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Women in Science: Graphics that Teach
How would you represent a great person’s life work in a single symbol? What single image could represent the contributions of Martin Luther King? Abraham Lincoln? Srinivasa Ramanujan? The artist using...
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Who You Gotta Meet?
If you could meet anyone in your community, who would you pick? Joe Rhatigan encourages young people to explore that question in his book, People You Gotta Meet Before You Grow Up: Get to Know the...
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National Postal Museum: Inspiring Creativity with Stamps
Did you know there is a U.S. National Postal Museum? I didn’t. I’ve learned that the National Postal Museum is part of the Smithsonian and it is full of interesting things. Fortunately for those of us...
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Mystery Skype: Where in the World are YOU?
I love a good mystery. (OK, I love a good mystery without too much gore, and with all characters I’ve come to love still alive at the end.) Anyway. I also love the idea of Mystery Skype, both for what...
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Students as Questioners 5: Questions in the Disciplines
One of the three keys I’ve identified for supporting creativity in the classroom is teaching the creative methodologies of the disciplines you are teaching. “Teaching the creative methodologies” is a...
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Students as Questioners 6: What Do Historians Ask?
One key way to encourage student questioning is to think about the questions that creative professionals in a discipline might ask. Every field moves forward when individuals ask questions. Helping...
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The Great Thanksgiving Listen
Two of my most memorable school assignments both involved interviewing my grandfather. In the first, for a seventh grade history assignment, I learned about his work during World War II Air Raid...
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New York City Public Library: A Digital Treasure
208.TIF When I was a little girl, I used to sit on the floor of my family home and read the World Book Encyclopedia. Yes, I know, today that would be considered a very “nerd” thing to do. Maybe it was...
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Hamilton, Schoolhouse Rock, What’s Next?
This week I saw two very different musicals. Well, to be honest, I saw all of one and parts of another. I was one of millions who have had the opportunity to see the PBS documentary on Hamilton, the...
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People and Cultures: Preparing Junior Ethnographers
Students spend a LOT of time in school answering questions. Yet one of the most important ways we can help them develop creative (and critical) thinking is to help them ask questions–not just questions...
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Hamilton: History, Creativity, and Perseverance
I readily admit I’m not a big hip hop fan—probably because I’m of the generation that watched in awe as the Beatles sang on our black and white TVs. Yes, older than dirt. And yet I can’t get enough of...
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Protests, Singing, and Creativity
Recently, thanks to a kind friend’s invitation, I had the chance to sing in “The Big Sing,” a one-weekend-a-year chorus of over 100 singers, gathered to sing songs associated with social justice. The...
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Cockaigne: Land of Medieval Dreams
Have you ever wondered what your ideal world might look like? At a recent trip to the Detroit Institute of Arts I had a chance to glimpse into a few medieval artists’ fantasies, as they portrayed the...
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Creative Teaching with Text Messages
Recently, several friends posted a video on social media depicting a imagined text conversation among Harry Potter, Hermione, Ron, and others from the Harry Potter world. It is not a literary...
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Reading Like a Historian: Antidote to the (Fake) News Wars?
It takes very few conversations these days to understand it is very hard for individuals who view the world from one perspective to hear, understand, and appreciate an alternative point of view....
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Discussing Like a Historian–Or a Scientist, or a Scholar
Last week I wrote about my hope that helping students see the variety of historical perspectives—and the conflicts that ensued—might allow them to more readily navigate today’s often-gridlocked...
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Papyrology: A Discipline for the Curious
When I was a little girl I was entranced by the story of King Tut. Before I could read independently, I begged my father to read my All About Archeology book over and over (and over!). I loved...
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Before They Were Our Mothers
Between work, play, and visiting family, I’ve spent a lot of time in airports this summer. Occasionally I’ve browsed in the many shops designed to help us survive hours of layovers. In one of those...
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What Did the Pilgrims Wear? Primary Sources for Thanksgiving
My favorite conversation for helping students think about primary historical research begins with the question, “What did the pilgrims wear?” I’ve had the same conversation with students from second...
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Bread Bread Bread. Hats Hats Hats. Voyages in a Book.
You can tell my friends know me well when I receive children’s books and puppets for Christmas. This year I received both. One of the books, Bread Bread Bread, reminded me of an experience I had...
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