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Thinking Ouside of the Box! Creativity for High Ability Learners (7-9 Yrs)

In this 8-week course, high ability learners will delight in a variety of exercises that develop creative skills while being both fun and challenging!
Heather Hinze, Ed. S.
Average rating:
4.9
Number of reviews:
(327)
Class

What's included

8 live meetings
6 hrs 40 mins in-class hours

Class Experience

Creativity is intelligence having fun. ~Albert Einstein

Through tons of hands-on and verbal exercises, this class teaches the four traits of creative thinking:  flexibility, fluency, originality, and elaboration.  This highly interactive class will push learners to think outside of the box and design clever responses and solutions to open-ended tasks.  Students will interact with one another through discussions, games, drawing, construction, and presentations of their creations.

Day 1: spontaneous verbal (fluency), turn of phrase (flexibility), structure building (originality), Once upon a Disaster (elaboration)
Day 2: Circle drawing (fluency), What could it be? (flexibility),  The ten-word story (originality), team draw (elaboration)
Day 3: What could it be? (fluency), creative build (flexibility), structure building (originality),Once upon a Disaster (elaboration)
Day 4: spontaneous verbal (fluency), Trash to Treasure (flexibility), spirit animals (originality), scribble drawing (elaboration)
Day 5: spontaneous verbal (fluency), What could it be? (flexibility), structure building (originality), Once upon a Disaster (elaboration) 
Day 6: Extra, extra (fluency), new use (flexibility), Designing for...(originality),  musical creativity (elaboration)
Day 7: spontaneous verbal (fluency), What could it be? (flexibility), box build (originality), Once upon a Disaster (elaboration) 
Day 8: meme maker (fluency), movie maker (flexibility) Haiku (originality), kit maker (elaboration) 

I believe in flexibility, and allowing student interest and questioning to guide the course.  Therefore, this is an estimation of how time will be spent:
5 minutes: greet and share- everyone deserves a turn to be heard!
10 minutes: fluency activity
10 minutes: flexibility activity
10 minutes: originality activity
10 minutes: elaboration activity
5 minutes: wrap-up

It is very important to me that students have an opportunity to feel a sense of belonging and community.  My primary goal in offering this course is to allow your student to learn something while getting to interact with peers.  While the course will encourage creative and divergent thinking, I am most interested in encouraging socialization and fun among high ability learners.

I will always stay an extra 5-10 minutes to help a struggling student when it is needed!  I am also very comfortable working with twice-exceptional children, but please let me know in advance how I can best assist to minimize frustration and maximize learning!

Other Details

Supply List
1 pack notecards
1 roll masking tape
handouts
 1 file available upon enrollment
External Resources
Learners will not need to use any apps or websites beyond the standard Outschool tools.
Joined May, 2020
4.9
327reviews
Profile
Teacher expertise and credentials
Update: I will be taking a short teaching break for a few months, but I'll be back in June!

I am passionate about providing challenging and motivating curriculum to gifted, talented, and high- ability learners.  I love to teach thematically, and some of my favorite topics include spies, ancient Egypt, Rube Goldberg machines,  architecture, archaeology, poetry, psychology, philosophy, and about a million other topics.  Essentially, I enjoy teaching anything that makes my kiddos really 'light up'.

My educational degrees include: Bachelor of Science- Elementary education; Master of Arts- Gifted Education; Educational Specialist- Educational Technology.  I hold three teaching certificates: Early Childhood, birth-3rd grade; Elementary 1-6; Gifted K-12.  I've taught 15 years in private, public, and charter schools.  I found my "forever home" in my current district, where I have been teaching gifted youth in grades 1-8 for the past 8 years.  

"I feel safe here."  If nothing else, I want my students to experience a sense of community and belonging, and to feel comfortable to be their true selves while in my class.  That is the lens through which I design every lecture, game, video, quest, worksheet, web link, or activity.  My students pride themselves on "embracing" their "inner nerd", and we delight in learning together without fear of judgment or reproach.  It is safe to make mistakes in my class, it's okay to laugh at ourselves, and it's wonderful to take risks, even when they lead to failure- because that's how we grow.

When I'm not teaching I like to swim, hike, travel, ballroom dance, and socialize with friends and neighbors on my back patio.  I spend much of my free time with my husband and son. 

I am truly looking forward to working with your student and sharing my love of learning.  I am confident that your kiddo will have a very positive experience in my class!

Reviews

Live Group Class
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$96

for 8 classes
1x per week, 8 weeks
50 min

Completed by 25 learners
Live video meetings
Ages: 7-9
4-12 learners per class

This class is no longer offered
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