Gabriela+Larrea

While we were on the scavenger hunt, I came to the realization that everything has a creative aspect to it. Once we found something creative we were finding this everywhere, we were recognizing patterns. Necessity is the mother of invention, we all know this popular saying, but as we were walking to our destination to complete the assignment, I realized that the Ecuadorean culture is very creative, and I think it has a lot to do with necessity. One way I think that my assumptions were challenged was because two of the members in our group are American and things that are “normal” to us Ecuadoreans, to them were unique ways of doing things. At first, we were all looking at different things, but then I took a risk, stepped out of my element and started thinking that maybe if I erased everything I knew, or the things that are familiar to me, maybe then I would have a different experience, and sure enough I experienced my city in a new way. I saw things from a different perspective. I took other risks, I approached the ice shaving guy and asked him if we could interview him and film him, and I asked the lady who sells food on the street if we could film her sharpening her knife on the sidewalk. I am usually shy and I don’t like to just approach people on the street. I liked the scavenger hunt because it helped me experience new things, or better yet, it helped me experience ordinary things in an extraordinary way.
 * Assignment 1**

http://foundationsofcreativity.wikispaces.com/Margarita+Delgado
EXCELLENT REFLECTION. I LOVE HOW YOU CONNECTED BARRON AND EISNER'S CREATIVE PROCESSES INTO YOUR REFLECTION AND THE SPECIFICITY WITH WHICH YOU MADE THE CONNECTIONS TO THE HUNT. BRAVO


 * Assignment 2**

The lesson didn't go exactly as I planned. I teach 3rd grade, and I think the students didn't grasp the concept of what a scene is. There were 40 students because we were on a field trip, and so I divided them up into 8 groups. While they were working on their "skits" I walked around and made sure that they understood what they were doing, some of the did. When it was time to present, the first 2 groups just acted out the word, all the groups after did exactly the same, even though they had practiced differently. I feel like it was still a good activity, the kids had a fun time. I THINK YOU NEEDED TO TEACH THEM HOW TO DO THIS IN THE CLASSROOM BEING VERY DIRECTIVE LIKE I WAS WITH YOU. THEN YOU NEEDED TO WORK WITH EACH GROUP THE FIRST SEVERAL TIMES YOU DO THIS. IN FACT THEY NEED TO REVISE THEIR IDEA 2 OR 3 TIMES OVER THE COURSE OF THE WEEK. WHERE IS THE 2ND LESSON?


 * 1) Write a summary of five main points you find compelling from these articles.

According to Ken Robinson “Creativity is as important in education as literacy”, and truly what do we have in education without literacy? We need to nurture creativity in our children because they are the owners of our future and their own. Kids are born with this innate creativity, but we as educators drive it out of them. Kids are not worried about being wrong and making mistakes, but our school system punishes them for this, and for being creative. We need to understand that we cannot create anything or make anything new without making mistakes first In education, as it stands now, we are helping kids grow out of creativity. Our current education system is very “squared” things have to be done a certain way or they are erroneous. Teachers want students who will sit and be good listeners, take notes and get As on tests, but we don’t realize that every kid is unique and that they all have something special to offer. We have this preconceived notion that the “intelligent” students are the ones who do exactly as we say, and get good grades, yet we forget that there are different “intelligences” and we need to appeal to all of them. There are three aspects of intelligence and these are that intelligence is diverse, dynamic, and distinct. The brain is not divided into compartments we all have one brain and this brain is part of our body. Why do we focus our attention to only one part of our unique systems? We need to educate their whole being, not just their heads. 2. Discuss how you nurture creativity in your students currently. Provide concrete examples. One way I nurture my students’ creativity is by giving them the weeks’ vocabulary words and having them come up with their own definition and part of speech as if they were writing a dictionary entry. After we talk about their definitions we up the real definition and compare it to theirs. I AM NOT SURE THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF CREATIVE THINKING AS THERE IS JUST ONE RIGHT ANSWER. CREATIVE ACTIVITIES ARE EITHER IN THE PROCESS USED OR IN THE OPEN-ENDED NATURE OF THE ASSIGNMENT. HOPE THE COURSE MADE THIS CLEAR FOR YOU. Other activities I’ve done to nurture my students’ creativity has to do with problem and project-based learning. At the beginning of the year the 3rd grade class was having trouble with word problems so my partner teacher and I created a special Problem Solving Unit. We told the third graders that the second graders were having trouble understanding word problems and that we needed to help them. The students came up with lessons on their own as to how they would teach their “students” to solve word problems. The unit went well and the are still using the method we taught them. SOUNDS LIKE THIS ACTIVITY DID HAVE A CREATIVE ELEMENT TO IT. MUCH BETTER. Something that I do all the time when I teach, and think it helps nurture creativity is that I ask questions while I teach so if a student has previous knowledge on the subject, they let me know, but if they don’t, they come up with what they think is the answer and I build on that. Even if they are wrong, there is always something in what they say that I can pick up. NOT SO OPEN-ENDED HERE, JUST GOOD TEACHING. 3. Finally list three understandings or skills you would like to learn in this course on Creativity. Three things that I would like to learn in this course are first, to be able to plan a creativity inducing activity in every lesson. Second, I would like to know how I could help the students who have a harder time being creative. Third, I would like to be able to get parents on board? HOPE ARTICLES, CLASS DISCUSSIONS, AND READINGS/VIEWINGS GAVE YOU IDEAS TO ADDRESS YOUR PERSONAL CONCERNS.

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 * Creativity is...[[image:creativity_is.jpg]] **

GREAT MULTI-FACETED DEFINITION WITH A FINE VISUAL METAPHOR TO ENHANCE THE IDEA!!!

.Josua in a box.

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I liked the video of Joshua in a box. The way I understood it was that Joshua, like many of us, grew up in a box. He tried hard to break out of this box, but it was very hard. At first, when he saw a way out, he was scared. Once he finally got out, I think that he felt alone, scared, unprotected, because of the new “freedom” that he had. He didn’t know what to do with this new “freedom”, so he started creating a box of his own. =====

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I think that my box is made up of emotional blocks, and environmental blocks. Emotional blocks, I think are my fears. Because I am not American, I have encountered prejudice in my workplace, and that has created a fear. I am afraid of trying things because I don’t want them to be wrong and draw attention to myself. Culture, I think is my environmental block, I also think that this has to do with being Ecuadorean and growing up in the states. There are things that would be acceptable in one culture, but not in the other, so sometimes I think too much and I don’t try new things just to be on the safe side. TAKE TINY STEPS TO TRY NEW IDEAS. WHEN YOU FIND SOME THAT REALLY WORK WELL, BEGIN TO SHARE THEM. BE AN EXPERIMENTER!!! =====

CAN YOU DESCRIBE THIS A BIT?
 * TED TALKS **

__**Math Problem 3**__**ZACK the Massai Pre Warrior with witch doctor powers**The caller is complaining about his constipated cow causing a lack of manure for the fields.To cure, the caller will need to purchase:4 shiny beads, 1 bead = $ 1,005 shell, 1 shell = $1,002 metal medals, 1 medal = $151 lion tooth = $ 50,001 rabbit’s tail = $ 5,001 lock of human hair = $ 0,105 red beans, 1 bean = $ 0,251 toe bone of a bat = $ 100, 005 shavings of eyebrow hair, 1= $0,10**If a cow is worth $ 200,00 should patient buy a new cow or save his constipated cow?** THIS WAS ONE OF THE FUNNIEST PROBLEMS ANY GROUP EVER CAME UP WITH. AND YOU WERE A PART OF IT!!! **Socratic Seminar** 1. How Can I help my students be creative, and be balanced at the same time? 2. TED Talks- How can I foster a creative environment in my classroom?

MORE INFO ABOUT THE ARTICLE AND VIDEO NEEDED TO SUPPORT YOUR QUESTIONS.