Catalogue of Critical Creativity Presentation

I took a look at "creating with words" because I thought it would be interesting to look at from my perspective as a future English teacher. Creating with words is awesome because it goes perfectly with the main objectives of an English classroom, and I wanted to see if there were any suggestions or ideas I could incorporate and make my own. 

Creating with words:

I love that the activities they suggested were not only dealing with words! I don't know exactly what I was expecting, but I loved that so many of the activities involved photography, hands-on segments, and even moving outside the classroom. Just because you start and focus on words doesn’t mean you can’t use your imagination and go beyond them. I seriously adore this book and how it gives so many suggestions and ideas that I probably wouldn’t have thought of on my own.

One of my favorite activities was the idea of Phrankenwords. I loved the idea of combining multiple words that were similar but when pushed together, created an entirely new word. The word “phrankenword” itself sounds like Frankenstein, who is a monster created from parts of different people and things. I think it would be an awesome opportunity to understand some concepts, and it could be awesome to integrate into a poetry unit. This activity reminded me of Dr. Seuss and how he makes up so many words but you know what they mean based upon context. I think it would be awesome to have a poem where the students have the creative restraint of writing a poem with 5+ “phrankenwords”. They could be words taken from the text we are currently reading, or they can be vocab words or concepts we’re studying. It could also be cool if they are only allowed to use words from an article or a page of the text, pushing them to be creative within their limits and restraints.

I also loved the idea of blackout poetry. I was actually thinking of incorporating this into my lesson plan focused on Speak. For a unit, you could take different pages of the book you’re reading and have your students create blackout poetry from it, and see how the poem changes or maintains the message of the text. I also think it allows for students to look very creatively at a text, and choose which words mean more to them than others. I think it could be valuable to have students reflect on their poems and vocalize their decisions and why they made them. I think analyzing the creative process can be just as important as actually participating in it.