The critical examination of language and the deconstruction of truth claims play an important role in how we build with diversity in our classrooms. We, as social work educators involved with playful postmodernism, recognize the significance of improvisation and playfulness in engaging the question: how is this examination and deconstruction done?…

The teacher's role has often been described as one of "orchestration", and this musical analogy is a powerful one in characterising the manipulation of features in the classroom setting in order to generate activity or "performance" which leads to learning. However, a classical view of orchestration would fail to recognise the extent to which…

This article presents an activity in which students use narrative theory as a conceptual canvas for understanding resumes as autobiographical performances shaped by social and material forces. By asking students to story their lives in both conventional and creative resumes, this assignment invites students to produce autobiographical discourse…

An implementation and assessment of three creative-learning mechanisms in a research-inspired split undergraduate/graduate course in Analytical Microdevice Technology is described. Microscale research is challenging to incorporate into the classroom due to the phenomena length-scales and the creating learning strategies were used to promote…

When the author came to Villa Park High School in Orange County, California back in 1998, having just finished fourteen years in an East Los Angeles school, she expected to find communication technology already operative. It was just beginning at Bell High School where she had been, in Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), with a Video…

Artworks that are circular in nature are often referred to as mandalas. "Mandala" means center, circle, or circumference. Mandalas are created in many cultures for a variety of reasons, most of which are related to self-expression, ritual, and religion. In this article, the author describes how her students created mandalas. She also provides…

Social-emotional competence--it is a critical part of every child's school success, and just like any academic subject, children need instruction in it. Developed by a top expert, these proven curricula will help promote the social-emotional competence and resilience of children and adolescents. Divided into four age levels from kindergarten…

Suggests that more classroom activities should be developed around the concepts and themes revealed in novels and other childrens literature. (RB)

This paper describes a classroom activity in which children make their own books, an activity which may increase children's language abilities and confidence. Four possibilities for classroom-produced books are mentioned: (1) the dictated story, with the teacher taking down the child's exact words, (2) the picture-story book with the child making…

Advances a definition that distinguishes ritual from other kinds of formal expression. Demonstrates the creative potential of ritual through an analysis of ritual structure as illustrated by practical drama lessons. (PD)

A sixth grade teacher describes the impetus one class activity provides for other class projects. (GB)

Musical creativity can be enhanced in children of all ages through an interdisciplinary approach involving activities combining music with history, geography, mythology, foreign language, biography, psychology and literature. (DB)

Describes a technique that demystifies the creative process and teaches advertising students to understand that creativity is nothing more than taking something ordinary (a product) and looking at it from an extraordinary point of view (an ad). (SR)

This article discusses techniques for reaching the metaphorical side of the brain. (PD)

Describes the class activities that lead to the making of a play and contains the script for a play entitled "The last of the Scotts," written and acted by students with the teacher serving as the producer. (RB)