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Useful rubrics for assessing creativity & innovation Catalina rubric on critical and creative thinking (as well as several other fantastic rubrics): http://www.cfsd16.org/public/_century/centMain.aspx   Metiri's creativity rubric http://akron4.metiri.wikispaces.net/Creativity+Rubrics   A great blog post on the subject by The Science Goddess, one of my favorite Twitter people to follow: http://blog.whatitslikeontheinside.com/2009/10/curiouser-and-curiouser.html   Good perspective from a career cluster perspective: http://www.careerclusters.org/resources/institutes/cci2006/pre-institute/Creativity-InnovationFinal....  

Very interesting article from Newsweek about how creativity works in the brain, and how it can be trained in an educational setting. It describes a "crisis" trend where creativity scores in America are decreasing.

Too often, our students don't get the chance to think beyond the narrow constraints of a curriculum. The focus can be purely on developing the pupils to pass their exams, and not to creatively think how they can overcome challenges that they may soon be faced with. Teaching creative thinking is now, more than ever, crucial to prepare young people for future jobs, societal changes, and life situations which we cannot predict accurately. One thing is for sure, being able to creatively think is a life skill that will support them through the uncertain future ahead, and allowing space and time to develop this capability is essential, with schools well-placed to encourage growth.

One of the most powerful, misunderstood and under-utilized tools for teaching 21st century skills, is the Creative Commons. Besides providing access to hundreds of thousands of media works that can be used to augment the creative process, the Creative Commons offers a legitimate way for students to license their own creative works, be they audio, video, text or hybrid products.

Blog about 14 tools to teach about Creative Commons

Pays tribute to the people around the world using CC licenses to build a better, more vibrant creative culture. [QuickTime] [Theora] * License your work License your work * License your work Find licensed works * A Shared Culture * Berkman Panel (Dec 2008) * Building on the Past * CC Brasil * CC+: Creative Commons and Commerce * ccSearch Screencast * Get Creative! * Mayer and Bettle * Mayer and Bettle 2 * Media That Matters: A CC Case Study * Mix Tape * Reticulum Rex * Science Commons * Wanna Work Together? * Wired NextMusic * Jobs * Events * Newsletter * Case Studies * CC Talks With... * Store * Top * Blog * Donate * Policies * Privacy * Press Room * Sitemap * Contact

"While I did enjoy David Burgess' Teach Like a Pirate, and the hangout that she shared with us, I'll admit… it made me kind of sad.  Not because of the content itself!  But because of the hard memories it brought up.  I used to teach creatively and encourage innovation in my classroom like that.  When I graduated college, I was chock full of ideas and adored hands-on learning.  But my communication skills was parents was very weak and my administrator was a frustrated man who decided his best way of control was micromanaging.  It's a bit of a long story, but the end result is I was knocked down to stop being creative; to just follow the curriculum and to push worksheets. " Wow. As I read this teacher from Dr. Lee Graham's class (they are in gamifi-ed with my students) I'm so touched by how the teacher helps us feel what is happening to TOO MANY TEACHERS. Too many teachers are being pushed down to teach the wrong way. Worksheet wonders and we wonder why no one loves to learn. This is sad and must change. I hope you'll comment.

At the heart of teaching critical and creative thought is the ability to ask the right questions to students. In turn, they need to be able answer in a way that demonstrates their ability to see the parallels and intersections; perceive linkages between historical moments, between the period and the art, between the circumstances then and now; to comprehend the relationship between "us" and "them", between "we" and "they," and, ultimately, whether dichotomies like "we" and "they" are useful-and, if so, how.

A nice collection of videos to help explain Creative Commons to educators and students.

Basics about Creative Commons

Sir Ken Robinson's remarks were recorded on April 10, 2008, at the Apple Education Leadership Summit, a gathering in San Francisco of more than one hundred school superintendents from around the world. Robinson is the author of Out of Our Minds: Learning to Be Creative.

Google alerts is how we monitor our school brand. We use "Westwood Schools" +Camilla - this way it shows us everything for our school name and in our city. You can deliver to a feed or to email (many like email.) This way it will search and find things and email you when it finds it on the web. Lifehacker has an article on the creative uses for Google Alerts that you should read if it is your job to protect your brand for your business, school, or your own personal brand.

Creative Commons LIveBinder for many different links

"Free, open source version of Minecraft. Enable 'Creative Mode' to let your pupils to build as their imagination and creativity allows. Download for Windows, Mac or Android devices. The game is supported by a community and a huge set of mods to modify the game for individual needs."

Don't just ask students to "identify the conflict" or "note the setting." Use Respondo! to click up some creative literature response questions.

Use this tool in the Language Arts classroom to differentiate and create some creative literature response assignments.

Fascinating article on design thinking and an attempt to catalog all of the schools using design thinking. I do predict that STEM, design thinking, and creativity are going to become increasingly valued by parents and many who are disenfranchised with a testing environment that is rapidly driving everyone involved to the edge - particularly the students. "Mapping a global movement. A global movement is unfolding, and in response to the overwhelming interest around design thinking in schools, IDEO and the d.school have created a new directory - Design Thinking in Schools - to highlight the network of institutions that are at the forefront of this movement. The directory, launched in mid-October, already features a wide range of programs and resources. There's a mix of learning environments, from charter and district public schools to museums and summer camps. The programs are diverse, including after school "lab" environments and schools that use design thinking as the basis for subject-matter courses. "

Lots of great ideas on how to be creative in the classroom

Ideas for educational creative coding in the classroom.

Ideas for educational creative coding in the classroom.

via http://freetech4teachers.blogspot.com/2008/12/secret-builders-virtual-world-for-ages.html\n\nSecretBuilders is a virtual world for children 5 to 14 years old powered by a web 2.0 community of children, parents, educators, writers, artists and game developers. On SecretBuilders, children will explore virtual lands, undertake quests, play games, maintain a home, nurture a pet, and interact with their friends. Three features which form the backdrop for SecretBuilders distinguish it from other online worlds:\n\n * Children learn through immersing themselves in the stories, themes, and concepts from the best in literature, arts and humanities. They will interact with famous historical and fictional figures and be introduced to content and characters from world civilization and the great thoughts and ideas of human creativity. \n\n * Children will create this site, not just consume it. They are directly involved in creating this world with their ideas, critiques and contributions on virtually every aspect of the site and many of their ideas will be implemented!\n\n * Children publish their works - writings, art, videos - making SecretBuilders their own personal store of creativity. They can invite friends and family to view their works, and comment upon them. Seeing their works published and enjoyed by others instills tremendous for self-confidence as well as motivation to do more.\n