From Challenge to Clusters
An In-Class Facilitation
She spent the last 10 minutes moving sticky-notes with dots on them
around into small groups or clusters. She did this because the dotted
sticky-notes had a meaning to her and she intended to use these ideas
to better her life. I felt great after my in-class facilitation,
because I knew that my client could use ideas to improve. The magic of
the CPS process is in knowing that people can actually the ideas to
make their days sunnier.
There is an old blue grass song called
“Keep on the Sunny Side”. This is my attempt to cite the sunny (the
pluses) about my facilitation.
- Brain Gymnastics – I believe
very strongly in stimulating all parts of the brain in any thinking
activity. I have used brain gym in my days as a teacher and thus
incorporated it into my facilitation. By using the movements one can
stimulate focus and centering, and thus generate more and better ideas. - Electronic
Forced Connections – Instead of worrying about the forced connections
books on the floor during a stick-em-up brainstorming session, I made a
forced connections slide show with iPhoto. This slide show rotated
slides every 10 seconds and enabled me to focus on encouraging the
resource group. - Less Fog – There was a time, when this process
was very vague and when I facilitated small sessions in CRS 559, that I
did so as a robot. I am now very comfortable with the why of the
process and have witnessed the powerful effects it has on challenges.
I did not stumble, I knew what was going to happen next. - I have found a new way to express my passion for technology, I continue to think of ways to digitize this process
- I have met a group of people who make coming to class fun!
“The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems.” -
Gandhi
- It
might be wonderful to pass this knowledge on to my family. If my son
and daughter can learn how to use this process at an early age, they
may alleviate some of the pains of life that I experienced. - It
might be great to share this process with the world.People that I meet
from all walks of life have challenges. If they are like me, about six
months ago, they will not have heard about CPS. The word needs to get
out to the world on how to solve challenges, which opens up jobs for
someone who can facilitate the process. - It might be a
great Opportunity for me to change careers! I am a lover of learning
and I know so little about the creativity process. A world has opened
up to me that I can go and play in. It is exciting to know that I can
expand my knowledge into a whole new academic arena. - It might
be a good idea to train key people in my district on how to be resource
members so that we can implement CPS in all challenge areas - It might lead to a children’s book about CPS
- It might be a way for my nutritional counselor to clarify problems for her patients
- It
might lead to a happier life not constrained by New York State Tests
and the anxiety those tests create for those I work with and who pass
on that anxiety to me
Just because something doesn’t do what you planned it to do in the first place doesn’t mean it’s useless…. – Thomas Edison
Life would be so dull if we were able to master everything on the first
try. As I reflect on my facilitation, I have uncovered a few concerns.
- How
might I account for a lack of material – I have only worked with people
who already know the process. I am not sure if I can do an adequate
job preparing non-CPS people for the process - How might I
acquire research based knowledge of CPS – If asked at a session, what
the research says, I will not be able to comfortably answer. - How
to overcome a fear of wanting to be a creativity professional – I love
working the process. I would love to do this as a career, but I don’t
know how I can without losing the financial stability of my job. - How might I know if a CPS session was successful for the client – despite the fact that the client is polite and says it is
- ignore my age
- devote time each day to learning more about creativity
- hold the rock that I own that says CREATE in my pocket for inspiration
- volunteer to do CPS sessions to learn
- set financial goals associated with a CPS career to transition out
- read, read, read about creativity
- take a vacation and make a list of pros and cons
- explore the financial possibilities
- attend the Expert-to-Expert Conference
- meditate on the idea
- visualize that becoming a professional has already happened
- recognize when infinite intelligence is providing me an opportunity
- spend more time with Dr. Firestien
- devote the time to CPS instead of doing the extra at Alden that has not resulted in what I want
- There is nothing to fear except fear itself
- listen to a segment of Think and Grow Rich every day
- volunteer to work for Dr. Firestien doing clerical work at nights or weekends
- go to more baseball games
- watch more baseball games
- do the things I really love, so that I can have a relaxed mind
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I am an Educational Computing Strategist (ECS). I figure out ways to IMPROVE education with technology. 
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