Torrance Journal for Applied Creativity

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C. C. Equals Creative Catalogs by Jerry Flack Introduction I have long believed that creativity flourishes in richly colorful and stimulating classroom environments. I have also been a life-long pack rat who cannot pass up “treasures” that more temperate and tidy persons discard. I speak here especially of catalogs and related wall posters that weary mail carriers gladly cast off. One or more tables in my media-saturated classroom were always filled with catalogs from a great variety of commercial mail-order vendors plus additional wonders found on weekend “Catalog Treks.” Samples of the former included catalogs of children's book publishers, exotic travel companies, clothing outlets, candy companies, holiday extragavanzas, and just plain fun nostalgia tomes such as those of The Vermont Country Store. Weekend catalog collecting searches found the author visiting automobile sales agencies, local department stores, chain store outlets, unusual or one-of-a-kind businesses located in malls, and even gathering up the ubiquitous real estate catalogs at exits of local grocery stores. Teachers and students who live near art communities may well find Collector's and ArtScape Guide catalogs filled with gorgeous reproductions of the paintings and sculptures of artists represented in local art galleries. Sample Mail-Order Catalogs Venice Simplon-Orient Express Neiman Marcus's “The Christmas Book” National Geographic Expeditions Candlewick Press Wilderness Travel's Cruise Collection Grand European Travel Viking River Cruises See's Candies Burpee Seeds & Plants LEGO The Cook's Garden Sample Catalogs Found While Shopping at the Mall William Sonoma Nordstrom's Eddie Bauer Patagonia Neiman Marcus Robert Talbott American Girl Mercedes-Benz Increasingly, many businesses that once published print catalogs have gone online. Sample Online Catalogs The Apple Store The Disney Store Toys to Grow On Gump's (San Francisco) Robert Redford's Sundance Catalog R. Crusoe & Son Hosted Journeys (around the world) Fisher-Price Toys Fat Brain Toys MindWare Cabelas Tree House Humane Society Please Note. In order to receive hard copy catalog samples from a majority of online mail-order businesses, it is necessary to provide personal information that includes email addresses. One unprincipled means of making money for some companies is to sell email addresses. Unless families or classrooms want tons of electronic junk mail, be certain that businesses do not engage in such practices. A second caution is to use care in the Internet catalog search words utilized. A search for “unusual mail-order catalogs” might end up with online leads to companies such as Victoria's Secret or other adult fare that is far from what students need. More accurate word search terms or phrases would be “children's catalogs” and “toy catalogs” As students enjoy their immersion into the world of catalogs, solicit from them some of the common features of most catalogs. Catalogs are visually rich and colorful. Typically, several items are displayed on each page and items are grouped by categories (e.g., clothing, toys, books). Most catalogs are models of good writing. Strong action verbs and colorful adjectives are used by copy writers to create positive images in the minds of readers. Precision is characteristic of the text. Copywriters realize that they have limited space to convey vital information about any given product. They use language judiciously. A serendipitous bonus of student-generated creative catalogs is the improvement and refinement of writing skills. Even verbally gifted students can benefit by noting the clarity, precision, and conciseness of the technical writing found in catalogs. Writing copy for their own catalogs engages students in writing that requires them to focus on the 117
precise use of words. Moreover, much of the copy for catalog entries describes in detail how a catalog item works or is operated. Some of the critical elements of catalogs include flattering drawings or photographs, adulatory descriptions, special features, materials, dimensions, colors and sizes, order numbers, and prices. Remind students that any catalog is measured by its overall attractiveness, organization, and creativity. Once students have surveyed a wide array of catalogs, they can create their own. The selection of themes or topics for student-generated catalogs is unlimited and creating them significantly enhances the creative productivity of gifted learners. Students' own catalogs have much in common with equally original alphabet books. A generic pattern or rubric is shared with talented students. Once they have studied several catalogs, they will have a good idea of what is expected of them in order to achieve creative success. How students respond to the challenge of creating their own original catalogs is largely a matter of their personal creativity and task commitment. Classic Catalogs Catalogs are designed to stimulate customer desire so it is not surprising that many catalogs are beautiful to behold. Even given the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of catalogs that have played a significant role in American free enterprise, there are at least two or three catalogs that would easily rank very high if America had a “Catalog Hall of Fame.” The Neiman Marcus Christmas Book has become an institution as well as a monument to extravagance and conspicuous consumption. One can only imagine the fun brainstorming sessions the catalog’s editors have selecting items to truly amaze readers. Some of the incredible items, always dramatically photographed and lavishly described with prose that borders on poetry, have included a Napoleonic Faberge Egg, a Limited Edition Bell Helicopter, a $600 118 Monopoly game made up of the finest chocolates in the world. (Obviously, the game is not for repeated playings.) One special culinary delight is an exclusive gingerbread house, a mirror image of the owner’s home (mansion?). his and her gifts are popular items in NM’s Christmas Book. Some examples include his and her matching dirigibles and Hummer mountain bikes, two multi-function robots, and a pair of ostriches. The Neiman Marcus Christmas Book is available from selected store outlets typically in early November. In 1888, Richard Sears published his first mail-order catalog. Not long after, Sears’ chief cross-town (Chicago) rival, Montgomery Ward & Co., joined in producing yet another “Wish Book” for the rapidly expanding populations in the rural regions of the United Sates. (Note: Both Sears and Montgomery Ward used “catalogue” as the choice of spelling for their merchandise tomes.) These two giant mail-order merchants offered as many as 6,000 items pictured on more than 700 pages of catalog wonders that ranged from corsets to Zulu guns, buggy whips, watches, sewing machines, brass beds, bicycles, Bibles, band instruments, beehives and even banjos. Merchandise for babies included bonnets, diapers, and baby carriages and tombstones could be purchased from Sears, Roebuck for those who anticipated the opposite end of the age spectrum. The table of contents of the 1897 Sears, Roebuck Catalogue alone is fascinating. Catalog chapters include groceries, drugs, tools, refrigerators, bells, stoves and household utensils, agricultural implements, boots, shoes, and rubbers, trunks, dry goods department, women and girls clothing, men and boys clothing, carpets, curtains, and linens, silverware, clocks, optical goods, surveyors’ instruments, thermometers and electrical goods, cameras, musical department, sporting goods, furniture, and harnesses and saddlery. The 1908 “Big Book,” one nickname for the annual Sears catalog, offered construction materials and plans for building a three-bedroom house for just $725.00. Sadly, the final Sears catalog or “Wish Book” was published in 1933. It was the height of the Great Depression; banks had failed and hundreds of thousands of farm families lost their homesteads. In small town rural America, the population could no longer order from the “Wish Books.” The Sears, Roebuck and Montgomery Ward catalogs are available in facsimile editions from local libraries and selected reproductions of these “Wish Books” are also available for purchase from contemporary online or mail-order businesses from today’s catalog giants such as Amazon.com. Ironically, Amazon.com is a 21st-century electronic version of the original Sears and Montgomery Ward “Wish Books.” A brief look at the Amazon.com category purchase lists 40 + chapters. Some categories such as home appliances, clothing, shoes, jewelry, groceries, luggage, pet (animal) supplies, home and kitchen items, and tools for home improvement might seem familiar to first-time readers of a Sears 1897 “Wish Book.” Yet those same readers might well find CD & vinyl, digital music, electronics, gourmet foods, luxury beauty items, video games, and a Kindle store to be strange catalog fare. The Sears and Montgomery Ward catalogs offer views of a bygone era. They were incredible in the scope of their contents. Further, facsimile editions splendidly accompany the reading of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House series and Newbery Medal novels such as Patricia MacLachlan’s Sarah, Plain and Tall (HarperCollins, 2004) with their late 19th-century settings.
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Torrance Journal for Applied Creati
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Table of Contents Preface Joan Fran
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Torrance Journal Advisory Board Cyn
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Bonnie Cramond E. Paul Torrance, th
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The TTCT also gave educators a way
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this emphasis may be seen in what K
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Students participating in the year-
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The Man So much of Torrance the man
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References Cramond, B., Matthews-Mo
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How Can Teachers Foster Creativity
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1. What kind of paper money are you
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Little Leaps: Weaving Creativity in
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18 Skill: Enjoy and Use Fantasy •
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References Content: Emancipation Pr
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Creativity Although almost universa
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The Levels of Service approach focu
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Beghetto, R. A., Kaufman, J. C., &
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Over the years, a body of literatur
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keep a climate of openness to stude
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II. Creative Intelligence: Fosterin
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Inspiring Creativity in Teachers to
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These tools provide guidelines to f
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• Journals There are many types o
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The Importance of IQ, MIQ, EQ, HQ &
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the Multiple Intelligences can lead
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Happiness is also a somewhat surpri
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To help parents and educators under
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Question: What if these Q “subjec
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childhood state‐of‐mind—being
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Walt Whitman (1819-92), Master of P
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Krall and Diana Ross. “Lady Day
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Stuart Little by E.B. White: A Tale
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Red Skelton. Great satirist, pantom
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Movie Actors and Actresses Lauren B
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Concept of Synergy as a Major Facto
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Fisher, Maurice D. (2000). Multiple
Page 73 and 74: The Learner-Directed Studio-Classro
Page 75 and 76: Borrowing Torrance’s words to pro
Page 77 and 78: Curious about the degree to which s
Page 79 and 80: the next few years of the rigor it
Page 81 and 82: Cerulean Hero by Karen Morse I know
Page 83 and 84: Purpose of the Study We thought the
Page 85 and 86: Benefits of Creativity Many student
Page 87 and 88: III. Models of Creativity: Torrance
Page 89 and 90: Lessons with No Conclusions: Using
Page 91 and 92: Table 1: Stage II Information Proce
Page 93 and 94: Allowing the lesson to trickle over
Page 95 and 96: Breaking Boundaries When my family
Page 97 and 98: Stage One: Heightening Anticipation
Page 99 and 100: TIM (Torrance Incubation Model) in
Page 101 and 102: nity elders in learning basic horti
Page 103 and 104: TIM and the Creative Coach: Using t
Page 105 and 106: Yet, the directive style is so perv
Page 107 and 108: Table 9:Deepening Expectations Stra
Page 109 and 110: Table 9: (Continued) Deepening Expe
Page 111 and 112: Table 10: (Continued) Extending Lea
Page 113 and 114: The KJ-Ho and The W-shaped Problem
Page 115 and 116: sentences. This is called the nega-
Page 117 and 118: References Kawakita J. (1966). Hass
Page 119 and 120: Connie Phelps Cornerstones in Appli
Page 121 and 122: dren and adults through games, stor
Page 123: References Boyd, N. (n. d.). The th
Page 127 and 128: Creative Student Catalogs Expect fi
Page 129 and 130: The following vocabulary represents
Page 131 and 132: Predicting Adult Innovation Adult c
Page 133 and 134: creative young men and women who ca
Page 135 and 136: How can the Maker movement help dev
Page 137 and 138: Drawing While Talking and Thinking:
Page 139 and 140: one’s thinking about school chang
Page 141 and 142: aspects of Thomas and Brown’s (20
Page 143 and 144: Significance In these two studies,
Page 145 and 146: Relevance in the Gifted Classroom-
Page 147 and 148: ideas and conducting a mock public
Page 149 and 150: It’s called the car; and we certa
Page 151 and 152: five creative strengths] are valuab
Page 153 and 154: Creativity and Innovation in an Int
Page 155 and 156: spices, textures, flavors, and sund
Page 157 and 158: Schmid, T. (2005a). Promoting healt
Page 159 and 160: Sylvia B. Rimm The Fashion of Passi
Page 161 and 162: pressures. Now adults have added a
Page 163 and 164: Too High Expectations Lead to Under
Page 165 and 166: Graduation Message I have heard man
Page 167 and 168: Foundation of Psychology The theori
Page 169 and 170: students makes moral dilemmas a use
Page 171 and 172: Seven Ways to Develop or Raise Spir
Page 173 and 174: Studies in Psychology: Promoting Aw
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Purpose of the Study This study sou
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Excessive Worry. Numerous students
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One boy described how both his fath
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A Glimpse Into My Clinic: The “As
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TV characters just like other child
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Thus, Guy was willing not just to c
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References Bailey, C.L. (2011). An
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Midwest Torrance Center for Creativ
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