Freddy+J.+Torres


 * __CREATIVITY CRS 560 __**

//freddyjte@gmail.com //
__SCAVENGER HUNT __ I find fascinating human´s capacity to overcome difficulties. It seems to me that the greatest motivation to be ¨creative¨is necesity. If I could find a word behind every activity and need happening at the market it will be HOPE. Reflecting about these concepts and how to connect them to my reality. I would like to point out two important elements we should be aiming when teaching our students to be creative. The first one is ¨Need¨. As teachers we need to create needs for our students to solve. I think that when our students face challenges, they are pushed to be creative and solve them, in the same way, it leads them to use higher order thinking skills. The second element is ¨Relevance¨, We need to present real and contextualized tasks to our students. By doing so our students take their work to the next level because it makes their contribution more valuable and relevant. Great applications to the classroom. I TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOUR CONCEPTS.

//Here are the ways we chose to be **CREATIVE:** //

1. Someone doing an ordinary thing in a creative way. We saw a man selling his DVDs on a wall. He was using the wall to hold them instead of a shelf.

2. Three examples of flexibility as defined by Torrance. (Things used differently than intended.) A group of boys playing soccer with a plastic bottle, instead of a ball. A lady sitting on a bucket instead of a sit. A crate on a motorcycle to carry items. It was tied with a rope. He decided to adapt his motorcycle and save some money, instead of taking a taxi to transport his items.

3. An art form in an unlikely setting. Due to the catholic culture, there were several paintings of saints and angels on the walls. We also found red balloons that were put together to create a heart shape. Probably, after Valentines, the people forgot to put them down.

4. An inanimate object communicating in an original way. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Sculptures of Mary, Jesus crucified of baby Jesus displayed in different places of the market.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">5. Find a problem that has been solved in an original way. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">In the area where the meat is sold, there was a lady standing a platform so her feet would not get wet because she was washing the glass structure to sell the meat.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">6. Find something that Shakespeare would write about. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">We found the flames from a stovetop could be inspirational for Shakespeare to write about, as well as flowers and the sunset that was just behind Pichincha Volcano.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">7. Find a problem that needs to be solved. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">We say electrical cords hanging outside a box and could cause an accident.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">8. Find a basis for Mozart's composition. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">A man was sweeping the floor and the sound he was making with the broom created a rhythm that Mozart would use for his composition.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">9. Find something that your favorite singer would sing about. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">We saw two little girls playing with their dolls. We thought that any christian singer would sing about.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">10.Interview someone creating about the why, how, what, and when of the project. (I need a transcript of the interview. Find out about their creative process; where do they get ideas; what motivates their creativity.) <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">I made the interview and the transcript was translated by Veronica Perez.

__//**<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT **//__


 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">SPANISH **

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">1. Que cosas diseña?

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Diseno blusas, faldas, pantalones, disfrases.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">2. En que se inspira para realizar sus disenos?

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">En los figurines, o a veces me entregan el modelo, me lo dibujan y yo saco el modelo.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">3. Usted cree que esta es una forma de arte para?

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Como puede explicar este proceso de creatividad?

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Definitivamente es un arte porque creamos con nuestra manos.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">4. Hay algo que usted haya hecho sin mirar a un modelo?

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Tengo clientes que me dicen que disene modelos que les quede. Yo conozco mis clientes y se lo que les queda.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">TRANSLATION TO ENGLISH **

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">1. What do you design?

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">I design blouses, skirts, pants and disguises.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">2. In what do you inspire to make your designs?

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">I inspire myself by looking at models from magazines. Sometimes the client draws the model for me.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">3. Do you think what you do is an art form? If so, can you explain it?

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Definitely, it is art because I do it with my hands.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">4. Is there anything you have done without looking at any model?

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Yes, I have clients that ask me to design models for them and I know what it fits them.

<span style="background-color: #00ffff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">FINE HUNT. I THINK YOUR INTERVIEW TOUCHED UPON INTERESTING CONCEPTS BUT DID YOU GET AT HER PROCESS AND INTERESTS? **__<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">APPLICATION OF CREATIVE STRATEGIES __** //**<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Lesson Plan 1 **// //**<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">By Freddy Torres and Sebas Kasiuk. **// <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Grade level: 4

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Discipline: Language Arts

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Unit: Creative Writing

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Strategy: Morphological Matrix

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Objectives:

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">-To form a writing piece that creates a story that is original with value and meaning

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">-The ability to use problem solving and brainstorming strategies to develop character, plot, setting, problem and solution.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">-To show different styles of writing.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Strategy: <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">-The morphological matrix will be integrated to provide the students a basis for creative brainstorming. It is a tool for students to generate a plan to play with multiple scenarios.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">This lesson will be broken up into five days allowing an organized schedule of 40 minutes for each subject:

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">-(Day1)First introduce the concept of the morphological matrix. Create an example with the class using a story, movie, television show, etc., that is familiar with that group. Make a story board based on the matrix.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">-(Day 2) Divide the class into cluster grouping (3-4 groups). Ask each group to create their own morphological model. Allow the students to brainstorm together and fill their morphological charts. Make sure that as a teacher you don’t comment on any of the brainstorming activities (ex. Do not compliment anyone, and if so make sure you use the same word for all of them).

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">-(Day 3) Ask the students to now create their own stories from their morphological matrix that they composed as a group using the story board.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">-(Day 4) Ask students to review and edit their stories and publish final products.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">-(Day 5) Create a rubric as a class and ask students to exchange their final work amongst their group members and allow themselves to comment on their peers work.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Assessment/Follow up:

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The final assessment will comprise of both teacher and peer rubric results. Create a rubric as a class and ask students to exchange their final work amongst their group members. Allow them to comment on their peers work. Each student will share their final stories with classmates. I will use this lesson at the beginning of the 2012-2013 school year to introduce creative writing.

__<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 20px;">Class Participation and Reflection __
__**<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">PRE ASSIGNMENT **__

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Why is studying creativity important? <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">1. Write a summary of five main points you find compelling from these articles.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">​Teaching and nurturing creativity has its support on evidence. If educational systems claim that their decisions are data based driven, creativity should be a main component of the educational system. "The raw scores indicate that, in its first year, the school has already become one of the top three schools in Akron, despite having open enrollment by lottery and 42 percent of its students living in poverty."

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">​Project-based learning and Creative Problem-Solving methods are two pedagogies that respond to the issue of lack of creativity in our students. The design of Project based learning engage and challenges our students to be creative but it requires a shift in teachers' role as well as assessing practices.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">​Creativity should be treated it with the same status that literacy is in education. Our students learn how to read and write but are not learning to develop their creativity. Creativity is an incredible human resource that needs to be nurtured to look at its true potential.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">2. Discuss how you nurture creativity in your students currently. Provide concrete examples.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">​Nurturing creativity in my students have always been one of my priorities as a teacher. When I plan my classes there are always three main topics I use to teach language; technology, global issues, and environmental topics. I believe that students empower knowledge when their educational experience is relevant and this experience goes beyond the classroom.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">-My students and I have created a Spanish garden on the rooftop of the school building. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">-My students do their homework and post their work in different formats on the class wiki we create. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">-Currently they are preparing a script to teach people in the elementary how to recycle. <span style="background-color: #00ffff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">I LOVE THE OPPORTUNITIES YOU HAVE CREATED TO NURTURE AND ENCOURAGE THE CREATIVE ABILITIES IN YOUR STUDENTS. THAT IS WHY THEY PERFORM SO WELL FOR YOU.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">3. Finally list three understandings or skills you would like to learn in this course onCreativity. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">-How to assess creativity? <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">-Do’s and don’ts of creativity. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">-How does creative process work in our students’ head?

I THINK YOUR GOALS WERE MET BY THE CLASS ACTIVITIES, READINGS, AND LECTURES

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;">**__GROUP DEFINITION - CREATIVITY__** <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;"> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">** WHAT IS CREATIVITY? **

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: left;">Being a creative thinker implies leading to new insights, approaches, and new perspectives of learning and conceiving things. We all agreed that it is a process that requires good foundations and resources (Basics) that usually bring all kinds of results. As we nurture this process we should ¨remove¨as many negative perceptions. As a group we decided to use the illustration bellow to show the process in which creativity happens. While most of my teammates agree to represent Creativity process with this picture. I would have preferred something less schematic and more random since I am convinced that CREATIVITY is a more random process which usually brings a wide variety of different and unpredictable outcomes.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> GREAT IMAGE. I HOPE THE CUPCAKES THOUGH HAVE DIFFERENT FILLINGS WITHIN!!!! <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;"> __**<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">BLOCK BUSTING **__<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**__ACTIVITIES__** <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;">**Consider Joshua in his box.** <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: left;">//What constitutes your box?// <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: left;">//In short talk about your blocks to creativity: include environmental blocks.// <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: left;">//Conclude with what you learned about yourself when participating in the activities in class.// <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: left;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: left;"> While we categorize different kinds of blocks to creativity to understand the way creativity process happens in our heads. When I think about blocks to creativity, I see that there is a very close and intrinsic relation among all of them. Whether the origin of these blocks come from other people, environment, or ourselves. They represent a challenge at different levels that kills our creativity. From my personal perspective I conceive these blocks as the push I need to go ahead into the next level. I believe I have learned to deal with environmental and internal blocks better than with those social blocks that I still struggle with. I consider myself as a highly social person and at times I find myself worrying if someone will find me ridiculous or not when doing crazy things specially when I teach. In addition I believe that I am very competitive and judgmental which can easily lead me to evaluate others and their ideas and compared them to mine. Moving ahead, I would like to share two conditions the psychologist Carl Rogers suggest in order to nurture creativity.
 * Psychological safety by accepting the person, empathizing and not evaluating them.
 * Psychological freedom to think, feel and contribute fully.

I enjoyed every activity we had in class. I felt comfortable sharing ideas and participating with others. I was able to confirm which areas become blocks to me and which areas I feel less stressed when it comes to be creative. <span style="background-color: #00ffff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">IT SEEMS TO ME THAT YOU HAVE OVERCOME BLOCKS. YOU ARE FUN, A RISK TAKER, AND SEEM TO BE WILLING TO TRY NEW THINGS. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: left;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: left;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: left;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: left;"> media type="youtube" key="tmvIX85I1EM" height="315" width="560"

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;">
 * __MATH PROBLEM 4__**

Sebastian Brent Erick Nash Devin <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;">Freddy

THIS WAS A GREAT PROBLEM, CHALLENGING, ORIGINAL, AND ELABORATE. BRAVO. A NEW CAREER AWAITS YOU. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;">**__TED TALK- ADVERTISEMENT__** <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;">

A new way to think about creativity by Elizabeth Gilbert...
//**<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">A new way to think about creativity by Elizabeth Gilbert... **// <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: left;">I thought it was great all the attributes and personality traits given to creativity. <span style="background-color: #00ffff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">FINE REPRESENTATION IN YOU ADVERTISEMENT.

**__<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">CREATIVITY SOCRATIC SEMINAR __**

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Questions:
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">1. If you could create your own external source of Creativity. What will the source of Creativity be like and why? <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">2. If Creativity is a result of external source. Can we create strategies to take advantages of this magical moments?
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">- Elizabeth Gilbert: A new way to think about Creativity **

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">1. How do we create a learning environment where playing is not left out? <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">2. Can playing and higher order thinking activities be connected?
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">- The Value of Play in the Workplace **