Myth of the Muse, The. Douglas Reeves
THE
MYTH
OF THE
MUSE
Supporting Virtues That Inspire Creativity
DOUGLAS REEVES & BROOKS REEVES
Copyright © 2017 by Solution Tree Press
Materials appearing here are copyrighted. With one exception, all rights are reserved. Readers may reproduce only those pages marked “Reproducible.” Otherwise, no part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without prior written permission of the publisher.
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Printed in the United States of America
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Reeves, Douglas B., 1953- author. | Reeves, Brooks, author.
Title: The myth of the muse : supporting virtues that inspire creativity / Douglas Reeves and Brooks Reeves.
Description: Bloomington, IN : Solution Tree Press, [2017] | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016028123 | ISBN 9781935249481 (perfect bound)
Subjects: LCSH: Creative thinking--Study and teaching. | Creative ability in children.
Classification: LCC LB1590.5 .R45 2016 | DDC 370.15.7--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016028123
Solution Tree
Jeffrey C. Jones, CEO
Edmund M. Ackerman, President
Solution Tree Press
President: Douglas M. Rife
Editorial Director: Tonya Maddox Cupp
Managing Production Editor: Caroline Weiss
Senior Production Editor: Tara Perkins
Senior Editor: Amy Rubenstein
Copy Chief: Sarah Payne-Mills
Copy Editor: Evie Madsen
Proofreader: Miranda Addonizio
Text and Cover Designer: Laura Cox
Editorial Assistant: Jessi Finn
To Amy, Mary, and Brooks
—D.R.
To Dad, for your patience, enthusiasm, and love
—B.R.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many artists and creativity scholars have guided our thinking in this overwhelming field of inquiry. Listing them in the “References and Resources” section is a woefully inadequate means to recognize their contributions to the field of creativity research and to our work in particular. A few deserve special mention, including Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi for his pioneering work recognizing common themes in a variety of creative domains, Howard Gardner for challenging much of the prevailing wisdom on creativity in the educational context, and Douglas Hofstadter for creating enduring understandings of how creativity of necessity involves many disciplines and perspectives. Shelley Carson has expanded our conception of the accessibility of creativity to a wider group of practitioners, while Oshin Vartanian, Adam Bristol, and James Kaufman have helped apply the latest evidence from neuroscience to creativity. Ronald Beghetto, James Kaufman, and Tony Wagner have brought the subject to classrooms, schools, and educational systems around the world. Edward Tufte was doing design thinking (that is, linking art, mathematics, history, sociology, politics, and sports in ways that are substantive and beautiful) decades before the term became in vogue. There will be plenty to say about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Pablo Picasso, and their creative colleagues later.
Our publisher, Solution Tree, has been unusually patient in bringing this book to press. It is Doug’s eighth collaboration with this premier educational publisher, and we are grateful for their support, challenging insights, and careful editing. It takes a courageous publisher to bring challenging work to the mainstream of professional educators and leaders around the world, and Solution Tree does this with a commitment to quality that is without peer.
We are particularly grateful to Douglas Rife, publisher of Solution Tree Press, Jeff Jones, CEO of Solution Tree, and the anonymous reviewers who left our original work and our delicate egos in tatters more than a year before the final work was completed. Although we have done our best to incorporate their thinking into the pages that follow, the errors that remain are solely our responsibility.
—Douglas Reeves
—Brooks Reeves
Solution Tree Press would like to thank the following reviewers:
Ronald A. Beghetto
Associate Professor of Educational Psychology
Cognition, Instruction, Learning, & Technology Program
Department of Educational Psychology
Neag School of Education
University of Connecticut
Storrs, Connecticut
Boon Boonyapat
Director of Teaching and Learning
Charles R. Drew Charter School
Atlanta, Georgia
Paul Curtis
Director of Curriculum
New Tech Network
Napa, California
Danah Henriksen
Assistant Professor
Department of Educational Psychology, Counseling, and Special Education
Michigan State University
East Lansing, Michigan
Donna Jackson
Principal
James A. Jackson Elementary School
Jackson School of the Arts (K–5)
Jonesboro, Georgia
Wesley Manaday
Principal
John P. Oldham Elementary School
Norwood, Massachusetts
Trisha Riche
Third-Grade Inclusion Teacher
Richard L. Brown Elementary School
Jacksonville, Florida
Visit go.SolutionTree.com/21stcenturyskills to download the free reproducibles in this book.