Setting the stage for success in essay construction

Many learners find it difficult to synthesise information collected from different sources. Andrew Shenton and Melanie Wood share a method for helping students develop this important abstract thinking skill.

The Problem

A recent edition of Creative Teaching and Learning included an article that advocated a method aimed at helping students to combine, within the same essay and in a cohesive fashion, material from different sources.¹

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      string(2113) "general discussion about how the weather affects our moods, which seasons we prefer, how we feel to be inside or outside in rain or snow and so on. Follow-up activities, as mentioned at the start, can be students developing one of these nascent stories as homework, or for a group of students to develop a story together. Students who want to could also write the stories in a class book, or books, which can be kept in the classroom and borrowed by other students or classes. These need not be entire notebooks but could be chapbooks or folded pieces of paper. The idea is to have a physical copy of the work in the room and to encourage students to write and have their work read.Eliciting creativityThis workshop, then, is a brief introduction to the idea of eliciting improvised, spontaneous writing from students based on prompts. The more interesting the prompts, the more likely students are to overcome their reluctance to write. As always, the more extroverted personalities will most likely be those happiest to read out their work, while the more introverted will usually demonstrate originality and depth in their work but be more reluctant, obviously, to share it. Any teacher can handle this situation.In giving these workshops and others, I have constantly been surprised and thrilled at the adaptability and originality of young minds. For me, the imagination is a glorious, free tool we are born with which allows us to empathise with anyone who has ever lived and to conjure up anything and anyone we can imagine. If nothing else, this workshop should demonstrate to students that they have the whole world in their heads—whole worlds—and it’s all theirs.James Hartley is the author of the Shakespeare’s Moon series, published by Lodestone Books. The Invisible Hand is based on Macbeth, Cold Fire is based on Romeo and Juliet and The Unexpected is based on Julius Caesar. Although from England, he lives and works in Madrid, Spain, with his wife and two children. He can be contacted to arrange workshops or get other information at james@jameshartleybooks.com"
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Creative Teaching & Learning

Mobilising the Power of Imagination

3 Jun 2019

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Digital Learning

Digital Learning 1.2 Blogs of Note

8 Aug 2019

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      string(340) "... playful and LEGO is creative and playful so theyare natural partners like macaroni and cheese, eggs and bacon, Ant and Dec.Using LEGO minifigures as writing prompts makes perfect sense because theyact as the hook you need to draw children into a writing situation because theyreadily engage with them, see ..."
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      string(5721) "LearningStories98Volume6.4&7.1nCreativeTeaching&LearningJohn Dabell has discovered a number of ways LEGO figurines can be usedto not only engage his students, but also help them learn in a variety ofsubjects.The centrepieces of any LEGO are the LEGO Minifigures, also knownas a ‘minifigs’. They were first introduced in 1978 and since then theseinstantly recognisable anthropomorphised pieces of plastic have becomehugely popular and highly collectible. Standing exactly four standardbricks tall or 4.1mm, about 12 minifigures are produced every second and billionshave been sold worldwide making them the world’s largest population group.Until 1989, minifigures had the same smiling expression but now a greaterEnter theLEGO figurines!99Volume6.4&7.1nCreativeTeaching&LearningLearningStoriesvariety of faces are produced; some heads even get an extra face painted onthe back so you can turn it around and change moods.Minifigures make a massive contribution to LEGO because they add humanityto something that is essentially inanimate and industrial. What they help usersto do is populate their creations with people and this personification is verypowerful especially for the classroom across the curriculum but especially forcreative writing, maths, science and life skills.Minifigures, MaxifunWhen it comes to literacy, minifigures can act as catalysts to inspire writing andstories. Writing is creative and playful and LEGO is creative and playful so theyare natural partners like macaroni and cheese, eggs and bacon, Ant and Dec.Using LEGO minifigures as writing prompts makes perfect sense because theyact as the hook you need to draw children into a writing situation because theyreadily engage with them, see them as great fun and importantly, they actuallywant to write about them. Children can easily personify a minifigure and injectit with feelings, opinions, behaviours and reactions and give it a whole suite ofcharacteristics.The following writing prompts are just some examples of how a ‘minifig’ canhelp inspire children to write. The idea is simple enough: present the prompt orask children to select from a collection of prompts and ask them to respond bywriting whatever comes to mind. 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Describe how your minifig is feeling and what the minifigand dog do next.■ If one of my minifigs was a teacher s/he would let us….■ One of your minifigs has been arrested for stealing sweets. What does the minifig say to the Police?■ Your minifigs are playing in the garden when suddenly one of them is captured by a drone. Describewhat happens next.■ You are concerned that your minifigs spend too much time on their i-pads. What would you say to them?■ Whilst you are making a chocolate cake, one of your minifigs falls into the mixture without you knowing.What does the minifig do?■ A minifig climbs inside a discarded can of Coca-Cola to see what it is like inside when someone picksthe can up and throws it in a recycling container. What is the minifig thinking and feeling?■ A ground technician smuggled a minifig into the Soyuz spacecraft. Half way to the InternationalSpace Station the minifig make himself/herself known to the crew. Describe their reaction and whathappens next.■ If you could go anywhere in the world for a day with your minifigs where would you go and whatwould you do?■ Your minifigs are holding a dinner party. Who do they invite and why?■ Your minifig swallows a verb. Describe what verb s/he swallowed and what happened next.LearningStories100Volume6.4&7.1nCreativeTeaching&LearningThe writing prompts above can all be written from the point of view of a minifigrather than children describing what they see happening it and in many waysthis is more rewarding and exciting. Of course minifigures can be used in awhole variety of ways beyond writing prompts. Ask children to imagine thatfour minifigures meet for the first time. Can they create a dialogue betweenthem and write a script? Children love nothing more than creating a characterprofile of a minifigure and enjoy pouring their ideas into creating someone newwith likes and dislikes so why not create character profiles of different minifigs?Interviewing a minifig is also great fun especially when one group think of thequestions and another group answer them taking on the persona of a minifig.These can be serious questions, philosophical or off the wall. For example,1. What is the hardest thing about being a minifig?2. What are the five best things about being you?3. Is it better to be a pen or a pencil?4. If you could, what two animals would you combine?5. Would you rather have a bucket"
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Creative Teaching & Learning

Enter the LEGO figurines!

14 Mar 2017

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      string(5676) "CreativeApproaches20Volume4.4nCreativeTeaching&LearningJeffrey Pflaum demonstrates how to expand children’s creativityand emotional intelligence… simply by counting down from 50.Countingfor creativity‘I am doctor madness.’‘I was in a beautiful place.’‘One day my friend lied to theteacher.’‘I am dying.’‘I went to the store with a pennyand it gave me luck.’‘I saw dancing cowboys and wildjumping horses.’‘I am on my mother’s beddreaming.’21Volume4.4nCreativeTeaching&LearningCreativeApproachesAh, the blissful imaginations of seven-year-old children. To the leftare some of the first lines from contemplations ignited through atechnique I call ‘music writing’. Just these few sentences exemplifyhow this dynamic form of organic writing expanded and enriched self-expression, the creative imagination, and emotional intelligence.Music writing is an activity I developed that introduces kids to inner experience– they listen and relax to music for ten minutes and contemplate whateverhappens inside their worlds during that time. They begin to visualise mind-pictures, feel feelings, conjure up thoughts and learn to translate them intowords. Students contemplate, write about and discuss those experiences withclassmates, creating more openness, honesty and sensitivity to themselves,others and the world.But before this could take place, the students had to be introduced to the worldof inner experience. I wanted the inspiration for creativity, creative thinking, andcreative writing to come from the inside, not the outside – call it a self-discovery,self- motivation, and self-education approach to learning.In order to introduce the students to the world of inner experience andprepare them for music writing, I used something I call the ‘countingtechnique’. This approach has students counting backwards from 50 to one,slowly and silently by ones, which leaves room for ‘interruptions’ or side-journeys into new worlds of creative awareness. In this simple meditativeexercise, children realise the depth and breadth of their own infinite, innerspace, and can themselves produce similar incredible writing, poems andpictures equal in originality to those seen in computer/video games, movies,and DVDs.Introducing the counting techniqueThe activity was used for the first two weeks of the project – two lessonsper week. Following the introductory counting lessons, the music techniquetook children further into inner experience, the creative imagination, and intra-and interpersonal communication. (The music technique will be the focusof the second article in this series, which will be featured in the followingedition of this journal).To relax the classroom atmosphere during counting, I turned off the lightsand drew the shades. Students had the freedom to appreciate and writeabout whatever happened inside the mind and imagination without teacher-control via writing prompts. This became a no-planting-of-seeds method tothe fertile, creative worlds of seven- and eight-year-old kids.I practised the technique before using it in class. Practising made meaware of how difficult it can be to concentrate on counting without letting mymind wander, and also, to remember what occurred during the activity.What to say:(1) ‘Today you’re going to learn about what goes on inside your mind andimagination by counting backwards in ones, from 50 to one, silently andwith yout eyes closed. Take your time by counting like this: 50 – 49 – 48– 47 – 46… Use a short ‘stop’ in between the numbers to do it slowly.It’s okay if you mess up while counting. Just go back to the last numberyou said and continue from there. This is not a test to see how youcount backwards. It is not a race to see how fast you can do it.’(2) ‘After you finish counting, take one minute of ‘think time’ to recall whathappened. Write about whatever went on inside you. Write as muchas you can remember, even if it sounds silly. Everyone’s writings willbe different because the experiences that happen to us are not alwaysthe same. There are no right or wrong answers to the activity.’CreativeApproaches22Volume4.4nCreativeTeaching&Learning(3) ‘First, you count. Second, you recall what happened while counting. Third,you write about your experiences. The counting experiences will be readout loud. We will talk about what you wrote and I will ask questions. Andplease, no talking during the activity and our class discussion.’It helps to begin the activity with a five minute ‘pre-activity rap’ – a brief,motivational talk with the class about the counting activity, what may happenwhile counting back, the writing and visualisation processes, and any otherside-journeys they may take in their heads.The time you spend on each segment of the activity is up to you, but I’vefound this works well:Week 1 Week 25 minutes Pre-activity rap 20 minutesDiscussion of Week 1’swritings5 minutes Instructions 5 minutes Counting activity 25 minutes Counting activity 120 minutes Writing20 minutes WritingTotal time: 35 minutes Total time: 45 minutesDiscussions about the countingexper iences came in the nextclass meeting, after I reviewed thework. I read the writings aloud andanonymously, sometimes discussingone or two, other times trying toread as many as possible withoutasking questions, because I wantedthe class to simply absorb what wasexpressed.Sharing the children’s work anddiscussing it together inspired studentsto listen carefully and reflect on theirfriends’ experiences. It also remindedthem of things they"
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Creative Teaching & Learning

Counting for creativity

21 May 2014

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