Michelle Korenfeld -
Creative & Critical thinking
Creative Problem-Solving
Michelle Korenfeld - Unique Expertise
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PD and books to incorporate SEL (Social Emotional Learning), CPS (Creative Problem-Solving) and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics) into language arts classrooms.
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Strategy and tools to complement critical thinking (to assess problems) with creative thinking (to generate solutions).
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PD and books author, educational leadership MA, on a mission to establish common language between teachers, principals, students, parents, and superintendents, for effective results.
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Teachers Pay Teachers classroom printables for teaching primary students critical and creative thinking, leveraging exploration toward innovation.
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Lifelong creativity education experience weaved into research-based tools, to simplify teaching critical and creative thinking.
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STEAM enrichment igniting ADHD and twice-exceptional students' learning in today's inclusive classrooms, as well providing equal educational opportunities for all bright students.
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The 5 E's strategy is an adaptation of Creative Problem-Solving to teaching-learning processes. Elevating teaching skills based on this strategy equals teaching creative problem-solving, as well as nurturing the 4 Cs (critical and creative thinking, collaboration and communication). The strategy is based on decades of raising creative thinkers in The Dr. Erica Landau Institute and in The Science Oriented Youth Department. It helps teachers prepare students for PISA creative thinking tests, building transformative competencies for future readiness.
Michelle Korenfeld - A story of creativity
I began researching and writing nature stories, working at the Man and the Living World Museum. The students loved the teaching aids I created. My mom suggested I'd study painting, to make them coloring pages. A wave of painting washed over me for several years. The peak was exhibiting in the Paris winter salon. This was after years insisting that I couldn't paint. Someone must have commented on a painting I had made as a child. Everyone has a story like that. Imagine if this happened to Michelangelo, inhibiting his painting and sculpting.
Working at the Dr. Erica Landau Institute for the Advancement of Youth to Excellence and Creativity, the gifted education leader advised I’d add science to my artistic and literary resources. The next family dinner, I sat at my mom’s veranda with my uncle, Dr. Moshe Rishpon, who established the Clore Garden of Science and the Science Oriented Youth Department in the Weizmann Institute. This is a pioneer program in science education and a leader of that field worldwide.
I asked this education mastermind, revered by decades of students that became leaders themselves, what he saw in my paintings. A new world was revealed to me. My peacock paintings suggested symmetry and structural coloration, for example. I began researching the science behind my stories and art, especially through Nobel prize laureate Richard Feynmann’s fascinating books. I realized I created strategy and resources that any teacher can use to foster critical and creative thinking. I published my books on Amazon, to be available for teachers wherever possible.
I delved into creativity research, becoming part of the Creative Education Foundation leaders' team. For 4 years I led workshops at the Creative Problem-Solving Institute (CPSI), University at Buffalo, New York. So, I perfected a transformational workshop igniting teachers to foster creative problem solving, critical and creative thinking, communication and collaboration, in AI times.
Presenting for The World Education Summit 2024, among education leaders from around the world, was a great delight. I presented my teachers' book Michelangelo in the 21st Century, and the Creativity Wheel model, which establishes common language among policy makers, superintendents, principals, teachers and parents, toward teaching critical and creative thinking. I am honored to be a founding member of the Human Intelligence (HI) movement, whose goal is to foster students' humane creative skills to leverage the use of artificial intelligence. It is also a great honor to receive the dean's excellence award twice, for the Educational Leadership, Policy and Administration masters' degree (Final exam grade: 99!!).
My vision is that at the age of accelerated use of AI, our children, who are the generation most affected, gain the most effective tools for creative problem-solving. Therefore, I offer a holistic solution for encouraging exploration and innovation in the classroom: Books, TPT printables, and online stimulating PD.
Creatively yours,
Michelle Korenfeld
Michelle Korenfeld and her creative family
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