Usable classroom translation: Creativity can be taught but it builds on a body of content knowledge being mastered. Interweave information and thinking in all content areas; show real world applications, move away from simple, single-answer problems to encourage divergent solutions.
notecards and games to practice vocab - this is the site I was talking about the other day - I use it for all of my notecards - kids can download the site and I give them extra credit points on their quizzes if they take a screen shot of their progress on their iPhones (or other pieces of tech.).