CREATIVITY |
The Creativity Workshop has been taught to educators and students all over the world, from preschool instructors to university professors, graduate and undergraduate students, in public and private school systems. Participant teachers have come from the US, Canada, Italy, France, Britain, Paraguay, Mexico, Poland, the Czech Republic , Hungary, Greece, Ghana, India, Singapore, Turkey and Australia, among other countries. They have been specialists in literature, math, art, creative writing, business, science, computers, dentistry, and physical recreation to name but a few.
Financial Help
Many educators taking the workshop receive help from The
Fund for Teachers to attend our summer workshops in Europe. Recipients
receive up to $5,000 each.
Also, there maybe financial help from your school district or university.
Contact your Professional Development office.
College Credit Availability for our Workshops
in Europe
Through an agreement with The University of Iowa, participants taking
overseas Creativity Workshops can apply as non-degree seeking students
and receive University of Iowa academic credit at the undergraduate
or graduate level. The Creativity Workshop course is set up as elective
resident credit.
The graduate/undergraduate distinction is based upon the status of the participant at his/her school and the preference of credit hours. Graduate students will be admitted as “G9” non-degree (graduate) students and will receive 1 credit hour for the workshop and up to 2 additional credit hours for successful completion of independent projects. (Please see the “Academic Program” page for more information on the optional projects.)
Undergraduate students will be admitted as “A9” non-degree (undergraduate) students and will receive 2 credit hours for the workshop and an additional credit hour if they choose to complete one of the two independent projects. It is then up to the individual to have the course approved for requirements at their home institution.
How to Apply
Please visit the University of Iowa program webpage.
Application Fees for UI Credit
A one-time registration fee of $391 for 1 graduate credit + $41 per
optional project (for a total of 2 or 3 s.h.) or $432 for 2 undergraduate
credits + $41 for one optional project (for a total of 3 s.h.) is due
at the time of application. Participants must register with the University
of Iowa prior to taking the course. The University of Iowa must receive
all application materials and transcripts at least two weeks prior to
the start of the program. If a student's materials (including official
transcripts) do not arrive two weeks prior to the start of the program,
they will be subject to a $100 late registration fee.
College
Credit Availability for our Workshops in New York and
Carmel
Through an agreement with The University of Arizona participants
taking the Creativity Workshop in New York or Carmel can
obtain graduate or undergraduate credit hours. Contact us for details.
Continuing
Education - Teacher Development Credits Availability
Many of the teachers taking the workshop obtain credits to be applied
to their Continuing Education or Teacher Development requirements In many
cases, your school will pay all or part of your workshop costs. Contact
your Professional Development office to see if you qualify.
Completing
an Advanced Degree
If you are teaching and completing an advanced degree, you should talk
to your advisor and to your Study Abroad office or ask one of your professors
if you can use the Creativity Workshop for an Independent Study course.
In this way, your university can give you credit for it.
The Creativity Workshop was taught as a regular course at the University
of Iowa for many years, offering 3 credits and open to graduate and undergraduate
students through the International Writing Program. The workshop is 39
contact hours.
Continuing Education Units available
Contact us for details.
Creativity Workshop
Description:
The Creativity Workshop has been taught to educators and students all
over the world, from preschool instructors to university professors,
graduate and undergraduate students, in public and private school systems.
Participant teachers have come from the US, Canada, Italy, France,
Britain, Paraguay, Mexico, Poland, the Czech Republic , Hungary, Greece,
Ghana, India, Singapore, Turkey and Australia, among other countries.
They have been specialists in literature, performing arts, visual art,
filmmaking, creative writing, as well as math, business, science, psychology
and computer technology to name but a few. The Creativity Workshop
offers tools and techniques that teachers can implement to help students
develop their creative, collaborative, artistic, and writing skills,
as well as 'out-of-the-box thinking, self confidence, leadership, and
respect for their peers. To this end, the workshop concentrates its
experiential exercises in the following areas:
1. Getting Over Fear of Creativity and writers block and gaining self-confidence in one's ideas. Our techniques in free-form (automatic) writing and storytelling help students get over 'blocks' which make them afraid to express themselves, say the wrong things, paint a bad picture, take a stupid photograph, write a foggy paragraph, or sing off-key. The workshop works against self censorship in the early stages of creation so that critical analytical skills will come into play later when they can be more effective. To this end, we use techniques of free form drawing and writing, as well as visualization and relaxation exercises.
2. Team Work
We believe that by sharing work in intimate groups, students (at times
without their teacher) can learn to develop and feel secure in their
academic endeavors. Such work also helps individuals learn self-confidence
and respectful listening towards others. The Creativity Workshop involves
several modules in which collaborations, ranging from 2 person teams
to a whole class are explored.
3. Map Making
Every creative and analytical project has a process or 'way'. To this
end, the Creativity Workshop teaches teachers how to make journey maps
or scrolls with their students of the process and progress of their
work. The maps, which are a visual and written representation of the
on-going work in the classroom, help students see where they are in
their projects and where they can go with them.
4. Free Form Writing And Automatic Drawing
Teachers learn how to use these 'writing from the right side of the brain'
techniques with their students in order to help them find their innate
ideas and develop them. The workshop also teaches imaginative editing
techniques through our 'writing a jungle' and making an editing trail
through the jungle of words'.
5. Storytelling
Storytelling, be it visual or literary, is vital to how we perceive and
share our perceptions of the world. We do several exercises with telling
and performing stories with found objects and also by interviewing
each other and then 'becoming' the other person. These exercises also
teach listening skills, which greatly enhance our abilities to express
ourselves and learn from our peers.
6. Changing Perceptions
How we see is important to what we see. We teach a variety of techniques
aimed at altering perceptions physically (through cameras, cut out
shapes, kaleidoscopes, telescopes, microscopes) and emotionally (through
fairy tales, memoir writing or inter-generational interviews), which
assist students in broadening their sense of the world they live in.
7. Using Your Environment
We teach participants how to use their natural surroundings to generate
ideas. Exercises to be done in local cafes, libraries, cafeterias,
woods and mountains show that inspiration can come from the most usual
and surprising of places.
8. Time
In our busy, multi-tasking world we seldom feel we have enough time to
create. We teach participants how to ‘stretch time’ and use 15-minute
blocks to do satisfying creative work on an on-going basis.
9. Self-Nurturing
Teachers spend so much of their time encouraging and supporting their
students. At times, teachers forget to nurture themselves! The Creativity
Workshop teaches the importance of self-nurturing and curiosity and
not always knowing the ‘right’ answer.
10. Professional Development
Many schools pay for their educators to come to the workshop as part
of their professional development. Costs for the workshop and related
travel charges may be tax deductible if the course is educational to
your profession. In addition, if you are completing an advanced degree,
you may be able to take the Creativity Workshop as an Independent Study
course. In this way, your university can give you credit for it or
if you qualify you can receive 3 credits from the University of Iowa.
The Creativity Workshop was taught as a regular course at the University
of Iowa for many years, offering 3 credits and open to graduate and undergraduate
students through the International Writing Program. The workshop is 36
contact hours.
What educators
and students say about the workshop:
One of the qualities of a meaningful experience is that it grows in depth
and positive regard as time goes on. That is how I feel about this workshop.
Daniel Lamken, Teacher, American School of Prague,
Czech Republic
When I got home after your workshop in Prague, so many people said to
me: "How was your workshop? You look so alive, so happy, so fresh!"
That’s exactly how I feel. I realize that there will be blocks at
times, but I feel a freedom that I have NEVER felt before. The two of
you, your gentle, kind manner, your way of making everyone feel so comfortable...you
have a real gift to share with others. Thank you for touching my soul,
and helping me see butterflies, birds, flowers, colors; for helping me
soar and feel like singing and writing and dancing.
Dianne Stuckey, Teacher, American School of Dubai,
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
I cannot tell you how inspiring your workshop was on a
number of levels! I continue to draw inspiration from those few days!
Deborah B. Reeve, Ed. D., Deputy Executive Director,
National Association of Elementary School Principals, Washington, DC
I left the workshop with a sizable bag of useful ideas to motivate her
students to write more and better, a sketchbook full of essays for herself
and a bunch of sweet and fun memories. I give this course an A.
Nicole Fandel, Teacher of French, Concord Academy,
Acton, MA
This workshop
makes administrators realize that creativity is the most necessary resource
for any educational organization.
Dr. Murat Barkan, Provost, Eastern Mediterranean
University (EMU), Gazimagosa, Turkey
I produced as much poetry in ten days in Chania as I did in a month in
a conventional poetry workshop in another European setting. The primary
difference was the ease of creation and the fun I experienced in the Creativity
Workshop, and I also saved time and money. Shelley and Alejandro’s
emphasis on ‘In process’ works.
Sally Naylor; Poet and English Teacher, Baylor
School, Chattanooga TN
This is my third workshop coming up and I can't wait! Shelley and Alejandro
ever so gently are able to get us fellow travelers into a discovery mode
that submerges us deeply into the experience of our very own creativity.
They are magicians!
Carroll Blue, Writer and Professor, School of Communications,
San Diego State University
The Creativity Workshop is one of the best ways to discover a new city.
Exploring our creative spirits each evening opened my visual and kinesthetic
senses for the following day. The participants were as rich as city and
they so warmly shared their personal lives through the creative writing
and drawing exercises.
Nancy Welch, President, Welch Design Group
Crossing paths with Shelley, Alejandro, and most of those attending the
workshop in Florence will remain etched in my psyche as one of the most
wonderful, rejuvenating, nurturing, enlightening, relaxing, growth-inducing,
experiences of my life. I use their exercises effectively in my own classes,
even though I teach hard-core science.
Mohey Mowafy, PhD, RD, CNS, CEDS, Professor and
Director of Clinical Dietetics, Department of HPER, Northern Michigan
University
I taught a creative writing class yesterday afternoon and felt a new confidence
after the summer's Creativity Workshop. I was much more in control and
more confident of what I was doing and saying. My students seem more excited
about their work using your exercises. I feel that in several months time
I shall still be doing and saying things that echo what we covered in
your wonderful workshop.
Noel Shepherd, Creative Writing Teacher, grades
5 and 6, Washington International School
The greatest gift I received from the workshop was to learn in a different
way. We took time to focus, experiment with different media and take risks.
I have used so many of the ideas and exercises from this workshop with
my own students and they love them.
Joyce Standing, Teacher, Overlake School, Washington
Thank you for the great, great inspiration and fun of the Creativity Workshop.
It helped me get a whole screenplay done during a trip to Mexico afterwards.
It was great for me and my students. I don't think I've ever seen them
so happy.
Doris Doerrie, Filmmaker, Professor, Munich Film
School, Germany
Shelley and Alejandro's workshop challenged my assumptions
of the concepts of "time" and "memory" and gave me
a new way of "seeing" and interacting with my images. This workshop
has transformed my art and teaching. It is a gift that I treasure and
at every opportunity share with my students.
Savneet Talwar, Artist, Assistant Professor of
Art Therapy, Georgetown University
The Creativity Workshop in Florence was two weeks in Paradise. I wrote
the first chapter of a first novel, and opened a new door in my creative
life. I'm still in touch with friends I made there. An unforgettable experience!
Lowry Marshall, Acting and Directing Teacher, Playwright,
Dramaturg, Brown University
In the Creativity Workshop, I found a place to dream, to question, to
understand. I strongly believe that we should fearlessly guard such spaces
and ensure that they remain a part of this university. The Creativity
Workshop and Shelley Berc and Alejandro Fogel’s teaching are invaluable
assets to the University of Iowa.
Evan Mazunik, Student, University of Iowa
Shelley and Alejandro's Creativity Workshop is amazing in that it breaks
down all your fears about thinking and writing. If it wasn't for them
I fear I never would have finished my master's thesis. I was blocked until
I took this course.
Francesca Salidu PHD candidate in Shakespeare,
University of Pisa. San Miniato, Italy
More
testimonials about Creativity Workshop
List of educational institutions where the Creativity
Workshop was taught
Articles about the Creativity Workshop
Contact us
1 (831) 915-5209
Creativity Workshop
We can help you learn to be more creative.
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