Creativity…Really?...REALLY!

GT Center Teacher MeetingJanuary 14, 2010

United Methodist Church12755 W. Cedar Drive

Lakewood, CO

Welcome & Happy New Year GT Center Teachers!

• Using only the contents of the envelope or baggie at your table, make something useful – you will have 5 minutes.

• You can do this activity by yourself, or work with one or more people at your table

• Be prepared to give a title to what you created, and explain why it is useful.

Remember the quote from Sir Ken Robinson:

“If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you will never be creative.”

Why Creativity?Creativity is….• Critical component of workforce skills by

the Partnership for 21st Century Skills• Top of the revised hierarchy in Bloom‘s

taxonomy• First on the list for National Educational

Technology Standards (NETS) for students. What students should know and be able to do to learn effectively and live productive in an increasing digital world

Definition…

Creativity is defined as a novel and appropriate response to an open-ended task. (Ruscio and Amabile, 1999)

Creativity Pay-Offs◘ Strongly related to motivation◘ Motivation causes effort◘ Effort increases achievement◘ Results in ability to transfer concepts

to new situations and events◘ Creativity puts the brain in a euphoric

state called “Flow”*◘ Creative thinkers are prized as workers

*Source: Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi

Cognitive Creativity Behaviors

◘ Fluent Thinking: to think of the most ideas

◘ Flexible Thinking: to take different approaches

◘ Original thinking: to think in novel or unique ways

◘ Elaborative thinking: to add on to

Affective Behaviors (Feelings) Related to Creative Thinking

Risk Taking: to have courage to…– Expose one’s self to failure and

criticisms– Take a guess– Work with ambiguity– Defend ideas

Affective Behaviors (Feelings) Related to Creative Thinking

Complexity: to be challenged to…– Seek many alternatives– Bring order out of chaos– Solve difficult problems

Affective Behaviors (Feelings) Related to Creative Thinking

Curiosity: to be willing to…– Be inquisitive and wonder– Toy with an idea– Be open to puzzling situations

Affective Behaviors (Feelings) Related to Creative Thinking

Imagination: to have the power to…– Visualize and build mental images– Feel intuitively– Dream about things that never

happened

Tim Brown Video

• Video Clip 0-1.27sec. Regarding drawing a neighbor

Process Draw your neighbor from affective standpoint

• Video Clip: Tim Brown TED Video---link• What components of the affective behaviors

were present in this activity (think-pair-share)• What kind of climate would promote creative

thinking? (think-pair-share)

Activity: Create Classroom “Rules” to Foster/Encourage

Creativity• We will divide into 8 groups• Go to the chart with your color (name tag)• In your group of 4-6 people (various grade

levels) create a list of “rules” that would foster/encourage creative thinking in the classroom

• 5-7 minutes

Video Clip from Tim BrownSummary of Presentation

• Playful Exploration• Playful Building• Role Play

Video Clip 27.12-27.54 (1 min)

We’ll never see the strengths

…if we don’t provide opportunities!

Transition Break

• 9:45-10

Cognitive Creativity Behaviors

◘ Fluent Thinking: to think of the most ideas

◘ Flexible Thinking: to take different approaches

◘ Original thinking: to think in novel or unique ways

◘ Elaborative thinking: to add on to

Selected Strategies for Building Creativity

◘ Brainstorming ◘ SCAMPER ◘ Forced idea-combining◘ Observation journals

SCAMPER◘S – substitute◘C – combine◘A – add to, or adapt◘M – magnify/modify◘P – put to another use◘E – eliminate◘R – rearrange/reverse

Source: Bob Stanish

Observation Journals• Example: Sir Isaac Newton’s

notebooks• Observation as a skill

– Increases patience and accuracy– Encourages deep concentration– Causes curiosity– Recognizes sensitivity to detail– Promotes analytical thinking– Enhances memory– Develops hand-eye coordination

Force-fitting“Can You Imagine That?” activity*Create lists of itemsDiscuss a familiar contextAssign students the task of “forcing” one or more itemsfrom the list into the familiar context*Source: Donald Treffinger et al.

Making the ConnectionCurriculum

– Find opportunities for students to use creativity in all content areas

– Teach creativity techniques, skills, vocabulary

– Show that you value creative thinking because it encourages depth

– Explicitly make connections within and among content areas and disciplines

– Ask students to transfer concepts and to make their own connections

Group TasksGrade Level Teams

• Within the differentiated lesson plan, explain how/where you would intentionally infuse creativity

• Review pages 57-62 of Heacox Book• Group or individual? Complete

template listing as many opportunities to embed creativity in the diff lesson

How would you incorporate original thinking? (give specific examples)

When would you use elaborative thinking? (give specific examples)       

Creativity within the Differentiated Lesson PlanUsing Making Diffentiation a Habit by Diane Heacox review pages 57-62 in Chapter 4: “Using a Differntiated Lesson Plan” complete the following:• Within the nine phases

of the lesson plan explain how and where you would intentially infuse creativity. You may chose to do this activity as a group or individually.

What opportunities are there at your grade level to use fluent thinking? (give specific

examples)

Where could you best apply flexible thinking? (give specific examples)

Name(s): Grade level(s)

Classroom Rules

• Share the compilation of “rules” based on our discussion which Tonia and Colleen will compile during group task

• This will take only 1 minute for participants to read

Process out with groups

• Where and how they infused in the 9 steps for differentiation (accountability piece for group work) will be accompanied by a template to collect

We’ll never see the strengths

…if we don’t provide opportunities!

Thanks for all you do!

Next Meeting…..