Thanks, Sir Ken Robinson, for continuing to be a huge inspiration in my 9th & 10th grade art classes. For the last 3 years, I have started the class with the RSA Animate video, Changing Education Paradigms (which to date has been viewed over 11 million times!), to familiarize my students with the idea of strengthening their divergent thinking skills. His challenge to think how many ways you can use a paper clip is just perfect for my students, and I conduct a class competition to see which class can come up with the most ideas. I stand at the board and furiously write down their ideas (we have 50 minute classes). We don’t edit; it is a free flowing activity and stream of consciousness. My 6th period class was the winner today (the Pre-AP Art II students) with 313 ideas on the board before the bell rang!
I just love doing this with the kids at the beginning of school! Most of the classes today really got into it, and their ideas were wonderful. There were even unique ideas between classes – not every idea was unilaterally thought of. I think today, my 14-16 year olds felt like they were geniuses, as they let their imagination fly! Now to keep the creativity & divergent thinking exercises flowing throughout the year! To really strengthen their divergent thinking muscle, we have to practice, so between each art project we will do different activities to strengthen their brain. I really do love my job!