Purple Crayons, Random Dots, and Peanut Butter Sandwiches:

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Purple Crayons, Random Dots, and Peanut Butter
Sandwiches
Childrens Literature as Catalyst for Creativity
and Change in the Workplace
Frances Weinstein Yates Library Director Indiana
University East (Richmond) American Library
Association June 26, 2010
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What is Creativity? Definitions

• The use of imagination or original ideas
• Creativity (or creativeness) is a mental process
  involving the generation of new ideas or
  concepts, or new associations between existing
  ideas or concepts
• Creativity is the ability to solve problems that
  are worth solving. It is the ability to create
  knowledge
• Creativity is subject-specific it is the
  meta-knowledge of how to solve a specific class
  of problems. So there is no such thing as a raw,
  undifferentiated creativity
• Actively attending to the management of ideas

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What is the creative process?

• Recognizing problems that may or may not be
  apparent to others
•  Seeing beyond societal definitions and accepting
  ambiguity
• Solving problems by finding parallels and
  connections between disparate or dissimilar
  concepts or processes
• Developing innovative solutions to worthwhile
  problems
• Creating something new that is recognized as
  having social utility

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creativity experts their ideas

• Roger von Oech (pragmatic) author of A Whack on
  the side the head and A Kick in the seat of the
  pants. Everyone has a 'risk muscle.' You keep it
  in shape by trying new things. If you don't, it
  atrophies. Make a point of using it at least once
  a day.
• David Perkins (pragmatic) Snowflake model
  Six traits needed for creativity are commitment
  to re-creating, simplifying or focusing
  excelling in finding problems mental mobility
  willingness to take risks objectivity inner
  motivation
• Howard Gardner (cognitive psychology) -
  Creativity is an aspect of each of the 8
  intelligences, not a separate intelligence. The
  multiple intelligences are linguistic, musical,
  logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic,
  interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalistic.
• Edward de Bono (cognitive) Six Thinking Hats
  model used in business and education each hat is
  a different color, representing types of
  thinking. Creativity (green hat) involves
  breaking out of established patterns in order to
  look at things in a different way.
• Mihaly Csikszentmihaly (social psychology)
  Flow concentration on the creative process
  requires clear goals, curiosity, intrinsic
  interest and motivation, perseverance, time for
  thinking, evaluating possible solutions, and
  translating the ideas into practical solutions.

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Why is creativity in the library workplace
important?

• Encourages flexibility for adapting to changes 
• Staff more likely to be intrinsically motivated
  to be productive 
• Engages and energizes staff
• Facilitates collaborative working groups
•  Fosters dynamic rather than reactive change

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Applying essentials of creative thinking in the
library workplace

• Discerning which problems require inventive
  approaches
• Constructing new associations between
• existing ideas or concepts
• Willing to take risks and accept scrutiny of
  ideas
• Focusing on questioning
• Avoiding blocks to creativity

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Blocks to Creativity!

• Discomfort disagreeing with others or hesitancy
  to try different solutions than are typical
  (concerned with what colleagues will think of
  your ideas)
• Not knowing when to move away from thinking about
  the problem so that you can gain fresh
  perspectives (not giving yourself incubation or
  pondering time) Giving up when you have a
  period of time without any new ideas
• External rather than intrinsic motivation
• Self-criticism
• Not being playful and exercising our right-brain

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How can childrens books foster creativity in
adults?

• Enhance mental mobility
• Improve self-perception of creative role
  identity
• Develop divergent thinking
• Promote pondering
• Create a safe climate for innovation

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Which Childrens books?

• The books featured in this presentation represent
  fundamental components of creativity
• Openness to experience
• Multiple perspectives
• Questioning
• Pondering
• Humor

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Self-perception creative role identity

• Catalyst Activities
• stuffed messages
• let it go kiss it goodbye
• free-writing

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Creativity Can Be Learned

• Catalyst Activities
• thumbies
• anagrams and Agee
• talking pictures
• brainwriting 6-3-5
• wear a green hat
• 1 1 a ton
• library limericks

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Creative Mind-Set

• Catalyst Activities
• Notice your noticing
• Collect popcorn thoughts
• Fortunately exercise
• Big C, little c
• Bubble map

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Identifying the problem

• Catalyst Activities
• Top Ten Tips thinking
• assumption busting
• assumption surfacing
• boundary examination
• bugs
• re-thinking via rebus

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Pondering

• Catalyst Activities
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vM8FHCiG-_PM
• Do nothing

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Seeing things differently

• Catalyst Activities
• talking pictures
• change of scenery
• bunches of bananas
• scamper

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Creative response to Change

• Catalyst Activities
• differenting
• inside outside upside
• down
• fuzzy boundaries
• one-a-day change
• listmania

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ONE more time Why be creative?

• Creativity is necessary in any library to
  proactively adapt to change.
• Budget challenges necessitate innovation.
• Individual risk taking and group trust are
  essential components for a creative workplace
  environment.
• Childrens literature can open staff to think and
  act beyond current wisdom, resulting in unboxed
  solutions.
• Sharing ideas results in shared solutions!

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Everyone is creative. Those who are more
creative have learned to be so.
Dr. Jane Piirto in Understanding Creativity

•  
• Frances Faves selective resources for
  background information
• De Bono, Edward. Six Thinking Hats, Back Bay
  Books 1999.
• Fox, L. Mark. Da Vinci and the 40 Answers A
  Playbook for Creativity and Fresh Ideas, 2008.
  http//www.slaysafox.com/DV40.pdf (308 pages
  worth reading!)
• Gardner, Howard. Frames of Mind, Basic Books
  1993.
• Pink, Daniel. A Whole New Mind Why
  Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future, Riverhead
  Trade 2006.
• Von Oech, Roger. Whack on the Side of the Head
  How You Can Be More Creative, Business Plus
  1998.
•  
•  

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A Creativity Catalyst Booklist

• Changes, Changes by Pat Hutchins
• Dog and Bear Three to Get Ready by Laura
  Vaccaro Seeger
• The Dot by Peter Reynolds
• Dumpster Diver by Janet Wong and David Roberts
• Fortunately by Remy Charlip
• Frank was a Monster who Wanted to Dance by Keith
  Graves
• Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
• It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles G. Shaw

• Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert
• Lets Do Nothing by Tony Fucile
• Monsieur Saguette and his Baguette by Frank Asch
• Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed by Mo Williams
• Nothing by Jon Agee
• Peanut Butter Rhino by Vincent Andriani
• Terrific by Jon Agee
• Thats Good! Thats Bad! By Margery Cuyler
• Turtle and the Hippo by Kate Banks and Tomek
  Bogacki