Highlight the Essence: My Quest for Bringing Creativity into my ELA Lessons
January ushers in a much anticipated New Year —a chance to look back and look forward during a dizzying time for all. While there were unspeakable challenges in 2020, there have also been opportunities for creativity, collaboration, and growth. Back in March, when the pandemic hit, I realized that my elementary and middle school students […]
Beautiful OOps for Adults
Let’s play with Beautiful Oops!
A torn sheet of paper. A little drip of paint. A smudge and a smear. “OOPS!” Often times, children (and adults!) are paralyzed when they have an oops. However, what if we were to take an oops and turn it into something beautiful? This is the wonder-filled lesson of the children’s book, Beautiful Oops, written […]
Creativity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship:
The Difference and Why it Matters in Education
According to LinkedIn, creativity is the number one skill desired by employers. Companies like McKinsey, for example, seek creative thinkers and problem solvers, and many universities now offer courses that teach creativity. Examples of university courses include: Creativity, Innovation, and Vision Debunking Myths and Enhancing Creativity Creativity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurial Thinking Creative Approaches to Problem […]
Let’s Play!
A List of Children’s Books to Spark Creativity
When my children were young, I became enamored with children’s books. In just five minutes, I could have a cuddle with my little one as we journeyed through a delightful story full of fun and visually captivating characters. I would sneak off to garage sales on the weekends, where I could easily find used children’s […]
Five Strategies to Build a Thinking Classroom
Research has shown that children are able to learn more between the ages of 0 and 3 than at any other time in their lives. They are natural-born learners – curious, creative, critical, independent thinkers. However, the first time that many begin to doubt themselves as learners is when they start formal education in schools. […]
Student Voices
Listen to this podcast where our young intrepid reporter Elizabeth Kloek interviews three of her friends to discover what it is like to be a student during the pandemic. Elizabeth Klocek Guest Bio Elizabeth Klocek is a seventh-grader at The Seven Hills School in Ohio. She enjoys painting, drawing, playing with her puppy, […]
Creating Space When You Don’t Have Space
Take me someplace where we can be silent together. – Elizabeth Gilbert, The Signature of All Things While time seems to have multiplied as the pandemic rages on, for many, space at home has vanished. Prior to the pandemic, my husband traveled a lot for work. Now we are together all the time, attempting to […]
The Many Faces of Ms. Teixeira
A few years ago, while leaving my classroom at dismissal, I ran into another teacher, who gave me an inquisitive look, puzzled by my extravagant style. (I think I was wearing a faux fur hat, boots, dramatic makeup, a gladiator belt over a winter dress… and more). In good humor, I paused, looked at my […]
Four Books to Help You Understand the Field of Creativity
If you are interested in creativity, that means that sooner or later, someone is going to ask you The Question. You know, the one that starts, “creativity…isn’t that something you are born with?” After teaching creativity for twenty years, I have had to deal with this question more times than I can remember. As a […]
Know Imagination, Know Creativity.
No Imagination, No Creativity.
“Know imagination, know creativity. No imagination, no creativity.” -M.D. Ockuly collage 2018 How do you define or understand imagination? What words, definitions, or actions do you associate with your own lived experience of imagination? Through the lens of my own lived experience as an educator and creativity practitioner, I am very clear imagination alone […]
The Five Pillars of Creative Problem Solving
Introduction Over the last 40 years, I have taught more people to lead the Creative Problem-Solving process than anyone else in the world. When I step back and view the field from this perspective, I have observed that there are five “pillars” that support the successful use and implementation of the creative behaviors embedded in […]
Ten TED Talks to Teach Your Students About Creativity
Why Creativity? Creativity is more important now than ever before. In recent years, reports such as The Future of Jobs, from the World Economic Forum, and the Workplace Learning, from Linkedin, emphasized that creativity is an essential skill in the workplace. However, the importance of creativity is not limited to the work environment. Throughout humanity’s […]
When Lightening Strikes: Brainstorming with Pa
Background When COVID 19 hit this Spring, my wife and I agreed to homeschool our ten and seven-year-old grandsons for two weeks. Those two weeks turned into nine, and they were weeks of pure joy for everyone involved. My wife, Judy, was an elementary teacher and reading specialist for over 40 years. In my first […]
The Most Important Thing to Put in Your School Backpack: A Letter to High Schoolers
Dear High Schooler, A new school year is starting. I know this is a weird one. You’ve probably already gathered the materials you will need this year in your backpack, or in your designated learning space if you’re doing virtual learning. But there’s one more important thing you’ll need, this year more than any other, […]
Parenting During a Pandemic Webinar
Are you a parent who is juggling work, child care, and the possibility of online schooling for your children, in a world where we cannot predict what lies ahead?
No Punishment
Part three of our Creative Parenting Series. Read the full series – links within article.
E-teaching During the Pandemic: What’s Working for Me
Here are some of the strategies that worked for me; hopefully they can give you some ideas to implement in your class for a smoother transition.
Seize the Day: An Alternative Approach to the First Day of Class
Imagine receiving an email from your professor that only contains a poem. The email you received has no introduction, no set-up or context. Nothing! Not only does it not contain any instructions, but the poem is also missing its title and the poet who wrote it, for crying out loud! Gather ye rosebuds while ye […]
Collaborative Parenting
This blog is part two of our Creative Parenting Series. To read part one, click this link: Show, Don’t Tell. Ismet: When I was 10 years old, I started writing about parenting. I felt that there was plenty of room for improvement in how I was being raised. I wanted to make sure that when I […]
Engage your Students in Virtual Visual Arts: 13 Tips for Teachers
Some takeaways with action items that we can use to improve our instructional practices for our students. 13 tips that have worked for me in virtual teaching.
Show, don’t tell
Ismet: When I was 10 years old, I started writing about parenting. I felt that there was plenty of room for improvement in how I was being raised. I wanted to make sure that when I was a parent, I wouldn’t repeat the mistakes my own parents made. When I became a parent, I discovered […]
A Classroom of One
In the month just before Uganda locked down due to COVID-19, an 11-year-old boy called Mukisa wandered into my life. He is the son of our part-time cleaner, and my mom asked our cleaner to let him stay with us a while because he was really such a pleasant young man. Before we knew it, […]
A Beginner’s Guide to a Creativity Community of Practice
Forming a creativity community of practice is actually quite easy to do. With a little time, energy, and dedication, any elementary, secondary, or post-secondary school could have their own.
