Brainstorming session for AP Lit students September, 2014

1. Senior Project 2014
Awesome

2. Being Smart Being Scholarly
Memorizing Thinking
Academic Best Personal Best
Follow Curriculum Follow Interests
Hints at What Your Grade
Will Be
Hints at What Your Future
Will Be
Involves Playing it Safe Involves Risk Taking
Relies on Knowing Answers Relies on Asking Right Question

3. Finding the right question
Topic:
Beauty
Question:
Do magazines promote unhealthy images of beauty?
Question:
Would you be willing to become extremely ugly
physically if it meant you would live for 1,000 years at
any physical age you chose?

7. So What? Who Cares?
“The problem is not necessarily that the speakers lack
a clear, well-focused thesis or that the thesis is
inadequately supported with evidence. Instead, the
problem is that the speakers don’t address the crucial
question of why their arguments matter.”
Graff and Birkenstein, They Say, I Say

8. Topic Brainstorming

9. Objective:
Leave class with 5 viable senior project ideas
that you are genuinely enthusiastic about
This is what enthusiasm looks like

11. Brainstorming Tip #1
Turn off your inner critic

12. The Brain has two hemispheres
Right brain functions
Thought
Intuition
Creativity
Art & Music
Left brain functions
Analytic Thought
Logic
Language
Science & Math

13. The Right Brain keeps you from turning into Spock
Right brain functions
Thought
Intuition
Creativity
Art & Music

14. The Left Brain keeps you from turning into a Space Hippie
Left brain functions
Analytic Thought
Logic
Language
Science & Math

15. To generate good ideas, you must silence your inner critic
Right brain functions
Thought
Intuition
Creativity
Art & Music
Left brain functions
That ideas is dumb.
It will never work.

16. And let your creative side play
Left brain functions Right brain functions
This is fun!

17. How do I do that?

18. Limit your time!
Don’t give your brain time to criticize.
Give yourself 20 minutes to come up 50 ideas.

19. Record your ideas on sticky notes

20. IDEA 1
IDEA 3
IDEA 2
IDEA 4
Organize them later

21. Or mind maps!
Stay away from
the computer -
it will slow you
down

22. Collaborate with others

23. Make lists of interests, hobbies, goals, concerns
In five years, what do I hope to have accomplished?
What problems do I want to see solved?
What organizations or groups do I admire?
What professions am I interested in?
Where would I like to travel?
What controversial issues do I feel strongly about?
What do I want to do better?
What experiences do I want to have?
What do I want to learn more about?

24. Brainstorming Tip #2
Look for inspiration elsewhere

25. Where?

26. LIBRARY RESOURCES
Magazines

34. Question
How does technology limit or expand our creativity?

35. Task #1
Divergent Thinking
1.Use the magazines at your table to brainstorm ideas
2.Write one idea on a sticky note
3.Team with the most notes gets a prize

36. Task #2
Convergent Thinking
1.Narrow down your ideas to your five best
2.Convert one into a question
3.Post the question on the wall