Frog Green

Never Mind the Text. Workshop at the Seda Conference, Bristol, 14 – 15 Nov 13. Here are the resources from my part of the workshop.

1. Maps. Here is a Mind Map animation on YouTube summing up the panel presentation we’re giving at the SEDA Conference on 15th November 13 and here is a Mind Map of my part of the presentation as a PDF for download: Creative Writing Toolkit MindMap and as a video on YouTube.

2. Handout. Here’s the HANDOUT from my part of the workshop. You might also like this article I wrote recently on creativity and creative writing teaching for TEXT.

3. Writing exercise. Below I’ve pasted a writing exercise I wrote called FROG-GREEN from ‘Small Steps to Creative Thinking’. Creative Teaching & Learning Magazine, 3.2, Summer 2012:

First, go for a walk. Notice the different versions of the colour green you see along the way.

• When you get home, close your eyes and think about your walk. Imagine all the detail you can. Picture the colours.
• Go through all of your senses one by one and recall the experience.
• Now think specifically about the different versions of the colour green you saw.
• In a notebook make a list of the kinds of green you saw by pairing ‘green’ with a noun. For example ‘frog-green’.
• Now play with the words on the list.

Leave the exercise for a few days, then come back to it and turn it into something new.

4. Reading and research materials: Different approaches to creativity and creative writing include, for example, the work of Natalie Goldberg and Julia Cameron. These include practical activities. You might also like The Five Minute Writer by Margret Geraghty. Rob Pope talks more about the theory of creativity. References on the handout.

For more on creativity and cognitive development see, for instance, Kagan’s theories of reflection and impulsivity (Kagan 1966), Guilford’s work on convergent and divergent thinking (Guilford 1970), Gardner’s multiple intelligences (Gardner 1983 and 2006) and Sternberg 2006. References can be found at the end of Tondeur 13. I have a longer creativity and teaching bibliography. Email me if you would like it.