Lesson 1
"Sounds"
Our world beats impulses of imagery for those who listen. Listening, experiencing, recalling and comparing are the necessary skills here.
>Think of another sound like the sound of rustling leaves.
>Think of another sound like the sound of distant thunder.
>Think of another sound like the sound of wood burning warm in a fireplace.
>Think of another sound like the sound of falling rain on a roof top.
>Think of another sound like the sound of white water from a roaring river.
"Listening"
Go outside. With your eyes closed, listen for sounds of your location.
"Sounds For All Seasons"
What are the sounds of summer? -of fall? -of winter? -of spring? What changes would occur if the sounds of summer became the sounds of winter? How about spring with fall?
Lesson 2
Choose 3 to write about. Choose your format and be as creative as you wish. Remember all the elements of good writing.
1. List all of the things in you world that occur on a Wednesday. After listing Wednesday things, think of a Wednesday color. Think of a Wednesday song, and think of words that fit a Wednesday kind of mood.
2. What words would be more fun pronounced backwards?
3. If you were a human clock, at what time would you prefer your arms?
4. How could sunglasses be redesigned to avoid contact with a nose?
5. What question would you like someone to ask you that has never been asked before?
6. What kinds of ingredients would go into a happy life?
7. What words would you like to see reworded for the convenience of spelling?
8. If you could choose any animal in the world to talk to, what animal would you choose and what kinds of questions might you ask?
9. What shoes in the world would be the most difficult to fill?
10. What three common objects could you use to produce a shodow of a wheelbarrow without using a wheelbarrow? How about a sliding board or a TV antenna?
11. Suppose your job consisted of creating unusual ice cream flavors, what is the most unusual flavor you'd like to create?
Lesson 3
"Recycling Words: (Object-to-Object Analogy)
Words can be recycled in various ways. For instance, something that might lodge in our head through thinking, feeling or doing may represent a symbol for transfer. The book, "Jonathan Livingston Seagull," by Richard Bach might symoolize something other than a book - maybe a way of becoming? A sentence, like "I hope to Jonathan Seagull it on a different level," carries a implied meaning in a picturesque sort of way.
Think of the implied meanings for:
"I'm going to downstaircase this feeling."
"I'll sandcastle it first."
List twenty or thirty words that can be recycled. Use them to replace words in a fairy tale or children's short story. Be sure the words replaced in the story are taken out. This is a fun activity that can demonstrate how effectively you understand "recycling words."
Lesson 4
"Malfunctioning" (Person-to-Object Analogy)
By becoming something other than ourselves at times, interesting techniques of problem-solving can be played imaginatively. Imagine yourself as a stapler (or aquarium, or a pencil sharpener, or other unworkable classroom equipment).. Describe how you would look, how your body would feel, and how your insides would feel. Imagine yourself as a malfunctioning stapler. If you were a malfunctioning stapler, what portions of you body might not be working? List through brainstorming all of you possible malfunctions as a stapler, with possible causes. Be sure to record your thoughts.
Lesson 5
"Ballooning" (Transforming)
"Ballooning" is a subtle way of teaching, sharing and disseminating knowledge. A gondola on a balloon is a basket that carries people aloft. If you were in a giant gondola that would accomodate your entire class, what kinds of things might be seen from a certain altitude. Decide the color pattern, its general appearance, and who the navigator might be. Have the navigator set the course so that a flight pattern would include a country or a state or a particular region studies. Have everyone climb imaginatively aboard. Throw out the sand bags and light the burners. While aloft, point out such things as certain landmarks, geographical formations, river courses, where cities are, irregular coastlines shapes, agricultural areas, etc. and describe the kinds of things going on below.
Lesson 6
"Immersing" (Transforming)
By attempting to enter a product such as a painting, you can gain a better understanding of the painting itself and the producer of the product. Look at the painting "Banjo Lessons." How long ago was this painting made? Take a look at the people in this painting. Select one. How do you think this person is feling? What is this person hearing? Seeing? If these people were talking to each other, what would they be saying? What is the mood of the group?
Now sit quietly for a few minutes and close your eyes. Let yourself enter the picture. How do you feel being there? Who are you next to? What would you be talking about? What is the feeling of this person? Now open your eyes?
What would you like to say about this painting?
Does the painting allow you to see more than what is in the picture?
What do you think the artist was thinking when he decided to paint this subject?
Write an essay about The Painting, "Banjo Lessons", by Henry Ossawa Tanner . Click on the picture to enlarge it for your viewing. You should learn more about Mr. Tanner, also.