I try to devote some time to read about creativity, get inspired, be happier. Here you have some worthwhile reading I came across.
Get inspired!
- 5 habits that will help spark the best ideas you´ve ever had
I remember a day I had to teach numbers (1-100) to a boy with ants in his pants. I had no idea how to do it in a different kinesthetic way and, voilà! Minutes before he came in I came up with an idea: I hid 1oo cards with numbers from 1 to 100 on them and I made a poster with the same numbers written on it. He had to look around my living room 100 cards and match them with the written numbers on the poster. He loved it! The frenzy state helped!
Yes. I have learnt that «unproductive» moments of our everyday lives actually lead us to better ideas. May your dopamine be released!
Totally agree with writing down ideas at any time. I always carry a pen with me and take notes: random ideas can be traslated into teaching strategies.
- Creativity as a search of meaning
I simply loved coming across this article about creativity being an inherent state. Creative people are in «a constant state of wondering why, asking what if, and looking for meaning. When meaning isn’t apparent, they have to find a way to create it. Creators are meaning makers.»
I personally decided to spend time on my own blog after a while of not feeling my job was as meaningful as I thought it would be.
- Cultivate the soil of your creative brain
A clear though deliciously beautiful metaphor of creativity and how your brain «can only produce what we put into it». Plan the seed in your soil, fertilize your brain, let it rain, be creative!
- Capture the learning: crafting the maker mindset
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
There is no doubt that we learn by doing. Check out this article for advice on how to plan a lesson (content, skills, restrictions) which involves students and helps them learn in a different way.
- 10 stats on creativity that will change the way you think about content
Is it all about being productive? looking for information and storing data? working faster? Creativity is widely valued by eveyrone: employers, employees, consumers or CEOS.
- Why your brain needs more downtime
A survey of 1,700 white collar workers in the U.S., China, South Africa, the U.K. and Australia revealed that on average employees spend more than half their workdays receiving and managing information rather than using it to do their jobs
I used to arrive earlier than anyone at work to brownse the Internet looking for the best activities and games to teach the content I had planned to explain and practice. It took me a long time to realize that, sometimes, it is not about how much time we spend looking for information but about having a clear idea of what we need and time to think about how to do it.
Idleness is not just a vacation, an indulgence or a vice; it is as indispensable to the brain as vitamin D is to the body, and deprived of it we suffer a mental affliction as disfiguring as rickets.
Stop feeling guilty about not working late, overtime, at the weekends or on holidays. Happy employees mean better results. Leave some room for creativiy in you lifestyle.
CreativENGLISHly 