Creativity in the Classroom workshop feedback

Creativity in the classroom is a hot topic nowadays.

As teachers we need to enhance, support and use creativity as much as possible. This is our responsibility to get students ready for the obstacles and challenges that future holds. Yes, we all know the theory, also a lot of us are willing to be creative in our classes. But we are pretty unsure how…

The question hangs in the air. Nobody taught us how to be creative. Most of us were growing up and were educated in traditional schools. Learning by drilling, repeating and having tests every time we finished a unit in each of the subjects, disciplines. I don’t say it was bad but I have my doubts about the effectiveness. Yes, I still remember a lot of facts, I might not need ever in my life, unless I decide to participate some trivia quiz competition or on a TV show like Who wants to be a millionaire. But obviously, I also forgot a lot of other things, I never used after the tests.

Students who knew content by heart were valued and stood as examples for everybody else. Who followed step by step instructions and completed the exercises without questioning were the students of the year. We were not encouraged at all to be different or solve problems without given instructions. The only person who asked questions was the teacher. As world has been changing so extremely fast, even the so called top students aren’t prepared for life now. Actually none of us are.

So what I am really interested in the answer how to help students to get more creative, to use their full potential, to solve everyday life problems, to be prepared for real life.

I was on a creativity workshop the other day where we had plenty of great ideas, resources to help our teaching practice. So after the course it was my turn to give some feedback about it to other teachers in my school. Unfortunately, the time frame didn’t let me pass all the information, I have learnt but it was a nice mini workshop at the end. Here’s my very sketchy presentation about it to give others some ideas too.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByplwpDebJIRQWxXVUhYQldOd1E/view?usp=drivesdk

One of the most enjoyable activities was about the power of everyday objects. Ideas how many other ways we can use them in or out of classroom. It is quite amazing how people’s brains work and you can spot lower and upper primary teachers the way they used given objects.