What do you do with an idea by Kobi Yamada

Using this book, you can teach children various habits of mind. Metacognition; Creating, Imagining, and Innovation; Persistence; and Responding with Wonderment and Awe; just to name a few.  Thinking about our thinking is a recurrent theme throughout this story. From the very start this book places metacognition in the forefront, “One day, I had an idea. Where did it come from? Why is it here? I wondered, ‘What do you do with an idea’”, and continues to bring about the notion of thinking about one’s thoughts. Creating, imagining, and Innovation, simultaneously come into play when the author makes statements about this idea such as “it seemed kind of strange and fragile”, “it followed me”, and “it wanted food. It wanted to play”. Describing a concept, like an idea, that is so abstract with adjectives and verbs that define it in such a manner takes quite a bit of imagination, innovation, and creating to bring it to life as this book has done. Persistence is also noted with this line of the idea following the main character and it growing bigger as the story progresses as well as the character not giving up on their idea after peers deemed it no good. Responding with wonderment and awe can be seen when it is said,” there was something magical about my idea…I felt better and happier when it was around.”In order to help children connect with this book and develop one of the habits of mind I listed before, I would put together a provocation that would encourage my students to create, imagine, and innovate. After introducing them to this story and reading it to them I would take the opportunity to discuss our favorite parts of the story. The following day, prior to their arrival, I would collect various materials and lay them out on the table along with the book and the question, “What would your idea look like?”. Doing so, the children would be encouraged to think back on the story and imagine, if they had an idea, what it would look like. Then they could use the materials provided to bring their vision to life. Materials would range from different paints and colors, to recycled materials, clay, natural materials such as leave, and so forth. To build on to this exploration of habits of mind, one could deliberately leave out materials that are typically used for holding things together such as glue or tape. This would allow students to move into the habit of mind of persistence and thinking flexibly by pushing students towards finding alternate ways of holding their chosen materials together.