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Why "Creativity College?"

1/20/2014

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Picture
  Wise sayings are remembered and repeated because they are... well, wise.  One of those is: "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade!" This past year I lost my secondary kids when our high school was closed.  No bitterness, no anger... simply sadness.  We knew it was coming.  Unfortunately, farm families are finding their way of life disrupted as small schools are closed --for us, it wasn't low test scores (ours were good), it simply is the current direction education is headed --big is better.  I'm not going to argue the small school verses big school argument.  The truth is there are opportunities big schools can offer that small schools can't, but there are also opportunities that small schools can offer that big schools can't (a fully, active secondary gifted program for one).  Enough of that.  It is what it is.  I am both a dreamer and a realist.
     I was fortunate to keep my elementary G.T. job and talked to my progressive administrator about extending the program in a direction not seen anywhere (to my knowledge).  We began "Creativity College" --not an extra pull-out program, but a real part of the curriculum which focuses on teaching creative thinking skills and enabling both students and teachers to see the carry-over of those skills within the regular classroom and across disciplines.  The program reaches each and every student in our school in grades K-6.  Each class comes twice a week, along with the classroom teacher, and experiences activities that take students in a direction uncommon in the regular classroom.  We began the year by giving all students and the teachers a creativity test (pre-test) and plan to do the same at the end of the year to see if there is growth.
   Another purpose of the program is to involve all students (not just G.T. students) in experiences in drama and public speaking --a chance to work on a whole group project with a presentation for parents.  In recent years, so many kids not in G.T. would stop me in the hall and say, "Miss Hesse, I wish I could be in a play."  Our first venture in this area was our Creativity College Christmas Program which was a huge success.  
   The kids at Weiner Elementary are loving their lemonade, and I admit --I am too.

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    Patricia Hesse --working with gifted students as young as 5 and as old as 18 for the past 24 years --remarkable kids!

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  • Home
    • PRESENTATIONS >
      • GT, AMI, Today's World
      • AAGEA keynote
      • Characteristics/Identification
      • BRUNDIBAR -AGATE
      • Parenting G.T. Kids
      • Letting Go of Testing
      • GT & Innovation
      • Affective & Discipline Strategies
      • Classroom Website - Your Best Friend
      • Differentiation
      • Putting on a Play
    • Handbook
    • Scope and Sequence
  • PERFORMING ARTS
    • LESSONS
    • Instruments We Are Using
    • Music in Visual Art
    • Music Glossary
  • Productions!
    • Charlotte's Web >
      • Watch the PLAY!
      • Read with Us
      • SUMMARY WRITING
      • Chapter Activities
      • My OWN Farm
      • Iliad/Watership >
        • Iliad & Odyssey >
          • ILIAD summaries
          • Iliad Discussion
          • VIDEOS
        • The Odyssey >
          • Characters
          • Student Summary Pages
          • Odyssey Discussion
        • Watership Down >
          • Characters
          • VOCABULARY
          • LAPINE lanaguage
          • Flora in Watership Down
    • Adventures of Matilda >
      • Roald Dahl & "Matilda!" >
        • Roald Dahl Activities
        • MORE Book Activities
        • MUSIC 4 fun!
        • The Musical
        • Books
        • ENCOURAGING READING
        • Dahl & WRITING! (Activities)
    • Inside Out >
      • Newsela Emotions
    • BRUNDIBAR! >
      • All About Brundibar
      • Terezin Specialists
    • "Who Will Carry the Word?"
    • ANNIE >
      • Annie Dress Rehearsal PHOTOS
      • Roaring 20's Party!
    • Cinderella Photos/Curriculum
    • A Christmas Carol >
      • Why A Christmas Carol? >
        • Essential Questions
        • Vocabulary
        • Street Children
        • Dickens' BIO
        • Original Manuscript
        • Dickens and Art
    • COMING TO AMERICA! >
      • Story of Annie Moore
      • Mrs. Dunn's Lovely Farm
      • The Hundred Dresses
      • Orphan Train
      • Immigration Terms
      • Statue of Liberty
    • Lights, Camera, Comedy!
    • Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
    • Bye, Bye Birdie
    • "It's a Wonderful Life!"
    • The Taming of the Shrew
    • A Midsummer Night's Dream
    • Harvest Celebration
  • Holocaust Education
    • Brundibar (Terezin)
    • Delbo's WHO WILL CARRY THE WORD?
    • Holocaust Presentations >
      • Timeline
      • Anne Frank
      • Words from Dr. John Roth
      • WWII PHOTOS
      • Shedding Light on the Shadow
    • Remembrance SEDER
  • Past Studies
    • Mysteries
    • THE NOVEL PROJECT
    • MATILDA AT HOME! AMI >
      • HUMAN Masterpieces
      • CORONA DISK JOCKEY!
      • "If I Were a Rich Man/Woman" >
        • Kylie's Gallery
        • Benton's Gallery
        • Xander's Gallery
        • Gentrye's Gallery
        • Ava's Gallery
        • Cannon's Gallery
        • Tyler's Gallery
        • Eli's Gallery
        • Jax Gallery
        • Madden's Gallery
        • Troy's Gallery
        • Brody's Gallery
        • Peyton's Gallery
        • Scarlet's Gallery
        • Mack's Gallery
        • Amelia's Gallery
        • Emily's Gallery
        • Rylee's Gallery
        • Cal's Gallery
        • Marley's Gallery
        • Sam's Gallery
      • Character in Action
    • Anthropomorphism >
      • LIST # 1 >
        • Black Beauty
        • Mrs. Frisby & the Rats of Nimh
        • Bunnicula!
        • Babe
        • The Sight
        • The Jungle Book
        • Tale of Despereaux
        • Wind in the Willows
        • Chronicles of Narnia
        • Mouse Called Wolf
        • One / Only Ivan
        • Watership Down
      • LIST # 2 >
        • Martin's Mice
        • Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
        • Fire Bringer
        • Never-ending Story
        • Trumpet Swan
        • Animal Farm
        • Cricket Times Square
        • Redwall
        • Nest for Celeste
        • Winnie the Pooh
        • WARRIORS
        • MOUSE/ Motorcycle
      • LIST # 3 >
        • Freddy Goes to Florida
        • The Capture
        • Ace the Very Important Pig
        • PAX
        • The Golden Compass
        • Stuart Little
        • The Underneath
        • Tales Beatrix Potter
        • Bambi
        • MAUS
        • Poppy
        • WAR HORSE
        • Masterpiece
      • Anthropomorphic Wisdom
      • MENTAL PUZZLES
      • ACTIVE Reading
  • K/1 /2 Enrichment
    • MORE K/1 /2 Activities >
      • STILL More K/1 /2 Activities >
        • What is Creativity?
        • Memory Frameworks
        • Creativity Analogy Task
        • Rudyard Kipling Project
        • Things that are Red
        • BEDS for K-1
        • Christmas!
        • Book of Kells
        • Tree Tunnels
        • Wired Animals
        • Flashlight
        • Originality Lesson
      • Helping Young Kids with Testing
  • Creativity
    • Creativity INTRO >
      • Creative Thinking Tools
      • Why Creativity Counts
      • Creativity Videos
      • Creativity Facts
  • Nurturing CULTURE
    • Character Words
    • PLACE OF THE WEEK
    • ARTIST OF THE WEEK
    • MUSICIAN / COMPOSER OF THE WEEK
  • About the Teacher
    • Recognition
    • "Stuff I Like" (for teachers) >
      • Algebra for Kids! >
        • Creative Algebra Projects
    • When I Worked With Secondary >
      • A Final Goodbye
      • 911 Tribute
      • ExCEL
      • Broadway!
      • Power Women!
      • Pumpkin Vault
      • Affective
    • Blog
    • Miss Hesse's European Adventure