

Ask the larger questions of what we do and why we do it.

•Whose voices aren ’ t heard in our deliberations?

•How are our current structures limiting student achievement?

•What does this classroom incorporate what we know about how the mind best learns?

•What is the role of homework? ‘ Grading?

•Do teachers feel valued? •Will time on task increase achievement or is it the type of task we assign that increases achievement ?

Publicly declare your teaching philosophy and Invite professional critique.

Come across as accessible and inviting of critique. Enjoy the interaction between teacher and critic. This is where most of the transformation occurs: not only in the information offered by the one critiquing, but in the back-and-forth between the two people involved. This is hard, of course, because in order to accept a new idea teachers have to first admit what they were doing was ineffective or wrong. What goes unlearned by students because we weren ’ t open to critique?

Challenge assumptions.

Get your personal Socrates going. Why can ’t students re-do final exams? Look at limitations of the research study, and ask to see the raw data from which conclusions are drawn. Are we sure the classic was symbolizing man ’s inhumanity to man? Develop data analysis skills. Look for what the writer/speaker is NOT saying just as much as for what he IS saying. Ask colleagues to articulate positions thoroughly – Don’t let them get away with generalizations. Explore layered meanings, consider the source of information and possible bias.

Reframe the question or endeavor. “Instead of trying to invent a better mousetrap,…look at other ways to mouseproof your home. Maybe the mousetrap isn ’t really the problem.” “People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole!

”

(p. 101, 102),

Creative Confidence

What would this look like in schools?

Re-frame: •

How can I get students to pay attention to the lesson?

•

How can I get parents off my back?

•

How can I find the time to teach these standards?

•

How can I teach this many students in one classroom?

Sleep.

Seriously, ‘a lot. Sleep aids creativity in many ways: It creates the relaxed, associative state of mind. It improves alertness, working and long term memory, and positive, “Can do” attitude. It may be one of the most influential factors in thinking.

Creativity is Powerful, but Meaning also Matters!

An English professor wrote the words,

“

A woman without her man is nothing,

”

on the blackboard and directed the students to punctuate it correctly. The men wrote:

“

A woman, without her man, is nothing,

”

while the women wrote,

“

A woman: without her, man is nothing.

”

----------------------------------------------

“

Let

’

s eat, Dad!

” “

Let

’

s eat Dad.

”

Meaningful Arrangement and Patterns are Everything

d-a-o-o-u-i-d-y-v-l-e “I love you, Dad.”

“ To a person uninstructed in natural history, his country or seaside stroll is a walk through a gallery filled with wonderful works of art, nine-tenths of which have their faces turned to the wall.

” -- Thomas Huxley, 1854

Expertise increases engagement and understanding.

(Physics students example)

‘Put another way:

Chance favors the prepared mind.

-- Pasteur

Yes, teach students to memorize content.

We can ’t be creative with what we don ’t have.

Which one leads to more learning of how microscopes work?

1. Kellen plays with the microscope, trying out all of its parts, then reads an article about how microscopes work and answers eight comprehension questions about its content.

2. Kellen reads the article about how microscopes work, answers eight comprehension questions about its content, then plays with the microscope, trying out all of its parts.

Worthy they were, Rafael, Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Donatello.

Theirs

’

a chromatic and plumed rebirth,

‘

A daring reflection upon man. Beyond Hastings and a Wife

’

s tale in Canterbury, Galileo thrust at more than Windmills, He, Copernicus Gravitas. And for the spectre of debate, religion blinked then jailed, errant no more, thereby errant forever.

Cousin to Pericles, Son of Alexander, The cosmology of Adam fanned for all, feudal plains trampled by trumpeters, man and woman lay awake - calves on wobbly legs, staring at new freedom and Gutenberg

’

s promise.

Creating Background Where There is None • • • • Tell the story of the Code of Hammurabi before discussing the Magna Charta. Before studying the detailed rules of baseball, play baseball.

Before reading about how microscopes work, play with micros copes. Before reading the Gettysburg Address, inform students that Lincoln was dedicating a cemetery.

Creating Background Where There is None • • • • Before reading a book about a military campaign or a murder mystery with references to chess, play Chess with a student in front of the class, or teach them the basic rules, get enough boards, and ask the class to play. In math, we might remind students of previous patterns as they learn new ones. Before teaching students factorization, we ask them to review what they know about prime numbers. In English class, ask students, “

How is this story protagonist moving in a different direction than the last story

’

s protagonist?

” ’

s

In science, ask students, “

We reduces carbon dioxide to sugars and oxidizes water into oxygen, so what do you think the reverse of this process called,

‘

respiration,

’

does?

” ’

ve seen how photosynthesis

• • • • Chess masters can store over 100,000 different patterns of pieces in long term memory. Chess players get good by playing thousands of games!

Experts think in relationships, patterns, chunks, novices keep things individual pieces.

Physics experiment in categorization… Solid learning comes from when students make the connections, not when we tell them about them.

Exposure to a wide array of experiences creates is the basis for creative solutions. Insulation embalms the sentiment that the world we know is the only one that matters.

To create meaning in students

’

learning experiences:

•

Connect new learning to previous learning

•

Connect new learning to students

’

backgrounds - Sousa:

“

If we expect students to find meaning, we need to be certain that today

’

s curriculum contains connections to their past experiences, not just ours.

”

(p. 49)

•

Model how the skill or concept is used

•

Demonstrate how the content or skills create leverage (how it gains us something) in other subjects

•

Include a,

“

So, why should we learn this?

”

lesson section in every major

•

Increase the emotional connections

•

Create more access points in the mind

•

Prime the brain

•

Separate and combine knowledge: analyze, synthesize

“The Inner Net” - David Bowden

Finger Mitosis

Vividness

• • • • •

“a lot” – Running to each wall to shout, “a” and “lot,” noting space between Comparing Constitutions – Former Soviet Union and the U.S. – names removed Real skeletons, not diagrams Simulations Writing Process described while sculpting with clay

Have Some Fun – Anything Can Be A Metaphor!

• • • • • •

An apple

a star (the birth place of energy on our planet) in the middle (the seed pattern makes a star if we cut it the right way) we must break the surface to get to the juicy good parts the outside doesn ’ t reveal what lies inside the apple becomes soft and mushy over time the apple can be tart or sweet depending on its family background its parts are used to create multiple products

A cell phone

• • • • • • • • • lifeline to the larger world an unapologetic taskmaster an unfortunate choice of gods a rude child that interrupts just when he shouldn ’ t a rite of passage a declaration of independence a secret language encoder (text messaging abbreviations unknown to adults) delineation of generations

• • • • • • •

A pencil sharpener

Whittler of pulp Tool diminisher Mouth of a sawdust monster Eater of brain translators Cranking something to precision Writing re-energizer Scantron test enabler

Curtains

• • • • • • • Wall between fantasy and reality Denied secrets Anticipation Arbiter of suspense Making a house a home Vacuum cleaner antagonist Cat ’ s “ Jungle Gym ”

Railroad

• Circulatory system of the country • Enforcer of Manifest Destiny • Iron monster • Unforgiving mistress to a hobo • Lifeline • Economic renewal • Relentless beast • Mechanical blight • Movie set • A foreshadow of things to come • A hearkening to the past

Body Analogies

• Fingers and hands can be associated with dexterity, omnidirectional aspects, working in unison and individually, flexibility, or artwork. • Feet can relate to things requiring “ footwork ” or journey. • Anything that expresses passion, feeling, pumping, supplying, forcing, life, or rhythm could be analogous to the heart. • Those concepts that provide structure and/or support for other things are analogous to the spinal column.

Body Analogies

• Those things that protect are similar to the rib cage and cranium. • The pancreas and stomach provide enzymes that break things down, the liver filters things, the peristalsis of the esophagus pushes things along in a wave-like muscle action. • Skin’s habit of regularly releasing old, used cells and replacing them with new cells from underneath keeps it healthy, flexible, and able to function.

Body Sculptures (Statues) “Frozen Tableau” At your table groups, identify one concept, principle, or idea from yesterday. Then, using every person

’

s body, create a frozen tableau that symbolically represents the concept, principle, or idea. Evaluative Criteria:

•

It

’

s comprehensive of the idea – It represents all of it, not just a portion of it.

•

Once viewer

’

s know what it is, nothing in the sculpture would create a misunderstanding of the concept, principle, or idea.

•

Every member of your group can explain the different elements of the sculpture.

Metaphors Break Down

“

You can

’

t think of feudalism as a ladder because you can climb up a ladder. The feudal structure is more like sedimentary rock: what

’

s on the bottom will always be on the bottom unless some cataclysmic event occurs.

” -- Amy Benjamin,

Writing in the Content Areas,

p. 80

Same Concept, Multiple Domains

The Italian Renaissance: Symbolize curiosity, technological advancement, and cultural shifts through mindmaps, collages, graphic organizers, paintings, sculptures, comic strips, political cartoons, music videos, websites, computer screensavers, CD covers, or advertisements displayed in the city subway system.

The economic principle of supply and demand: What would it look like as a floral arrangement, in the music world, in fashion, or dance? Add some complexity: How would each of these expressions change if were focusing on a bull market or the economy during a recession?

Same Concept, Multiple Domains Geometric progression, the structure of a sentence, palindromes, phases of the moon, irony, rotation versus revolution, chromatic scale, Boolean logic, sine/cosine, meritocracy, tyranny, feudalism, ratios,the relationship between depth and pressure, musical dynamics, six components of wellness, and the policies of Winston Churchill can all be expressed in terms of: food, fashion, music, dance, flora, fauna, architecture, minerals, weather, vehicles, television shows, math, art, and literature.

Common Analogous Relationships

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Antonyms Synonyms Age Time Part : Whole Whole : Part Tool : Its Action Tool user : Tool Tool : Object It

’

s Used With Worker: product he creates Category : Example Effect : Cause Cause : Effect Increasing Intensity Decreasing Intensity Person : closely related adjective

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Person : least related adjective Math relationship Effect : cause Action : Thing Acted Upon Action : Subject Performing the Action Object or Place : Its User Object : specific attribute of the object Male : Female Symbol : what it means Classification/category : example Noun : Closely Related Adjective Elements Used : Product created Attribute : person or object Object : Where it’s located Lack (such as drought/water – one thing lacks the other)

Creating and interpreting patterns of content, not just content itself, creates a marketable skill in today ’ s students. A look at data as indicating “ peaks and valleys 80 ’ ” of growth over time, noticing a trend runs parallel to another, or that a new advertising campaign for dietary supplements merges four distinct worlds -- Greco-Roman, retro s, romance literature, and suburbia currency for tomorrow ’ s employees. – is To see this in a math curriculum, for example, look at algebraic patterns. Frances Van Dyke ’ s

A Visual Approach to Algebra

(Dale Seymour Publications, 1998)

A submarine submerges, rises up to the surface, and submerges again. Its depth d is a function of time t. (p.44)

d d t t

A submarine submerges, rises up to the surface, and submerges again. Its depth d is a function of time t. (continued)

d d t t

Consider the following graphs. Describe a situation that could be appropriately represented by each graph. Give the quantity measured along the horizontal axis as well as the quantity measured along the vertical axis.

Descriptions With and Without Metaphors

Friendship Infinity Solving for a variable Euphoria Worry Obstructionist Judiciary Honor Immigration Balance Economic Principles Poetic License Heuristics Embarrassment Family Imperialism Trust Mercy Trouble Homeostasis Temporal Rifts Religious fervor Semantics Tautology Knowledge

4-Square Synectics

1. Brainstorm four objects from a particular category (examples: kitchen appliances, household items, the circus, forests, shopping malls). 2. In small groups, brainstorm what part of today’s learning is similar in some way to the objects listed.

3. Create four analogies, one for each object.

Example: How is the human digestive system like each

household item: sink, old carpet, microwave, broom

Example: How is the Pythagorean Theorem like each musical

instrument: piano, drum set, electric guitar, trumpet?

Great Resources on Metaphors

• • • • •

From Molecule to Metaphor: A Neural Theory of

Language by Jerome Feldman Metaphor: A Practical Introduction by Zoltan Kovecses

Poetic Logic: The Role of Metaphor in Thought,

Language, and Culture by Marcel Danesi

Metaphors & Analogies: Power Tools for Teaching

any Subject by Rick Wormeli

I Is an Other: The Secret Life of Metaphor and How It

Shapes the Way We See the World by James Geary

Great Resources on Metaphors

• • • • Metaphors We Live By by George Lakoff

The Political Mind: Why You Can't Understand 21st Century American Politics with an 18th-Century Brain

by George Lakoff

A Bee in a Cathedral: And 99 Other Scientific

Analogies by Joel Levy On Metaphor (A Critical Inquiry Book) edited by Sheldon Sacks

Analyze… Revise… Decide between… Why did… Defend… Devise… Identify… Classify… Define… Compose… Interpret… Expand… Develop… Suppose… Imagine… Construct… Rank… Argue against… Argue for… Contrast… Develop… Plan…

Change

Critique… Rank… Organize… Interview… Predict… Categorize… Invent… Recommend…

your verbs.

One-Word Summaries

“

The new government regulations for the meat packing industry in the 1920

’

s could be seen as an opportunity…,

” “

Picasso

’

s work is actually an argument for….,

” “

NASA

’

s battle with Rockwell industries over the warnings about frozen temperatures and the O-rings on the space shuttle were trench warfare….

”

Basic Idea: Argue for or against the word as a good description for the topic.

Summarization Pyramid

__________ ______________ ____________________ _________________________ ______________________________ ___________________________________ Great prompts for each line: topic Synonym, analogy, question, three attributes, alternative title, causes, effects, reasons, arguments, ingredients, opinion, larger category, formula/sequence, insight, tools, misinterpretation, sample, people, future of the

3-2-1

3 – Identify three characteristics of Renaissance art that differed from art of the Middle Ages 2 – List two important scientific debates that occurred during the Renaissance 1 – Provide one good reason why “rebirth” is an appropriate term to describe the Renaissance 3 – List three applications for slope, y-intercept knowledge in the professional world 2 – Identify two skills students must have in order to determine slope and y-intercept from a set of points on a plane 1 – If (x1, y1) are the coordinates of a point W in a plane, and (x2, y2) are the coordinates of a different point Y, then the slope of line WY is what?

• • • • • • • • Unique Summarization Formats/Products

A soap opera about valence among chemical elements A “Wanted: Dead or Alive” poster about Preposition Pete (“He was last seen in the OverHill’n’Dale Saloon, at the table, in the dark, under close scrutiny of other scalawags…”) Compose a ballad about the cautious Massasoit tribe coming to dinner with Governor Bradford and his colony in 1621.

Interpret the Internet for Amazonian inhabitants that have never lived with electricity, let alone a computer.

Argue for and against Democracy as a healthy way to build a country – Provide at least two arguments for each position. Classify the Greek gods and goddesses according to three different criteria.

Predict the limiting factors for this habitat twenty-five years from now. Retell a fairytale of your choosing with one of the following concepts as its central theme:

–

“Courage is not the absence of fear, but the judgment that something else is more important than that fear.” -- Ambrose Redmoon

–

“A setback is preparation for a comeback.”

–

“The one who never makes mistakes takes his orders from one who does.”

Unique Summarization Formats/Products • • • • • • • • •

A comic strip about the mantissa (the decimal-fraction part of a logarithm) A mysterious yet accurate archeological map concerning the quadratic formula A field guide to the asymptotes of a hyperbola (the diagonals of the rectangle formed by the lines x= a, x= —a, y= b and y= -b in the hyperbola: x squared over a squared – y squared over b squared) A coloring book about Amendments 1, 2, 3, 4, and 10 to the Constitution A rap song that expresses the order of Presidential succession A grocery list for Taiga biomes A mural that accurately expresses the “checks and balances” nature of our Federal government’s three branches: judicial, legislative, and executive A sculpture or mobile that teaches observers about latitude and longitude A pop-up book on liquid and dry measures

“ Word Link ” 1. Each student gets a word.

2. In partners, students share the link(s) between their individual words.

3. Partner team joins another partner team, forming a “ word cluster.

” 4. All four students identify the links among their words and share those links with the class.

-- Yopp, Ruth Helen. “ Word Links: A Strategy for Developing Word Knowledge, ” Voices in the Middle, Vol. 15, Number 1, September 2007, National Council Teachers of English

Ropes Course Games

Ropes Course Games

Electric Fence

touching) (Getting over triangle fence without

Spider Web

(Pass bodies through “webbing” withot ringing the attached bells)

Group Balance

(2’X2’ platform on which everyone stands and sings a short song)

Nitro-glycerin Relocation

(previous slide)

Trust Falls

(circle style or from a chair)

Line-up

• •

Groups of students line up according to criteria. Each student holds an index card identifying what he or she is portraying. Students discuss everyone’s position with one another -- posing questions, disagreeing, and explaining rationales.

Line-up

Students can line-up according to:

chronology, sequences in math problems, components of an essay, equations, sentences, verb tense, scientific process/cycle, patterns: alternating, category/example, increasing/decreasing degree, chromatic scale, sequence of events, cause/effect, components of a larger topic, opposites, synonyms

A

Human Continuum

D

Human Continuum

Use a human continuum. Place a long strip of masking tape across the middle of the floor, with an "Agree" or “Yes” taped at one end, and "Disagree" or “No” at the other end. Put a notch in the middle for those unwilling to commit to either side. Read statements about the day’s concepts aloud while students literally stand where they believe along the continuum. Be pushy – ask students to defend their positions.

Resources…

• • • • • • • • •

Mindware: www.mindwareonline.com

(1-800-999-0398) Fluegelman, Andrew, Editor. The New Games Book, Headlands Press Book, Doubeday and Company, New York, 1976 Henton, Mary (1996) Adventure in the Classroom. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall Hunt Lundberg, Elaine M.; Thurston, Cheryl Miller. (1997) If They

’ re Laughing…

Fort Collins, Colorado: Cottonwood Press, Inc.

Rohnke, K. (1984). Silver Bullets. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall Hunt.

Rohnke, K. & Butler, S. (1995). QuickSilver. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall Hunt Rohnke, K. (1991). The Bottomless Bag Again. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall Hunt Rohnke, K. (1991). Bottomless Baggie. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall Hunt Rohnke, K. (1989). Cowstail and Cobras II. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall Hunt

Petals Around the Rose

The name of the game is, “Petals Around the Rose.

” The name is very important. For each roll of the game, there is one answer, and I will tell you that answer.

Petals Around the Rose

Answer:

6 0 10

Petals Around the Rose

1.

2.

Clues to give students if they struggle:

All the math you need to solve this problem you learn in kindergarten or before.

The sequence of the dice patterns has no bearing on the answer.

Processing Activity:

“

I used to think…, but now I think…

”