Creativity in the Classroom

When I began this blog, I had visions of writing at least monthly but it quickly became apparent to me that I had bitten off way more than I could chew. With classroom and administrative responsibilities, along all the varied types of communications that I enjoy creating and sharing, there was simply no time left over for maintaining this blog. I had given up! But this past week, someone signed up for my blog - nudge, nudge, nudge - and I read an interesting book that made me want to share. And what better venue than here, my blog.

I am an avid reader and read lots of varied types of books. This past year, a classroom family gave me a gift that included the book 'Imagine: How Creativity Works' by Jonah Lehrer. Creativity is an interesting word. What exactly does it mean? In my own family it conjures images of artistic-visual talents and compared to my family, I am the least creative. Yet, creative is something I always strive to be. To think outside the box, to tackle problems in new and innovative ways, to approach problems, discussions and work from many different angles and possibly change my own view - and in the end - share this learning approach with my students. It isn't about memorizing or knowing the right answer (after all, that is what Google is for) instead it is about challenging myself to create new ideas. Jonah says "the reality of the creative process is that it often requires persistence." It turns out that creative people work hard to be creative - I thought it was only me and likely because I wasn't as creative as I wanted to be. I also learned that "criticism leads to more new ideas in that it encourages us to fully engage with the ideas of others." At Pixar, they have daily 'take apart' meetings where they critique every little thing. It is the only way to get better, generate new ideas, after all, the 'absence of criticism keeps us all in the same place."

My favourite part of the book - I have many - is when Jonah talks about a scientist showing a interesting toy to a class. The scientist shows surprise when she 'accidentally' pulls one of numerous tubes making the toy squeak. The scientist's surprise response "did you see that? Let me try that again!" created a very different response than the second group of children. The second group received a rather different presentation. The type of presentation many relate to teaching children. This is what this is .... It is called a..... This is how it works..... Following both demonstrations, the children were given the toy to play with and can you predict what happened? How the responses differed? The first group explored the toy thoroughly and the second group, almost not at all. "When students are given explicit instructions, when they are told what they need to know, they become less likely to explore on their own. Curiosity is fragile thing." To me this proves how incredibly valuable those little pieces of (at times annoying) scrap art created at the cut and paste area really are. And open ended play, "crucial for the development of cognitive skills, including self-control, attention and working memory."

I read this book because creativity is something I value and, I want to know and learn more. But I did not anticipate that this would be a book about the classroom, about learning with children and how schools should be. I enjoyed learning about the creation of the 'Swiffer', 'Post-it Notes' and the Nike slogan but what I enjoyed reading and hearing about was - what I already knew (but it sure is nice to hear it backed up with research) "when children are allowed to create, they're able to develop the sophisticated talents that are required for success in the real world. Instead of learning how to pass a standardized test, they learn how to cope with complexity and connect ideas."