Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

35 minutes – Part A: What Is Inspiration?
25 minutes – Part B: Thinking Inside The Box
15 minutes – Part C: Getting Bored
15+ minutes – Part D: What Inspires Me?
10 minutes – Reflection

Part A: What Is Inspiration?

Step 1.

Play this IMAGI-NATION{TV} interview with Tommy Franklin:

AIME TV Interview - Tommy Franklin (https://vimeo.com/223387942)

Distribute the Student Worksheet and invite students to reflect on the following questions:

What is Tommy Franklin inspired by?
How does he inspire others?
What made Tommy decide to take up dancing?
Why do you think it’s important to Tommy that he dances and expresses his creativity?
Do you think it’s important to gain recognition for your creativity?

Step 2.

Explain to students that when they watch the following video, they will need to listen for the missing words (on the Student Worksheet) and fill them in. Play the video from the start to 1:52:

Finding Inspiration | How do you find inspiration? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2dN7DC-Fgc)

Learning support: You might like to play the first section of this video (0:14 - 1:40) a few times to give students time to complete the gaps and check their spelling. Spend some time with students to ensure they understand what the speaker means (or is saying) before moving on.

Here are the completed sentences:

We first have to establish what we mean by inspiration and the way I see it is that inspiration is something that helps you generate ideas. Inspiration can come from everywhere and everything from mundane to extravagant, from existing to imaginary. Inspiration is something that urges you to do something, to take action and to create.

Ideas come from fragments of our experiences, our interactions with people, the activities we engage in and the knowledge that we consume; and whether we know it or not, we take bits and pieces from existing ideas and combine them together to create something new that’s not necessarily original, but it’s new because it’s us.

Step 3.

Invite students to look up definitions of ‘inspiration’ in the dictionary and synonyms in the thesaurus. Allow them time to discuss and reflect on these meanings.

For example, one of the definitions of ‘inspiration’ listed by the Merriam-Webster online dictionary is “the act of drawing in”.

Students could reflect on the idea that the English language indicates that inspiration comes from somewhere outside you. To ‘find inspiration’, then, means having to look somewhere outside yourself, or your own reality.

Step 4.

Invite students to work alone, or with a partner, to write (in their own words) what they think ‘inspiration’ is.

Step 5.

Play the video again (or from 1:52) all the way to the end, inviting students to reflect on the following questions:

What ideas did the speaker have about how to find inspiration?
- Suggested answers:
  - Get rid of distractions
  - Be open and ready for inspiration
  - Look at art made by others
  - Surround yourself with things you love
  - Engage in creative activities
  - Try new things
  - Don’t force it
  - Do what you want to do.
What could you do to find inspiration?

Finding Inspiration | How do you find inspiration? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2dN7DC-Fgc)

Part B: Thinking Inside The Box

Step 1.

Ask students how they come up with ideas. Write a list on the board.

If they are struggling with this question, ask them to come up with an invention - any invention. Write their ideas on the board.

Note: students may struggle with both of these questions because they are too broad. This will help illustrate the following point. Don’t guide them too much with this and only allow a short amount of time.

Step 2.

Explain to students that sometimes it’s difficult to come up with ideas if you don’t have a ‘frame of reference’ to work within. Engineers, for example, will struggle to build a box if they don’t know what the box is for. They won’t know how big it needs to be, how strong, what materials it should be made of, whether it needs to be lifted, whether it needs to be opened several times or just once, etc. To build a box fit for purpose, an engineer needs to have what is called ‘constraints’.

You might like to allow time for students to share their ideas on this topic.

Step 3.

Play the following video:

Think Inside the Box: The Power of Creative Constraint (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGyjGwSQXpg)

Invite students to complete a Turn & Talk on this question:

Do you think constraints inspire more or fewer creative ideas?

Step 4.

Play this video, explaining that students will have an opportunity to practise working with creative constraints:

Creative Writing Prompt: Invent a School for Ninjas (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIGqDx5yEOI)

Invite students to complete this activity:

You’ve been invited to join an elite school for ninjas. Write a journal entry as if you’ve just arrived at the ninja school (or spent your first day there).

Describe the following:

What do the students wear?
What subjects does it teach? What skills will you learn?
What are the teachers like?
What types of school supplies will you use? What special ninja gadgets will you get to try out?
What is the building like? Where is it located? What cool ninja features does it offer?
What activities does the school offer? What kinds of ninja sports will you play?
What are the rules at this school?
How is it different from your old school?

Step 5.

Invite students to share their story with a partner.

Then lead a class discussion using the following questions as prompts:

What was it like to work within creative constraints?
Did you have many ideas or few ideas?
Was it easy to write about the ninja school? Why or why not?
How could you make your own constraints in order to create your own inspiration?

Extension opportunity: Invite students to write a new activity for their partner using creative constraints. They should then swap activities and spend some time completing them. Allow time for partners to provide feedback to one another on their creative constraints. They could use the following prompts:

What did they enjoy about the creative constraints provided?
Were they helpful?
How could they have been improved?

For an additional challenge, you could suggest that students include one of the AIME values as a creative constraint. You may also need to provide your own creative constraints for this task, such as, it needs to be a short writing task, it should be based on an existing fictional character, etc.

Part C: Getting Bored

Step 1.

Scientists say that being bored (or doing less) can actually make us more creative (source). Ask your students if they are ever bored and what it takes for them to feel bored.

Step 2.

Explain that they are going to practise being bored.

The first thing they’ll need to do is be alone.
Secondly, they’ll have to rid themselves of any distractions - devices, books, music, notebooks, etc.
Lastly, they need to have the intention of not completing any tasks or achieving a particular outcome (e.g. gardening, exercising, meditating).

They can choose to sit quietly somewhere or simply go for a walk.

Step 3.

Allow your students this time and space to be bored. Five to ten minutes should be sufficient. For younger students, this may be even less. They will probably get restless - let this happen, but don’t allow them to interact with one another.

Step 4.

Invite students to sit in a circle and share their experiences of being bored.

Step 5.

Explain to students that they will now go on an ‘inspiration walk’. The difference between this and the prior activity is that they are going out with the intention to use their five senses to gather information from the world around them.

For this activity they will need to:

be alone
rid themselves of any distractions - devices, books, music, etc.
have the intention of opening their five senses (sight, hearing, taste, touch, smell)
have the intention of gathering inspiration for a creative task (story, artwork, composition, photo story, etc.)
take a notebook or device with them, but only for the purposes of capturing those moments of inspiration via photo, video, drawing or taking notes.

Step 6.

When students come back from their inspiration walk, have them reflect on the following, either individually, with a partner or as a small group:

How was the inspiration walk different from ‘being bored’?
What did you notice using your five senses?
What ideas did you come up with?

Part D: What Inspires Me?

Step 1.

Invite students to complete these questions on the Student Worksheet:

Think about times when you have felt inspired, in flow or creative. Answer the following questions:

What was the environment around you like?
What tools or equipment did you have available?
What had you been doing beforehand?
What do you think inspired you?
Did you have any creative constraints?
Could any of these factors help you get inspired again?

Step 2.

Go through the following task with students, ensuring they understand all the requirements:

You are going to create some kind of artwork. You will need to find inspiration through any methods you’ve listed above, by creating your own creative constraints, going for an inspiration walk and by conducting research. You will create a record of these thoughts and ideas by making a portfolio.

Your portfolio should be a folder, notebook or digital collection or images and text. It should include the following:

Photos, images, videos or audio files of artworks by other artists that you find relevant or interesting, along with written reflections
Research into a related topic or idea that you find interesting
A description of your chosen creative constraints
Multiple plans for potential artworks
A list of resources or tools you will need
Draft designs of your artwork.

Extension opportunity: Create your final artwork, along with an artist statement that explains your inspiration for the work.

You might like to send one of your writing pieces from this lesson into the team at IMAGI-NATION{TV} (general@imagi-nation.tv). Who knows, you might be invited to be interviewed!

Reflection

Invite students to sit in a circle and for each to share a ‘rose’ and ‘thorn’ about the lesson:

A rose is something they enjoyed or a positive
A thorn is something they found tricky or didn’t enjoy.

Teacher Reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

What did you learn about your teaching practice today?
What worked well?
What didn't work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

IMAGI-NATION{TV} - Finding Inspiration to Create

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