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Creativity
Creativity is the most difficult thinking skill to acquire,
and
also the most sought-after. We value it in our music,
entertainment,
technology, and other aspects of our
existence. We appreciate and yearn for it because
it enriches our understanding and can make life easier.
Creativity always starts with imagination, and history
shows that
many things we imagine are later actually
created.
When Benjamin Bloom identified what he called the
taxonomy of the cognitive domain, he ranked synthesis
(creativity) as one of the most difficult skills to master
because a person has to use all of the other
cognitive
skills in the creative process.
Since, according to Bloom,
creating is the highest order
of thinking, it should be in the forefront
of all learning
environments and an end goal. When students create
what they imagine, they’re in the driver’s seat.
Teachers develop their creativity:
Step one: become a knowledgeable teacher
Step two: connect with other teachers
Step three: become a collector of teaching ideas
Step four: share your learning
Step five: remove the blocks to creative thinking
Step six: practise your creativity
Step seven: start experimenting and reflecting
on your teaching
Step eight: make creativity a daily goal
Creativity in the Classroom
When designing learning experiences, teachers can plan
and frame curriculum and provide tools that give students
options, voice, and choice in order to enable them to
be creative. In my work in schools, I’ve found four
things that successful teachers do to develop
creativity in their students.
1. Set up learning activities that allow students
to explore their creativity in relevant, interesting,
and worthwhile ways.
Classroom example:
Fourth-grade students are presented
with a sample of
rocks. They are to devise tests to
determine what kind of rocks they
have based on the
definitions they’ve studied. Students find their own
ways
to determine differences in hardness, color, and shapes.
Another classroom example:
A kindergarten class creates a new illustrated book each
week that celebrates a different member of the
class or
an adult at the school.Each book is full of pages drawn
by
each student. They have the full liberty of depicting
what the person likes and how they perceive him or her.
2. Value creativity and celebrate and reward it.
Classroom
example: Third-grade students are learning
about polygons and to see if
they know the concept,
the teacher takes them outside and gives each
student
a sidewalk chalk. Each student is given the task of
drawing several examples of polygons on the driveway.
Once the students have accomplished this, the teacher
tells the
students to transform those shapes into
something they love. The
students want to show everyone
their geometric-based kittens, robots,
and dragons and
then have an opportunity to explain to the whole class
why they liked them.
3. Teach students the other skills they need to
be creative.
Classroom example: A second-grade class is learning
about the concept
of freezing. The teacher asks one
question to get them started, “Does only water freeze?”
The students then design an experiment to determine
what other things freeze. The limit is that they can only
use what they have in the classroom at the time.
The students come up with a list of things that they will
leave
outside to see if they freeze: water, juice, vinegar,
glue, glass
cleaner, toothpaste, and paper.
Some suggestions they decide are already solids and
shouldn’t go outside: pencils, erasers, and books
(but somehow paper stays on the test list).
The next day, they discuss their findings and have
engaging conversations about why the paper is stiff
and the vinegar has not frozen.
The initial discussion among students about what might
freeze fosters
skills such as advocating for one’s ideas
and compromising. The
follow-up discussion encourages
deductive reasoning and active listening.
4. Remove constraints for creativity and give the
students space and a framework in which they
can be creative.
Classroom
example: A sixth-grade class produces
Halloween costume plays. In order to wear costumes
to school, the students have to write a play that
incorporates each of their characters into a plot and
then present the play.
For instance, they have to come up with how a giant
soda can and
the superhero Wonder
Woman will interact. The students love the challenge.
We Learn by Doing
Imagination and creativity are the traits that fuel the
future. Both
serve to inspire students and should be
integrated into every part of
learning. In planning and
designing learning for students, this we know: Teaching
students how to think is more important than teaching
students what to think.
Creativity in the Classroom
1. Allow students to explore their creativity in relevant ways.
2. Value creativity and celebrate and reward it.
3. Teach students the other skills they need to be creative.
4. Give students space in which they can be creative.
