Engaging a child’s creativity–and your own–can happen almost any time or anywhere. Years ago, I studied improvisational acting, which encourages actors to listen closely to one another and “find the game” in a conversation. Bringing these ideas into parenthood has produced wonderful interactions with my son, who is three years old. As he’s been learning [...]
Posted in creativity, humor, imagination, inspiration, parenting, writers in the schools
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Tagged connections, encouraging creativity, game, improvisation, metaphor, parenting, words
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The hardest thing for a writer to do, I’ve always maintained, is to face the daunting white landscape of the blank page. And yet we WITS writers ask our students to take on this fearsome task with each classroom visit. For rising to that occasion, I thank these young writers whose work populates this blog. [...]
Sometimes even the best writers need a springboard – an idea just big enough to give their imaginations a boost into the air. I’m always excited when I find a great new “springboard book” to use with my young writers. Here are two of my favorites. I recently discovered the delightful book 17 Things I’m [...]
Posted in books, creativity, fiction, imagination, inspiration, story, teaching, writing, writing prompts
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Tagged children's books, chris van allsburg, favorite books, fiction, inspiration, jenny offill, springboard, stories
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One of my high school WITS students was killed in an auto accident last weekend. She was in class for only about half of my visits, so try as I might, I can not bring forth a steady image of her face from my memory. As her English teacher gave me the sad news, I [...]
Every Valentine’s day, I feel inundated with images of hearts. Construction paper heart cutouts decorate classrooms and hallways, and it feels as if I can’t walk into any sort of shop without being bombarded by floating balloon hearts, candy-filled cardboard hearts, ceramic cup hearts, tiny candy conversation hearts, stuffed fabric hearts. In all their material [...]
Posted in art, imagination, inspiration, poetry, writers in the schools, writing, writing prompts
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Tagged art, buttons, heart poem, lauren levy, love poem, sculpture, valentine, valentine poem, valentine's day
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“I have an existential map; it has ‘you are here’ written all over it” – comedian Stephen Wright There’s something about maps that appeals to the imagination. Maybe it’s the expanse of unknown places beckoning to us, or the comfort of charting what we do know from a different viewpoint. Making maps can help students [...]
Posted in art, books, creativity, fiction, homeschooling, imagination, Lesson plan, place, teaching, writers in the schools, writing, writing prompts
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Tagged cartography, drawing, map, map making, mapmaking, maps, poetry monster, setting
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Teachers work carefully to cultivate their classroom spaces, establishing small communities that each have a unique culture, personality, rules and consequences. Experienced teachers have tried and true methods for working with their students, and I have picked up many new skills just by watching the teachers with whom I’ve worked. When I enter a new [...]
Good reading makes for good writing! Here are three books I love to bring into the classroom to engage young writers’ imaginations. If by Sarah Perry, is a simple text with fantastic illustrations. Using ideas such as “If cats could fly…” and “If leaves were fish…” the book asks its readers to use their imaginations [...]
Posted in books, fiction, imagination, inspiration, story, teaching, writers in the schools, writing prompts
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Tagged books, children's books, mem fox, reading, sara fanelli, sarah perry, teacher
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Above: a performance of Giant Bugs 2 by Chicago 4th grader Michael Breen The Striking Viking Story Pirates of New York City celebrate children’s writing by turning their stories and poems into live musical performances with costumes, puppets and professional actors. What a great way to show appreciation for the creative genius of young writers! [...]
Posted in fiction, humor, imagination, publishing, story, video, writing
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Tagged acting, children's plays, giant bugs, patsy cooper, performance, pirates, publishing opportunity, striking viking story pirates, vivian gussin paley
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Young writers can be very businesslike in their approach to short fiction: write it down, get to the point, the end! Sadly, what gets lost along the way are all the details that allow the reader to see into the world of the story. To help young writers think about creating compelling descriptions, I like [...]
Because I’m an arts writer, I especially enjoy guiding student writing field trips through The Menil Collection art museum. I invariably learn something new from my students. Recently, we stopped at Bruce Nauman’s neon piece of text-based art which reads: “The true artist helps the world by revealing mystic truths.” I asked the third graders [...]
Otabenga Jones and Associates is a Houston-based artist collective including Dawolu Jabari Anderson, Jamal Cyrus, Kenya Evans, and Robert A. Pruitt. These four artists, whose work has been featured in the 2006 Whitney Biennial (both individually and under the auspices of Otabenga Jones and Associates), create installations that question our current perceptions of of African [...]
Posted in art, Houston, imagination, poetry, spoken word, writers in the schools, writing
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Tagged African American history, collaborative poem, Gil Scott-Heron, menil collection, Ota Benga, Otabenga Jones and Associates
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