Educational Creativity

A short guide to the different methodologies

teachers can implement to help retain

creativity in their students (Key stages 3 & 4)

E n g a g e | E n c o u r a g e | I n s p i re

1 In i t ia l t ips to help keep educat ion creat ive

2 How creat iv i ty can be assessed

3 How fa i lure can be used to enhance creat iv i ty

4 F lex ib i l i ty of lesson plans

5 Freedom to be creat ive, how much is too much?

6 Divergent and Convergent th inking

7 Encourage, Encourage, Encourage

8 A guide to creat iv i t ies four pi l lars

9 The f rustrat ion of a bad grade

10 Nat ional curr iculum vs. Teachers

11 Creat ing wel l- rounded young adul ts

12 Extra resources

Contents

CREATIVITYProduct ion of something or ig inal and useful

Know that

theyre creat ive

Wrongly bel ieve that

theyre not creat ive

Initial tips to help keep

education creative

There are a number of simple things you should bear in mind on the whole

to ensure you keep your pupils thinking as creatively as possible, a few of

them are as follows...

Forget right and wrong as much as possible - Although in theory some

things are quite simply either correct or incorrect its much more beneficial

to let an incorrect answer create a slight tangent in your lesson.

Encourage learning that has no definitive outcome - Regardless of how

much you expected to get through in a certain day or week always allow

a few exercises here and there that give pupils the opportunity to totally

explore the unknown.

The imagination has no boundaries - As a teacher your job is as much to

retain a childs belief in themselves as it is to teach. Dont ever give a pupil

the opportunity to doubt their ideas or differentiate between what is deemed

possible and not possible.

Age

0 5 1 2 1 5 1 8

Cre

ativ

ity if

har

ness

ed

1

How creativity

can be assessed

Some may argue that creativity cannot be assessed however

this is not necessarily true due to the fact that creativity in many

respects is simply a process of doing.

There are a few things you can look out for in the classroom that

should indicate how creatively your pupils are thinking or how

creatively they are attempting to think (which is half the battle).

Are they intuitive i.e. constantly questioning why things are the

way they are?

Are they able to brainstorm a number of ideas and then

recognise the valuable ones?

Are they able to critically asses themselves and learn

from the mistakes theyve made?

Do they understand the value

of thinking outside the box - is this

clear in the way in which they approach

the task at hand?

Are they engaged and using their

imaginations wherever possible?

Do they have the ability to

communicate their ideas in a

coherent and enthusiastic manner?

2

How failure can be used to

enhance creativity

Failure, in certain cases, can be just as (if not more) beneficial than

success. Although we shouldnt teach our pupils to fail on purpose, we

should however, be sure that they understand how to deal with failure and

more importantly how to use failure as a tool to make them next few steps

forward as quickly and efficiently as possible.

No drastic changes occur by simply sticking to the guidelines. If your pupils

arent prepared to be wrong they will never come up with anything original,

which as we know, is one of the key elements of creativity.

Creativity is in iterative process, it

would be miraculous if a pupil didnt

make mistakes and throw themselves

of course slightly whilst on the way to

a really brilliant and valuable idea. The path of creativity

Stimulus

Potential Solution

Potential Solution

Potential Solution

Potential Solution

Potential Solution

Potential Solution

3

Flexibility of

lesson plans

Making a lesson plan that not only stimulates your pupils but

also yourself is vital. The national curriculum may be in place and

theres undoubtedly guidelines you must stay within to a certain

degree but you know your classes and your pupils better than

anyone else. Creating a loose plan as appose to a more strict one

offers much more room for innovative thinking and originality to occur.

If mid-way through a lesson you feel as though it could be more

beneficial to slightly take a different route dont be afraid to leave the

initial lesson plan you made behind you, who knows what might

come of it.

There is a vast selection of online tools available if youre

struggling to get a specific class fully motivated and engaged.

Have a think about what different styles of learning could

suit them best and adapt your lessons accordingly.

4

When children have a supportive teacher, someone who is tolerant of

irregular answers, occasional disruptions and outbursts of thoughts theyre

much more inclined to excel. However when they dont, they tend to

disengage and in many cases they may give up completely.

Offering your class an opportunity, perhaps on a weekly basis, to set up

their own lesson plan can be a very beneficial exercise. Make them aware

that their plan has to link back in with the curriculum to some extent. You

will find that giving them this level of freedom can instantly boost their

enthusiasm and all of a sudden theyll be dying to learn.

Finding the perfect balance between freedom and creativity can be a

recurring juggling act. A key thing to remember is that its much more

difficult to generate creative thoughts than it is to destroy a surplus of

them. Allow more than you forbid.

Freedom to be creative-

how much is too much?

DecideExploreStructure

Cre

ati

ve f

ree

do

m

5

One of the key elements to creativity is the ability to think in both

a divergent and convergent manner.

Divergent thinking - generating creative ideas by exploring many

possible solutions

Convergent thinking - combining the best aspects of what youve

got so far to then finalise the best and most feasible/ outcome

The important thing to remember is that in order to generate an idea

thats going to be of value we must constantly be using both our

divergent and convergent thinking skills throughout. Your pupils

may not even realise that this is the process theyre carrying out

when they think creatively.

If you can see this thinking happening your pupils will be....

1. Generating a greater number of ideas that have value

2. More aware of the fact that not all ideas need to be

held onto and not all ideas will alway be correct.

3. Knowing when is best to use which method

Divergent and

Convergent thinking

Convergent

Idea

Divergent

Ideas

6

Encourage, Encourage

Encourage

Encouragement can be one of the most powerful tools when it comes to

giving kids the belief they need in order to realise what theyre actually

capable of.

Although the job title says Teacher it could in fact make life a lot easier to

exceed this term and act as a mentor, coach and in some respects friend.

Breaking down segments of the barrier that lies between teachers and

pupils is a great way to earn kids trust.

Why do you need your pupils to trust you? - To many pupils a teacher is a

teacher simply because its their job to be. What they do not realise is that

teachers truly care and that teachers want the best for their pupils. Creating

relationships and environments where trust is rightfully prioritised can be the

starting point to kids truly believing you when you tell them that they can do

it and that they are talented and intelligent enough to think creatively.

More often than not when an attempt at encouragement is made it can

have an impact for only a short period of time. This is rarely due to the fact

that the pupil has failed but more so that they believe the encouragement

was given because it had to be and not because it was truly meant. Build

trusting relationships first and long-term self-confidence will follow.

Encourage uniqueness, Encourage failure, Encourage meaningfully

7

A guide to

creativities four pillars

As with many things in life we must find the right balance

however the tricky thing about the right balance is that its

often different for everybody. The same applies when it comes to

creativity. Try to ensure that an evenly spread balance of all four

pillars are being pursued as much as possible.

Ask yourself the following questions...

Are all four pillars criteria being meant the majority of the time creative

thinking occurs?

Is one or more of the pillars being accidentally neglected?

What exercises include aspects from as many pillars as possible?

Much the same as

encouragement can help

boost creative output -

recognising which pupils

excel in which pillars ,

and then assisting them

to improve in the other

pillars, can also increase

probability of creative

output.

Challenging Collaborative work

Diversely skilled

Leadership

Interest Enjoyment

Satisfaction

Challenge

Independence Risk taking

New perspectives

Idea generation

Knowledge Expertise

Technical skills

Intelligence

Creativities four pillars

8

The frustration

of a bad grade

Cre

ati

vity

How bad things seem

Citing, revising a memorizing. The Key elements to getting a good grade.

However, for many school kids this isnt always their most preferable way

of working. With this being said its no surprise to see some pupils - whom

you know are fully capable of generating perpetual volumes of valued

creative work, come back to you on results day asking why they failed.

As creativity increases the scale of how bad things seem to be increases

along side it, until... creativity peaks and all of a sudden everything seems

as though its under control again. Sadly, exam grades do not work in such

a merciful manner and will not just suddenly alterate themselves.

Many of the methods to harnessing creativity that are raised in this guide

focus largely on setting as little boundaries as possible and encouraging

freedom, let this chapter be a subtle reminder that...

A. Creativity usually spirals OUT of control before its truly UNDER control

B. Grades can be very demotivating, we should not pretend they dont exist

neither should we treat them as the be all and end all

9

National curriculum

vs. Teachers

Inevitably having to teach whats on the national curriculum is the

greatest barrier to harnessing creativity. The struggle of finding

the right balance between freedom of lessons and teaching whats

likely to be on the exam papers can be exhausting to say the least.

Since the new national curriculum was introduced back in September

2010 teachers have been encouraged more so than ever to allow

for flexible teaching in the hope that it will provide pupils with the

knowledge they need to excel not only throughout school but

throughout life after school to.

Ultimately theres only going to be so much

teaching, so much creativity and so much

memorising that can fit into each school-day.

Above all else, as a teacher, it should be

imperative that you do whatever it is you feel

is best for your pupils. Each school, class

and pupil is diverse and should be treated so.

Standardised testing makes sense in some respects however in

many others it can be a hindrance to unlocking certain pupils true

potential. Educations ultimate goal is to prepare the young to then

educate themselves for the rest of their lives - giving them essential

knowledge that they need to be well rounded young citizens.

10

Creating well-rounded

young adults

In life, most things we learn, we grow into. Creativity however is something

we tend to grow out of. Lets make a stop to this before its too late

25+ year olds18 year olds5 year olds 10 year olds

98%

30%

10% 2%

The fundamental element of being a good teacher should not be the ability

to churn out extremely consistent statistics on a league table year after year

rather understanding the importance of creating well-rounded young adults.

The modern-day world is currently encountering an extraordinary and ever

increasing surplus of information. We are living in a time where learning is

essentially easier - due to its accessibility, than it ever has been before.

Releasing creative capacities goes much deeper than simply using

information to learn. It is an embedded and fundamental element that makes

up each and every one of us.

We must let education be the perfect tool it is to ensure creativity flourishes

as appose to one that slowly squeezes every drop of creativity out of kids

until theres none left.

11

Extra resources

Become part of the community theeducationalcreativityrevolution.com

To subscribe to mailing lists educationalcreativity@gmail.com

For an online PDF version issuu.com/jlg_designs Contact the Author jamiegoodson8@gmail.com

Extra resources teacherspayteachers.com/

europe.newsweek.com/creativity-crisis-74665

images.adobe.com/www.adobe.com/content/dam/Adobe/en/education/pdfs/barriers

to-creativity-in-education-study.pdf

handsonscotland.co.uk/flourishing_and_wellbeing_in_children_and_young_people/

creativity/creativity.html

edutopia.org/blog/you-can-teach-assess-creativity-andrew-miller

12

E n g a g e | E n c o u r a g e | I n s p i r e