The Brain Stampede Is Out of the Gate!

New faces, pizza, and a lot of great ideas. That was the Spells Brain Stampede led by Christina Rose Dubb on October 1. Spells volunteers and committee members met at the Ukrainian Club in Philadelphia to hammer out their workshop ideas and get them ready to use. Concepts ranged from a Halloween workshop at Eastern State Penitentiary, to fan episodes of favorite TV shows, to what happens when you give a ______ a ______? The result was a batch of fully formed lesson plans, and sketches for dozens more.

Spells provided pizza, soft drinks, and snacks, as well as sample lesson plans and a detailed template for writing new ones. To kick things off, and to demonstrate the spirit of a Spells workshop, Christina led the group in a game intended to get people thinking creatively. Small groups wrote stories based on three provided sentences, only to discover that the other groups had the same sentences to work with. It was a fun to hear the different takes on the same material, and it showed the importance of giving kids a mental ice breaker to get a workshop started.

The brainstorming (stampeding!) session involved collecting ideas for the elementary, middle, and high school levels. Stampeders moved from table to table writing down their ideas, reading what others had written and invariably coming up with new stuff on the spot. Then everyone went their separate ways, some working together, to write out a full lesson plan for the idea they’d chosen from the lists.

The Brain Stampede is an opportunity to meet other volunteers, listen to ideas and get a better feel for the vision of the Spells Writing Center. It’s also a chance to break your routine, make friends, have a slice of pizza, and enjoy yourself. So keep an eye on our website and watch the Spells newsletter for information about future Stampedes, and come be part of the fun!