I sometimes wonder if my students spend too much time playing; playing with words, playing games, competing playfully against themselves and each other. When the grade 8 class next door is doing a very serious Science lab involving Bunsen burners and scalpels, and the grade 8 English class down the hall is writing their first very, very serious five-paragraph essay on the second day of school, I have been known to doubt myself. Are we in room 145 spending the right amount of time on creating memory maps and wonder walls in the month of September? Is there value in designing an amusement park, deciding how we would survive on a deserted island, and debating the greatest grade 8 novels of all time?  Should we spend time walking around the school sketching trees and the imaginary tree houses we would like to build in them? I must believe that the answer is yes...

In this classroom...

       Mrs. Wiberg is a grade 8 Humanities teacher who sees her role as 'guide on the side' rather than 'sage on the stage.' She enjoys the creative outlet that teaching gives her and wants her students to feel the same way about their learning. She works hard to build relationships with her students based on trust and kindness and expects them to treat each other and themselves with patience and caring. There are Five Goals for the Year displayed prominently in Mrs. Wiberg's class: 1.) Be safe. 2.) Lower your stress. 3.) Make you laugh. 4.) Make you feel cared for. 5.) Teach you something. (And in that order.) Positive teacher and student relationships are essential in this classroom (Upitis, 2014).

       The classroom itself is large with multiple kinds of seating options, traditional desks and chairs, standing tables, comfy chairs, as well as cushions and carpets on the floor. Students often break out into pairs and groups into the next-door LLC, hallway, or nearby multi-purpose room (Hennessey & Amabile, 2010). Students change seats often, based on need and preference, for different kinds of activities and at different times of the day.

       Mrs. Wiberg teaches two Core groups of students during 3 of 4 daily class periods. The courses are English, Social Studies, Careers, French, ADST, and Flex (Homework Time). Each class period is assigned the name CORE, and while there is a weekly timetable posted, times for each subject and activity can be adjusted as needed for any particular student challenge (Robinson, 2011; Upitis, 2014). In this space, Mrs. Wiberg routinely teaches B.C.'s Curricular Competencies and the 'power of yet' (Dweck, 2006; as cited in Perry & Karpova, 2017), and builds inquiry-based learning into the curriculum. One of the first projects students begin in her class is a personal passion project, based on Google's 20% Time, or Genius Hour (Upitis, 2014). It usually lasts all year but evolves as needed.

        Student ideas, work, and questions – as well as exemplars – are posted everywhere (Upitis, 2014). Shelves with books, lamps and mood-lighting, interesting and inspiring posters, and even a lava lamp and essential oil diffuser all have their place in the 'habitat' that is this classroom (Robinson, 2011). Throughout the year, the emphasis is on goal setting, documentation of student learning, and 'process over product', all of which are backed up by B.C.'s Creative Thinking Competencies (Government of B.C., 2019). Creativity is embedded in the fabric of this class (Hennessey & Amabile, 2010; Upitis, 2014).

       Clear rules and boundaries create stability for students, but they are combined with healthy student debate and 'voice and choice' regarding activities, time allotted for activities, and student groupings (Hennessey & Amabile, 2014; Upitis, 2010). Students are encouraged to ask questions, take intellectual risks, and advocate for the conditions of creativity that help them learn best (Mau, 2004; Beghatto, 2010).

       Ultimately, in this educational scenario, students are involved in every aspect of project design and direction. Many of these inquiries end up as friendly competitions between groups, classes, or even grade-wide challenges throughout the school (Upitis, 2010). Mrs. Wiberg's classroom is imbued with a culture of positive teacher feedback and high expectations (Beghatto, 2010; Upitis, 2010). In this classroom, creativity thrives. 

Spotlight on Learning: Creative Writing & Play

Often when I need to write something, I find my earliest inspiration and many of my 'a-ha!' moments in the outdoors. My students seem to feel the same. In following the advice of Gillian Judson (2018), in her book Walking Curriculum, I love to take my classes outside to explore the "vertical world" above our regular viewpoint (Caunce, 2019). Early in the year, we sketch trees and then design a treehouse. 'What if we had to live in a tree for a whole year?' is the question that inevitably arises (Michalko, 2001). I model the process and offer a variety of strategies, we discuss in detail, and then we write (Wearing, n.d.) For the past two years, this is how my Creative Writing curriculum has begun. This year, I intend to delve a little deeper and attempt to build further upon this early success.

In pondering the topic of creativity, Goldberg's (1990) writing advice to "keep your hand moving" (p. 2) immediately resonated with me. Recently, I have been using a great many of Diana Cruchley's (2019) ideas for Extreme Writing, with a few of Trevor Mackenzie's (2018) "Provocations" as the 'hooks' added in for good measure. I present students with a picture, a strange object, items from my oral story toolkits (see Figure 1) and give them 'think time' as well as 'talk time' to brainstorm and collect ideas. In Cruchley's Extreme Writing, the goal is to write for 20 minutes without stopping, to literally not remove the pencil from the page, so Goldberg's chapter fits perfectly with my ideas to inspire continued creativity in my classroom. Goldberg (1990) goes on to say that, to tap into the creative process, a writer needs to "lose control" (p. 3), to not worry about hurt feelings, spelling, or being correct in any way, but to simply 'go for it'. In my initial student writing assignments, idea-generating and fluency are the only goals.

Further to my readings, the advice of Michalko (2001) seems particularly apropos. The idea of shifting perspectives, or making a statement negative, is helpful in that, rather than discussing 'good story ideas' or brainstorming 'What do you want to write about?' (both of which can be challenging for many students), I would choose instead to play with the idea of 'worst story ideas' and 'stories you really, really don’t want to write'. There can be joy in the negative. The smiles generated by suggested stories about 'feet' and 'grass growing', or – even worse – 'romance, yuck!' are usually exactly what is needed to encourage students to loosen up, to enjoy themselves. Often students know exactly what they don't want, even if they aren't sure what it is that they do. Once generated, it is interesting to note how often a new idea – perhaps a truly great one – evolves from the 'nots'.

As well, I also appreciated the advice to "get in touch with your inner child" (Michalko, 2001, p. 47). Last fall, I asked my grade 8 students to make a Memory Map, namely a visual list, web, or timeline of childhood memories, experiences, holidays, trips, friends, and 'firsts' of all kinds. Students brainstorm as many as they can, but also ask parents, relatives, and older siblings to help fill in their lists. This is a chance for them to experience once again the birthdays and Christmases and summer vacations of their childhood. Often contained in these memories are some excellent story 'nuggets' based on that family story of The Earthquake / The Snowstorm of '21 / That Time-we-saw-a-rocket-in-the-back-of-a-pickup-truck. We will use these lists – supportive of their interests and personal involvement (Upitis, 2014) - to write many of our stories. They are placed carefully in our writing folders and can be referred to all year long, any time another idea is needed.

Michalko (2001) also suggests asking and answering playful questions to inspire creativity. Games like Story Cubes (see Figure 2) and Word Dominoes (see Figure 3) inspire the randomization and generation of unique ideas. They allow students to "Ask stupid questions" (Mau, 2004), which of course are not stupid at all. Activities like 'Choose 3 words to use in a 2-minute story' or 'What does this picture make you think of?' allow students a silly, low-risk approach to 'little-c' creativity (Gini Newman & Case, 2015). Students can use Word Magnets (see Figure 4) or Haikubes (see Figure 5) to collaborate on the creation of a poem, silly or weird or wonderful, and then use it as the opening lines of a story, a prologue, a character's dialogue, or maybe even a title. A found poem created from words and images in a picture book works just as well (see Figure 6).

The culmination of my first writing unit is usually near Hallowe'en, the perfect time for story sharing in a spooky, yet rather intimate, setting. Rather than the traditional Writer's Chair, which I have found many grade 8 students find intimidating – too much like a formal presentation to the class – I decided to create an indoor campfire with some mood lighting (strings of mini lights and paper star lanterns), a Himalayan salt lamp in a basket that I ring with large stones (a.k.a. the campfire), some spruce oil in the diffuser, and some Halloween sound effects. Students select a piece of their writing to share with a partner or small group around the campfire, followed by peer feedback and goal setting (see Figure 7). We celebrate our success as writers with hot chocolate, deconstructed s'mores (graham wafers, mini-Hershey bars, and marshmallows), and Halloween word searches and coloring pages. Even with these options, it is amazing how many students just want to keep writing. By the end of this afternoon, all students (I hope) feel like they are writers and believe in themselves enough to want to keep writing all year long.

References

Barnhart, B. (2021). 30 insightful creativity quotes to inspire innovation. Linearity. https://www.linearity.io/blog/creativity-quotes/

Beghetto, R. A. (2010). Creativity in the Classroom. In  J. C. Kaufman & R. J. Sternberg (Eds.). The Cambridge handbook of creativity (pp. 447-463). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Caunce, A. (2018). Playing in the Muck and Other Arty Stuff: Imaginative Art Activities for The Walking Curriculum. Amazon.

Cruchley, D. (2019). Extreme writing. https://extreme-writing.com/

Gini Newman, G. & Case, R. (2015). “Critical, creative, and collaborative dimensions of thinking, pp. 45-60, Creating Thinking Classrooms: Leading Educational Change for a 21st Century World. Vancouver, BC: The Critical Thinking Consortium.

Goldberg, N. (1990). Wild Mind: Living the Writer's Life. pp. xiii-5. New York, NY: Bantam Books.

Government of B.C. Ministry of Education. (2019). Building Student Success – BC's New Curriculum. Gov.bc.ca. https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/

Grudin, R. (1990). The grace of great things: Creativity and innovation, pp. 10-33. New York, NY: Tichnor & Fields.

Hennessey, B. & Amabile, T. (2010). Creativity. Annual Review of Psychology, 61, 569-98.

Judson, Gillian. (2018). A Walking Curriculum: Evoking Wonder and Developing Sense of Place (K-12). Amazon.

Mackenzie, T. (2018). The power of the provocation. TMAC. https://www.trevormackenzie.com/posts/2018/2/13/the-power-of-the-provocation

Mau, B. (2004). Incomplete Manifesto for Growth. http://umcf.umn.edu/events/past/04nov-manifesto.pdf

Michalko, M. (2001). Cracking Creativity: The Secrets of Creative Genius. pp. 19-49. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press.

Perry, A. & Karpova, E. (2017). Efficacy of teaching creative thinking skills: A comparison of multiple creativity assessments. Thinking Skills and Creativity (24). pp. 118-126. Elsevier.

Robinson, K. (2011). “Learning to be Creative” pp 245-283. In Out of our minds: Learning to be creative. John Wiley & Sons.

Upitus, R. (2014). Creativity: The state of the domain. Toronto, ON: People for Education. https://peopleforeducation.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/MWM-creativity.pdf

Wearing, J. (n.d.). Teaching Strategies for Learning Activities for Creativity. Faculty of Education, Queen’s University.