Catalogue of Critical Creativity

1. Potent Quotables 

This would be a very fun and interesting activity to carry out in an English class. By having students assign images to a piece’s most “potent quotes,” it helps the students to see the power of language and the images that it can create in our minds. 

2. Color Palette 

I absolutely love this idea because I am so obsessed with colors but also with moods. I think that if you asked students to create a color palette in response to a piece of literature, it would encourage conversations about mood in writing and how writers create certain feelings with their words. 

3. Playlist a Life 

Okay with each suggestive activity and I am starting to really like this book. I think that creating a playlist to reflect a character or a story is wonderful because it is using words and music and sounds to describe a work of literature. The song selection can open up discussion about meaning and style and mood. 

4. Dallowinian Party 

This idea is interesting because it can spur a lot of conversations about character development. I think this would be a really useful tool when working with pieces of literature that include storylines and characters. The activity would reveal what students think about characters. This could lead to great discussion about how authors create characters. 

5. Book Stack Summary 

Another really fun idea! Similar to the playlist idea, I like this idea because it is using words to describe other words. I think that it is really cool too that the activity incorporates books to describe other works of literature. This exercise can help students in an English class to learn to articulate ideas under constraints. 

6. Character Gallery 

This is another great way to dive into character development. Literature is full of characters. You could use this exercise relating to any book. I think you could also push this exercise to extend to other works of literature as well. For example, it would be interesting to do a character gallery for a single poem.