I believe all teachers can and should teach more creatively.
I believe all students can and should be taught how to think more creatively.
We should be pushing for creative thought, creative products, and creative culture in our schools from everyone. This must look, feel, sound, and be wildly different everywhere. For that is the beauty of creative thinking - the process, product, and culture must not be limited to our current conceptions of "what is." While I am relatively new to the theoretical (and even practical) world of creative thinking, my soap-box is sturdy and permanent. I speak strongly realizing that there are nay-sayers among educators whose preconceived and limited notions of creativity will make this blog a challenging read. I sincerely hope you comment, nay-sayer. The dialogue will benefit us all!
Back to the beginning: mud pies.
My family started me down the road to developing my own creative thinking. It started with simple play and imagination; making and selling mud pies in the front flower bed (thank you, dad, for looking away as you cringed), erecting forts and hide-outs under the trampoline and in the farthest corner of the backyard, and being sent outside to "play" despite my sneezing and whining. I've been incredibly fortunate to have had some amazing teachers who continued to develop my creative thinking through independent reading assignments, pull-out classes, and extra-curricular activities (Odyssey of the Mind and Future Problem Solving). All the while, I clasped onto this creative development because I believed that I could be more creative, funnier, wittier, more unique. My growing-up was a support, not a hinderance, to these personal ideals. I believe that we all hold this capacity for play, imagination, and the thinking process that accompanies it: creativity. For some of us, our environment and learning experiences nurtures this innate capacity. For others, the environment destroys it. Eventually, some children grow up to be adults to believe they can't play, be imaginative, or be creative. That's a tragedy.
Before I lose some of you because of the whimsy of this blog so far, neuroscience research supports the supposition that creative thinking is a neurological process that can be enhanced through complex neural networks. My own research with children in third through sixth grade proves that creativity scores on the Torrance Tests for Creative Thinking can be improved within 6 weeks of minimal (30 minutes or less) instruction in how to think creatively. If you join me again in this blogging journey, I'll provide more details about both of these statements (both the brain-based and the research I've done).
Fast forward: "Blooms Revised" and the Common Core
There's more to say than I can write in one blog post, but the future of education must rely on the processes involved in creativity. Many of those who adhere to Bloom's Hierarchy of Thinking have begun to revise it to emphasize the need for creation and a change in the idea of a linear/hierarchical production of thought. Further, as we adopt the common core and the technology standards attached to it, creative production is an essential part.
Regardless of what you think about your own or other's capacity to be creative, creative thinking will be a part of education. Hopefully, you and your school engage in the wonder and richness of this movement for you and your students' sakes.
