Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Who ARE These People?

Class,

This is a short assignment based on the the Pink activity on page 126 of A Whole New Mind. Make up a short story about the person in the photo below. Post your answer, no more than a paragraph, in the comments section below. As you make up his story, consider how he got to where he is, what he's doing and why, or what he may be doing next? What's unspoken?


What's this guy writing about?

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Homework for Thursday 9/29

Class,

Your homework due next Tuesday, 9/29, is to write a short story (no more than a page and a half) riffing on one of the opening lines below. Start with one of the lines given and carry your story on from there. Come to class prepared to share (and also email me a copy.)

"Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show." - Charles Dickens, David Copperfield (1850)

"This is the saddest story I have ever heard." - Ford Madox Ford, The Good Soldier (1915)

"A screaming comes across the sky." - Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow (1973)

"I am an invisible man." - Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (1952)

Can't wait to hear these!
~mrc

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Caption Game Again!

Yayyy!

Time to play the caption game again!


Post your caption idea in the comments below! (I do grade these, btw.)


~mrc

Homework for Thursday 9/24

Estudiantes,

In addition to continuing to zero in on what your creativity research project is going to be (see previous post), please read Chapter Five, Story, in A Whole New Mind. Come to class prepared to discuss.

Best
~mrc

Research Project

Class,

If you pay attention to the course syllabus, you know that we're a bit behind schedule when it comes to work on your creativity research project. This project counts for 20% of your grade, and is an additional piece for the "Pink Portfolio" you're assembling for the bulk of your grade. We need to get these underway. so by week's end, 9/25, you will need to have identified and outlined your creative research project for this semester.

Some guidelines to consider when selecting your project:

  • It MUST NOT BE MUNDANE. It should definitely be something that you do NOT do every day. If it's something you always wanted to do or meant to do but never had the time for, even better!
  • It must result in someTHING - a weblog, drawing or painting, video, research paper (BOring!), podcast, music video, in-class demonstration, slideshow, performance, game, animation, outing, demonstration -- there are many possibilities!
  • Keep in mind that you will ultimately present this not just to me for a grade, but to your classmates.
  • You can work with a group if you have a collaborative project in mind.
  • Don't wuss out on this. You are being afforded tremendous creative freedom to design exactly what you're going to do for a full fifth of your grade! If you find this too broad or intimidating, pick one of the projects from the portfolio section of the Pink book.
  • ALL projects must be written up by you for approval by me by this Friday, 9/25. I will be looking for how you plan to present your final project and how much effort will be required to complete it. You'll be graded on your commitment to your goal, whether or not you stick to your plan, and the effort and insight invested in the final outcome.

WHERE TO LOOK FOR AN IDEA:
As a starting point, you can do no better than looking at the portfolio exercises outlined in the second half of Pink's book. He lists many activities to develop your creative senses after each chapter. Some of the longer, more involved activities will work if you want to use one of them.

If you're feeling more ambitious, or none of the Pink activities jump out at you, I've listed some links to additional resources below.


Great ideas if you want to do something with video for YouTube:



Or, if you like to build stuff, try out a project from Make magazine:



Or, you could create a Machinima like Red vs Blue for Halo or the WoW episode of SouthPark:




Or, you could create an interactive Creativity Map of Halifax based on the famous example below by Jon Udell:



Or, get some friends together and repeat (or improve upon) a public performance from ImprovEverywhere. You could use their website for ideas or check out their book, Causing a Scene.


Or, create a stop-motion animation like this Orin Lavie video or this Google Chrome ad from Japan:



Or, Learn a poem a week
Learn a/to dance
Interview an artist, family member, veteran, child(ren)
Complete a paint by numbers book, cover to cover
Keep a sketch journal
Track down "Norman doors"
Memorize a soliloquy, sonnets, or monologue
Perform (a song, party trick, juggling act, comedy stand up)
Create a "day in your life" video
Illustrate a story in drawings, photos, legos, food, clothing, etc


Or, if you STILL cannot select a creative research project, let me know and once we've checked you for a pulse and brain wave activity, we'll see what else we can come up with.

~mrc

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Homework for Thursday, 9/17


A'la Yale University Professor Robert Sternberg's "Rainbow Test," your mission is to create a caption for the picture below. Everyone needs to post at least one; leave your caption idea/s in the comments.

~mrc

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Out Sick Today and Homework for Thursday, 9/10

Students,

I apologize for the late notice, but we will not have class this afternoon. I'm sorry to say that I am feeling under the weather! I have three assignments for you though:

1) In lieu of our discussion of your "intelligence test" results today, please answer the questions below. Email your responses back to me as an attachment (Word Doc preferred), before Thursday's class.

- From the learning style test at Edutopia, what are your best and worst learning aptitudes?

- According to your Jung Typology test results, what is your personality type?

- Was your IQ result from the third test about what you expected, higher, or lower?

- For each of these, did the results sound about right or way off? Do you think they accurately reflect your talents, intelligence, and abilities?

2) As an introduction to his work, watch the video below featuring Daniel Pink, the author of A Whole New Mind, our textbook for this class. It's just 18 minutes long (3 minutes less than a sitcom) and pretty stimulating.



3) Lastly, read the Introduction and Chapter One, "Right Brain Rising," pages 1-27 in A Whole New Mind for Thursday's class. Everyone should have a copy by now, but if you still don't, you can read the first chapter online for free at the following link:


~mrc

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Homework- Tuesday, 9/8

Hola,

Your homework over the weekend is:

1) Take the following free online tests and quizzes and save or remember your results because I want to know how you did on Tuesday.

* These online free tests are for entertainment only! Just for us in the class to see how much fluctuation there can be, and how many different ways there are to measure intelligence.

2) Tell me if you can think of another form of intelligence we haven't discussed but that should be on any multiple intelligence list. Post your answer in the blog comments below.

As always, come to class prepared to discuss.

I'd also take a look at these, since you may be doing something with them in class next week! >hint< >hint<

~mrc

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Last of the Acronyms


The NBC group has finally reported in with their list of acronyms! My top picks are:

  • never bomb cananda
  • national bullshit conference
  • new barking cat
  • nutty butty craving
  • nothing but coors

We'll do more deBono's Thursday!

~mrc

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Survey of Intelligence and Creative Ability

A quick survey which we'll do in class this afternoon. Please submit just once.





~mrc

Homework for Thursday, 9/3


We're going to spend a little time looking at multiple intelligence theory over the next few days. To prepare, please read the following three articles online; they're brief and provide a good introduction and summary of what MI Theory is and how it's viewed.


As always, come to class prepared to discuss.

~mrc

More Acronyms

More of my favorite acronyms from the lists you generated during last Thursday's deBono exercise!

From the ABC Group:
  • Actions Bring Children
  • Above Basic Capacity
  • Affirmation Beyond Civility

And from the CBS Group:
  • 2. Clown bouncer service
  • 5. Cynical babysitting service
  • 6. Chastising bowel syndrome
LOVE 'em!

~mrc

HAWAII 246 - Creative Weddings

So MANY of you mentioned beaches for creative wedding locales, I thought I'd share with you the above graphic from last month's Fast Company magazine.



Why do we save the beach just for weddings and vacations? It seems we'd all rather be doing pretty much everything on the beach.

~mrc