Does it frequently involve artwork? Does it involve drama? Does it involve music? Does it involve some practical activity?
Or does it involve making choices about a tech tool to use? Problem solving? Open ended tasks? Self-directed learning? Collaboration? Self/peer feedback?
I can be creative – I have spent many hours following a knitting or cross-stitch pattern. I have followed dressmaking patterns. I can follow a piece of music when playing my guitar or singing. But I think that is a different sort of creativity to the creativity I use in class.
Perhaps creativity means using “creative skills”. Perhaps it means using “thinking skills”. Perhaps both have their place. Perhaps there is a place for following a creative pattern – after all, it can be quite relaxing to follow someone else’s instructions. And perhaps there is a place for creative thinking skills too – where we use those skills to express our thinking. And perhaps there is a whole host of other skills that are creative – perhaps it’s not what we do but how we engage our brain in the process and take “ownership”.
I was reminded this week that there is something called “divergent thinking.” Perhaps as educators, it’s the divergent thinking we need to be encouraging. Perhaps as educators, we should be looking to a “divergent thinking” curriculum rather than just putting a label on a curriculum and calling it creative to fit in with the current fashions. Perhaps we need to consider carefully which type of creativity our curriculum encourages.
Yes! There are so many labels and catch phrases flying around about what good teaching and learning should include. It is mind boggling to try and sort it all out. It is so easy to get lost in all of it and do nothing, or to do something only to find out later it was not the idea at all! A word like “creative” has so many implications. I like to define creative as different or unusual. That is not something you can necessarily plan, but rather something that happens if you allow it to take place. When I first started working at the school I was a teacher’s aide. I’ll never forget a student that constantly brought a complaint from his teacher: “He never just does what he’s told. He always has to change it a little!” Hmmmm….
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Hi Cheryl
Yes, you’re right – some labels and catch phrases have so many different interpretations. I agree about making it a bit different or unusual being part of creativity – and it’s those little changes and tweaks that are part of scaffolded learning, aren’t they!
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