Creativity can be taught. It might not seem easy and assessing it may be challenging but it can be done. I strongly believe that creativity can be incorporated into any content or subject area, as well.
As I look at the breadth of my work in this course, I am amazed at the processes I have gone through and the products I have created. I don't think I have ever dug so deeply into a topic in this fashion; exploring it with so many different cognitive tools. Additionally, my definition of creativity has grown into a personal journey and is especially significant to me considering I am an art teacher and creating has always been so important to me. The best part about this journey is that all of the skills that I've learned and the activities that I have created are practical for my elementary art room and for my students to use... with some hard work, the activities could probably be altered to fit any classroom in a meaningful way, too!
Above is a fun video that highlights most of the work I have done over the course of this semester.
Teachers can support creativity in teaching and learning within classrooms by fostering an early and basic understanding of various these cognitive skills:
Perceiving - Deeply observing and completely understanding something in its entirety. Encourage students to not only see with their eyes but, when appropriate, smell, taste, hear, and understand with their minds and hearts. Teach active observation as opposed to passively looking. Patterning - Using one's senses and intellect to find or make an understanding of combination or order out of information or things that repeat in some way. Abstracting - Taking an idea, thing or concept and translating it into a different form that still demonstrates or communicates the essence of the original idea in a different way. Embodied Thinking - Representing a concept by using one’s body in a kinesthetic or physical manner. Modeling - Creating a two dimensional or three dimensional visual representation that demonstrates a concept or some type of reality in some way. Playing - Play, whether being done intentionally or unintentionally, is typically a no-rule, risk-free and experimental way of creating.
Above is an infographic I made on this topic.
On a final note, remember: it is not only important to incorporate these skills into our classroom for our students to learn but to do it in a creative manner. I hate to say it but things don't stick when they are boring! So, yes, this does mean that you will have to do some hard work and creative thinking, as well! In my opinion, the easiest way to do this is to, whenever possible, create lessons and activities that are not on 8 1/2" x 11" sheets of paper. Get creative. Box outside the think. You've got this!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cqHBWETj0pcQ5cU09vkrEbDAwyntZ21zDW7gwUVQt58/edit#
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