Week 4- Creativity

Week 4- Creativity

Creativity can be defined in many ways, but P21 defines creativity as follows:

  • Think Creatively
    • Use a wide range of idea creation techniques (such as brainstorming)
    • Create new and worthwhile ideas (both incremental and radical concepts)
    • Elaborate, refine, analyze, and evaluate original ideas to improve and maximize creative efforts
  • Work Creatively with Others
    • Develop, implement, and communicate new ideas to others effectively
    • Be open and responsive to new and diverse perspectives; incorporate group input and feedback into the work
    • Demonstrate originality and inventiveness in work and understand the real world limits to adopting new ideas
    • View failure as an opportunity to learn; understand that creativity and innovation are part of a long-term, cyclical process of small successes and frequent mistakes
  • Implement Innovation
    • Act on creative ideas to make a tangible and useful contribution to the field in which the innovation will occur

NWEA's Preparing 21st Century Students for a Global Society: An Educator’s Guide to the “Four Cs”



Resources

Creativity Email Tips

Tuesday: Have students try making something new using Experiments for Google.

  • What is it: These are experiments that coders have made specifically for Google focusing on different topics such as arts and culture, music, voice, and more.
  • Example: Chrome Music Lab lets you create a song by clicking on boxes. Even I can make a song without any musical talent! Watch this short video about the Music Lab.
  • How: Each experiment has it's own set of directions. Make sure to check them out.
  • Why: All of these experiments have many ways for our students to think creatively. If a student is making a project, they could make their own music for their video or maybe they need photos for their projects so they can check out LIFE Tags for all the photos from LIFE magazine.
  • Bonus: Want to blend some beats? Play Rock-Paper-Scissors with a machine? Become an artist through autodraw?

Wednesday: Get creative with the free (Google sign-in) Adobe Spark!

  • What is it: Adobe Spark is a free product that allows you to make a Spark Page or Spark Video.
  • Example: Here is an example of a page that is about Advice for Freshman
  • How: Click here for their excellent support section
  • Why: Creating videos or pages allows students to express themselves with not just words but meaningful images or videos. This allows them to tap into their creativity while learning more about the subject.
  • Bonus: Check out their Inspiration Gallery for some cool ideas and fun motivation.

Thursday: Consider having students make memes as a nice addition to their next project or as a exit ticket

Friday: Consider using infographics or sketchnotes to have students convey information in a meaningful visual manner.

Examples