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Blog Post for March 2014

Insightful articles about 21st century skills, inquiry, project-based learning, media literacy, and education reform.

Critical and Creative Thinking: Lessons from Calvin and Hobbes

Submitted by King on Fri, 2014-03-21 11:02
Calvin's twisted take on traditional snowpeople shows his creative thinking.

When I write the first draft of a novel, I'm Calvin from the classic comic series Calvin and Hobbes. Brimming with imagination and life, I don't care what may be sensible, realistic, and conventional. I'm full of passion, flying in many different directions. Sure, there'll be plenty of mistakes, but at least they'll be big.

When I revise and edit a novel, I'm Calvin's parents. I have to look dispassionately and critically at what the child mind has created. I have to analyze and evaluate. Patience, persistence, and a kind of longsuffering skepticism must prevail.

To put it another way, the parents' job is to make the child's life safe, and the child's job is to make the parents' life dangerous.

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