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
the Creativity Workshop in Europe can obtain graduate or undergraduate
credit hours.
The total price for the 3 credits non-degree “A9” (undergraduate) is $470
(this is a one time fee for all 3 credits, including the processing fee).
You can also take the workshop for 1 credit non-degree “G9” (graduate)
for $390, including the processing fee.
Contact the University of Iowa Office for Study Abroad by phone (319-335-0353)
or by e-mail study-abroad@uiowa.edu
for more information. More detailed information can also be found on the
University of Iowa Creativity
Workshop program website.
College
Credit Availability for our Workshops in New York
Through an agreement with The University of Arizona participants
taking the Creativity Workshop in New York 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.
Creativity Workshop
Description:
Since 1993, the Creativity Workshop has been offering a series of tools
which teachers can implement to help students learn to develop their creative,
collaborative, artistic and writing skills, as well as self confidence
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 in specific and gaining self-confidence in one's ideas.
We do exercises which 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. The workshop works
against self censorship in the early stages of creation so that critical
analytical skills can come into play later and more forcefully. To this
end, we use techniques of free form drawing and writing, as well as visualization
and meditation exercises.
2. Team Work
The creativity workshop believes 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 techniques with their students in order
to help them find innate ideas and develop them. The workshop also teaches
imaginative editing techniques.
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
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.
6. Changing Perceptions
How we see is important to what we see. We teach a variety of exercises
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 comments about Creativity Workshop
List of educational institutions where the Creativity
Workshop was taught
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Any Questions?
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Workshop
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