Creative Teaching & Learning

Can you picture the music?

Every teacher is familiar with students claiming to lack inspiration. Here, Philip Davis presents an infallible way to make that claim impossible – using images and sounds to generate ideas and inspire creativity.

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      string(309) "What if, instead of simply imagining the settings for their stories, your pupils were able to build them? Teacher Chris Waterworth explains what happened when he and his pupils used Minecraft to design, build and explore Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, and write their own story about the mischief made ..."
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      string(2673) "planning theirexperiments, the childrenwill still need a list ofvariables to keep fair, things to measure andresults to analyse, but they’re using Minecraftas the vehicle. You can find out more aboutthe success of these virtual experiments inmy article in volume 6.1 of Creative Teaching &Learning, along with other ideas for embeddingtechnology like Minecraft in science, mathsand computing.1Bringing imaginary worlds to lifeThe writing process didn’t really changemuch during our Charlie and the ChocolateFactory sessions. We still planned, wrote andedited our lost chapters, but instead of simplyimagining the settings in which our storieswould take place, we were able to create them.Minecraft engaged the children from the start;it gave them so much to write about, becausethey could actually see the worlds they hadcreated in their imaginations. We sometimesforget children cannot write creatively aboutthings they’ve not experienced.By using Minecraft, the children could buildtheir own factories and use them as the basisand inspiration for their writing. The technologybenefited all of my pupils, giving my reluctantwriters something write about and allowingmy confident writers to push their creativeminds further.Chris Waterworth has been teaching forover ten years, using technology in hisclassrooms since the very beginning.He currently teaches at a primaryschool in Nantwich, Cheshire. For moretechnological teaching approaches, visitChris’s blog at videoformyclassroom.blogspot.co.uk or follow him on Twitter@chriswaterworth.Knowledge trails1. A teacher’s guide to Minecraft in the classroom – Whatis Minecraft, and how can the astounding creativity of thisdeceptively simple game be harnessed in the classroom? RayChambers explains.library.teachingtimes.com/articles/teachers_guide_to_minecraft2. Can you picture the music? – Every teacher is familiar withstudents claiming to lack inspiration. Philip Davis presents aninfallible way to make that claim impossible – using imagesand sounds to generate ideas and inspire creativity.library.teachingtimes.com/articles/can-you-picture-the-musicReferences1. Waterworth, C. (2015) How to embedtechnology in science and maths.Creative Teaching & Learning, vol.6(1), pp30-36.http://www.videoformyclassroom.blogspot.co.ukhttp://www.videoformyclassroom.blogspot.co.ukhttp://library.teachingtimes.com/articles/teachers_guide_to_minecrafthttp://library.teachingtimes.com/articles/teachers_guide_to_minecrafthttp://library.teachingtimes.com/articles/can-you-picture-the-musichttp://library.teachingtimes.com/articles/can-you-picture-the-music"
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Creative Teaching & Learning

Using Minecraft to inspire creative writing

28 Jul 2016

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      string(1481) "multi-themedpoetry collections, such as:n A First Poetry Book, by Pie Corbett and Gaby Morgann The Poetry Chest, by John Fostern The Works 1-4 series from Pan Macmillan.Knowledge trails1. Children, poetry and thinking – Anthony Wilson offerssome insights into wordplay to encourage different kinds ofthinking in children’s approach to writing poetry.library.teachingtimes.com/articles/children-poetry-ttc42. Can you picture the music? – Every teacher is familiarwith students claiming to lack inspiration. Here Philip Davispresents an infallible way to make that claim impossible– using images and sounds to generate ideas and inspirecreativity.library.teachingtimes.com/articles/can-you-picture-the-musicmailto:katewilliams.poetry@gmail.commailto:katewilliams.poetry@gmail.comhttps://poemsforfun.wordpress.comhttps://poemsforfun.wordpress.comhttp://all-free-download.comhttps://pixabay.com/https://pixabay.com/https://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/https://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/http://www.mylearning.orghttp://www.tes.co.ukhttp://www.tes.co.ukhttp://library.teachingtimes.com/articles/children-poetry-ttc4http://library.teachingtimes.com/articles/can-you-picture-the-musichttp://library.teachingtimes.com/articles/can-you-picture-the-musicFocuson: English34Volume5.4nCreativeTeaching&LearningKey Stage 1 example poetry frame35Volume5.4nCreativeTeaching&LearningFocuson: EnglishKey Stage 2 example poetry frame"
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Creative Teaching & Learning

Using the arts to inspire poetry

23 Jul 2015

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Creative Teaching & Learning

Writing with music

15 Aug 2014

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      string(390) "... more information orcontact Jeffrey at jeffreyppflaum@gmail.comFind out what happened when Jeffrey and hisstudents moved on to the second half of theirproject, writing with music, in the next issue ofCreative Teaching and Learning magazine.Knowledge trails1) Can you picture the music? – Everyteacher is familiar with students claiming tolack inspiration ..."
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      string(1973) "types of music whilecontemplating their experiences. Afterward, the children would think about whatthey experienced during the music and contemplation session. Music wouldbecome an inspiration and trigger for deeper thinking, visualising, reflecting,and writing.The counting technique detailed in this article led the children to a wide rangeof inner experiences in the mind and imagination. Now,when they started music writing, the children would beaware of and completely at ease with the inside world.Jeffrey Pflaum is a writer and former teacherwith 34 years of experience teaching inner-cityelementary school children in New York City. Visitwww.jeffreypflaum.com for more information orcontact Jeffrey at jeffreyppflaum@gmail.comFind out what happened when Jeffrey and hisstudents moved on to the second half of theirproject, writing with music, in the next issue ofCreative Teaching and Learning magazine.Knowledge trails1) Can you picture the music? – Everyteacher is familiar with students claiming tolack inspiration. Here, Philip Davis presentsan infallible way to make that claimimpossible – using images and sounds togenerate ideas and inspire creativity.library.teachingtimes.com/articles/can-you-picture-the-music2) Small steps to creative thinking – Cancreativity be captured in the classroom?Armed with the contents of her ‘creativetoolkit’, Louise Tondeur shares her step-by-step experience of seizing the creativewriting process.library.teachingtimes.com/articles/ctl32p3438smallstepstocreativethinkinghttp://www.jeffreypflaum.commailto:jeffreyppflaum@gmail.comhttp://library.teachingtimes.com/articles/can-you-picture-the-musichttp://library.teachingtimes.com/articles/can-you-picture-the-musichttp://library.teachingtimes.com/articles/ctl32p3438smallstepstocreativethinkinghttp://library.teachingtimes.com/articles/ctl32p3438smallstepstocreativethinking"
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Creative Teaching & Learning

Counting for creativity

21 May 2014

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