Tag: Quantum Creativity

107/365 Shift the “How” not the “What” of Education

As I posted a few days ago, I’ve been reading Pamela Meyer’s Quantum Creativity with varying degrees of interest. While not everything is sticking with me, one piece of Meyer’s chapter on following passion has been knocking around in my brain for a few days.

Usually, that’s a sign that I should write through my thinking.

“…[Y]ou may just as likely discover Follow Your Passion to lead you to change the way you work, not what you do for work,” Meyer writes.

It’s a step above, “Worker smarter, not harder,” and it might be more important.

The example that comes to mind is the elementary teacher smitten with her unit plan on dinosaurs. She’s been teaching the unit forever, and it’s a bright spot in her school year. The majority of the students also end up smitten with dinosaurs by the end. (Because, who doesn’t love dinosaurs?)

The criticism I’ve heard most often when this example is raised in education circles is that this teacher is letting her love of content override what should be her goal of teaching her students content relevant to their lives and that will make them college and career ready.

I get that logic. Meyer’s thinking, though, opens up another possibility.

Give our exemplary teacher her dinosaurs. Do not deny her the what. Dinosaurs are fascinating, and I’d be hard-pressed to find a kid who isn’t at least passingly interested in these great lizards.

The shift, though, need come in the guise of changing the how of the unit. Open the unit to students’ questions and let them guide the study. Incorporate skills across content areas – primary sources, experts from outside the school, art, writing, reading, contemporary biology, presentation, critical questioning, etc.

Most often, those I speak with who are hopeful about the adoption of the Common Core State Standards find their hope in their close reading of the standards are promoting greater student voice and choice.

While there’s no great content jump in the what of the CCSS, perhaps there’s hope in moving toward more authentic, inquiry-driven, personal learning. Perhaps we can shift the how.

My friend Dayna Scott is Deputy Director of Denver’s Project VOYCE (Voices of Youth Changing Education), and mentioned the other day that organizations like VOYCE might find in-roads to accomplishing their goals of greater student participation in public education through an advanced understanding of the CCSS.

I hope this is true. With some minor exceptions like Texas, the shifts we need in public education, the shifts that will help us build the schools we need, will be based in looking at the how of learning.

To find out more about the work of Project VOYCE, watch the video below.

105/365 Initial Thoughts on Quantum Creativity

As recommended a friend, I’ve been reading Pamela Meyer’s Quantum Creativity.

Meyer attempts to weave together quantum physics, improv theater, and corporate creativity in a way that helps readers access their own creative spirit through 9 principles. This far, I’ve read through the first three: listen to your essence, follow your passion, and abstain from judgement.

Rather than review the book before I’ve finished reading it, the pieces below are those Ives highlighted, underlined and starred in the introduction and first three chapters.

“Creativity requires a lively awareness of possibilities.” p. xv

“Creativity is the process; innovation is the outcome.” p. xv

“A person in a darkened room has little chance to create light by sitting in the dark and pondering the reasons for the darkness, the ramifications of continued darkness, and the impact darkness has had in his or her life.” p. xx

“Stage improvisation contains all of the elements of your workday: pressure to think on your feet, unexpected collaborative opportunities, and the bottom-line need to produce.” p. 11

“To respond to the ‘immediate stimuli of the environment,’ we let go of the logic and control that often keeps us stuck and prevents us from noticing the subtle impulses of our Essence.” p. 12

“…you may just as likely discover Follow Your Passion to lead you to change the way you work, not what you do for work.” p. 25

“True passion is the nexus of a deep connection to purpose and a willingness to act in its fulfillment…” p. 27

“If we do not follow our own passion, the passion of others can actually cause us pain.” p. 31

“‘Anything worth doing, is worth doing badly.'” p. 36

“A wise woman once said, ‘If the other person is the problem, there is no solution.'” p. 37

“Countercreative, judgement is the most insidious block to innovation.” p. 46

“Judgement destroys the wonder so necessary to create space for possibilities. Without wonder we would still live in the dark ages. Discovery propels us forward. We are all born with a desire to play; that’s how we learned about ourselves in the world. That is how we continue to learn. We forget that.” p. 46

“…it is crucial that the evaluation criteria be articulated before beginning this stage.” p. 47

“Author Judith Guest says, ‘The creator and the editor – two halves of the writer whole – should sleep in separate rooms.'” p. 48

“As soon as we label an idea ‘stupid,’ ‘out-dated,’ ‘horrible,’ or even: ‘fabulous,’ ‘brilliant,’ ‘innovative,’ we limit its potential.” p. 51

“We must delight ourselves before we can hope to move others.” p. 55

“Focusing on solutions is a wonderful way to give a clear response without judging either the idea or it’s owner.” p. 59

“Creation is big enough, hot enough, and generous enough to overcome anything your whiny belief system serves up.” p. 60

I’m now over a third of the way through the book, and Meyer is vascular ing between primer and insightful. I’m going to finish the text because the above quotations give me enough hope that I’ll find enough meat to make it worthwhile.