404: The Missing Piece in Most ELA Projects
The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast | ELA
Intro
Betsy Potash introduces the episode's focus on brainstorming and the 4,000-ideas insight from Stanford research.
According to research by Stanford Professor Bob Sutton, innovative businesses need to generate about 4,000 ideas to come up with two or three really good ones.
Think about that.
4,000 ideas.
What does that mean for our students? In their busy whirlwind days, they're likely to opt for their first or second idea on any given assignment. A thesis pops into their head? They'll probably hit the ground running with it so they can get their paper done. They think of a project concept for genius hour? Boom. They jump on board.
In an era of busy busy and test prep, brainstorming often gets shortchanged. But what if that means students are spending hours, days, even weeks on ideas that don't deserve their time? Ideas they would have quickly surpassed with a few more minutes of thinking, and a quick feedback session with a partner?
Today on the pod, let's talk about how can we build a better brainstorming engine into our projects, paper processes, and units. We're going to take a peek at two quick case studies today - one in a classroom full of students just getting started on a podcast project, and another from my experience working on a concept for PD.
Want to go Deeper?
Check out this guide to Brainstorming from the Stanford d.School: https://hci.stanford.edu/courses/cs247/2011/readings/dschool-brainstorming.pdf
Watch the Masters of Creativity Series from Stanford: https://www.youtube.com/@stanfordsmastersofcreativi9905/playlists
Sources:
Potash, Betsy. "Research-Based Practices to Ignite Creativity, with Dr. Zorana Ivcevic Pringle." The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast, Episode 393.
Pringle, Zorana Ivcevic. The Creativity Choice. Public Affairs, 2025.
Utley, Jeremy and Kathryn Segovia. "Masters of Creativity: Updating the Creative Operating System (Design Thinking)." Stanford d.School Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ggza7df7N7Y&t=2233s. Accessed October 17, 2025.
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