Peter H. Reynolds' 8 Tips for Inspiring Students to Write, New Poster, & Other Creative Resources

In honor of National Poetry Month, we decided to post some helpful writing resources for you! Be sure to comment below and let us know how you're inspiring your students to write — we love hearing what creative educators are doing in the classroom.

Peter H. Reynolds' 8 Tips for Inspiring Students to Write

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In his post "The Brave Heart: Protecting the Passion, Keeping Wings Outstretched for a Daring Journey," NY Times best-selling author/illustrator Peter H. Reynolds discusses how the pressure to write "correctly" can cause many beginning writers to pack up their creative wings. Encourage your students to write with wings outstretched! Here are a few quick tips from Peter to inspire bravery in your students.

1. Step off the path and write with your wings outstretched. Break a rule or two as you go.

2. Don't let a jumbled thought stop you — plant it and keep going.

3. Don't let a misspelled word slow you down. Go back and attend to it later.

4. Listen to your inner voice and transcribe what you hear without trying to edit it.

5. Try writing for yourself. Not for your audience. Try to ignore the critics' voices you may hear.

6. Invent a word.

7. Skip punctuation or invent your own ...__...> and see what it feels like.

8. Borrow an idea from your favorite author and twist it a few times. Turn it inside out. Make it your own!

Download this guyku (haiku) poster by Peter H. Reynolds for free, now through May 9, 2012. Enjoy!

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What do you do to encourage your students to write? Let us know!

Paul & Peter H. Reynolds' 17 Tips for Recharging Your Creativity

Here are 17 tried-and-true tips for recharging your creativity. We hope you'll enjoy trying some of these today!

Tip #1. Relax. Make some tea.

Tip #2. Articulate your mission. Write it down. Share it. Review it.

Tip #3. Take time to ponder.Where are you going? Or, a better question: Where do you WANT to be going?

Tip #4. Be playful!

Tip #5. Remember to take care of the spirit. (Both student & teacher!) "Find your soul, and make it whole." No "crushed spirits" - no "lost souls"!

More tips after the jump!

Tip #6. Imagine your classroom as a studio, as a research center, as a publishing house.

Tip #7. Step off the path in your teaching. Allow the same for your students in their learning.

Tip #8. Celebrate the blank page! Use programs that allow the user to supply the content or buy a blank journal! Whichever it is... dive in! Doodle. Jot. Ramble. Let it out! (Link to wonderful blank page)

Tip #9. Listen, talk, connect. Believe in the power of the 6-minute conversation.

Tip #10. Find your twin! Share yourself and your dreams with a very close friend. Someone who shares and supports your vision.

Tip #11. Try left field. When looking for solutions, reduce the pressure of coming up with the best idea by allowing yourself to come up with the "worst" idea. Build from there! The "bad" ideas can turn out to be the best because they're the ones everyone else has overlooked.

Tip #12. Share the drive. Like any long road trip, share the wheel. You don't always have to know where an activity is going. Just enjoy the ride. Allow yourself to be surprised. Students are especially engaged when they see you are too!

Tip #13. Novelty. Shake things up. Make it new. It can be as simple as turning off the lights or playing a modern piece of music to introduce Shakespeare. Research supports the idea that novelty is a long-term memory booster.

Tip #14. Search for personal meaning. Provide context and essence before you launch into the details. Connect with a learner's interests, dreams, and unique skills.

Tip #15. Encourage strategies for personal achievement. Allow for multiple approaches to a project. Provide time for students to vision their own futures and explore what they'll need to make it real.

Tip #16. Prove your groove! "Eat your own cookin'!" Model it. Show your students your own work, your examples, your enthusiasm!

Tip #17. Love what you do. Do what you love. Love, love, love, love your kids. It's a gift they'll carry with them for the rest of their lives. Fuel for the journey.

Watch Peter H. Reynolds' Keynote at ASCD online - LIVE! Sunday 3/27/11 at 10 AM PST / 1 PM EST

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Thousands of educators around the world have been inspired by Peter's uplifting message. If you'll be attending the ASCD 2011 conference in San Francisco, don't miss this opportunity to hear his keynote in person! The keynote will take place on Sunday, March 27th, 1:00 PM EST/10:00 AM PST, at the second General Session at ASCD. Can't make it to the conference? Watch the live stream of the keynote. NOTE: The keynote will not be archived, so make sure you mark your calendar for this time!At ASCD? Be sure to also drop by FableVision Learning Booth #603 to meet our team! For more information on ASCD 2011, click here.

March is Creativity Month!

Check out this new poster designed by Peter H. Reynolds. Use it to inspire you very own Creativity Month! Click on the thumbnail image below to download the larger 8.5 x 11 inch printable JPEG version. Enjoy!

The Blue Shoes

FableVision Library - The Blue Shoe

A Fable Friend sent this email about the Telefable, "The Blue Shoes""

I wrote to you when I first got Blue Shoes several years ago. I want to reiterate how wonderful it is. As a school counselor I am always looking for ways to teach the children. I use Blue Shoes to teach diversity and friendship. I show that video and then we have discussions according to the grade level. The video works so well. I only have 30 minutes in a classroom. The video is short which leaves me plenty of time to develop the concept with the children. I would love to have a whole room full of videos like this that would teach such a profound lesson with such simplicity. I always have ideas. Maybe I should share them with you. Thanks again for such a great product." 

Jan WaringCheck out "The Blue Shoes" and other Telefables here.

An Interview with Peter H. Reynolds

1)  Where did you get the idea for The Dot?

Well, the answer to that one is actually in two parts. I think the phrase "I can't draw" - which I have heard countless times - has always surprised me - and has inspired me. My immediate response is "You just haven't hung out with ME long enough!" I think that is what goes through any teachers or coaches mind when they hear "I can't...." It just means we have to double up on some creative ways to get there. So the theme had been brewing for years.The catalyst for The Dot book was a mark I made in my journal. I make a habit of drawing and writing - as well as reading - before I go to sleep at night. Like many of us do after a long day, I can only get a few sentences read, a few words written or the very beginning of a drawing created before I have drifted off into sleep. This one particular eve --back in 2001- in my 200 year old home in Dedham, MA, I set marker to paper and promptly feel to sleep. My Extra Fine Sanford Sharpie made contact with the white paper and began to drink in, ever so slowly, the ink. When I awoke perhaps an hour or so later, I was startled to see what my marker had left behind. A dot! A big black dot! I set the journal to one side and turned off the lamp.Well, in the light of day, as the morning sun streamed through the windows falling upon my still-opened journal, I saw the dot. It struck me that this was no ordinary dot. It was mighty impressive.What had started out as an unintentional "mistake" had ended up being a breathtaking dot! I quickly grabbed my marker and wrote "The Dot" above the dot and below I wrote "by Peter H. Reynolds." I leaned it on my mantle above the fireplace and looked at it as the weeks went by and the story of a brave girl who makes an unexpected dot came in to focus.The mission and the story had found their story. The Dot was born! The book was published by Candlewick Press in 2003.

2)  How did you arrive at the main character's name, Vashti?

I was in a coffee shop in my hometown, Mocha Java, on the corner of High and Eastern. I was nestled into a favorite spot right by the bookshelf and next to the big glass window - lots of light and plenty to look at and get inspired by. I had my watercolors going - doing some art for my new book - which had a title but the main character did not yet have a name. Suddenly a girl appeared in front of me holding a dozen green carnations. She sold me one as a fundraiser for her school. I looked closer at this nine year old girl with brown hair and big brown eyes. Her skin was the color of a café latte - and she looked very much like the girl I had been drawing in my new book. The girl asked what I was doing and who the painting was for. I picked up on the hint that she wanted the painting. I told I was painting for her. Here eyes opened wide."For me?""Yes, for you."I went to sign it to her and got as far as "To...""And how do you spell your name again?," pretending that we were old friends."V-A-S-H-T-I."Wow, I thought to myself. This is her. This is my character!I gave her the painting. She left smiling. I saw her get into the old brown van that appeared to have traveled many miles. She was showing her painting to her mother and her little sister who began waving to me through the window. The van drove off. I never saw Vashti again. I wonder if I ever will?

3)  What message were you trying to share with readers as you wrote the book?

My goal with The Dot is to celebrate that moment when a great teacher (or coach, or friend, or family member) can take a moment of disappointment, frustration, timidity, apprehension, and turn it around. The ability to believe in someone's talents and abilities before they can see it themselves is an art of a great human. While the book is about art, it is really a metaphor for being brave, for trying, for reaching, for experimenting, for growing. It is also a book about becoming a teacher, as Vashti became at the end of the book. The gift of great teaching can be carried forward like a torch.

4)  Tell about someone who inspired you to become an author and illustrator.

My daughter, Sarah, was hungry for stories growing up. We read to her every night. She grabbed books off the shelf with zeal the way kids grab toys out of their toy box. Creating a culture at home where story is center stage is powerful. I wrote her a story in a restaurant called The Blue Shoe. It was a fanciful tale of a high heel blue shoe in search of love! I wrote it to occupy her as I chatted with a friend over dinner. I took those napkins and turned them into a book - which then became an animated film and an interactive TeleFable shared around the world. When you have someone to write for - it can be very easy - and inspirational. I wrote The Blue Shoe to delight Sarah - no editors, no agents, no publisher, no motivation other than to make something to capture her imagination.

5)  Why do you always want people to "sign it" (their work)?

It is important for people to be proud of their work. Woodworkers often sign their furniture. Putting your name to your work is a way to say - "I am proud of this." It shows you care. I also remind folks to add the date when the work was finished. This is a great way to make sense of the trail of work you leave behind.

6)  If you could change one thing about The Dot, what would it be?

I love it just the way it is, but when I read the book, I say the line following line before I turn the page where the line is written out:"The next week, when Vashti walked into art class, she was surprised to see what was hanging above her teacher's desk."When you're reading it aloud - it has the kids imagining what Vashti is surprised at seeing. That extra beat adds some great theatre to a group reading. That is what is great about reading a book out loud - you can be the "director" of the experience. Creative pacing can really make a book reading dynamic."

7)  You dedicated The Dot to Mr. Matson.  What made him such a great teacher?

He did one of the most powerful things an educator or caregiver can do -- he noticed me. He took the time to see who I was. What my interest was. He was teaching math, but he found time to pause and see what my "spark" was - and then he did something even more powerful. He connected the dots. He connected my art with math - and probably , even more powerful - he connected art, math and TEACHING. He posed this question to me on that afternoon back at McFarland Middle School in Chelmsford, MA: "Peter, can you tell a story to teach math? Look through the math textbook and find a concept that you could teach using your art and a story."I opened my math textbook and set to work.I created a comic book. I showed it to him.He paused - and pondered. He was about to show yet another sign of a great teacher."Do you know what you've done?""Huh?" I scratched my head."You've made a storyboard. This is how a filmmaker plans out a film. How would you like to turn this into an animated film?""Gosh, would I!?"Then he did yet another "great teacher" feat. He very calmly said:"I have no idea of how to make one."A sign of a great teacher: have the great idea first - figure out how to do it second. And who might know how to help you.THAT is also a 21st Century Skill. Bravely forging ahead with a vision and knowing where to find out information to map out a possible solution.Mr. Matson seemed stunned 30 years later when I tracked him down. He remembered the project, but had a pretty hard time imagining that his six minute conversation had caused a ripple effect that had landed me my first job which lead me to creating FableVision - a company dedicated to using story, technology and media to inspire and teach. His impact will continue to ripple. My wish is that all children have those "great teachers" in their lives.