Imagination

In light of my interest in the imagination (and how development of the imagination directly relates to success in the act of learning), I am narrowing down my choice of focus.  So, I will be writing only about the imaginative play section of our indoor recess.  I'll also be writing about our arts partnership lessons that are built to increase the imaginative thought-process.  This is built through questioning that is a lot like art criticism: noticing, analyzing, interpreting, and (only then) judging or critiquing.  As of now my questions are these: How is the imagination related to play?  If play is exploration-the act of learning-then how does the work of the imagination directly influence the cycle of learning in my students? 

Share thoughts.  My forte has never been narrowing things down :)  My imagination gets the better of me, and yet it is always the thing-the playfulness of it-that finally leads me to the simplicity of an idea.

ALSO

We recently played around with the public art form of graffiti.  After exploring words from MLK's speeches, life story, and gospel music, we took a connective word (that was heard in all three contexts) and created our own graffiti-forms of that word.  We then played with chalk and paint on the walls in the stairwell of the school to express our words in a different size and medium.  Pics and comments to come...