Teaching Creativity

by Megan A. Pastore

When confronted with the topic of teaching creativity, what subjects come to mind? Most may assume creativity in the classroom is limited to art and music classes, but the creative process is involved in nearly every aspect of the school day. So, what does becoming a creative educator entail and why are many teachers concerned with allowing creative expression in their classroom? What can we do to become creative educators that support a student's freedom of expression, while meeting required lesson goals?

Learning Targets

Following this lesson, students will be able to:

Describe the role of a creative educator.
Identify common fears associated with teaching creativity in the classroom.
List strategies to effectively teach creativity.

“What does it mean to become a creative educator?”

To become a creative educator, one must be willing to reflect upon their own biases and past learning experiences to understand how it may impact their teaching style. An educator’s willingness to ask the right questions to foster independent thinking, as well as their ability to remain receptive to creative responses, directly impacts the level of a student's comfort to explore creativity in the classroom (Morgan, 1999). Not to be mistaken for a liberal classroom, it is imperative that creative educators maintain a sense of order supportive of academic assessment. While promoting a mutually respectful environment that celebrates individual creativity, educators can strengthen their pupil relationships by participating in learner-centered creativity (Lucas, 2001). This can be achieved through various avenues including but not limited to:

active learning
supporting individual interests
recognizing multiple intelligences
accounting for pupil preferences regarding learning styles (Lucas, 2001).

Remaining open-minded, adaptable, but curricular compliant can be successfully achieved through various strategies discussed later in this lesson.

The following video offers a behind the scenes look at what it takes to become a creative educator. The interview conducted between two teachers provides a real life example of the common fears associated with teaching creativity, and stresses the importance of relinquishing control to allow your students the opportunity to take the creative lead.

“What are the common fears of teaching creativity in the classroom?”

When exploring creative teaching techniques, it is important to understand and navigate fears associated with the introduction of creative expression in the classroom. Common concerns shared by parents and teachers stem from fears over unruly behavior or careless work ethic, the abandonment of academic standards and material assessment, as well as unfounded opinions that teaching creativity will only benefit students with natural creative talent (Cropley, 1995). Beghetto (2010) further identifies that the typical picture of teaching comes in the form of sterilized fact delivery, and that testing memorized knowledge equals intelligence and achievement.

Oftentimes, teachers find comfort in exact plans, and safety in expected responses from students, while viewing unexpected student responses as unnerving and disruptive (Beghetto, 2010). An effective approach to challenge such fears is to evaluate individual biased-perspectives. In addition, future creative educators should consider personal experiences that may have shaped the ideal that there is only one right way to deliver knowledge to students to measure academic success.

“What strategies can one implement as a creative educator to safely promote creative expression in the classroom?”

It is arguable that creativity can’t be taught but rather summoned through exploratory experiences. So what can educators do to quell common fears and misconceptions over teaching creativity in the classroom? Before one can incorporate specific creative strategies into their curriculum, it is important to understand the creative process. Liu and Schonwetter (2004), consolidate the creative process into the four following phases:

Preparation- reformatting a problem or question
Generation- brainstorming possible solutions
Incubation- resting period for creativity to ruminate over what may or may not work
Verification- analyzing and evaluation of ideas for eventual implementation.

As you can see, educators will actively participate in the creative process when developing creative practices for their own classroom!

Creative Strategies

Brainstorming is one safe and effective strategy that allows room for creative expression in a controlled environment. Establishing specific ground rules prior to a brainstorming session such as:

seeking individual idea generation
setting a time limit
implementing a rating system to select the top ideas
allowing only a specific number of “wild” ideas to keep students on task

are important to maintain order and ensure the effectiveness of this method of creative exploration (Liu & Schonwetter, 2004). Mind-mapping, though similar to brainstorming, is another creative tool that allows students to explore their stream-of-consciousness and record such thoughts in relation to the subject matter in an organized and useful manner (Anderson, 1993). By implementing creative strategies toward problem-solving in the classroom, students will learn valuable skills to use both in and outside of the educational setting.

Mind Mapping

Summary

Curriculums are typically designed to be teacher-led versus learner-led, therefore much of the focus in educational design is that of tried and true teaching techniques to deliver information in a particular manner. Unfortunately, this black and white approach leaves little consideration for creativity that may further support student achievement. Teachers are often viewed as reluctant to teach creativity in the classroom due to concerns and fears over unruly students and inappropriate creative expression (Cropely, A.J., 1997; Beghetto, R.A., 2010). However, both Lucas (2001), and Liu and Schonwetter (2004) offer solutions and practices that implement the creative process while minimizing classroom disturbance. As creative educators, we hold the power to alter the mundane, and offer creative solutions to promote student development and self-discovery in a safe but productive manner.

Test Your Knowledge!

Educators can strengthen their pupil relationships by:

a. favoring some students over others

b. giving all students the same grade

c. setting firm rules without flexibility

d. supporting individual interests

2. Mrs. Anderson can see that Mary is struggling with idea generation and organization during free writing time. What creative strategy can Mrs. Anderson offer to Mary to assist her in generating additional ideas in an organized manner related to her main topic?

a. brainstorming

b. mind mapping

c. reflection time

d. tell Mary to suck it up

References

Anderson, J. V. (1993). Mind mapping: A tool for creative thinking. Business Horizons, 36(1),

41. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0007-6813(05)80102-8

Beghetto, R. A. (2010). Creativity in the classroom. The cambridge handbook of creativity,

447-463.

Cropley, A. J. (1995). Fostering creativity in the classroom: General principles. The creativity

research handbook, 1, (83-114). Hampton Press.

Liu, Z., & Schonwetter, D. J. (2004). Teaching creativity in engineering. International journal of

engineering education, 20(5), 801-808.

Lucas, B. (2001). Creative teaching, teaching creativity and creative learning. Creativity in

education, 35-44.

Morgan, S. (1999). Creativity in the classroom. Gifted Education International, 14(1), 29.

https://doi.org/10.1177/026142949901400105

YouTube. (2019). YouTube. Retrieved October 30, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjgzf81q6wA.

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