Imagine all the people living for today (John Lennon)

Creativity is the process of having original ideas that have value.

Imagination is the root of creativity.

Creativity is putting your imagination to work. It is applied imagination.

Innovation is putting new ideas into practice.

Sir Ken Robinson

Straight, no chaser (Thelonious Monk)

You can't teach an old dog new tricks.

I disagree.

I like new.

Here's some new:

1 Fresh tech for social studies
For the first semester I am teaching social studies (to fill in my timetable). It's been a while - my last social studies class was in my first year of teaching (19 mumble mumble mumble - huh? Okay okay -1983). This may come in handy!

2 25 ideas!
There are so many teaching ideas out there to try. That is SO cool. I have barely scratched the surface with these puppies (puppies...get it). Here are 25 in a bunch (or whatever the collective noun is for puppies).

3 Imagination is more important
Always good to be reminded of this. Who wants to be stale and boring and NOT have students use their imagination? Not this old dog - that's fer damn sure!

4 Inventive games to teach empathy and social skills
Wow - more amazing stuff from mind/shift. This time you get a whole load of stuff to help with growing empathy. Altruism ROCKS my friends!

5 Five competencies
Finally and appropriately - here are five key competencies that we need to foster in the 21st century. can you guess what they are before you look?

How did you do?

Just my imagination (The Temptations)

Short read time on the blog today because I liked this by Judith Yates:

The education system is not preparing students for the real world by stifling imagination. Every workplace, every profession, relies on creativity, problem solving, and exploration of ideas. Professional athletes, architects, journalists, and accountants will go no further than the initial job interview if they say, “I need someone to tell me how to do everything all the time.”

Right on sister!!

The full article is good too - not yer usual piece by an educator - she's a criminal justice instructor!

The opposite of 'stifle': encourage; support; and my favourite...STIMULATE.

So let's get to it and really stimulate imagination in our classes shall we? 

All of us. Every day. Every. Day.