Teaching For Creativity Reading Response #1 Sharline Dababneh

1. Learning Environments that Support Creativity and the Common Core

1.1. "How Can Teachers Protect Intrinsic Motivation?" Many ways...

1.1.1. 1) Expressing interest in students' ideas, projects, and activities.

1.1.2. 2) Talk to them and listens to them talk about their interests, and then provide opportunities and resources with which they can pursue their interests when appropriate. Also it is important to realize you cannot force students to be intrinsically motivated but rather help support intrinsic motivation.

1.2. Many ways teachers might protect their students' intrinsic motivation from the potentially negative effects of extrinsic features of the classroom :

1.2.1. 1) Incorporate student interests whenever possible.

1.2.2. 2) Encourage intrinsic engagement by providing options and opportunities to include studnets; interests in activities and tasks and also support them in taking reasonable risks.

1.2.3. 3) Monitor the use of extrinsic motivators by focusing on how much and how often such motivators are used in your classroom.

1.2.4. 4) Provide students with opportunities to take control of their own learning by creating a classroom atmosphere that allows students to take charge of their learning process.

1.3. "Can Extrinsic Motivators Be Used More Effectively?" Yes. When students' autonomy is supported they are more likely to experience learning tasks with similar levels of intrinsic motivation, which in turn supports their willingness to express their creativity. Here are several ways to support student autonomy in your classroom:

1.3.1. 1) Provide reasons for requests, for it increases the chances that the students endorse such requests if an explanation or reason is provided.

1.3.2. 2) Acknowledge and incorporate students' perspectives by listening to them and incorporating their ideas, perspectives, and interests into our lessons, activities, and learning tasks.

1.3.3. 3) Provide students with meaningful options and choices.

1.3.4. 4) Welcome students' thoughts, feelings, and actions

2. Practical Applications 1: Creative Lessons and Insights in English and Language Arts

2.1. Some central ideas to guide teachers planning English Language Arts Lessons that will encourages creativity and help students acquire the skills and knowledge that are outlined in the Common Core ELA standards:

2.1.1. 1) Encourage intrinsic motivation, for they are not only more likely to be creative, but also learn more.

2.1.2. 2) Learn when and how to use the "rewards" system as it may hurt rather than help students who are already motivated.

2.1.3. 3) Extrinsic motivation can be problematic so focus your critical evaluation on the specific work students have done for the assignment and not on the students' overall abilities, emphasize effort rather than ability when praising a students work, and don't evaluate EVERYTHING.

2.1.4. 4) Produce divergent thinking with different types of activities.

2.1.5. 5) Have students create the kinds of writings they will eventually be reading and analyzing to helps students learn how to analyze their reading assignments.

3. Practical Applications 2: Creative Lessons and Insights in Mathematics

3.1. A four-step process for how teachers can generate lessons that combine creativity with Common Core MP and MC standards:

3.1.1. 1) Select the number of grade-level-appropriate content domains you want to address. Combining standards can be helpful in creating creative and quality lessons.

3.1.2. 2) Select Mathematical Practice Standards. Blending two or three MP standards with the content standards is best.

3.1.3. 3) Decide on the duration. It is a good idea to try to have a mix of shorter and longer projects.

3.1.4. 4) Decide on the type of activity. Rather than designing an activity that stops with student calculating area, for instance, the activity should have students calculating area to reach some other goal. (Two birds, one stone kind of idea).

4. When using praise, focus on effort rather than ability.

5. Creativity and the Common Core

5.1. "Creativity can thrive within constraints." A huge misconception is that creativity means unconstrained originality and can therefore be seen as a more of a hinderance for teachers rather than an asset . Creativity is a beautiful thing that can be very helpful in many different aspects of teaching, and can be constrained with good specific instructions.

5.2. "The Common Core is more than rote memorization." Creativity goes hand-in-hand with the common core standards since those standards require deep learning, critical thinking, and understanding and creativity helps in all of those categories.

5.3. "Everyone has creative potential." Another big misconception is that only certain people contain the "Creativity trait", including teachers. Everyone has the potential to be creative, some people just need a little more encouragement and a helpful push through the door.

5.4. "Creativity is compatible with standards-based learning." Creativity and content standards are actually compatible. Sometimes even the smalles of changes to existing lessons can result in opportunities for creative expression.

5.5. "Teachers can attain Common Core State Standards in multiple ways." Although the most obvious route to attaining Common Core State Standards is through rote memorization it is not the only way. Many teachers resort to this more "basic" way simply due to the fact their fellow staff of teachers all teach that way too. Sometimes its good to think outside the box. You can still attain the standards by using different methods just as you can go to a destination with multiple routes!

5.6. "Creative thinking involves serious academic work." Being creative can be fun but it also requires a lot of hard work, effort, follow-through and mastering domain-appropriate content.

6. Understanding Creativity in the Classroom: Getting Beyond Hidden Beliefs and Misconceptions

6.1. "There are different levels of creativity." As the title suggests, there are different levels of creativity. Another roadblock results from a common misconception that only highly accomplished people are creative when we know that is not the case. Some people might be much more creative than others, and some might not even know they are creative ! We all start somewhere.

6.2. "Creativity is more than originality." Creativity is not simply a form of originality but rather a combination of originality and task appropriateness. Once this is understood, it is easier to incorporate creativity into the classroom without the fear of it spiraling out of control.

6.3. "Successful creators know when to be creative and when not to be creative." Accomplished creators weigh out the costs and benefits of sharing creative ideas. Sometimes it's a matter of recognizing that a particular creative contribution is better suited for a different time or place.

6.4. "Creativity needs the kinds of content knowledge and skills represented in the Common Core." Being creative at any level requires increasingly sophisticated kinds of domain knowledge.

6.5. "Developing the skills and learning the content of the Common Core will require mini-c creativity on a daily basis." The Four -C model discusses the levels of creativity from mini-c, little-c, Pro-c, and Big-C levels. It is understood that in order to learn the content of the Common Core, having a mini-c level of creativity is required. Referring back to the idea that some are just "not creative", this proves otherwise.

7. Where Do We Go from Here?

7.1. Teach and promote divergent thinking through the use of brainstorming and other idea-generating techniques.

7.2. Encourage intrinsic motivation and downplay extrinsic constrains, rewards, and evaluations to the largest extent possible.

7.3. Use creative thinking and problem solving as ways to help students explore and deepen their understanding and retention of important ideas and facts.

7.4. Teach for creativity in all subject areas, not just a few.

7.5. Emphasize that creativity can emerge at all levels.

7.6. Help students appreciate that their own personally meaningful insights "count" as being creative.

7.7. Don't neglect your own creativity!