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Out of the Box
How could I not pass this along? Last weekend’s New York Times published an op-ed piece by Suntae Kim, Evan Polman and Jeffrey Sanchez-Burks describing research in which they asked young adults to...
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News Flash: TED Ed
This week marks the launch of TED-Ed, a new branch of the TED website entitled “Lessons Worth Sharing.” You know about TED, right? If not, stop right now and head to ted.com to begin exploring one of...
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Teachers, Stress, and Creativity: Are We Really Afraid?
In a recent blog on the Scientific American site, Maria Konnikova asked Why Are We So Afraid of Creativity? I’ve been thinking about that question ever since. Are we really afraid? And if we are, why?...
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The Power of X
I love TED. I love it because when I have a few free minutes I can learn about no end of fascinating things. But I love it even more because sometimes TED brings me moments of mind-boggling delight....
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Revolutionary Optimists
It is easy for all of us to forget the power we have to change the world. That certainly is true of many children. When children go through days and weeks of scheduled hours and mandated activities—in...
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Moving Beyond the One Right Answer Trap
A few weeks ago I had the interesting opportunity to be interviewed for BAM Radio, an internet radio station that addresses all manner of important issues in education. I was part of a conversation...
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Of Testing and Teaching, Carts and Horses
It would not come as any surprise to any teacher I know, that the United States’ current obsession with high stakes testing may not be the best thing for student learning—to say nothing of student...
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The Magic of Cardboard: Just a Bit Late
Don’t you hate it when you find out about something wonderful and it just ended? That’s what happened to me with Caine’s Arcade Part 2. You saw the original Caine’s Arcade video, right? Caine was a...
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The Last Pictures
What images of our human earth would you hope might last longer than humanity itself? That is the question artist Trevor Paglen asked himself in compiling a collection of 100 “Last Pictures” of earth,...
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#26Acts of Kindness
One of the most tender responses to the horror in Newton, CT came from newcaster Ann Curry, who first proposed that in honor of the 20 children killed, individuals commit to doing 20 acts of kindness...
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Tweaking the Tweets for Celebrity Grammar
It is easy to complain about how celebrity culture can be an unhealthy influence on young people. The world is full of “superstars” whose behavior is not what we want our students or our children to...
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Mysterabbit, Art, and You
Ever wish you were an artist? Me, too. Ever want to take part in something big? Who wouldn’t? Here’s the chance to take part in a global street art project that is both enormous and tiny—or perhaps to...
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Best Billboard Ever
Every once in a while I see an example of creativity that is so good I just have to share it, and hope you will share it with your students. This is one of them. It comes from Lima, Peru. Lima is a...
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Creativity in the Classroom: 5th Edition!
This feels a bit like a birth announcement. While the labor involved is a lot less painful, the birthing of a book–even a revision like this one–is a long process. I’m delighted to share the happy news...
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Google Science Fair: Science for the Future
Google is an amazing company on many fronts, and the one of the most recent is the Google Science Fair. Google Science Fair is an online science competition for teenagers across the globe. The fair is...
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What are YOU doing November 21? How about making art?
Do you have plans for November 21, 2013? How about joining an effort to create the largest children’s art event in history? (And U.S. teachers, a Thanksgiving-appropriate activity to boot!) Last year...
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Dinovember: When Plastic Dinosaurs Come to Life
How can anyone who cares about creativity not love this? On the chance that you missed it on Tumblr, Facebook, Good Morning America or the Huffington Post, here’s a tribute to Dinovember, the month...
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Creative Kids: The Magazine
Where do creative kids go to publish their latest story, poem, editorial, review, or just about anything else? One possible answer is Creative Kids magazine. Creative Kids is a magazine “by kids, for...
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Up Early, Night Owl? Time for Creative Thinking!
My husband is a night person, plain and simple. He begins to be alert approaching noon (regardless of when he actually got out of bed) and works happily between midnight and 3 a.m. While I’m not an...
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10-Minute Lesson: Secret Nanas
In the busy moments of the holiday season–or any season for that matter–it is helpful to have a quick lesson to pull out in the 10 minutes before lunch. In one of those times you might want to pull out...
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