Issue #15 - June 10, 2025.

Hi there, .

Looking to shift the focus from "getting the right answer" to seeing ideas from a completely new angle?

Try the Creative Contrasts strategy - it pushes students to compare two seemingly unrelated (or deceptively similar) things using artistic choices like color, shape, line, metaphor, and form.

This Week's Strategy: Creativity through Contrast

1. Step 1: Present a Pair
   Offer two contrasting ideas, objects, people, events, or concepts. These could be:
        - Order vs. chaos
        - Mitochondria vs. chloroplast
        - Hamilton vs. Jefferson
        - Fractions vs. decimals
        - Baroque vs. modernism

2. Step 2: Choose an Artistic Lens
   Ask students to express the contrast using one of the following:
        - A two-panel drawing
        - A symbolic photo collage
        - A movement or posture for each side
        - A soundscape (one sound per side)

3. Step 3: Share the Interpretation
   Students explain:
        - What choices did they make?
        - How does their artwork express the contrast?
        - What did they learn about the relationship between the two?

Why This Works:

⚡️ Breaks students out of binary thinking
🎨 Encourages metaphor, symbolism, and design thinking
🤯 Opens space for multiple “right” answers
🔍 Builds deeper content understanding and creative fluency

Ways to Make Connections:

You can use this strategy to enhance:

• ELA – Compare two characters’ worldviews through color, line, or movement.

• Social Studies – Express philosophical or ideological tension (e.g. freedom vs. security).

• Science – Depict competing theories or cycles as visual metaphors.

• Math – Show differences between linear and exponential growth as abstract forms.
  

• Music/Visual Arts – Contrast genres or periods using shape, tone, or rhythm.

Happy creating and connecting,

Susan