Community: Make a Change

By Karen Faass
Creativity + Social Change
University of Connecticut

Respect Quilt - Karen Faass

The Respect Quilt idea was brought to Cromwell Middle School to make an awareness of how some people are treated and that all individuals want to be accepted. This was a “hands-on” activity involving every 8th grade student. It was the intent from the beginning to make this project student-driven. We wanted all students to feel important and special in creating a piece of art that brought a very serious message…respecting others. The students needed to see that out of nothing (a blank quilt) so much can be accomplished if everyone works together. Much beauty can occur and positive changes can happen ... they are the leaders and ... they can “make a change."

This very concept was used as a medium in promoting another project entitled Olweus. This program is designed to stop bullying and to bring an awareness of the devastating effect it has on individuals. Implementing this program is a continuation of the solidarity in our school community to “make a change."

The programs do not stop there…conversations are taking place to have students make a video with regard to the Respect Quilt and “bullying” program.

Everyone is a part of this school community and, when working together, it becomes healthier, stronger and cohesive for all. We can “make a change."

What Creative Education Could Look Like ...

Check this out - The Independent Project!

And read the New York Times piece about it ...

Watch it ...

TEDxDirigo - Zoe Weil - THE WORLD BECOMES WHAT YOU TEACH

THE WORLD BECOMES WHAT YOU TEACH

Zoe Weil is the co-founder and president of the Institute for Humane Education (http://www.humaneeducation.org/) and is considered a pioneer in the comprehensive humane education movement, which provides people with the knowledge, tools, and motivation to be conscientious choicemakers and engaged changemakers for a better world. Zoe created the first Master of Education and Certificate Program in Humane Education in the U.S. covering the interconnected issues of human rights, environmental preservation, and animal protection. She has also created acclaimed online programs and leads workshops and speaks at universities, conferences, and events across the U.S. and Canada. She has taught tens of thousands students through her innovative school presentations, and has trained several thousand teachers through her workshops and programs. Zoe's most recent book, Most Good, Least Harm: A Simple Principle for a Better World and Meaningful Life, won the 2010 Nautilus silver medal in sustainability and green values. She is the author of several other books including Above All, Be Kind: Raising a Humane Child in Challenging Times for parents; The Power and Promise of Humane Education for educators; and Claude and Medea: The Hellburn Dogs, winner of the Moonbeam gold medal in juvenile fiction, which follows the exploits of two seventh graders who become clandestine activists in New York City, righting wrongs where they find them. Zoe received a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School and a Master of Arts from the University of Pennsylvania.

By Maria E. Zapata
Creativity + Social Change, University of Connecticut
Media Reviewed:

TED: Kiran Bir Sethi teaches kids to take charge
Kiran Bir Sethi shows how her groundbreaking Riverside School in India teaches kids life's most valuable lesson: "I can." Watch her students take local issues into their own hands, lead other young people, even educate their parents.

This is an amazing story and I really like the way she is using the word contagious. We need to be contagious with education, setting it  up as priority for the new generations. Education is the number one key to succeeding in life.

The kids are spontaneous and they have fabulous ideas and creativity but most of the time we burn those ideas and creativity because we set up a pattern for them, always telling them the way to do things. We need to trust them, letting them explore and follow their curiosity. Like Kiran Sethi said: “ We need to trust the kids. They will take the power and they will do much better."

We have to spread out the creativity, letting everybody use his or her own way, ideas, curiosity and the new world will be better and happier.

"It is possible to organize cities to teach usefulness, social responsibility, ecological skill, the values of good work, and the higher possibilities of adulthood." (Kiran Sethi)

Testing Hope - Grade 12 in the New South Africa

The South African government struggles to remedy inequity and substandard education. Minimize ... DOCUMENTARY: Testing Hope - Grade 12 in the New South Africa ... The South African government has been struggling to remedy years of inequity, particularly regarding substandard education. Testing Hope - Grade 12 in the New South Africa chronicles the lives of young people facing their future in the evolving democracy of South Africa. The film follows four students as they work towards their crucial Matric exams which one student calls the decider. [September 2010 - Colorado Public Television - Find out more about "Testing Hope"]

Watch the full episode. See more RMPBS Specials.

Commentary: On Child-Driven Education

By Teley Quarshie
Creativity + Social Change, University of Connecticut
Media Reviewed:

TED - July 2010: Sugata Mitra: The Child-Driven Education
Sugata Mitra tackles one of the greatest problems of education -- the best teachers and schools don't exist where they're needed most. In a series of real-life experiments from New Delhi to South Africa to Italy, he gave kids self-supervised access to the web and saw results that could revolutionize how we think about teaching.

Commentary:
I logged onto Ted.com and clicked inspiring and ingenious and on one of the pages, the title "The child-driven education" stuck out to me. Children are the most creative and alive. Full of thoughts, ideas, eagerness. Education is a huge issue in this world, yet such a tool to change one's social-economic status. He has found the “child-driven” solution to education though children, along with the help of technology that is everywhere. A little strange that there is high-speed Internet in these Indian and African villages walls. Yet we all walk around with mini-computers in our pocket or on our ear. Society is very technologically driven. The global world connects via the Web. Teaching is a profession respected by many but very underpaid. Leaving teachers to pick and choose and neglect where the money is close to nothing. Leaving the children to teach themselves.

He is using the creativity that the child has to figure out problems. He questions machines they’ve never used and in languages they are unfamiliar with. It's also a very creative way to educate. Yes, it would be best if these children where in the classroom learning with a teacher and a desk ... but in this case, this is all they have and they should be lucky to be apart of such a study.

By working together to figure out the answers, they are processing the information more to find a solution instead of on their own. Makes you wonder if people should be taught in groups, not one on one. You vs. the paper. Open education seems like a better way for people to learn. Yes, there may be that person who really doesn’t know the answer or how to solve it, but by being apart and paying attention they will figure out why whatever it is is such. (That was a side thought I just discovered thinking about the children working together.) I feel working together is a better guide for how to work in a professional social community. We spend our whole lives in school progressing on our own. Maybe we wouldn’t loose so many students if it was a group effort. If we all succeed, the better off we can make things on a larger, societal level. Thinking not for just the "Me" but the "We."

Children love to learn, but not all the same way. If they learn how to learn outside of the box, they will be able to think and know outside the box. Creativity and innovative ideas will follow. I consider open environments with some structure the best support for such learning styles. The idea of the "grandmother" is brilliant. All grandparents do is love and encourage. Having someone like that there, but actually not there, while still being surrounded by your peers seems to be a great idea to the world's grim education issue. A lot of money is needed, but not much help. People are needed to help. The outcome can only benefit us as a society. Sugata Mitra's creativity is creating tomorrow's creative minds.

Ken Robinson ... TED Part II

Ken Robinson returned to TED earlier this year and talked about the intersection of talents, passion and education.

[May 2010 - TED] In this poignant, funny follow-up to his fabled 2006 talk, Sir Ken Robinson makes the case for a radical shift from standardized schools to personalized learning -- creating conditions where kids' natural talents can flourish. More

As he did in his first TED talk about creativity and education, he sums up in less than 18 minutes key ideas that seem so obvious, yet are so far from the practices we employ in schools and society. Some of Ken's insights from his 2010 talk:

• There is a crisis of human resources -- we make poor use of our talents.
• Many people simply endure what they do rather than enjoy what they do.
• But some people do what they ARE and engage part of their authentic selves.
• Education dislocates people from their natural talents.
• We have to create the circumstances where talents show themselves. Education should be where this happens, but too often it's not.
• Education REFORM is not enough -- reform is only improving a broken model.
• We need not an evolution in education, but a revolution ... to transform it into something else.
  
• It needs innovation, which is hard because it challenges what we take for granted.
• Quoting Abraham Lincoln, Ken talked about "rising with the occasion" and the idea of "disenthralling ourselves."
• Life is organic ... not linear.
• We are obsessed with getting people to college. College does not begin in kindergarten. Kindergarten begins in kindergarten.
• Problem of conformity in education -- like fast food where everything is standardized.
• Human talent is tremendously diverse.
• Passion -- what excites our spirit and energy -- is important.
• Education doesn't feed a lot of people's spirits.
• Education, which is primarily based on a manufacturing model, should shift to one based on principles from agriculture.
  
• Human flourishing is an organic process. We cannot predict the outcome of human development. All you can do is create the conditions under which they begin to flourish.
• Customizing and personalizing education is the answer to the future.
  

And he finished with a poem excerpt from W. B. Yeats about how we spread our dreams before others' feet -- like kids do everyday -- and askied us to "tread softly, because you tread on my dreams."

If you care about the future of children and education and society, show Ken's two TED talks (and this one, too!) to your friends and colleagues and family and talk about how you can begin to act to make positive change in the ways we educate and work. Show these clips in a public meeting at your children's school. Show them in your workplace with your colleagues. Show them at the public library. You'll be amazed who cares about these topics, who shows up and what you might accomplish together. Imagine what if ...

REMINDER - Connecticut Imagination Conversation Tonight in Hartford

* Join panelists for a CONNECTICUT IMAGINATION CONVERSATION on Unleashing and Harnessing the Imagination in Learning and Work *
THE INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR CREATIVITY AND IMAGINATION AND THE STUDIO @ BILLINGS FORGE PRESENT IMAGINATION CONVERSATIONS: A PROJECT OF LINCOLN CENTER INSTITUTE
==========================
MONDAY, MAY 24, 2010, 7:00-9:00 P.M.
The Studio @ Billings Forge,
539-563 Broad Street
Hartford, Connecticut 06106
Free and open to the public.
RSVP: <http://www.eventbrite.com/event/665180573>
MORE INFO: conversation@appliedimagination.org or
<http://appliedimagination.org/conversation/>

Imagination Conversations bring together citizens from diverse fields -- including education, business, government, arts and nonprofits -- to explore the importance of imagination in life, work and society. Connecticut has a long tradition of creativity, invention and innovation, but the current economic downturn and increased worldwide competition mean that we cannot take our position for granted. Now more than ever, we must nurture imagination in our schools, create
environments for innovation in workplaces, and build cultures for creativity in our communities. Bring your "imagination story" to the second Connecticut Imagination Conversation on May 24. This conversation is part of a national dialogue -- 50 conversations in 50 states -- sponsored by the Lincoln Center Institute to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Join moderators Steven Dahlberg, Director, International Centre for Creativity and Imagination, and Janice La Motta, Program Coordinator, The Studio @ Billings Forge, plus invited guests and citizens from across Connecticut who care about the role of imagination and creativity in society. Guests include Sue Sturtevant, Executive Director and CEO of the Hill-Stead Museum, and Marie O'Brien, President of the Connecticut Development Authority.

ABOUT THE IMAGINATION CONVERSATIONS NATIONALLY:
Imagination, the ability to visualize new possibilities, is a prerequisite for success in the 21st-century global economy. The Imagination Conversations prepare us for the future that requires imagination by:

• Building national awareness of imagination as a vital tool in work and in life.
• Sparking dialogue about imagination across the professional spectrum.
• Leading to the creation of an action plan to make imagination an integral part of American education.

The Imagination Conversations, a project of Lincoln Center Institute and a part of the Lincoln Center 50 Years celebration, run from the fall of 2009 to the spring of 2011. Many are hosted by state government, business, and cultural leaders. They feature diverse groups of panelists with distinctive perspectives and draw a wide range of audience members from the public and private sectors. Moderators facilitate the conversations, some of which reach viewers nationwide via live and archived streaming video. This two-year initiative will culminate in America's Imagination Summit, to be held at Lincoln Center in the summer or fall of 2011.

In What Ways Might Imagination Improve Society?

206 IDEAS GENERATED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT 'CREATIVITY + SOCIAL CHANGE' STUDENTS ON 6 APRIL 2010 - HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT

What's YOUR idea for how imagination might improve society? Add your ideas in the comments section below. And plan now to participate in the Connecticut Imagination Conversation on Monday, April 19, in Hartford, Connecticut ... or host your own Imagination Conversation in your community.

1. Communicating
2. Open communication between groups
3. Stop cancer
4. Stop juvenile diabetes
5. Stop crimes within the same community
6. Feed the world
7. Improve living conditions
8. Respect people's sexuality
9. Discover or create new ways to safely and effectively mass produce food and other products
10. Lead to more openness, diversity, tolerance and integration of differences
11. Encourage creative conversations
12. Invest in creative education
13. End child abuse
14. Education will become an adventure that children will crave - no more dropping out
15. Tell them that you are happy with imagination, then they will join you
16. Teach the youth manners and morals so that they can grow
17. Create tolerance
18. Stop hunger
19. Celebrate diversity
20. Neighbors of the community care for each other more
21. Stop poverty
22. Be positive
23. Stop hate
24. Appreciate or accept people stepping out of the norm
25. I can use my imagination to encourage prisoners
26. Think before you act
27. Treat one the way you want to be treated
28. Providing ideas with individuals in society to solve problems
29. Teamwork or brainstorming in a group
30. Clarity of mind and soul
31. Respect life as a whole
32. Read other people's minds
33. Work with other people's strengths
34. Help those who need us the most
35. Fight racism -> open mindedness
36. Peace with others
37. Improve self-esteem
38. Encourage more active, positive citizen engagement
39. Encourage others to join organization
40. End homelessness
41. Creative ways to be healthy, maintain health, regain health, defeat disease
42. Show the society how important they are, then they will accept it
43. Through education
44. Team work
45. Talking things out
46. Appreciation of different types of beauty
47. Fly to new, livable planets
48. By laughing
49. Build a healthier place for my kids and other kids
50. Open-mindedness
51. Make a commitment
52. Love the curvalicious
53. Travel to new dimensions
54. Travel through time and space
55. I can use my imagination to help my own community
56. End frivolous spending in government
57. To infinity and beyond - explore the universe within and without
58. By coming up with different solutions for different issues
59. Helping neighbors, taking care of each other's children, watching out for one another
60. Allowing expression through art, music, theater and dance
61. Reading books
62. Give importance to all animals
63. Have a moment of silent (regrouping)
64. Live life ... one life, one blood, one love
65. Make batteries that never have to recharge for my cell phone and laptop
66. Make batteries that are environmentally friendly when disposed or recycled
67. Eliminate existing regulations against farmers in Connecticut
68. Open new doors
69. Greater-good technology
70. Warm, nurturing environment to support the development of great ideas
71. Through education, broadcasting
72. Through billboards
73. Playing a game on team building
74. Promote trust among individuals
75. "The world can live as one"
76. Live forever - never die
77. Don't be afraid of death
78. Stop discrimination among us
79. Say no to Botox
80. Play
81. Get kids to be more physically active and healthy
82. Move
83. I can use my imagination to improve the unemployment rate
84. Creative community building - creating jobs
85. Build magnificent cities - buildings, gathering places, parks, museums, schools, etc.
86. Make sufficient information available to the community
87. Visiting the sick
88. Helping those in need (homeless)
89. Believing in yourself
90. Make veggies taste better
91. Build places that encourage creativity, instead of limiting it (i.e., Billings Forge and the G. Fox Building, respectively)
92. Encourage kids to continue with school and get educated
93. "Imagine there's no hunger, I wonder if we can"
94. Plant a tree
95. By communication
96. Travel to the past
97. Help third world countries
98. Bring out technologies that do not already exist. Similar to how real technologies can follow the imaginative, fiction-based technologies proposed in science fiction. How culture and arts can "invent" technology.
99. I can help the youth thing critically and explore their creativity
100. Creating meaningful jobs, reducing unemployment
101. Create/implement ways to care for and preserve the earth for generations to come
102. Make creativity a learning tool for society
103. Live Love Laugh
104. Have a social gathering
105. Love your neighbors
106. Less serious
107. Downloadable intelligence and knowledge (like in the Matrix)
108. It could give us new games to play
109. Share more with people in the community
110. Living for today
111. Spread the word by gathering with others or making a Web site for a fundraiser.
112. Interact with others more
113. Imagination can improve society through additional ideas being deposited into the "idea bank" and when there are more options, it can lead to more solutions to problems
114. Decrease the crimes among teenagers
115. Increase ideas among everyone (not just children)
116. Educate children to be creative
117. Spread the love
118. Encourage uniqueness
119. Marketplace of ideas
120. I can bring peace to the world
121. End drug abuse
122. Life will be interesting, stimulating, purposeful and a delight
123. Involve some stipends; it will bring people's interest
124. Ignite idea that would improve the community
125. Having dinner together - everyone likes to eat
126. Love like you haven't been hurt before
127. Humor - entertainment
128. Comedians will have better jokes and can make us laugh in different ways
129. Help people in the community to be more humble and to care for others
130. Open communication
131. Get some fresh air and fresh ideas
132. Live Love Laugh for a better me
133. Improve self-esteem and community confidence
134. I can use my imagination to create a farm
135. Improve or encourage people to eat healthier since one of my imaginings is about promoting organic food
136. Stop judgment
137. Improve the environment
138. Improve economy
139. Lead to healthier school lunches
140. Lead to healthier planet and humans
141. I can spread love throughout the world
142. Proper treatment of animals
143. Crime will decrease as there is openness, acceptance, a place for all
144. It will create jobs; many will participate
145. Share ideas
146. Hand shaking and hugging each other
147. Peace and love for every creature in the world
148. Stop greed and pointless want in society
149. Lead to society being more collaborative as opposed to individualistic -> solve problems together
150. Increase mental capacity about a problem
151. I can join different organizations within the community and help them resolve issues
152. Decrease unemployment
153. Accept each other
154. More advertisements/commercials
155. Through prayers
156. Listen to others
157. Less technology and more free play (outside)
158. "Imagine all the people, living life in peace"
159. Birth control that is 100% effective
160. Guns that are truly idiot-proof
161. Decrease healthy activities in kids in our community
162. Go shopping
163. By maximizing its potential
164. Establish better problem solving skills to introduce to children in school
165. By fostering problem solving potential in students and society's youth
166. My imagination can help encourage others
167. I can bring a sense of joy to others
168. Reduce teen drug abuse
169. Harmony and connectedness and unity among all cultures
170. Do it in many different ways, even in different languages, others will enjoy
171. Create something to challenge the community
172. Don't be judgmental
173. Challenge everyone to be the person they were meant to be; no judgment if that person turns out to be different than you expected
174. Open minded
175. Growth
176. Defer judgment
177. Improve existing ideas
178. Keeping a smile on people's faces
179. Decrease homelessness
180. Develop spirituality
181. Make known to the society why it is important
182. Be creative in arts and music
183. Develop strategies as a team or group
184. Dance
185. "No need for greed or hunger, a brotherhood of man"
186. Never have traffic jams on the highway
187. Exploring new areas and investing tourist dollars in them
188. Focus on those young kids forgotten by parents and provide them with the love their parents don't give them
189. Free spirit
190. New ideas
191. Globalization
192. Defer judgment
193. Engage students more in their learning experience
194. Defer judgment
195. I can create a community organization to improve the community
196. Creative after-school programs
197. Being there for each other in neighborhoods
198. Keep kids out of trouble
199. Purpose and work for all
200. Do it with others, you will succeed
201. Go hiking with kids
202. Bring more family togetherness
203. The world is your family, embrace your diversity
204. Stop hate and war
205. Help globalize an economy while preventing the fall of local business
206. Care more for our elderly

# # #

67 IDEAS GENERATED BY THE RHODE ISLAND COLLEGE 'THE AMERICAN NONPROFIT SECTOR AND PHILANTHROPY II' STUDENTS ON 7 APRIL 2010 - PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND

What's YOUR idea for how imagination might improve society? Add your ideas in the comments section below. And plan now to participate in the Connecticut Imagination Conversation on Monday, April 19, in Hartford, Connecticut ... or host your own Imagination Conversation in your community.

1. By creating a bike trail that goes through the whole town
2. Clean-up crews for the community
3. Neighborhood closeness to reduce crime/increase community
4. Help community to produce better housing for diverse people
5. Imagination could show people parts of the place they live like they've never seen them before
6. Dig a deep, underground housing complex
7. Build better buildings
8. Make environment of community
9. More conducive to green technology - less polluted
10. Could add beauty to community art projects, music, opportunities to participate
11. Imagine ways to be more energy efficient
12. Have a community-wide BBQ
13. Creativity in finding solutions to health problems
14. Create dams and levies
15. Think out of day-to-day procedures -> fill someone else's shoes for a day (i.e., public/union workers and laymen)
16. Space travel
17. Off to civilization (arts, theater, etc)
18. Better public welfare systems
19. Improve different fuel sources
20. Renewable energy
21. New ways of communication
22. Improve transportation
23. Make community more fun to live in
24. Create another system in some part of space (zoning)
25. Better government system
26. Better transportation system
27. Better schools
28. Better cars
29. More ways to share resources
30. Increase social interaction
31. Thinking outside the box for creative solutions to common problems
32. Better land use
33. Imagining a better community - like better schools - imagine what we wanted schools to be filled with when we were kids - putting it into action
34. Children govern the adults as they have better grip on imagination
35. Offer community-wide movie showings
36. Improve arts
37. Find different resources - imagine possible venues
38. Better ways to share resources
39. More accessible buildings with less technology handprint
40. Provide creative ways for people to make social connections - community projects
41. Find new uses for the resources/food sources near you
42. Have a community garden to grow food
43. Improve environment
44. Create a center for the arts
45. Community cooking classes - take garden product and put in school lunches
46. To expand people's minds to new things
47. To expand the local business base of the community
48. Provide opportunities for people to be things they've imagined - musicians, painter, teacher ...
49. Have a town-wide pajama day
50. Improve opportunities for high school graduates
51. Healthier consumer products/food
52. "Own" a block for clean up and community pride
53. Time travel
54. Imagination can give a community a different perception of old things
55. Recycle old things into props; or add areas in parks with toy boxes or props
56. Have playgrounds on every block
57. Better ways toward health care
58. Create climate of creativity to problem solve as community
59. Get out of our houses and interact with people
60. Better transportation for people with mobility problems
61. New social interactions that are authentic, unplugged and involve storytelling
62. Have a community clean-up day
63. Creative activities in classrooms
64. Create a community center
65. Recycle end products to use waste in different ways
66. Just go clean up a neighborhood without asking for anything
67. Involve more people in volunteer projects for community

Commentary: On FRESH the Movie

By Tiffany Friedlander
Creativity + Social Change, University of Connecticut
Media Reviewed:

FRESH the Movie
FRESH celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system. Each has witnessed the rapid transformation of our agriculture into an industrial model, and confronted the consequences: food contamination, environmental pollution, depletion of natural resources, and morbid obesity. Forging healthier, sustainable alternatives, they offer a practical vision for a future of our food and our planet. Among several main characters, FRESH features urban farmer and activist, Will Allen, the recipient of MacArthur’s 2008 Genius Award; sustainable farmer and entrepreneur, Joel Salatin, made famous by Michael Pollan’s book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma; and supermarket owner, David Ball, challenging our Wal-Mart dominated economy.

Commentary:
I chose to write about this movie because it really struck me how the general public doesn’t know exactly what they are eating. Most of our fruits and vegetables are covered with chemicals and animals are being given so many antibiotics that they don’t need, it’s like we are poisoning ourselves. This movie shows us alternatives we can take to eat healthier and we can do this in our backyards. Also, it was a creative idea to share this movie with others and when I saw this, I saw it with my classmates and other people in the community. The point of this movie was to help people to think creatively to shift their lifestyles and to eat healthier.

I recall that in the movie someone said that there are people who want to eat healthy but there isn’t a place nearby where they can get fruits and vegetables. Will Allen, who used to be a professional basketball player, has his own farm and has many people come to visit to learn more about growing crops. He is involved in a program called Growing Power which brings the community together. This way he can show people how to grow crops in their own backyards, even in urban areas like where Will lives. I like the idea of how he uses waste as compost. The worms that are mixed in it turn it into compost. The point of this is to make sure people have access to fresh, healthy food. I also believe that it’s important for people to be able to obtain healthy food. We need to eat healthier and prevent obesity. It doesn’t appear that Will Allen uses pesticides on his crops. We don’t need that on the crops; if anything it is more harmful to us the more we ingest it.

Who ever thought how much antibiotics animals are given. I think it’s unbelievable how much they are given. This movie presents a long list of antibiotics that animals are injected with, which supposedly makes them grow faster and wards off low-grade infections. So, if we are eating meat with all these antibiotics in it and if we could get really sick, even if we try to take whatever medications to fight off the sickness it may not do anything because of how much antibiotics were given to the animals. This can cause some microorganisms that cause illnesses in humans to become immune to certain antibiotics. Overall, it’s dangerous for us to be eating many of the meats we buy in the grocery stores because of what the animals are given.

Watching this movie really made me think so much about what is in our food and what we are really eating. What can we do about this? I don’t think pesticides and other chemicals are needed in the things we grow. The animals we would be eating don’t need antibiotics at all. I found this movie to be inspiring. I want to learn more about where I can get food that won’t put my health in danger. This is a movie that I recommend to everyone to watch. I think this will put a shock to their system once they find out the truth behind food we buy. This is a movie that helps spread the word to others.

Creativity in the Classroom Workshop at The Aldrich - Monday

CREATIVITY IN THE CLASSROOM
A creative education workshop for teachers, administrators, and parents ... with Facilitator Steven Dahlberg, Director, International Centre for Creativity and Imagination
==========================
MONDAY, MARCH 22, 2010, 4:00-6:30 P.M.
The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum
258 Main Street, Ridgefield, CT 06877
$30 (members)/$35 (non-members)
.2 CEUs available
Register online:
http://www.aldrichart.org/events/?id=642
==========================

CREATIVITY IN THE CLASSROOM
Creativity includes -- and is more than -- the arts. Creative thinking is a twenty-first century skill that applies to all subjects, all grade levels, and all ages. It is a skill that prepares students and adults for a rapidly changing world, where complex problems do not have pre-defined, easy solutions.
Creativity involves creative and critical thinking skills that can be taught, practiced, and applied in all curriculums. In this workshop, you will:
* Explore what creativity is, who has it, and how to unleash more of it.
* Think about thinking ... and learn how to think in new ways.
* Learn and practice applied creative thinking skills.
* Discover styles and types of creative thinking within the creative process.
* Connect creativity to the classroom.

ABOUT THE FACILITATOR
Steven Dahlberg is head of the International Centre for Creativity and Imagination, which is dedicated to applying creativity to improve the well-being of individuals, organizations and communities. He works with the Public and Community Engagement program at the University of Connecticut,
where he teaches the "Creativity + Social Change" course. More info at:
http://www.appliedimagination.org

REGISTER NOW
For registration and further information please contact:
Suzanne Ryan
Museum Educator
The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum
seryan @ aldrichart . org
203.438.4519

Ken Robinson ... Again on Creativity and Education

[15 March 2010 - The Bonnie Hunt Show] Sir Ken Robinson shares what isn't working with our teaching system in schools.

Commentary: On James O’Brien's PopTech Talk ... Hands-on Education

By Angela Hyde
Creativity + Social Change, University of Connecticut
Media Reviewed:

PopTech: James O'Brien: Hands-on Education
2009 PopTech Fellow James O’Brien assembled a staff of like-minded educators to create BCAM – Brooklyn Community Arts & Media High School. The fledgling educational-innovation tank combines performance-based academics and professional training in media and arts to prepare teenagers for success in the 21st century.

The current education system in the United States is failing many of the young people it is meant to prepare to take their places as responsible, contributing members of modern society. The system as it exists is archaic, focusing on teaching knowledge and skills that are no longer relevant in today’s knowledge-based global economy. Many students are being totally lost in the system, missing out not only on personal fulfillment and growth, but also on the ability to become productive, engaged workers and citizens. Is there another way to approach how we educate our youth so that they are truly prepared to enter the world after high school? Is it possible to nurture and develop their innate curiosity into a lifelong love of learning that provides the foundation to become the problem solvers and innovators of tomorrow?

James O’Brien, principal and founder of the Brooklyn Community Arts and Media High School (BCAM), is building an environment at that school to tackle these challenges, employing unconventional methods and approaches. The mission at BCAM is to support and provide a relevant education to ninth through twelfth graders, preparing them for college and careers beyond high-school graduation. The challenge is heightened by the additional issues of daily urban life: student literacy capabilities that range from college-ready to third- and fourth-grade reading levels; a student population that feels alienated and unmotivated and that lives in an environment of violence, crime and gang affiliations.

To implement their goals, the innovative staff at BCAM developed a “21st Century Professional Preparatory Model Curriculum,” which uses a three-pronged approach to educating students: academics, creative arts as part of the core curriculum, and professional development. Mr. O’Brien discusses how the school meets students at their level and works with them to develop their talents and skills. Academics are steeped in the inquiry model, and students are taught to relate the lessons learned in academics with what is happening in their lives and to connect with their communities. Because in New York state all students are required to pass five Regent exams in order to graduate from high school, preparation for those tests is incorporated into the academics portion of the curriculum. Arts, which include fine arts and media arts, are required for three years to foster personal expression and creativity. To foster professional development, the school partners with professional organizations and businesses where students serve internships that involve them in the work world. Mr. O’Brien is pursuing paid internships, which would give the high school students added incentive to be truly “invested” in their work and futures.

While BCAM is still in its infancy, it is an example of how educators are going outside of the current education model to create vital, engaged education systems that address the needs of young people and their world.

For more information on the state of education in the United States and a look at how others are revolutionizing education, check out these Web sites/video clips:

• http://www.nctaf.org/resources/research_and_reports/nctaf_research_reports/documents/Chapter4.Carroll.pdf
• http://poptech.com/popcasts/dennis_littky_on_big_picture_ed
• http://poptech.com/popcasts/eric_dawson_peace_games

Commentary: On Ken Robinson's TED Talk ... Schools Kill Creativity

By Brooke Smith
Creativity + Social Change, University of Connecticut
Media Reviewed:

TED Conference: February 2006
Creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson challenges the way we're educating our children. He champions a radical rethink of our school systems, to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of intelligence. In this talk, he makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.

Background:
I watched a video presentation from the TED Conference. The ultimate goal of TED is to highlight, study, and show how one can use the gift of human imagination. The man giving the speech was Sir Ken Robinson. He grew up in England and moved to California later in life. The speech was easy to listen to and humorous. Sir Ken Robinson used to be a university professor but now writes and speaks about creativity and education. The speech took place in Monterey, California, in February 2006 during a four-day TED Conference.

Commentary:
This video relates to our class in many ways. Sir Ken Robinson spoke about the main goal of changing our education system and how we use this system to teach our young children. He believes that creativity is the backbone to every individual and that traditional education teaches children how to conform to become studious while losing their creativity. According to him, the definition of creativity is, "the process of having original ideas that have value." In class, we spoke about this exact concern with the educational system. I believe that teachers should modify the way they attempt to conduct their classrooms. According to the video, education was created before the 1900s to meet the needs of industrialization. The most useful subjects back then were reading, writing and mathematics. This time period began steering children away from things they enjoyed because there was no future in being a musician or a dancer. Instead, the goal was to force everyone to become academic and find careers that they may not enjoy but will obtain financial success.

Sir Ken Robinson said: "We have a huge vested interest in [education], partly because it's education that's meant to take us into this future that we can't grasp." I agree with this statement. Traditional education and the subjects it deems important have become outdated. The times have changed and it is time we revamp the goal, focus and purpose of education. If we do this, we can better prepare our children for the uncertain future and the necessary skills needed to be successful today.

The speaker believed that children "all have tremendous talents, we [adults and education] squander them." How do we create schools and education to stop dismissing creativity and talent? This question was asked in class. I do not believe that there is just one change that would fix the educational system. Instead, it is many little changes such as teaching style, use of technology, etc., that would help begin a new style of learning. Children are full of imagination and talent. This is the main reason I love my job. I go to work every day and learn more from the children than they learn from me. They may not know that they do this, but I love their innocence, imaginations, ideas and passion. Children are very passionate about most of the things they do. "Kids will take a chance, even if they don't know how to do something or why they are, they still try," Robinson said. It is only through our educational eystem and adults telling children "No" that we hinder and/or stop children's creativity.

I took down many interesting things that Sir Ken Robinson said. These are just a few of the quotes that stuck with me.

• Creativity is as important now as literacy.
• If you not prepared to be wrong we will never be original.
• The challenge is how to remain an artist, because we were all born as one. (quoting Picasso)
• Highly brilliant people and brilliantly creative people no longer think this way because of being STIGMATIZED in school.

This video was easy to watch and full of valuable information on why the need to change the educational hierarchy is necessary to adequately prepare future generations. Instead, we are setting children up for failure. A degree no longer holds as much value as it once did. Everyone has them now. Instead, you have to continue your education and obtain higher degrees like a master's degree or law degree. It is time for a change to our system. How can we as individuals begin this change? Will it help future generations if we do?

A Tour of 'Creativity and Social Change' in Society ... Creativity and Education

• Ken Robinson @ TED - Are Our Schools Killing Creativity? (video)
  

• Creativity Force - Articles by Dr. Berenice Bleedorn