ZING! Seven Creativity Practices for Educators & Students

Pat explains how she hopes Zing! will help teachers and librarians get in touch with their own creativity. Video provided by WETV's ¡Colorín Colorado!


Why was Zing! written as a series of letters? Watch Pat talk about it:

Watch Pat engage students in the classroom.
10th anniversary in 2020ZING! Seven Creativity Practices for Educators & Students
Corwin Press
Available as an e-book:   For Kindle   For Nook
Download a hi-res jpeg of the book jacket.
Read the introduction.
Click to see the table of contents show

Pat's Seven Creativity Symbols

Pat's Seven Creativity Symbols

Cultivate your own creativity and the creative potential of all your students!

Inventive teaching is an art form that enriches lives and transforms teachers and students. This beautifully written guide offers seven powerful practices for personal creativity and professional inventiveness. For each practice, author Pat Mora proposes a symbol and presents parallel exercises for teachers and students. Evocatively written in the form of letters to teachers and librarians, this book:

  • Helps educators access their creative selves and, in the process, become better teachers
  • Nurtures students in expressing themselves through writing and other creative pursuits.
  • Includes activities at the end of each chapter

Read Bookjoy Is the Work of Teachers, an article in the North Carolina State College of Education News in September, 2019.

Highlighted Reviews
"Written as a series of seven letters to teachers, this useful, insightful and inviting book encourages teachers to rediscover their creative and artistic energy in order to become more impassioned educators. Each chapter is thoughtfully written and includes project ideas that are meant to help teachers and students alike find and channel their aesthetic power through the writing process and other artistic endeavors. From quiet reflection and poetry to learning to cultivate and appreciate the language arts, this inventive book is a must-have for teachers and children’s services librarians who are looking to inject artfulness into their programs or curriculum. Readers will be left with renewed energy, plenty of wonderful ideas, and a stronger appreciation for artistic projects, the power of language, and cross-cultural understanding."—REFORMA Newsletter

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Civitella Ranieri Castle

Castle photos courtesy of Civitella Ranieri Foundation, Pietro Biraschi and Euro Vinti: www.civitella.org/about. On right, Pat and her husband, Vern Scarborough at Civitella Ranieri Castle.

It's hard to believe that in the summer of 2003, my husband Vern and I had the privilege of traveling to Umbria, Italy near Umbertide, and spending time working on our writing at Civitella. You can imagine how our jaws dropped when we arrived. Our shower was in one of the turrets! I describe our castle adventure in ZING, the manuscript I finished there. I also worked on some poems.