Are you creative? Did you know that you can learn to be more creative? Melissa Goodwin and Cate Sommervold of Goodwin and Sommervold Consulting, authors of the new book entitled Creativity, Critical Thinking, and Communication: Strategies to Increase Students’ Skills, argue that, “Creativity is a skill that can be honed, fostered, and even taught.” Why is creativity so important? “Creativity drives economies and cultures and makes people think in different ways” they write.
The Sioux Falls Arts Council is hosting a program and book signing by Goodwin and Sommervold on Thursday evening, October 18, from 6-9 p.m. at the Museum of Visual Materials, 500 N. Main Avenue in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The program will begin at 7:00 p.m. Doors open at 6:00 p.m. and refreshments will be available. The event is free and open to the public.
This program will be the first in a new regular discussion/presentation series we are calling the Arts Round Table, ART. Once a month we will host a program on a subject related to the arts. At ART events, discussion is encouraged. We hope that it will bring people together to share common interests in the arts. The ART events replace the SFAC Grow-a Scene program.
Copies of Creativity, Critical Thinking, and Communication: Strategies to Increase Students’ Skills will be available for purchase before and after the program from the SFAC for $20, tax included. It is also available online for the regular price of $24.95.
Goodwin and Sommervold are also the authors of an article in the May 2012 issue of Learning and Leading with Technology entitled, “Never too Late to Learn.”
Reviews of the book:
Young teachers should study this book to know where to go. Experienced teachers should study this book to be re-ignited in the right way. This informed text combines the three new “Rs” of education—rigor, relevance, and relationships—with three ideal newly-emphasized ‘Cs’: creativity, communication, and critical thinking. Keeping their focus on achievement that will help students in their college and career goals, Goodwin and Sommervold are right on.
— Matt Christiansen, high school English teacer, Brandon High School, Brandon, South Dakota
Much has been made in the media about the need for changing twenty-first-century education. Often these pieces focus on technology elements, as though the technology is both the driver and the solution of the change. However, the truth is that the pace of change produced by the Information Age requires skills that have been developed for centuries, coined in this book as the ‘3 Cs,’ that are timeless, but arguably increasing in importance as access to information becomes easier and easier.
— Scott Friesen
Goodwin and Sommervold are not jumping on the bandwagon of how to recreate education. They are not giving teachers and administrators yet one more thing to do. Instead, they provide fresh insight to what we know already works in educational settings and suggest that educators focus on promoting those elements of success—creativity, critical thinking, and communication skills—with their students. This book will be the one with all the sticky notes and tabs and dog-eared corners—practical information backed by research that teachers will use again and again.
— Kris Baldwin
The Authors:
Melissa Goodwin, MS, is a writer, techie, scientist, and mother of two children. She promotes the 3 Cs to facilitate learning for educational and private organizations.
Catherine Sommervold, EdD, helps organizations and leaders incorporate the 3 Cs, manage change, and make decisions. She is an executive, coach, and writer who lives in South Dakota with her husband and three sons.
