This Will NOT Be on the Test

This is the book for you if... You feel like a star-shaped peg trying to stuff yourself in a square hole? You itching to redecorate this book cover? You wondering if you're allowed to draw on a book, or worried that your doodles won't be good enough to go on the front cover? Psst! Parents, teachers, and other grown-up types, down here! Pop quiz: When does our creative spark flicker out? After years of teaching adults how to relight it after decades of dormancy, I learned the answer while teaching a content creation course for middle- and high-school-aged kids. Where the pre-teens were enthusiastic, engaged, and happy to experiment, the teens were anxious, self-conscious, and too terrified of failure to take any creative risks. Somewhere between middle- and high school, the creative spark that allows us to heal, inspire, motivate, and create real value for ourselves and others through authentic self-expression, free experimentation, and innovative problem-solving is being extingui