Let’s Celebrate Divergent Thinking to Improve our Iterative! #FBF or #FlashBackFriday Start at m\Minute 6:00 Regarding Attitudes about Learning

Do you see how one thing these two thinkers have in common about explaining divergent thinking involves school? With that in mind, let’s leave behind your school brain and enjoy this post to foster a new cognitive skill (or refine the skills your have) that helps with authentic creative problem solving. In that spirit, we will add another step of divergent thinking so that you might incorporate this cognitive skill and develop a creative disposition more deeply in your thinking. Interestingly, this type of thinking may help you navigate the college process as well as your future challenges in your college courses and future careers.

Enjoy viewing Sir Ken Robinson and Guy Claxton. They explore ways to help students develop the most important capability in their life: the ability to learn for yourself. The ability to cope calmly, creativity, confidently, and capably with challenges and frustrations [in the learning process].

Moreover, Sir Ken Robinson helps us expand our culture’s narrow definition of creativity. Let’s us then explore that value of your original ideas in the process of our projects. Enjoy these thinkers’ exploration of divergent thinking and realize that we are never going to emphasize product over process in this class. This long conversation about training your brain to work through projects also gives you the opportunity to practice these thinking and creativity skills. As a facilitator of the creative process, I will meet every student wherever they are in the process and help them move forward by individual mentoring as well as by creating a collaborative and iterative culture that helps fosters growth for everyone. Let me know your thoughts, and I appreciate your feedback.

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Unpacking Rachel Kushner’s Creation Lake: A Deep Analysis of the Cold and Calculating Sadie Smith!

What lingers beyond Creation Lake? In this episode, we dive deep into the daunting final pages of Rachel Kushner’s Booker Prize–nominated novel, unraveling the silences, tensions, and quiet revelations that define its unforgettable ending. Kushner doesn’t hand us answers—but maybe that’s the point. Join us as we explore what’s said, unsaid, and everything left rippling beneath the surface. If the last line left you staring into space, you’re not alone.

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Reimagining the Cover of The Safekeep

designed by Milly, Nyah, and Isabel

After enjoying Yael van der Wouden’s The Safekeep, we created three new cover designs, each highlighting different aspects of the novel.  

Our first design features tiles with hares, referencing the plates cherished by Isabel and her mother. This symbolizes longing and fragility, wrapped in a soft, summery aesthetic that conceals the novel’s darker secrets.  

The second cover focuses on the theme of loss and reclamation. Scattered cookware and utensils represent the ordinary items Eva tries to recover: symbols of identity, betrayal, and power she hopes to reclaim.  

The third design shows a quiet room with a desk and open journal, hinting at the novel’s many mysteries. Its ambiguity symbolizes the story’s themes of space, memory, and reflection.  

Together, these covers offer three perspectives on the novel’s heart—each one a visual interpretation of what The Safekeep leaves behind.

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Modern Rewrite of Romeo and Juliette Scene

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Inside the Mind of a Genius: A Glimpse into Shakespeare’s Secret Diary 📜 ✨

What if William Shakespeare kept a personal diary, filled with musings on love, ambition, and drama? Step into the Bard’s world as we uncover his deepest thoughts, creative struggles, and poetic reflections. This is Shakespeare like you’ve never seen before

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Katarina’s Revenge

The Shakespearean story of The Taming of the Shrew is controversial for its views on feminism and abuse. Although Shakespeare’s intent in writing the story is unknown, it is undeniable that the female main character, Katarina, experienced abuse at the hands of her husband without a happy ending. This is Katarina’s story of revenge and freedom.

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Held Character Map

Held by Anne Michaels is a cross-generational story of grief and trauma and the wave of impact it has on loved ones. Held has an extremely complex narrative structure to emphasize the complexity of grief. Click this link to view a character map to help readers navigate Anne Michael’s masterfully crafted novel. 

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Romeo and Juliet Through Music

For my Shakespearean project, I composed a playlist of songs that, in my opinion, represent the prominent themes of Romeo and Juliet. Each of these songs touches on the essences of love, separation, or devotion. Consisting of nine songs, this playlist delivers a variety of genres, and I have dissected a lyric or two from each song that represents its relationship to Romeo and Juliet.

Below is a composition of songs that represent the prominent themes of Romeo and Juliet. Each song touches on the essences of love, separation, or devotion. The playlist delivers a variety of genres with dissected lyrics that exhibit a relationship to Romeo and Juliet.


Taylor Swift, exile – “You were my town, now I’m in exile, seein’ you out” 

Relation to Romeo and Juliet – This lyric reflects Romeo’s banishment (“exile”) from Verona, although he still makes attempts to see Juliet (“seein’ you out”)

Sam Smith, Lay Me Down – “I don’t want to be here if I can’t be with you tonight/Lay me down tonight, lay me by your side” 

Relation to Romeo and Juliet – After Romeo poisons himself, he lays beside an alive Juliet, who proceeds to kill herself and lay beside him. 

Selena Quintanilla, Amor Prohibido – “Amor prohibido, murmuran por las calles/Porque somos de distintas sociedades” 

translation: “Prohibited love, they murmur in the streets/because we are from different societies” 

Relation to Romeo and Juliet – Similar to Selena, Romeo and Juliet’s love is prohibited, and they are from rival households. 

West Side Story, Balcony Scene (Tonight) – “[MARÍA] Only you, you’re the only thing I’ll see forever” “[TONY] And there’s nothing for me but María” 

Relation to Romeo and Juliet – This song takes place on a balcony in Maria’s Puerto-Rican dominant neighborhood, where Tony should not be. This scene mirrors the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet, where Romeo goes to the Capulet household to visit Juliet on her balcony.

West Side Story, Maria – “I’ve just met a girl named Maria/And suddenly that name/Will never be the same” 

relation to Romeo and Juliet – After Romeo meets Juliet, he falls madly in love with her. 

Taylor Swift, illicit affairs – “Make sure nobody sees you leave” “And that’s the thing about illicit affairs/and clandestine meetings and longing stares/It’s born from just one single glance” 

relation to Romeo and Juliet – The first lyric from this song reflects the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet, because Romeo must not be caught while talking to Juliet, nor leaving from her household. Furthermore, their love was born from “just one single glance” at the masked party, hosted by Juliet’s family. 

Frank Sinatra, I’m a Fool to Want You – “I’m a fool to want you/To want a love that can’t be true” 

relation to Romeo and Juliet – The relationship between Romeo and Juliet is forbidden, that is what makes them fools; to continue loving and seeing each other, when they know their love “can’t be true” because their families are rivals. 

Aaliyah, No One Knows How to Love Me Quite Like You Do – “No one knows how to love me quite like you do” 

relation to Romeo and Juliet – Juliet is meant to form a relationship with Prince Paris, but she does not feel attracted to him. Instead, she falls in love with Romeo, because they understand each other. 

Luther Vandross, Always and Forever – “’Cause we got a life of love/That won’t ever change” “There’ll always be sunshine/When I look at you, yeah” 

relation to Romeo and Juliet – Although they both die in the end, Romeo and Juliet remain known for their intense love. As their story continues to live in new generations, their love does not die.

a note from isabel:

I created this playlist to foster a better understanding of Romeo and Juliet through music. These modern-day songs prove that the love Romeo and Juliet had is not a complex one, but rather a love that our society is familiar with. The constantly retelling of this tale allows an audience to understand the themes of love, separation, and devotion from a modern perspective, and each of these songs contributes to this reiteration of Romeo and Juliet.

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James’s Journey

The novel James, by Percival Everett, is based on the character of Jim from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. His journey, however, is different from that traveled in Huck Finn, both because of the storytelling choices Everett made and because of the adventures James had without Huckleberry Finn. This is James’s Journey.

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Unmasking Jim: Nick’s Thoughts On The Duality of Everett’s James

Hello and welcome to the first edition of Philosophical Book Reviews. This podcast explores the journey we readers take on retelling classics James by Percival Everett and Nick’s thoughts on a new vision of his favorite classic, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Hear my opinions regarding the novel’s new perspective and a thorough analysis of Jim’s persona to see if this story was snubbed of the Booker Prize award. #BookerPrizeNovel #PBL #LitCircles

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