Engaging Coach Writing Partner (Select when planning)

Engagement is fostered when writers are encouraged to

make connections between their own ideas and those of others;
find meanings new to them or build on existing meanings as a result of new connections; and
act upon the new knowledge that they have discovered.
“Habits of Mind” in Frameworks for Success in Postsecondary Writing

Creating, Imagining, and Innovating
Try a different or new way! Generating possibilities; playing with new ideas.

Many people assume that creativity is a rare commodity that someone is born with or not and that it is reserved for the elite among us: artists, writers, and composers, or the likes of Miles Davis, Steve Jobs, or Frida Kahlo. Everyone has the capacity to generate novel, original, clever or ingenious products, solutions, and techniques—if that capacity is developed. Research shows us that we are all born with the capacity to push the boundaries of our thinking. Your brain is always looking for something that it didn’t know before, that’s not being taught to it, and to find a way to figure something out: that is creativity.

When you are building the capacities for creating, imagining, and innovating you are skillfully learning how to push the boundaries of your thinking. Imagining is generating new ideas without concern for the possible. Creating is giving form to ideas with the goal of taking something that is possible and making it come to life. Innovating is taking an existing system or idea and making improvements — perhaps focusing on simplicity, improved effectiveness, or beautifying its form. These capacities can be developed in small moves as well as in more formal products or creations.

Some of these strategies might help you build your skills:

Go ahead, take a risk! When you try something and it doesn’t turn out the way you hoped, it isn’t a failure. Rather, it provides a rich opportunity to analyze what went wrong, to learn, and to generate alternative strategies.
When you are less afraid to make mistakes, you open up the environment for play and experiment.
Think by using analogies. In what ways is a school like an airport? In what ways is soccer like a highway? In what ways is gravity like a feather? As you answer these questions, you are developing your creative capacities. You are realizing that, by comparing a main idea or topic you are working on and using a strange analogy, you may discover new and important attributes.
Brainstorm unexpected ideas. Albert Einstein once said, “If at first an idea doesn’t seem totally absurd there’s no hope for it.” Instead of feeling stuck, think outside the box. When you are imagining, move toward the fantastical or the “seemingly” irrelevant in order to create new insights rather than taking an “obvious” direction.
Don’t take yourself too seriously. Humor has been found to liberate creativity and provoke such higher level thinking skills as anticipation, finding novel relationships, visual imagery, and making analogies. When you are having fun with ideas, you begin to see possibilities. You begin to take on new and interesting ways of seeing.
Habits of Mind for Students by Bena Kallick, Art Young, and Allison Zmuda

Creating, Imagining, Innovating: Is your writing imaginative and original?
Example: Writing a narrative feature blog about a trip to Hawaii with your family seems like an interesting topic that could be easy to write about. Although, what would make it even more exciting? Think about the big take-away from the vacation and then focus on the experiences that lead to that. Let’s face it, the reader doesn’t want a chronological laundry list of everything you did: first we went to the beach, and then we swam with sea turtles, and finally we ate at a luau—this is expected. Developing a thematic insight in your narrative by showing a gradual transformation or an unanticipated understanding is the main goal. Remember, when the narrator or character changes, then so can the reader.

An Inclusive Approach to a Reading and Writing Workshop with the Habits of Mind By Daniel Vollrath and Scott Einhorn

Applying Past Knowledge to New Situations
New learning can be challenging and too often we forget what we already know. Sometimes we approach a situation as if it is the first time seeing such a problem or task. Using what you already know about the content taps into your memory bank of learnings. In the same way, paying attention to what you know about your process of learning can also be helpful. For example, you may remember how you solved a problem or learned a new skill. Your transfer of that learning to a new situation builds your intellectual muscles. Learning is not just an accumulation of isolated facts or skills — it is finding the connections or patterns that paint a bigger picture that is more easily stored in your memory for future use.

We learn from reflecting on and making sense of our past experiences.

As you begin any new learning, ask yourself such questions as:

What does this situation or problem remind me of?
What do I already know about this?
How is this just like the time when I …?
What are some experiences that I can relate this to?
What parts of the situation or problem do I need more clarity on?
What words am I unclear about?
What about this is just like something else I know? Can I come up with an analogy such as “when I see this, it is just like this… or the way this operates is just like the way XX operates.”
As you are finishing a particular task, reflect on questions that will help you transfer your learning to new situations, such as:

What strategies were most helpful to me? When else in (school) (life) (work) might this strategy be useful?
What new ideas or insights did I have when working on this topic?
What insights might influence me as I take on another challenge or project?
What I really don’t want to happen again…
What I would like to happen again…
What I don’t want to forget…
How can I use this information elsewhere in the future?
Habits of Mind for Students by Bena Kallick, Art Young, and Allison Zmuda

Applying Past Knowledge to New Situations: Have you thought about connections to what you have learned in prior courses on the topic?
Example: While brainstorming topics for your video essay script, think about topics that interest you while tapping into prior learning in your life and classes. You think of a topic—The Return of Vinyls; this allows you to pull upon the early 1900s, which you studied intensively during freshman year. In addition, you love music and the history of music. These two areas of prior knowledge can mesh together to make for a great video essay. You are not quite sure how yet, but they will!

An Inclusive Approach to a Reading and Writing Workshop with the Habits of Mind By Daniel Vollrath and Scott Einhorn