Recipes for Creative Writing

Kirk MooreAPAC - The Dynamics of Motivation

Barcelona - 20 Feb 2015

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Outline

1. Reflection

2. Principles

3. Recipes

1. Reflection

A. What is creativity?B. What does creativity have to do with

writing?C. What does creativity have to do with

motivation?

A. Creativity

Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while.

Steve Jobs

Twyla Tharp

Creativity is not just for artists. It's for business people looking for a new way to close a sale; it's for engineers trying to solve a problem; it's for parents who want their children to see the world in more than one way.

Kirby FergusonTED Embrace the Remix

The basic components of all creativity are:

1. copy2. transform3. combine

David KelleyStanford Univ. d.school - TED talk

Anyone can learn creativity via a process and thereby develop creative confidence. Design Thinking process:

1. discovery2. interpretation3. ideation4. experimentation5. evolution

Tina Seelig

Stanford University d.school TEDx talk

Creativity can be unlocked via a process and is fostered by internal and external factors.

The Creativity Crisis Po Bronson & Ashley Merryman (Newsweek)

Creativity is not about freedom from concrete facts ...

Creativity requires constant shifting, blender pulses of both divergent thinking and convergent thinking, to combine new information with old and forgotten ideas.

B. Writing and creativity

● Transactional

● Contemplative○ making sense of our experience

■ process-oriented■ practice

○ transformative

Creativity and writing as practicesJolie Guillebeau, a painter, sees creativity as a concrete practice.

… a pottery class where half the students are graded on the quantity of the pieces they make – no matter what the quality, at the end of the semester all of their work would be placed on a scale and if the work weighed more than a certain number of pounds they’d receive an A. The other half of the class would only be graded on one single piece — they didn’t have to create anything else that semester. Of course, the first half not only created more, but the work they made was better than the half who spent dozens of hours perfecting the one single work. I decided this applied to my own work as well.

C. Motivation and creativity Eisenberger & Shannock's study shows much the same as what Geoff Colvin concludes:

While the mere expectation of being judged [tends] to reduce creativity, personal feedback could actually enhance creativity if it was the right kind… That is, feedback that [helps] a person do what he or she [feels] compelled to do [is] effective. Even the prospect of direct rewards, normally suffocating to creativity, could be helpful if they were the right kinds of rewards… [As such] intrinsic motivation is still best, and extrinsic motivation that’s controlling is still detrimental to creativity, but extrinsic motivators that reinforce intrinsic drives can be highly effective. You can't use up creativity. The more

you use, the more you have.- Maya Angelou

C. Motivation and creativity Hadfield and Dörnyei's work on using dynamic systems theory and Future Possible Selves theory to understand motivation in SLA suggests a process in which essentially learners create a vision of their Ideal Future L2 Self and then work towards actualizing it through a series of steps.

'The ideal L2 self is a powerful motivator because we would like to reduce the discrepancy between our actual and ideal selves.'

Motivation, Language Identity and the L2 Self

1. Reflection - Summary

● connecting/remixing ideas● vision/solution to problem● learnable/unlocked via a process● convergent + divergent● intrinsic, can be reinforced by

constructive externals

● contemplation● practice● making sense of

experience● transformative

2. Principles

● Contemplation● Practice● Process● Connecting /

Remixing / Transforming

Connecting / Remixing / TransformingTransmediation: recreating the meaning of a 'text' in one sign system into another.

● photograph● dance● music● video● comic● podcast● realia● written text

Basic process1. observe2. interpret3. create

Kayley Dull and Tyler Elvey

Kirby Ferguson1. copy2. transform3. combine

→

3. Recipes - ContemplationCounting technique

Silently and with your eyes closed, count backwards from 50 to 1, paying close attention to your thoughts and feelings as you do so.

When you get to 1, write down what you experienced. Describe it in as much detail as possible.

Jeffrey Pflaum - Edutopia

ContemplationMusic technique

Students listen to music that the teacher plays for 10 minutes, all the while writing down whatever comes through their minds.

These texts could be handed in anonymously and read out by the teacher another day as a topic for discussion. Alternatively, they could form part of the students' journals and could be prompts for further reflection later on.

Beethoven's Diabelli Variations, Vivaldi's Four Seasons or J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations might be good places to start.

Jeffrey Pflaum - Edutopia

ContemplationYour Ideal Future L2 Self

Create a vision of your Ideal L2 Self through writing. How do you see yourself using the L2 in the future? Think of general areas as well as specific details. How would it feel to become that Ideal Self?

Motivating Our Learners: Actualising the Vision

ContemplationStudents view two seemingly unrelated images that the teacher displays and then must write a short text explaining how they are related.

These texts could be read out or shared anonymously or form part of the students' journals.

inspiration from Thich Nhat Hanh

Transmediation (painting to text)

Process1. observe2. interpret3. create

Transmediation (photo to text)Photo for the IWB "Give your learners literally 2 seconds to look at it, then talk to each other about what they saw."

Adapt this to a 5-minute written description and reflection exercise. Then, of course, students can exchange their texts and discuss each others’ reactions, whether orally or in writing.

Walton mentions the importance of choosing quality photos, such as those at National Geographic, as they can lead to richer language.

Tom Walton - http://blogs.ihes.com/tech-elt/?p=3821

Transmediation (music to text)Writing from a medley

The teacher prepares six short diverse musical excerpts and tells students they will hear the soundtrack from someone's holiday and plays the music - they should take notes about what they think might be happening, as they will need to write about it after listening. Then students use their notes to write six first-person diary entries that go with the music.

Students then exchange their writing and listen to the soundtrack again while reading.

Games for Language Learning (Wright, Betteridge and Buckby)

Transmediation (literary styles)Students compare texts with different styles, comparing features of each style in detail.

A scene is chosen from one text and then students transform it in the style of the other.

Alternatively, students could write about an experience of their own and then transform this text into another style.

Susan McCloskey

1 Samuel 17

A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. His height was six cubits and a span. He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels; on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. His shield bearer went ahead of him.Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.” Then the Philistine said, “This day I defy the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.” On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified. [source]

I know I'm not an ordinary ten-year-old kid. I mean, sure, I do ordinary things. I eat ice cream. I ride my bike. I play ball. I have an XBox. Stuff like that makes me ordinary. I guess. And I feel ordinary. Inside. But I know ordinary kids don't make other ordinary kids run away screaming in playgrounds. I know ordinary kids don't get stared at wherever they go.

If I found a magic lamp and I could have one wish, I would wish that I had a normal face that no one ever noticed at all. I would wish that I could walk down the street without people seeing me and then doing that look-away thing. Here's what I think: the only reason I'm not ordinary is that no one else sees me that way. [source]

Transmediation (oral text to written text)This works best if the class has previously discussed the elements of narrative, e.g. suspense, pace, humour, etc..

Everyone carries objects with a story. Students name and/or describe the teacher's clothing/accessories and then choose one or two items they’d like to know more about. The teacher tells story behind the objects, using elements discussed (or leaving them out and then asking for help to improve the story).

In pairs, students then tell the story of 1-2 of their clothing/accessories, asking questions. Later, they write their partner's story, using the elements of a good story identified previously.

(This idea is not my own, but I don’t remember where it came from.)

(Trans)Form-oriented frames

Provide students with a couple of examples of six-word stories and then they write their own. An image could also displayed as a source of inspiration.

● Baby shoes for sale. Never worn. (Hemingway)● T.H.C., L.S.D., D.U.I., C.P.R., D.O.A., R.I.P. (theporkfork)

http://www.sixwordstories.net/

Other form-oriented frames● ABC sentences - Write a word or phrase down the left side of the paper (e.g., Music festivals).

Students write sentences beginning with each letter (or within first word) that have to do with the topic denoted.

● Write in the shape - On a blank paper, students draw the outline of an object important to them (e.g. iPhone), about size of their hand. Students write inside the outline from a word or phrase the teacher gives (e.g. Before I, Once upon a time). Exchange papers and ask questions. Can also be done with specific shapes: door, key, window, bottle.

● Acrostic poems, Diamante, Haiku● Alex Valentine Four Line Long Poem

(see PIZZAZ and Writing Exercises for more)

Remixing - The Story BoxThe Story Box : a box of flash cards divided into Characters, Setting, and Action. In each section, there are cards with basic information, so a Character card might read, “Patty: 42 years old. Works in a library. Loves children. Is afraid of mice.” Students pick 1 setting card, 2 character cards, and one action card to start. The information on the card provides them with the information they sometimes feel they need to start writing. And if a students gets stuck in the middle of a story, the remainder of the page a cliff over which they are dangling, having them pick another “action” card usually provides the story (and their imagination) with enough of a push to get their pencil moving again.

Kevin Stein - http://itdi.pro/blog/2014/04/25/more-creative-writing-kevin/

Jim Jarmusch

Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery - celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from - it’s where you take them to.”