Putting creativity back in education - my new project

Choose projects that improve your personal value no matter how the project itself does. Scott Adams

I'm excited. Find below the working outline for my new book project about creativity, technology, and education. I'm on a mission to return creativity to the classroom - for the good of kids. In my dotage, I've decided to only write about things that intrigue me and that I have have fun writing about. I will be learning a great deal during this process myself. 

Send me readings with ideas I need to share and your ideas!

(At the end of this post, a list of writings about creativity I've already published.)

Computing Outside the Lines: Developing the creativity in every learner (working title)

Winter/Spring 2014, Target length 35-50,000 words

Table of Contents

Introduction: How did Vasco da Gama spark my interest in creativity in education?

Concerns about creativity in today’s schools

Concern 1: Creativity isn't just about art.

Concern 2: Creativity must be accompanied 
by craft and 
discipline.

Concern 3: The world is not really interested in your creativity, but that's OK.

Concern 4: If we ask students to demonstrate creativity or innovation, we need some tools to determine whether they have done so.

Concern 5: Creativity is viewed as the antithesis of good test scores.

Chapter One: The Rise of Creative Class(room): Why is creativity is no longer a “nice extra” in education?

 How does Apple make its money?

 The creative class, right brain skills, and Luddites

Where are the jobs going and why?

What do national standards say?

How are schools doing in creating creative students?

Chapter Two: I Can’t Define It, But I Know It When I See It: What is creativity anyway and what does research say about it?

The 120 definitions of creativity - and one good one

Putting ADD students in blue rooms and letting them daydream - what neuroscientists say

Measuring creativity as an innate talent

Chapter Three: Let the Art Teacher Worry About Creativity: Why are schools are failing to create creative graduates?

First Grade Takes a Test

Extrinsic motivation and a fear of taking risks

Myths of creativity

Only academically “gifted” children are creative.

Creativity does not belong in core courses like math, science, social studies, English.

Creativity is fluff.

Creativity does not require learning or discipline.

Technology automatically develops creativity.

Teachers themselves do not need to display creativity.

Chapter Four: The Chupacabra Ate My Homework: What is Johnson’s Theory of Multiple Creative Abilities?

Csikszentmihalyi’s Big C and little c

Johnson’s Multiple Creative Abilities

Writing/Presenting/Storytelling

Numeric problem-solving

Graphic artistic (drawing, painting, sculpting, photography, designing)

Athletic/movement (Sports, dance)

Musically artistic

Humor

Team-building

Problem-solving

Inventing

Leading

Organizing

Motivating/inspiring

Excuse-making

Chapter Five: My Report on Vasco da Gama: Can students demonstrate creativity outside the arts?

All creativity starts with a problem

Personalized learning and creativity

Chapter Six: List Three Right Answers: What some simple ways teachers can promote creative thinking

Chapter Seven: Just Because It’s Pretty Doesn’t Mean It’s Creative: How can technology encourage creativity?

Technology and the Illusion of Creativity

Show a kid a movie, and you'll entertain her for an hour; give her a camera, and you'll engage her for a lifetime.

Chapter Eight: Not Everything That Counts Can Be Measured: Can - or should - teachers assess creativity?

Chapter Nine: I Stole the Idea From the Internet: Do educators need to be creative in order to produce creative students?

Chapter Ten: Change is Good, You Go First: Why do we love creativity but hate creative people?

Think Different ad

Overcoming our dislike and fear of creativity

Accepting the challenge of truly creative students and peers

Does your school culture embrace creativity - or stifle it?

Chapter Eleven: This is Just a Teaser: What are some other really good things people are doing with technology to enhance creativity?

Projects that promote creativity

Organizations that promote creativity

Resources

OK, that's it. Wish me luck and send me ideas.

Here's some stuff already published:

• "10 Ways to Encourage Creativity in Your Library ” Head for the Edge column, Library Media Connection, October, 2012
• “Developing Creativity in Every Learner“ Library Media Connection, October, 2012
• Concerns About Creativity, Blue Skunk Blog, Oct 3, 2007
• Engage or Entertain?, EducationWorld
• A Father-Son Chat (using CreativeCommons licenses with students), LMC, Nov 2007
• The Gift of Creativity, Blue Skunk Blog, December 26, 2005
• Teaching for Subservience, Blue Skunk Blog, June 20, 2013
• "Just because it's pretty doesn't mean it's creative" Blue Skunk blog, January 12, 2014
• "Assessing creativity" Blue Skunk, November 18, 2012
• "The Second Half of Creativity," Blue Skunk, March 2012
• "Not if but how a person is creative" Blue Skunk, February 25, 2010
• "7 ways to sell a creative idea" Blue Skunk, December 11, 2013
• "A creativity rubric by Ric Nudell" Blue Skunk, February 21, 2013.
• "Creativity without purpose? Experimentation without control?" Blue Skunk, April 9, 2006
• "You can't evaluate creativity using a standardized test" Blue Skunk, February 15, 2013

Focused, fragmented or ... ? Blogging advice

If you have an identified narrative that you’re trying to convey through your blog, each post should work toward supporting that narrative. Once you start writing to support that narrative people come to expect (whether consciously or not)  that your posts will fit with that narrative. Some narratives are obvious. If you’re setting off to sail the world and blog about it, then you won’t have trouble picking a narrative to support with your posts. Other narratives aren’t quite so obvious and that’s where most of us are with our blogs. ...

People generally subscribe to blogs for one of two reasons: to be entertained or to learn something that benefits them.When I look at my blog subscriptions (currently 250+) 90% of them are blogs that share things that can help me in some way. The other 10% are just for fun. I’m subscribed to zero navel-gazing, personal stories blogs. My guess is that your ratio of blog subscriptions is similar to mine. Richard Bryne The Blog as Narrative, Worms in the Fridge

Richard, the hugely popular author of FreeTech4Teachers and nice guy, offers a little advice on his new "Worms in the Fridge" blog for beginning bloggers. Having had lunch today with a young man who wants to write a blog and a book, his suggestions came at a good time.

Unlike Mr. Byrne, I follow a paltry 76 blogs. And while I don't expect them to be useful in a practical sense, I do ask them to be in some way enlightening. I like being challenged. I like being informed. And I do like a few "navel gazing, personal stories" blogs - especially those written by teachers who are working internationally.

I had been publishing professionally for 15 years before I started blogging. So perhaps I came at this practice bass-ackwards. Here is how I described the purpose of the Blue Skunk when it first got going back in August 2006:

... serves as a sounding board for ideas I am currently thinking/writing about. You may see some Blue Skunk entries as parts of a published article or book.*

As it's turned out, I've continued to write simply because it has been so dang much fun. I amuse myself on a fairly regular basis, and if when doing so I amuse you as well, so much the better. I love the comments - both contrary and supportive. And I enjoy the simple freedom of having no editor other than one's own conscience.

The advice I give beginning writers is always to write first for yourself. If you aren't having fun writing, chances are readers aren't having fun reading either. And when readers stop enjoying your work, they stop paying attention.

Have a topic or a theme or a purpose (a narrative, if you will) as Richard suggests, but don't limit yourself - explore. To me the most interesting posts (and creative) are those in which two unrelated subjects are used to illuminate each other. Say something outrageous now and then. If you aren't making your readers mad sometimes, you probably are playing it too safe. Oh, pretend you're an expert. If you're lucky nobody will catch on before you actually become one.  

One last tip: Don't take advice from bloggers. We're an unreliable bunch.

Cheating - and how to avoid it

A teacher contacted me this morning to see if our district's plagiarism guide was still available. Yup, the link on the website was broken (now fixed), but the document still exists. Here it is:

You can download the pdf here.

The guide was created about 10 years ago at the request of the HS English department. They wanted a common set of standards that addressed cheating, copying, plagiarism, and citing sources, etc. 

I think the document has held up pretty well. See what you think and let me know changes needed. And yes, the document is for you to use, modify, and adopt under CC license.