Tag: CNN

3-12, Education, Language Arts, Motivation, Philosophy, Social Studies, Teaching Tools, Websites

Whose Words Inspire You?

Terri Eichholz

 

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In honor of International Women’s Day on March 8th, CNN posted a site where you could choose an inspirational quote by a famous woman, select a background from three choices, and share it via Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, or Tumblr.  I spent quite a bit of time reading the words of Eleanor Roosevelt, Marie Curie, and Maya Angelou, and nodding in agreement.

I have a Pinterest board of Favorite Quotations that I will often send my students to as a resource for various projects.  The ease of CNN’s site allowed me to add a few more to my collection.  If your students have access to any of the social networks, they could share some of their own.  (There were a couple of “less serious” quotes, such as from Zsa Zsa Gabor, so you will need to take the age of your students into account before referring them to this resource.)

If you do Socratic Dialogue in your class, many of these would be good jumping off points for discussion.  You can also make connections by asking the students to think of other people that would identify with the quote, or even fictional characters who could have easily spoken those words.

Creative Thinking, Education, Parenting, Teaching Tools

Is There a Bias Against Creativity?

Terri Eichholz
photo credit: tsevis via photopin cc

The fascinating CNN article, “Is There Bias Against Creativity?” should be read by every person that can impact a child’s learning.  It is an affirmation of the importance of creative thinkers and problem solvers in our current world, yet points to the ways that many of us discourage this type of thinking in others and in ourselves.  This article, by Amanda Enayati, gives some reasons for this bias as well as some important ways to remove it based on her interviews with a neuroscientist and notable some notable designers.  It explains why the life of Steve Jobs really was such a unique success story.  One of the more interesting quotes in the story is: “Technology is an amazing empowerment and a huge disablement,” says Laura Richardson, principal designer at frog design. “We are losing our capacity for resilience.”  I highly encourage you to read this article, and pass it along to others so we can try to work on dismantling this bias.