October 31, 2008

I am excited to report the first meeting of ACT, the Alliance for Creative Thinking.  The meeting took place last week with two Elementary Principals and me.  They are as excited as I am.  We will meet in the next few weeks to discuss forming our Board.  We are looking for interested people who share our vision of providing opportunities for children to discover their creative and innovative thinking skills.  The subject areas are very broad and can include not only the "Arts", but also, Science, Social Studies, Language Arts, and Math.

We will be looking for people to help present 'lessons' in these areas.  If you have suggestions, ideas, or comments please let us know.

If you are interested in participating, please contact me.  My E-mail address is:  MGFurlong@comcast.net

On Monday, October 6th, I had the opportunity to meet and 'shadow' Heather Terrill Stotts.  Heather is the Creative Facilitator for River Valley High School in Spring Green, Wisconsin.  The main focus of the day was filmmaker, Wendy Schneider, and her documentary about teen self injury called, "Cut".  The film was shown in separate viewings to all 9th grade boys and girls.  After seeing the film, the kids wrote anonymous questions for Wendy.  Along with answering the questions of the kids, Wendy discussed the making of the film.  The staff of the high school had the opportunity to view the film before hand.  There was, also, a viewing for any interested parents that evening.  I think EVERY high school and even middle school should consider offering this amazing documentary to their students, staff, and parents.  It is eye-opening!  For more information, visit Cutthemovie.com.

Along with Heather, I met with the committee who started this innovative program.  The group, called Council For Creativity, or C4C, is comprised of community leaders, business people, and educators.  The funding is all through corporate and private donations and grants.  This is only the second year and already they have done amazing things...photography club, art club, integrated writing projects, field trips to corporations that use creative and innovative thinking techniques, and presentations by several area authors and speakers.  These are just some of the examples of what has been brought to the children (and teachers).

I am hoping to do something similar here with schools that might not have the resources to promote this worthwhile opportunity .   I will be meeting at the end of the month with two school principals to see if I can get them 'on board'.  From there, we will be looking for folks who are interested in helping bring this plan to fruition.  In the meantime, I will be very open to any ideas or suggestions you may have to help get this idea off the ground.

One more thing,  if you have never been to Taliesen, Frank Lloyd Wright's home in Spring Green, Wisconsin, it is SO worth the trip.  The town of Spring Green is really cute...lots of nice shops and quaint restaurants.  I will definitely have to go back for some shopping!  :-)