Creativity in the Classroom

A Sample of My Notes

Creativity has become a buzzword in education.

The first time I became aware that lack of creativity could be an issue for education was watching Sir Ken Robinson’s TED talk. He made the talk in 2006 and I watched it a couple of years ago.

I was drawn to the talk because I am one of those “creative types”. I am not a messy creative. I am quite organized and love to doodle. I am a graphic note-taker. That is what I call myself now; I used to just be a doodler who was bored in class. I don’t sing or dance or play an instrument. I can’t make cute titles for lesson units or conference presentations, but I can see systems as a whole and can determine inefficiencies and apply new solutions to improve them. I am creative.

A great article to spark your thinking about what creativity is was in Newsweek last July. It is by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman and helps us understand that creativity is not just in the fine arts, but it is the alternating between divergent and convergent thinking. They discuss testing for creativity (more reliable than IQ tests), environments conducive to developing creativity (freedom + rules), and creativity in schools (how they kill it).We have a crisis in creativity is their claim. I claim that we have a crisis in understanding and defining it.

Creativity is not

• coloring inside the lines
• right brained
• developed by passive activities
• finding the one right answer
• cutting on the line
• isolated skills

Creativity is

• the production of something useful and original
• divergent thinking (idea generation)
• convergent thinking (combing all ideas into the best solution)
• teachable
• researching and evaluating

More Readings on Creativity

• Newsweek Article, Creativity Crisis July 2010
• Fostering Creativity in Education
• Twenty-four Tips for Developing Creativity

Are you a creative type? What do you think of when you hear the word creativity? How can we teach creativity to our students?