{"id":2154,"date":"2019-07-08T01:52:02","date_gmt":"2019-07-08T01:52:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/contemplation-music-writing-creativity-and-motivation\/"},"modified":"2019-07-08T01:52:02","modified_gmt":"2019-07-08T01:52:02","slug":"contemplation-music-writing-creativity-and-motivation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/contemplation-music-writing-creativity-and-motivation\/","title":{"rendered":"Contemplation, Music Writing, Creativity, and Motivation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cTeachers devise their own tests, to\ninform them about their students\u2019 progress and needs. They do their best\nbecause it is their professional responsibility. Like other professionals, as\nPasi Sahlberg shows in his book, Finnish\nLessons<\/strong>, Finnish teachers are driven by a sense of intrinsic motivation,\nnot by the hope of a bonus or the fear of being fired. Intrinsic motivation is\nalso what they seek to instill in their students. In the absence of\nstandardized testing by which to compare their students and their schools,\nteachers must develop, appeal to, and rely on their students\u2019 interest in\nlearning.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013From Diane Ravtich\u2019s article titled\n\u201cHow, and\u00a0 How Not, to Improve the Schools,\u201d in The New <\/em>York\nReview of Books<\/em>, March\n22, 2012<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, that\u2019s what\nI do in my classrooms, devise my own tests<\/em>\nthat help children probe their inside worlds to discover the creativity, self-motivation,\nand emotional intelligence needed for learning and living. Aren\u2019t these areas\nworth studying today in our test-obsessed and bullying culture?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My project\nstarted with music to calm the nerves of students returning to class from\nlunch. I played Billy Joel songs, not the favorites of Latino and\nAfrican-American kids, but I liked to listen, and if anything, it relaxed me,\nand eventually the class. How sweet it felt, until I amped up the academics,\nbecause music to soothe the soul<\/em>\nwould not be enough for supervisors walking in the room and wondering what the\naim of the lesson was.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I asked the\nchildren to put their heads down on the desks, close their eyes, and write\nabout whatever <\/em>they experienced\ninside themselves while the music played. When the tunes stopped, I asked them\nto take a few seconds to reflect before they wrote about what happened\ninternally.\u00a0 Many things can spin around\nthe mind and imagination in an instant. I wanted them to pause, contemplate,\nand recall these creative, surreal, absurd, wild, and sometimes, sane inner\nworlds.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nContemplation Writing Project began in 1975 and ran until 2002. It uses an original,\ninnovative, and progressive form of writing called, Contemplation Music Writing,\nto develop intra- and interpersonal communication skills (EI\/SEL), creative\nself-expression, therapeutic writing, poetry, thinking, character education, identity,\nand values clarification in young people through music, contemplation, writing,\ndiscussion, and self-assessments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project is easy\nto implement from elementary school (from grade 2) through secondary in public,\ncharter, private, parochial, and alternative schools, including before\/after\nschool programs, as well as correctional facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Start with the \u201cCounting Technique\u201d<\/strong> to introduce inner<\/em> experience<\/em>: \u201cI want you to close your eyes and silently count\nbackwards\u2014by 1\u2019s\u2014from 50 to 1. Take your time and don\u2019t rush. When you finish,\nopen your eyes and write whatever<\/em>\nhappened inside yourself while counting. There are no right or wrong answers in\nthe assignment.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My instructions\nabout what to write were purposely vague because I wanted them to discover and\ndescribe experience without my help and influence. I did not plant anything in\ntheir heads about what they were supposed\n<\/em>to experience. If they asked about the length of the writing, I said: \u201cJust\nwrite whatever you can remember.\u201d The average length varied from one to a few\nparagraphs. Note<\/em>: Before trying the\ntechnique in class, please practice it yourself for a week or two at home to appreciate\nwhat students are experiencing, describing, and writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a typical\nlesson, kids counted backwards, wrote about their inner experiences. I checked\ntheir responses overnight and discussed them with the class the next day. Here\nis a sampling of a 4th grade class\u2019s first responses to this meditative inner\njourney:<\/p>\n\n\n\n