Torrance Journal for Applied Creativity

18
Skill:
Enjoy and Use Fantasy
• Watch old science fiction videos and
TV shows in class and see what has
actually been invented.
• Have students imagine, write, or act
out a conversation with a historical
person.
• Have students write a familiar story in
a fantasy setting.
Skill:
Highlight the Essence
• Ask students, “In 10 words or less,
what did you learn from that assignment?”
• Find a picture that symbolizes class
concepts.
• Have students write a review in a
descending countdown using 16 words,
8 words, 4 words, and 2 words.
Skill:
Look at it Another Way
• Have students write alternative endings.
• Change the gender of a character.
• Tell both sides of the story.
Skill:
Be Original
• Give a weekly award for the most
original idea.
• Have students put two ideas together
to make a new idea.
• Have students think of all the ordinary
ways to complete a task. Then ask them
to do it in an unordinary way.
Skill:
Be Aware of Emotions
• As a class, make a list of all the ways
to express emotion without saying
anything.
• Pick out several phrases that could be
interpreted on the basis of emotional
context. Discuss.
• Ask students to read a passage and
become detectives, figuring out which
words indicate how the character is
feeling.
Skill:
Make it Swing! Make it Ring!
• Create a song based on class concepts
or topics.
• Ask students to dance a math equation.
• Have a 30 second dance party.
Skill:
Get Glimpses of the Future
• Read Futuristic blog posts and bring
them into class.
• Have students wish up new apps and
computer programs.
• Have students imagine being the first
person to land on Mars. What does the
planet look like from your perspective?
Skill:
Breakthrough- Extend the Boundaries
• Move the chairs and tables around the
classroom in an unusual way. Debrief on
what it felt like to sit outside the normal
paradigm.
• Make the last question on the test: “Is
there anything on this test you would
like to question?
• As a class, practice connecting things
that don’t belong together.
Weaving highlighted 12 out of
the 18 Leap skills. It also captured ideas
for four other skills identified in creativity
literature: mindfulness, tolerating
ambiguity, embracing challenges, and curiosity.
Although the work was published
a few months prior to writing this paper,
the feedback from educators has been
overwhelmingly positive.
First, educators find the language
of Torrance’s skills easy to understand
and apply. Second, when they are
stuck on how to make a lesson more engaging,
they can easily open the book and
find a technique that they can quickly apply.
Third, many educators who read the
work realize that they already do many
of the ideas we collected. In fact, a few
educators have told us that they didn’t
think they were creative, but as a result
of seeing what activities they already do,
their confidence has grown. Finally, they
now have the name of a creativity skill
that identifies what they are doing.
The one downside to this work
is that we did not provide any elaborate
examples on how these skills and techniques
have been brought into specific
lesson plans. Fortunately, this will be our
next phase of developing the materials
around the Leap skills. Once again, I find
myself surrounded by students, colleagues,
and practitioners who are ready
to help us build this resource!
I was fortunate to become a
Third Generation Torrance student,
learning from a wonderful mentor. It
has been my goal, among other things,
to pass the Leap skills onto my students
as Mary Murdock passed them onto me.
And I am humbled to see that I have
been able to do just that.
Fourth Generation Torrance
One particular graduate
student, Jonathan Garra, has taken the
Leap skills to the next level in his middle
school classroom. Last semester, he was
a student in my Foundations of Creative
Teaching and Learning graduate course,
and just as my spark was ignited 17 years
ago in Mary Murdock’s class, his spark
was lit in mine. Every time I spoke with
him, he shared another lesson he had