Blog #3 Texts for why we should learn creativity!

My class is a 11th grade theater class in a private school urban setting. They are almost all at their correct reading level, with 2 or 3 being a little below their level. None of them are ESL students. We are focusing on how to learn in new and creative ways, in theater and in our other classes. This series of readings is will be used after we talk about what creativity is, and we will now focus on WHY it is important to have creative skills. These texts also give a few exercises that I will assign to the students to practice. These texts will be presented together to help give them some perspective on why we are doing work on creativity, and how it can help them far into the future.

Text #1
Die Vampires Die, song from the musical Title of Show by Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell https://youtu.be/9DDdM66_nSI

This song would be the introduction to the class talking about creativity. The song is a commentary on what happens when you try to be creative but are shut down by different people around you, and why its important to keep going despite the naysayers.

The text complexity for this song has a 4.4 in qualitative score according to the StoryToolz analysis. It would fall under moderately complex for the qualitative score, even though the words are not long or complex. Because it is a song with a fairly simple structure, it still has some surprising moments and is not overly predictable. It does require the students to have some life experience to be able to understand what the song is referring to, and assumes that the listeners have had some experience trying to be creative. I agree with this analysis for the most part. As far as qualitative, the words and sentences are short so they are easy to read, but there are a number of curse words and adult themes, so I would never have a 4th grader read this text. For qualitative, I think it certainly has some themes that require thinking and prior knowledge about what it is to be creative, but it is not something that students need to study in order to understand what the song is talking about. Some words that the students may need to look up are Van Helsing, Self consciousness, pigmy, Sedaris, Morte, derivative. 

This song is used as a gateway to talking to the students about what creativity is, and why it can be hard to achieve, from both an external and internal place. Because this is a theater class, the students should have some appreciation of musical theater and this show, so it will be a familiar and fun way to start this topic. There are some curse words in the song, but because we are a private school and if I warn the parents, I dont think it would be a problem to have that language. This song is a real look at self doubt and opens the door to speaking about how hard it can be to "do well" in a creative setting, but how it is ok to move past the self doubt and open your creative flow. Hopefully this will set them up for success as we continue on to do more creative thinking exercises, and will push down the negativity of "I cant", and remind them of this song to help inspire them to keep moving forward.

Text #2
Only 3% of people can pass this creative test, can you? YouTube video by Bite Size Psych
https://youtu.be/aH2ll5bwpKw

This is a YouTube video that gives a brief introduction to creativity. It starts with a short creativity exercise. It then goes into some reasons why CEOs from the US believe that creativity is the highest valued quality in an employee. It also gives us three "tips" on how to increase creativity; relax instead of focus, take more risks, and sleep on it.

The text complexity of this video is a 6.5 for a quantative score according to StoryToolz, and falls in the moderately complex category in qualitative scoring. I believe that this is a correct evaluation, because this is an introductory video, designed to give only a basic understanding of why creativity is important and how to start tapping into the creative process. There are not a lot of complex sentences, or words that would be difficult to understand. It does require some outsider information to process what is being said, but it does not introduce a lot of new concepts. Some of the concepts that are expected to be known are how a business works and why a CEO is important. A few words that may need to be looked up are aspect, integrity, humility, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (although they do give a brief explanation of what this is), innate.

The purpose of this video is to give a short, interesting introduction to our lesson in creativity. Because it gives a quick exercise, then discusses the value of creativity and finishes with three ways anyone can improve creativity I think its a good way to ease into the topic. I think this is a little below the text complexity of my class, but I think that it is good to start off easy and build up to the more complex as we go through the session.


Text #3
3 Ways To Train Yourself To Be More Creative BY ART MARKMAN from Fast Company
https://www.fastcompany.com/3044865/3-ways-to-train-yourself-to-be-more-creative

This article focuses on three points on how to look at creativity as a skill, rather than something that is only nature based talent. The three points that are talked about are;
1) Become an explainer, learn to explain a new piece of knowledge back to yourself in order to understand it to its fullest extent.
2) Practice openness, learn to consider new ideas, concepts and experiences.
3) Keep asking new questions, use your memory to your advantage, and keep asking questions and finding new answers.

The text complexity is a little below the grade level of my class, with a quantitative level of 8.4 according to StoryToolz. The qualitative score is moderately complex, with moderate text structures, and language features and very complex purpose and knowledge. I do agree that the text is not overly complex, but I think that because its a short article rather than a educational text, it is written to be a fast, easy read. I think it does challenge the reader, because it gives them examples of exercises they should try to enhance their creativity. It assumes the reader has prior knowledge about meditation, which is probablly something they have not done a lot of in their other classes. I would have them pratice some short meditation excersises along with reading this text, to give them some perspective into how they can do this pratice on their own. It does require some basic knowledge of what creativity is, which is something we will read about before reading this text. Some vocabulary words that might need looking up would be: innate, attribute, dimensions, familiarity, perspectives.

The purpose of this text is to give the students a few simple exercises in how to open themselves up to practicing creativity. I want them to try new ways of thinking, and these are a few easy ways to be introduced to that concept. I think this would be a good text to match the reading level of most of my students, and would be a helpful text and activity for this session. I think this article falls right into the best level of text complexity for my students. It is not too difficult, but still introduces new knowledge of the subject of creativity.

Text #4
Learning to Think Outside The Box by Laura Pappano from The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/09/education/edlife/creativity-becomes-an-academic-discipline.html

This article is an overview of a number of colleges that are offering creativity as a college course, minor, master's degree and even a PHD program is in the works. In it, they talk about the programs from Buffalo State College, Saybrook University, Penn State, Drexel University, Kentucky University, University of Georgia, and St.Andrew's University. It has quotes from a number of different professors and students who are involved in the programs, stating why they feel this is an important part of the curriculum. It goes into a brief description of a few of the programs, and talks to some people who have been successful as creatives.

The text complexity of this article got a score of 13.6 from StoryToolz on its quantative level. The  qualitative level would be scored at very complex in all categories. I agree that this is a challenging text, that would require a lot of thinking, and some research, on the part of the reader. This text requires the reader to understand how the higher education system works. It does not require students to research any other major concepts, but they will most likely need to look up a number of words. Although it is above the level of my class, I do not think it is out of their understanding. Because it is discussing school and talking to professors and students about learning, I think this is an article my students can relate to and can open up other discussions about continuing education beyond high school and what majors my students might possibly want to focus on. Some words they will need to look up are ambiguity, extrapolate, transdisciplinary, inventiveness, pedagogical, convergent.

The purpose of this text would be to educate students on how studying creativity could be something that they continue to do well into their futures, and why colligate systems are valuing the creative thinking model more than ever. It would be used as a way to motivate interest in this topic for current and future study, and to give value to why we are learning about creativity in a high school setting. I think this text would be slightly above some of my students abilities, and some students would not have any prior knowledge to some of the topics brought up, like how college majors and minors work. This would be part of the conversation we would have before we read this text, so make sure they understood these concepts. I think they would find most of the information valuable, and could start the thought process for some students about what they might want to major in for college.

Text #5
5 Ways Creativity Positively Affests Your Life by Katherine Parrott from Huffpost
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/katherine-parrott/5-ways-creativity-positiv_b_7876818.html

This is a personal editorial article written by a woman who has used creativity throughout her career. It speaks to her personal experiences on how creativity has has a positive influence on many aspects of her life, including her professional and personal life. It also sites some stories and quotes from other professional creative people, such as Michelangelo and Hemingway.

The text complexity of this article got a quantative score of 11.1, which is right on target with my students. It get a qualitative score of moderately complex, with text and knolwedge demands being only somewhat complex. I think this is a good judgement of this article. It is set up to be a fairly short, and easy read without much external thinking needed to understand what the author is talking about. The quantative score might even be a little high, because I dont think there are too many words that the students would have a hard time understanding. They will need to do a little research to understand who Katherine Parrott is, and why she is concidered a success. It would also be helpful for us to read a short part of one of her stories, and discuss how the class feels about her work. A few words they might need to look up would be innovation, entrepreneurial, endeavour, antidote, transformative.

The purpose of assigning this article is to give the students a personal perspective on how creativity can positivily influence your whole life. It gives a few examples of excercises that I would also assign to the students to help boost their creativity and open their minds to new ways of thinking. I think this matches their prior knowledge very well, and would be easily accessible.

Text #6
A Creative Life Is a Healthy Life by Amanda Enayati from CNN.com
http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/25/health/enayati-innovation-passion-stress/index.html

This is an article written from the perspective of how creativity can improve your mental health, and gives some tips and tools on how to promote creativity in your life. The author focuses on a book by Tony Wagner, a fellow at Harvard, titled "Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World." 

Take solace in the fact that "the creative process is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration." 

The text complexity falls at a score of 10.2 for quantative based on StoryToolz, which is just below the right age for my students. The qualitative score falls at very complex, with language features falling under moderately complex. I agree with the scores, with this being a relatively easy read for the students, due to it being a short article and with our prior readings on creativity up to this point, but while giving them a good amount of knowledge to consider. This text does not require a lot of prior information from the reader, as it lays out the concepts of creativity and explaines in detail who the people in the article are. A few words they may need to look up are innovation, flourish, pervasive, iteration. 

The purpose of assigning this article is to give the students new knowledge of why creativity can help a person in all aspects of life, and can give you a better life far beyond just in class or school. I think this article matches the text complexity level for my students, and it taps into some of the prior knowledge from the other readings so far. 

Text #7 
Your Elusive Creative Genius TED talk by Elizabeth Gilbert
https://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius 

This is a TED talk given by Elizabeth Gilbert, author of the bestselling novel, "Eat, Pray, Love". She talks about her own creative process as a writer, but also goes into depth about other writers and musicians she has interviewed in the past about their creative processes as well. She gets into the concept of "genius", and how it is an unattainable idea that is forced upon successful creative people these days. 

I was able to plug some of the transcript into StoryToolz, and it came out with a quantative score of 8.3. The qualitative score falls into the moderately complex for everything, especially because she does such a nice job of explaining her references within the talk. This leaves us understanding the origin of her stories, and the background of everything that is being talked about. I agree with these scores, because as a speech rather than a written text, it will be an easier video, with less complex sentence structures and overly complex words. The readers should have some prior knowlage of who Elizabeth Gilbert is, and read a short part of "Eat, Pray, Love", which we would read a few excerpts from before watching this video. A few words that may need to be looked up are recalibrate, rational, manic-depressives, anguish, perpetuated, narcissism. 

The purpose of this text would be to let the students see a slightly different perspective on creativity from someone who is considered a very successful creative person, but who still struggles with how to continue with her success and creativity. It also gives many other examples of other somewhat famous people and their struggle to be a "creative genius". The talk ends on a optimistic note, saying that as a creative person, you just need to focus, and not listen to what others are telling you is good or bad, but trust yourself. I think it is a good way to finish our discussion on creativity, because it opens more questions than answers. I think this video matches the text complexity of my class very well, and it is nice to end with a video presentation.