“I like your Style”

is a quote from Paul Stanely. I know you’re biting for me to talk about “Black Diamond” or even Valentines Day but I’m just going talk about the meaning of a four letter word, KISS. I have my own stories about when KISS came out.

I was in elementary school

and an older kid bought a big brown paper bag. We all climbed up the fur tree and got into the top branches where no one could see us. Then my buddy pulled out a record album from the bag. On the front cover was the coolest and scariest rock group I had ever seen. We had no record player but we just stared at the album in awe. It wasn’t until a few years later that I actually got a chance to hear some of their music. The combination of Paul Stanely, Gene Simmons and of course Ace Freely rocked.

There are many reasons KISS rocks

but I am only going to talk about one today. Their music and lyrics are simple yet powerful to reach the heart of the audience. Black Diamond begins:

“Out on the street for a living. Picture’s only begun. Got you under their thumb.”

Even with distortion the sound and the vocals are clear and effective to move the heart of anybody who has been down and out like Ace himself was as a teenager. There is a simple connection to the audience. We call this K.I.S.S. (Keep It Super Simple).

K.I.S.S is our creativity tip today.

K.I.S.S does not mean “keep it super short.” It means to choose one clear point for the audience to grab and support that point only without any extra burden of loopholes required just to enjoy and participate. The best blog entries I have seen are written similar to a five paragraph essay with an introduction, support and a whamming conclusion that makes us think and want to write a comment. Our goal then in communication is to make it simple but still have penetrating impact.

In art and teaching I have found “Keep It Super Simple”

is the best way to engage kids. Especially elementary school students need K.I.S.S. Their attention span on good days can be twelve minutes. If I take five minutes to explain anything then I just lost five minutes of engagement. I get the best results from practicing simple routines and procedures. Students follow my example and I reward them when they do it. Explanations make it more difficult especially in the ELS classroom but examples always work. When students see an example they follow really easy and the class gets going. I see the same thing going on in Steemit. First I show an example and then people follow. That is K.I.S.S. Keep it Super Simple.

I began groovy school to engage followers

but I think I might have confused them with unnecessary loopholes. @iamkuyaj said, “What is this for sir?” This question got me to think about the “why” behind my idea. I want to support learning in Steemit and share ideas and support other writers. I want to give back to my local community in Korea by helping kids with learning disabilities. That’s why I started Groovy School but if I’m going to keep it then it must be super simple to keep my followers engaged. I just want you @iamkuyaj or anyone who reads this post today to smile. Then I’m really happy.

When I saw @iamkyaj’s posts he really does keep it simple.

None of his posts are short but they have a clear point. He gives detailed information about water because the local people in his area need good drinking water. He writes about what he knows and he does it well. He came to my blog to listen to my poems and because it made him happy. I don’t want to give @iamkyaj any burden. I really want to support him and others like him. I’m not throwing away Groovy School but I’m just going make it a super simple. I’m going to be myself and have fun doing it. All I expect from you as students is to enjoy and if you learn something then share with others.

Not everybody is Gene Simons or Ace Freely.

Each of us has our own clear message, purpose and story. Life is complicated. Our thought world is complicated but today let’s rock with K.I.S.S. Keep it super simple. I’m so thankful for honest comments from @imkyaj and @awakentolife. I’m thankful for supporters and the groups like @qurator and @thesteemengine. They helped me go from nothing like the Black Diamond “Out on the street for a living” to where I am today. I’m thankful for @steemdunkers who help me follow great people. I’m especially thankful to @d-pend who supported my crazy poems and recordings on @dsounds. I’m thankful for the DDound team and curators. I’m also thankful for @theleapingkola for encouraging me and making an earnest effort to promote other Steemians. I’m thankful for @khaleelkhazi for welcoming me in his community of curiosity. There are many others who welcomed me and influenced me this week. You are the greatest Steemians I know.

Original Poem by @mineopoly

Why does it have to be so complicated?
Can’t we just leap and bound?
What holds us back from going beyond?
There is a simple reality

To the moon you want to go
Take me with you
Even if I am slow
I’ll be right there with you

Keep it simple or you will lose me
Keep it simple is the challenge to the master
To engage an audience that wonders why
Esoteric query into my soul...

I’m sorry to take you down with me.
But I have come up with a real gem.
I want to share this one with you.

This is my first K.I.S.S.

If you have any experience or success with K.I.S.S, (Keep it Super Simple) please write about it in the comments.

These are the posts I'm working on each week.

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday
Wisdom	Creativity	ELS

Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Teaching	Trivia	Song

KISS creativity