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Transformers
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Transformers
Creative Teachers for the 21st Century

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September 2009 | 216 pages | Corwin
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Built on the core belief that creativity for teachers and students is required for success in the 21st century, this book provides teachers with a step-by-step plan for accessing their own creative resources and cultivating a more creative teaching practice.

The author offers a breakdown of the creative process as it applies to both lesson building and delivery, includes detailed guidelines on how to identify creativity that furthers educational goals, and presents research-based, creative teaching strategies designed to enhance learning by engaging, motivating, and inspiring students across grade levels and subject areas.

Teachers will gain confidence in their own ability to teach from their strengths and to elicit students' strengths and creativity.

 
Preface
 
Acknowledgments
 
About the Author
 
Prologue #1: An Elementary Teacher Speaks Out About Creativity
 
1. What Teachers and Students Have to Say About Creativity: An Introduction
41 Creative Ideas

 
Teachers Voice Their Creative Blocks

 
Jump Starting Student Creativity: Making Mind Maps

 
This Is Not the "Crayola Curriculum"

 
Student Blocks to Creativity

 
A Past Student's E-mail on Creativity

 
 
Prologue #2: Before We Begin . . . Get Out Your Notebook!
 
2. What Is, What Isn't Creativity?
An Overview of Preconceptions

 
Worshipping at the Altar of Right Answers

 
Making Mistakes

 
Specific Methods of Creative Behavior

 
 
Prologue #3: 20 Keys to a More Creative Classroom
 
3. Memoir of a Creative Career (Abridged)
My First Creative Teacher

 
A First-Year Teacher

 
My Home Teaching Days

 
Back to the Traditional Classroom

 
Early Years at Francis Howell School District

 
Teaching Skills as Well as Content

 
My Repeaters on Grammar Patrol

 
 
Prologue #4: The Creative Teacher's Bill of Rights
 
4. What's Going On?
Side Effects of the Mandated Testing Phenomenon

 
The Whole Child, The Whole Teacher

 
Teaching the Whole Brain

 
The Necessity of Teacher Empowerment

 
Needs of the 21st Century, Glaringly Visible

 
Dropouts and High Achievers

 
 
Prologue #5: Affirmations: One Way to Rewire You for the Creativity You'll Need for the 21st Century
 
5. Links Between Creativity and Research-Based Instruction
Brain Research: A Gold Mine for Creative Strategies

 
Novelty

 
Meaning and Choice

 
Challenge Without Threat

 
Visualization

 
Emotions and Bodies

 
 
Prologue #6: Letter From Arthur Costa
 
6. Transformational Journey: From the Inside Out
The Saturday/Sunday Kings and Queens

 
You, the Saturday/Sunday King or Queen

 
Transformational Stages

 
Our Hero's Journey: Moving Toward Ownership

 
Your Questions: The Main Tool of Transformers

 
Creative Thinking Versus Critical Thinking

 
Thinking in Metaphor

 
More Powerful Metaphors

 
Frames, Narratives, Scripts: How We Think

 
 
Prologue #7: The Administrator's Creativity Checklist
 
7. The Administrator's Role in Providing a Creative Environment
Metaphor and School Transformation, by Linda Henke

 
An Informal Ethnographic Study

 
School Culture

 
School as Factory

 
The Search for New Metaphors

 
Reframing Beliefs at MRH

 
 
Prologue #8: Leslie Wilson's Thinking Patterns That Help Create New Ideas
 
8. What Can We Do to Strengthen Our Creative Muscles?
For Ourselves?the Gift of Surprise

 
Mindfulness, Awareness, and All That Good Stuff

 
Begin With Fostering Creative Courage

 
Let's Look at Fear for a Moment

 
Respecting the Need to Make Time for Yourself

 
How to Help Your Fellow Teachers

 
 
Prologue #9: Our Tiny Digital Natives
 
9. Technology and the Creative Classroom
Swimming in a Technological Environment, by John Ross

 
Connecting Technology and Creativity: National Trends

 
Promoting Student Creativity With Technology

 
Becoming a More Creative Teacher With Technology

 
 
Prologue #10: Rules for Lady Teachers in 1915
 
10. Transforming Teaching Through Creativity for the 21st Century
The Last Time

 
A Look at Possible Future Transformation

 
The Past as of 1970

 
What Does the Public Think We Should Be Doing?

 
Welcome to Our Brave New Right-Brained World

 
Every Teacher a Creative Teacher

 
 
References
 
Index

"This book combats the stagnation of creativity in an era of increased accountability through standardized testing. It is an exceptionally well written, comprehensive book that will appeal to a variety of readers."

Beth Madison, Principal
George Middle School, Portland, OR

"This valuable, readable book offers strategies that can wake up your creative juices and help students become more creative thinkers in their future lives."

From the Prologue to Chapter 6 by Arthur Costa

"Encourages instructors to ask students to think out of the box and challenge students."

Lisa B. Lucius, Principal
North Pontotoc Elementary School, Ecru, MS

Sample Materials & Chapters

Preface

Chapter 1

For instructors

Please contact your Academic Consultant to check inspection copy availability for your course.

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ISBN: 9781412971126
£31.99