Imagination! Don't undervalue it!

http://wallbase.cc/wallpaper/724965

This actually says it all.  Imagination is so undervalued.  The kid with the crazy idea is told to "get real", when he should be congratulated for thinking of something different!  Never undervalue one's imagination.  It keeps the world fresh and thinking.

I'm NOT Crazy! Another Fine Example of Using Pool Noodles to Teach!

I know that some of you thought I was crazy when I first brought out the pool noodles in our Education classroom at Bond Uni.  However, they are so perfect for teaching!  They have many uses and are super versatile!  So here are just a couple of links to some examples on how others are using them - both at the university level, as well as primary. Click on the links below to learn more about each.

Using pool noodles to teach genetics at University

Using pool noodles to teach small children

Hemisphericity-Which Are You? Left-Brained or Right-Brained?

This is a beautiful ad for Mercedes Benz!!! See it at this link

 Physical Webbing, of course, uses both hemispheres, all the senses and provides a kinaesthetic  way to learn and organise information.

Use your hands!!!

This post by Austin Kleon is wonderful.  See his website at http://www.austinkleon.com/

4. Use your hands.

My favorite cartoonist, Lynda Barry, she has this saying: “In the digital age, don’t forget to use your digits! Your hands are the original digital devices.”

When I was in creative writing workshops in college, all manuscripts had to be in double-spaced, Times New Roman font. And my stuff was just terrible. It wasn’t until I started making writing with my hands that writing became fun and my work started to improve.

The more I stay away from the computer, the better my ideas get. Microsoft Word is my enemy. I use it all the time at work. I try to stay away from it the rest of my life.

I think the more that writing is made into a physical process, the better it is. You can feel the ink on paper. You can spread writing all over your desk and sort through it. You can lay it all out where you can look at it.

People ask me why I don’t develop an iPhone or iPad Newspaper Blackout app, and I tell them  because I think there is magic in feeling the newsprint in your hand and the words disappearing under that marker line. A lot of your senses are engaged–even the smell of the fumes add to the experience.

Art that only comes from the head isn’t any good. Watch any good musician and you’ll see what I mean.

When I’m making the poems, it doesn’t feel like work. It feels like play.

So my advice is to find a way to bring your body into your work. Draw on the walls. Stand up when you’re working. Spread things around the table.

Use your hands.

Physical Webbing: In the movies

In the latest Sherlock Holmes movie, there is a scene where Sherlock has taken over Watson's office.  The walls are covered in newspaper clippings, drawings, photos, and scraps of paper- all connected by red string creating a maze (or web) all directly linked to Moriarty, as seen in the photo at this link:  Sherlock Holmes 2

Physical Webbing can use any type of Participatory Manipulative (in this case string and the auxiliary cards, photos, and newspaper clippings) to create a web of information that can then be used with which to "think", organise, or solve.

Hands: Their Importance

 Sensory Homunculus

 "This model shows what a man's body would look like if each part grew in proportion to the area of the cortex of the brain concerned with its sensory perception."

Motor Homunculus

"This model shows what a man's body would look like if each part grew in proportion to the area of the cortex of the brain concerned with its movement."

In each of these renditions, the importance of the hands is obvious.  In most learning situations, the hands are the least utilised part of the human body.  The senses and their organs are highly utilised, but the hands are left out.  It is imperative that the hands and their power to be utilised in the learning/teaching environment in order to best access the brain's potential.