How Do I Love Thee: Final Project
Part 1
Seven Cognitive Tools That Can Help Teachers to Teach in a More Powerful Way!
Seven Cognitive Tools That Can Help Teachers to Teach in a More Powerful Way!
As an online high school English teacher one of my jobs is to encourage my students to think more creatively. By encouraging my students to be more creative, I am also helping them to become more engaged, enthusiastic, and imaginative learners. An increase in creativity should help students see and perceive the subjects they are studying and the world around them in ways they never knew existed. This could lead them down new and exciting paths to future learning. For some students (and people in general), becoming more creative can take a lot of effort and time, however there are seven cognitive tools available to help students develop creativity. Robert and Michele Root-Bernstein, in their book Sparks of Genius list these seven tools as: Perceiving, Patterning, Abstracting, Embodied Thinking, Modeling, Playing, and Synthesizing. All are important to the understanding and acquiring of skills that can help students become more creative.
Perceiving is the first important tool for developing and enhancing creativity because it involves using ones of the five senses in order to observe the world and to try to make connections that can stir the imagination and creative thought. Students need to be encouraged to use their senses when studying any content area. By using their senses they observe their environment in different ways that may allow them to see, think about, or understand a lesson they are studying in a new way. For example, in my online American Literature class I am teaching Aristotle’s Poetics (elements of drama) along with the play, “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller. My students are given material and assignments in the traditional way, which consists of reading the text, completing written activities, and watching videos. For the lesson, I would like my students to perceive the material in a new way, using their sense of hearing. I believe by listening to the play before reading it they will create visual images in their minds that will help them to see the elements of plot in a unique way. Instead of first reading about setting, they will imagine it as they hear the sounds from the audio version of the play. This will also enable students to create their own mental imagines of the characters. The first scene in “The Crucible” is very intense and for my students to be introduced to the play by sound, I believe will make their other senses start stirring! The students will listen to the play using Glogster Edu. As they listen to the play they are to think about what visual images they create and how their thoughts help them to understand the elements of plot (e.g., character development, setting, themes) and to perceive the material with their others senses. Below is am image of the glog and the audio links the students will use.
http://macpyle.edu.glogster.com/english-3-the-crucible-audio-1/
http://macpyle.edu.glogster.com/english3-the-crucible-audio-1/
Perceiving is the first important tool for developing and enhancing creativity because it involves using ones of the five senses in order to observe the world and to try to make connections that can stir the imagination and creative thought. Students need to be encouraged to use their senses when studying any content area. By using their senses they observe their environment in different ways that may allow them to see, think about, or understand a lesson they are studying in a new way. For example, in my online American Literature class I am teaching Aristotle’s Poetics (elements of drama) along with the play, “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller. My students are given material and assignments in the traditional way, which consists of reading the text, completing written activities, and watching videos. For the lesson, I would like my students to perceive the material in a new way, using their sense of hearing. I believe by listening to the play before reading it they will create visual images in their minds that will help them to see the elements of plot in a unique way. Instead of first reading about setting, they will imagine it as they hear the sounds from the audio version of the play. This will also enable students to create their own mental imagines of the characters. The first scene in “The Crucible” is very intense and for my students to be introduced to the play by sound, I believe will make their other senses start stirring! The students will listen to the play using Glogster Edu. As they listen to the play they are to think about what visual images they create and how their thoughts help them to understand the elements of plot (e.g., character development, setting, themes) and to perceive the material with their others senses. Below is am image of the glog and the audio links the students will use.
http://macpyle.edu.glogster.com/english-3-the-crucible-audio-1/
http://macpyle.edu.glogster.com/english3-the-crucible-audio-1/
The second tool that helps students to become more creative thinkers is called Patterning. Patterns are all around and can be found everywhere. Children at a very young age are taught to recognize and play games with patterns (many involving math and music). In order for students to become more creative they need to learn to take apart existing patterns or combine them to create new ones. By doing so, students may come up with original and imaginative ideas. To teach my students how to create new patterns for their lesson on the elements of plot, I broke down existing patterns to create new ones. First I chose a Wordle and word scramble worksheet to introduce my vocabulary words. Next, instead of using the traditional plot diagrams I used a bar, pie, and timeline diagram. My last new pattern consists of using comic strips instead of a PowerPoint, which combines images and text in a new, but creative way for students. Hopefully students will be inspired to look for their own pattern while studying, and in their every day lives. Below are images of the new patterns I created.
The third important tool that helps to foster creativity is Abstracting. When one abstracts they need to look at things in the simplest way/form possible or order to see things in new and intuitive ways. Abstracting involves seeking analogies between things that do not appear to be alike and attempt a way to make connections for a deeper, more creative and new way of understanding, thinking, or learning. For my students to better understand Abstracting I would like them to begin with playing the Sadlier-Oxford Analogy game found in the Sparks of Creativity Wiki, Ch 4, Abstracting. The purpose is to practice seeing things similarities between things that do not seem alike. Next my students will be instructed to search for concrete poems on Google to gain a better understanding of abstracting and how it can relate to the study of literature. I believe abstracting may be the hardest tool to understand, so the more practice the better.
Finally to further teach the concept of abstracting and connecting it to my students’ assignment on Aristotle’s element of plot I will show them how I abstracted plot (setting, character, conflict, symbol, point-of-view, theme) by using photos. For the next part of the assignment my students will search for their own photos to represent how to abstract plot.
My photos:
The fourth essential tool that will help to teach my students to be more creative is Embodied Thinking. Embodied Thinking involves both kinesthetic thinking and empathizing. Kinesthetic thinking involves using our bodies and senses to learn about and understand the world around us. Students must also learn to use their bodies to find solutions to their problems. Teaching students about empathizing is very important because if students learn to understand another person’s feelings and emotions they are able to connect with others in a compassionate way. This connection allows students to put themselves in others' shoes, which creates a level of understanding that enables a new way of thinking about things; this new way of thinking can lead to new and imaginative ideas. To teach my American Literature students about the tool of Embodied Thinking I chose first to introduce the study of elements of drama and the play through dance. The dance video represents (through movement) the development of setting, character, and conflict in the play, “The Crucible.” By studying the topic through movement, my students will be encouraged to connect with themselves, their classmates, in a new and stimulating way. This new connection will hopefully increase their creativity and imagination. The next activity involves a game that teaches about empathy. The entire class discusses the meaning of empathy and then they will be given scenarios and play a game that gages their levels of empathy. They are to try recognize empathy in themselves and through a new understanding become more aware of others, the world, and their place in it. Below is the link for the dance video and images of the game.
Dance video and link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMXiL8vmr_8
The game:
Dance video and link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMXiL8vmr_8
The game:
Modeling is the fifth creative tool that my students will be encouraged to understand. Students can use models to see familiar things in a novel way, which will help them to come up with unique ideas and to create new things. Modeling enables them to go back and forth between 2 and 3-dimestional thinking. This toggling between dimensions can help enhance critical thinking and imagination. This can help students to perhaps learn about and experience new topics that may not have been available before or easy to understand. For this part of the lesson, my students will use the Sims game to create a virtual world of the play, “The Crucible.” I believe my students will find this assignment the most fun! By creating a simulation they are transforming literature into dimensional models of their own making. By using this game, my students will experience two elements of plots (setting and character) in a new and very fun, exciting way. This modeling activity will enable students to become active learners and gain new problem-solving skills. My images from the Sims game:
The next tool, Playing, is an important cognitive tool that helps keep imagination and creativity alive. High school students and adults need to be able to use the childlike sense of play we once had to help discover new ideas or to see old, familiar things in a brand-new way. Our play will hopefully guide us to be productive in a way that can help the world and mankind. Since playing is an important creatively tool, to introduce my assignment to my online students I will first use a Voki. By using a Voki (speaking avatar) I am immediately starting my lesson off in a fun and playful way. This will grab my students’ attention and hopefully engage and excite them about the lesson. Next, I fill use an interactive poster glog I made using Glogster Edu to introduce the first activities for the lesson. Again, introducing my lesson playfully will get my students interested in the lesson. Voki and Glosgter images are below.
Finally, the last tool is Synthesizing, which requires a bringing together all of the creative tools in order to fully gain knowledge, but to also understand things using all our senses, emotions, and creative abilities. For my American Literature students, it starts at the beginning of unit when they are asked to first perceive. In using their senses to perceive ideas and thoughts about their lesson (assignments) they will create a desire (feelings) that will excite them and make them want to learn about Aristotle’s elements of plot and “The Crucible.” Put simply, as stated in the Sparks of Creativity Wiki, Ch.8: Synthesizing. I want my students to “feel that they want to know and know that they want to feel." By feeling this way, the lessons I have designed will help them to use their senses to truly understand and know the material they have been studying. In the end, my students should be able to apply their new set of creative skills to study and to learn in their other courses as well. Hopefully, they will be excited about doing so!
References
Analogies. (n.d.). Sadlier-Oxford | Educational Publishing from Prek–12+. Retrieved from http://www.sadlier-oxford.com/phonics/analogies/analogiesx.htm.
Create a Graph Classic-NCES Kids' Zone. (n.d.). National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Home Page, a part of the U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/graphing/classic/bar_pie_chart.asp?temp=4101005.
Glogster EDU - 21st century multimedia tool for educators, teachers and students | Text, Images, Music and Video. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://edu.glogster.com/.
Make your own Word Scramble Puzzle. (n.d.). ArmoredPenguin.com - Create puzzles and other diversions. Retrieved from http://www.armoredpenguin.com/jumble/.
Patterns All Around | Scholastic.com. (n.d.). http://www.scholastic.com/. Retrieved from http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plan/patterns-all-around.
The Sims 3. DVD-ROM.
Sparks - home. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://sparks.wiki.educ.msu.edu.
Timeline Maker. (n.d.). Free Math worksheets, Free phonics worksheets, Math Games and Online activities and Quizzes. Retrieved from http://www.softschools.com/teacher_resources/timeline_maker/.
ToonDoo - World's fastest way to create cartoons! (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.toondoo.com.
Voki Home. (n.d.). Retrieved November 27, 2012,
Wordle - Beautiful Word Clouds. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.wordle.net/.
References
Analogies. (n.d.). Sadlier-Oxford | Educational Publishing from Prek–12+. Retrieved from http://www.sadlier-oxford.com/phonics/analogies/analogiesx.htm.
Create a Graph Classic-NCES Kids' Zone. (n.d.). National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Home Page, a part of the U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/graphing/classic/bar_pie_chart.asp?temp=4101005.
Glogster EDU - 21st century multimedia tool for educators, teachers and students | Text, Images, Music and Video. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://edu.glogster.com/.
Make your own Word Scramble Puzzle. (n.d.). ArmoredPenguin.com - Create puzzles and other diversions. Retrieved from http://www.armoredpenguin.com/jumble/.
Patterns All Around | Scholastic.com. (n.d.). http://www.scholastic.com/. Retrieved from http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plan/patterns-all-around.
The Sims 3. DVD-ROM.
Sparks - home. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://sparks.wiki.educ.msu.edu.
Timeline Maker. (n.d.). Free Math worksheets, Free phonics worksheets, Math Games and Online activities and Quizzes. Retrieved from http://www.softschools.com/teacher_resources/timeline_maker/.
ToonDoo - World's fastest way to create cartoons! (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.toondoo.com.
Voki Home. (n.d.). Retrieved November 27, 2012,
Wordle - Beautiful Word Clouds. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.wordle.net/.