Developing Creativity in Every Learner

(I recently attended the SC Ed Tech 2013 Conference. One of the great reasons I like this conference is that it is in my town so I don’t have to pay for a hotel! The other reason is that I connect with so many other educators. I always pick up something new from a session and if I don’t learn something new, I’m always looking at how the material is presented in order to hone my own presentation skills. For the next few days I plan on sharing the notes that I took from the sessions.)

Developing Creativity in Every Learner presented by Doug Johnson

Daniel Pink - (AAA) = Asia, automation, value added

Google car video with blind man was great to see

With the use of technology - What's jobs are lost? What jobs are created?

Luddites -don't like technology
Skilled workers feeling their skills devalued

Einstein – “we cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking we used to create them.”

Creativity isn't always about art.

Johnson’s Multiple Creative Abilities:
· Writing/Presenting/Storytelling
· Numeric problem-solving
· Graphic artistic (drawing, painting, sculpting, photography, designing)
· Athletic/movement (sports, dance)
· Musically artistic
· Humor
·
Creativity must be accompanied by craft and discipline. It is okay to have parameters
Shakespeare sonnet 116
Structure forces creativity

The world is frightened by creativity.

If we ask students to show creativity or innovation, we need some tools to determine whether they have done so.

Standardized test mentality discourages creativity.

Ways to encourage creativity:
1. Ban clip art
2. Ask for information to be given in multiple formats
3. Encourage the narrative voice when writing and giving oral presentations
4. Ask for multiple possible answers to questions or multiple possible solutions to problems.
5. Give points for “design” on all assignments
6. Instead of marking an answer wrong, ask for a reason given.
7. Take advantage of free online tools
8. Ask students to design class rules, modify procedures, and solve issues.
9. Honor students’ personal interests and unique talents.
10. Seek out the creative ideas of other educators.

My Takeaway:

We need to do a better job of encouraging creativity in our classrooms. There is still a way to meet standards and instill creativity by using different ways of assessing the content that we teach.

Do you incorporate creativity in your classroom? Please share the ways you do.

Image: 'create' 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/19844101@N00/2512983749
Found on flickrcc.net