Creativity | Reflections on the Teche

Posts Tagged ‘Creativity’

Flow

Posted in Gratitude, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged altered books, Creativity, flow on May 27, 2014| 10 Comments »

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“May what I do flow from me like a river, no forcing and no holding back.” (Rainer Maria Rilke)

For the last two years, I have made an altered book using poems I have written beside my students. An altered book is a hardback book that has outlived its time, been discarded from the library, or left behind at Goodwill. I usually try to find ones with fairly large pages that are sewn, not glued, to the binding. I take out some of the pages and glue a few together to thicken each page and create space. Then I use Gesso and paint to cover the pages. My students have the option to make an altered book for their poetry project.

Here are a few of my favorite pages from my book this year. Vannisa found the sign, “Keep Calm and Write Poetry” that became my front cover. The marbleized paper was made using a technique with chalk and water. I covered some of my pages with gelli-printed papers. When I work on my altered book, I enter Flow, a term Csikszentmihalyi used to describe that zone of creativity one enters when something is at the right level of challenge. Flow is energizing and motivating.

Altered book cover

Page one begins with A for anaphora

Making a collage of printed paper makes an interesting background.

Images fuel my writing.

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Celebrating Healing, Courage, and Cupcakes

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Teaching, Writing, tagged author visit, birthdays, Caroline Starr Rose, Creativity on January 18, 2014| 9 Comments »

Welcome to Saturday Celebration. I thought it would never come. Yes, it was a long week. Yet the week was full of reasons to celebrate (and sleep late) today.

1. Healing
Minga, my mother-in-law, gets stronger every day. (Last Saturday’s post was about her successful surgery.) Here she is with cards from my students. My students put effort into their creations. They know Minga because she visited last year to present about her trip to Myanmar (Burma). Vannisa made a book of character traits while Kendall, without my knowing, wrote a poem for her. Brooklyn sent her a booklet of her own writing. This pleased me because it shows how far Brooklyn has come not only in her writing ability but also in her confidence. She wanted to give Minga something to read while she recovers.

2. Courage
On Tuesday, we had a Skype visit with Caroline Starr Rose, the author of May B. We had some technical difficulties. She could not hear us, so we typed our questions and comments. We could hear her. How delightful she is! My students learned so much about how to be an author, the hard work that goes into it, and the rewards. Caroline said being an author is a dream come true for her. When we discussed her visit, we decided to make a chart to remember all her advice. The chart became an acrostic of the word COURAGE.

3. Cupcakes
One of the things I love about teaching small groups of children is the opportunity to celebrate birthdays. I sent my husband out to get cupcakes for Emily’s birthday. He bought the ones with the brightest icing. He said they reminded him of Willy Wonka. The kids loved them. The girls made the icing into lipstick. How silly!

Silly cupcake lipstick

I hope you have found some healing, courage, and cupcakes to celebrate this week!

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International Dot Day

Posted in Slice of Life, Teaching, tagged Creativity, International Dot Day, Peter Reynolds on September 17, 2013| 7 Comments »

I discovered Peter Reynolds and his delightful collection of creative books a few years ago. I made International Dot Day a part of my classroom lore. Teaching gifted students allows me the luxury of having the same students each year, with some additions along the way. All I said last week was “Dot Day is coming,” and my students cheered. I gave them 3 choices for celebrating: 1. Create your own dot. 2. Present the book to a kindergarten class; or 3. Both. Guess what they chose? You got it, option 3. So our Dot Day celebration is only just beginning. I love that Peter Reynolds says Dot Day is Sept. 15-ish because we plan to celebrate all week.

You’ll have to stay tuned for more posts about our week. The first thing we did was, of course, read THE DOT. Vashti thinks she is no good at art. Her very wonderful caring art teacher thinks otherwise and honors her most miniscule attempt to draw by framing her small dot in gold. Vashti then becomes determined to make more and more dots, various sizes and colors. She even paints a dot without painting a dot. The most important thing is to sign your name.

Sixth grader, Brooklyn, read the story.

Each of my students led a small group of kindergartners to create their own individual dot.

My students had a great time with the little ones and want to make this a monthly activity. Their teacher was happy to have us, too.

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Some Dot Day links:

International Dot Day Website: Free Posters!

Facebook Page for International Dot Day: Share how you are celebrating.

The Dot Club

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The Habit of Play

Posted in Slice of Life, tagged 8 Habits of Love, art, Creativity, Ed Bacon, play on July 16, 2013| 7 Comments »

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Children have an exquisite capacity to play, to imagine, to create stories, to connect with nature, art, and ritual. When children move into an imaginative space in their minds and spirits, a world of possibility and promise opens up for everyone. –Ed Bacon

This summer I have been responding to Ed Bacon’s book 8 Habits of Love. The 5th chapter is what I’ve been waiting for, the Habit of Play. What a boring world this would be without play!

This week I coordinated an art camp for kids. Each day we made something new. Rainsticks, cardboard self-portraits, and wood sculptures. We read The Dot by Peter Reynolds and made our unique dots. This was the 6th year for our art camp, and I finally had the brilliant idea to make a “Free Time Activity Box.” One little girl built a park scene using pink paper, pink tape, some wood scraps, sequins, etc. We put a sign next to it, “Do not touch.” It stayed up all week. Finally we transferred the scene to a scrap piece of foam board. I was fascinated to watch her play.

A sense of Play is essential to happiness and a feeling of safety in this world. Ed Bacon speaks of the difference between childlikeness and childishness. “Childlikeness makes room for everyone to play.”

Recently a friend of mine, a colleague and young mother, died in her sleep at 41 leaving three young children. As you can imagine, there were feelings of sadness,confusion,and helplessness. Following the service, I watched as my priest lifted up her 3-year-old son. He smiled and bounced the boy up and down. “I love you. We sure had fun today, didn’t we?” A sense of play in the midst of so much sorrow helped me see the hope that lives in love.

Love always wins. When we allow love to be in our nature, Play helps us relax and see the beauty in God’s gift of childlikeness to us all.

Instructions for Play

Leap in the green grass meadow.
Blow bubbles into the wind.
Twirl a girl in a swirling dress.
Open up the blossom of a flower.
Wave to everyone you see.
Smile, it’s always contagious.
Run through the sprinkler.
Climb a tree.
Make a bird out of an egg carton.
Create a space ship from a paper towel tube.
Laugh, giggle, belly guffaw.
Spend time with someone you love.
Praise the creator of Play.
–Margaret Simon, all rights reserved

When we invite Play in to all areas of our lives, we turn away from our fearful natures and invite the loving self to reengage with the world and with the parts of our brains that imagine and create. –Ed Bacon