Just Read: "Your Creative Brain" by Shelley Carson, Ph.D

As part of an upcoming course on creativity, innovation & imagination I'll be taking next weekend, I've read a great book called "Your Creative Brain: Seven Steps to Maximize Imagination, Productivity, and Innovation in Your Life" by Shelley Carson, Ph.D.

I was excited to read this book because, when I thumbed through it, it had quizzes and activities and I really love a book that gets me up and doing things rather than passively trying to muddle through and make sense of some dry textbook. The quizzes are short and the activities do not take long and can be done a little at a time. Hey, I read it and I have four kiddos at home for the summer!

This book was nicely written and accessible with clear examples and humor thrown in. I really enjoyed reading the book--it doesn't feel like a dry textbook. That being said, this book isn't fluff. It is chock full of information about seven different creative pathways or brainsets all people have and can use in life. After identifying which brainset(s) you are strong in and those you may want to develop, Carson delves into each, clearly describing each in detail, the neuroscience of each, and when you may want to access this brainset. She then gives exercises that will help get you accessing these brainsets even more.

Now all of this cognitive mumbo-jumbo may seem a bit heavy for your summer beach reading, but this book is worth the look, I promise! As a teacher and a mom, I am constantly looking for ways to encourage creativity in the children around me. As an ART teacher, I am usually told by people that they aren't creative. I've always thought that this couldn't possibly be true. OK, not everyone can paint with oils or write a symphony, but creativity exists well beyond that! Creative does not mean artistic.

I was so inspired by the text, that I created a poster for the classroom based on Carson's ideas for establishing a creative environment (I'll see if I can make the poster available for download later in the summer--it's on my to-do list!).

This book is a wonderful tool to help you access creativity in your own life--no matter if you are artsy or not, and is great food for thought as you are planning for the next school year. Do you want to recognize, encourage and appreciate the unique and diverse talents of those around you and build an environment of creativity in your home, classroom, or place or work? Then check out this book!

Just Read: "Imagination First: Unlocking The Power of Possibility"

I just finished reading the book "Imagination First: Unlocking The Power of Possibility" by Eric Liu and Scott Noppe-Brandon. I have to say that I didn't know what to expect from a book on imagination--I think of myself as a pretty creative, imaginative person, so I didn't think I necessarily needed a "how-to" book on imagination to get me going. I also wasn't sure if people who aren't imaginative would be able to develop their imaginative thinking just by reading a book. 

While not a beach-read, this book is relatively easy to digest.
Do you need to own it? Maybe not, see if you can borrow from your library
and then make the call once you've read it.

The book itself is easy to read and discusses the 28+ Practices that people can use to develop their imagination. It isn't meant to be a how-to per se, but offer you some thoughts on creative thinking that you can then apply to your own life. The authors state that practice (actual repetitive "doing") makes the 28+ Practices more meaningful and, like working out, exercising and building your imagination is not about being "done" but about staying loose as you practice again and again.

What I liked about this book is that, although I'd consider myself an imaginative person and a creative problem-solver, this book helped me to outline some of the tools I use every day and have come to just assume everyone else uses too. I like the challenge of designing with limitations (Practice 6)! I constantly hoard bits of eye-candy and quotes and ideas (Practice 7) that allow me to create a bigger "pool" of ideas and inspiration from which to draw from. I love calling up my 85-year-old grandmother and talking to her about my schoolwork (Practice 10)--it allows me to get down to the nitty-gritty and think about the basics of what it is that I am learning or teaching that week.

I also enjoyed reading this book as a parent as well as an educator. I don't know it all and sometimes I can get caught up in the junk of running a household or getting through the lesson before the class is up and miss some of the little details with my children and students that would encourage creativity and imagination. I think this book encouraged me to slow down and make sure I am not killing the creativity and imaginations of the people around me (obviously, I would never do that on purpose, but when my child comes up to me at dinnertime to show me a picture she drew, I could take a minute or two to ask a couple of questions about it and really look at the picture--dinner can wait!). In the classroom, I can design lessons that help my students break away from the status quo of constantly seeking the "right" answer and allow them discern where right and wrong answers matter (spelling and math) and where they don't.

As an educator, this book provides some interesting ways of thinking and encouraging imagination in ourselves, our classrooms, our teams, and in our communities. Here are a couple of ways I am inspired to use the information gained from this book in my life:

• Watch what I say to people when they are sharing their ideas with me--make sure I do not "kill" their creativity and imagination. Use phrases such as "Yes, and…" to draw out their ideas and allow them to expand upon them.
• Take more risks in my creative thinking--ask "What if…" more and encourage others to do the same.
• Make more of my art lessons open-ended and allow the students to "finish the ending."
• Work more with others--collaborate.
• Focus on the process and not the end result.
• Create a safe environment in my home and school where mistakes can guide us.

I think this book is a valuable resource for an educator, an administrator, or a parent to not only encourage imagination, creativity and innovation in themselves but also in others. As a parent and as an educator, I know I have a certain power with the lives I am entrusted with. I want to make sure I am encouraging critical thinking, passion and imaginative learning.

Book Review, Kandinsky & Synesthesia

Kandinsky is one of my favorite artists. I love all of the colors and shapes and lines in his work. Just recently, in grad school, I learned that he could hear colors, something that is called synesthesia. 

Synesthesia is when one sense triggers another. This enhanced "5th sense" can manifest in different ways: some people see colors when they see numbers, others hear colors or taste a certain flavor when experiencing everyday noises or music. Just about any possible combination of the senses is possible. Many famous musicians and artists are synesthetes, Lady Gaga, Jimi Hendrix, and Duke Ellington, just to name a few!

When I was at my local library, I saw a book called "The Girl Who Heard Colors," by Marie Harris, a New Hampshire author. I picked it up and, to my surprise, it was about a little girl who has synesthesia. She hears colors when she experiences everyday noises.

When I read this book, I immediately thought of Kandinsky and thought it would be wonderful way of explaining synesthesia and Kandinsky's work to younger children. I was so excited, I started talking about it to my children and explaining that Harris has met other synesthetes. She often asks, "What color is seven?" to her young audiences. Most children won't know how to answer this, but some will say "yellow" or "blue" (there's no "right" answer for seeing a number as a color, it is personalized). My children all went "hmmmm," except for my 6-year-old who was playing Legos in another room and yelled, "Seven is black. Five is yellow." He says he only knows the colors for 1-10 and promptly listed them for me.

Does my son have synesthesia? I don't know. What I do know is that he has trouble hearing (he is partially hearing impaired) so I find it intriguing that he can see numbers as colors. I wonder if his brain decided to start making sensory connections in other ways. 

I think this book will give your students something to talk about. The story encourages seeing things from another's point of view and being sensitive when people have reactions to things that we may not understand. In one part of the book, Jillian is overwhelmed by the cacophony of noises in her classroom and puts her hands over her ears--the sounds and resulting bombardment of colors that she experiences are too much for her. 

Sometimes we think everyone is experiencing the world just like we are. This book does a wonderful job teaching a bit of empathy in a sweet way. Check it out!

I won! YIPEE!

So, it's no great secret that I LOVE MaryAnn Kohl's books, as a few of my lessons have been inspired by those in her books. Her book, "Discovering Great Artists" is one I constantly reference in my lesson plans. You can check out her website to see more of her books at www.brightring.com. Her website also has a section with free art activities. These are samples from her various books and are worth a look.

She also has a monthly newsletter she sends out with timely art projects and activities to do with children. I've been subscribing to her newsletter for a while and this month's Valentine's crafts are great!  One activity she suggests is having a Valentine tea time ready for when the children get home from school. I've done this before with my first son, but I had totally forgotten about it--it's on the agenda for Valentine's Day this year--I think my boys are going to love that!

So, on to my *bragging*...

Every month, MaryAnn has a contest where one newsletter subscriber is chosen at random to receive one of her books, and, TA-DA! This month I won! I won "Science Arts: Discovering Science Through Art Experiments." The book is 140+ pages, organized in the same way as her other books, with great indexes and icons that allow you to cross-reference the different types of art and science components used throughout the book.

The chapters are:

• Water & Air
• Light & Sight
• Motion & Energy
• Reaction & Matter, and
• Nature & Earth

Each activity has a material list and clear directions as well as a list of variations. There is also a blurb with a brief explanation of the science that is going on in the activity. The activities really straddle the line between art and science, and some of them seem like they'd take minutes to do, but are open-ended enough to provide hours of experimenting...

Even if you have MaryAnn's other books, you will be pleasantly surprised with all of these great projects. And this book is not only good for the art classroom, core classrooms can use use this too. I envision grabbing this book frequently during those long winter (and school vacation) days when I'm hearing choruses of "I'm bored!"

**Disclaimer: Yeah, I received this book for free, since I won it as part of a randomly generated contest. I wrote this post not because I received a free book, but because I think it is a book worth reviewing. Please check out my other posts and you'll see I do this from time to time with other books I've borrowed from the library and/or bought myself from various booksellers.**