How many people think of themselves as ‘creative’? How many of your students have told you, when presented with a creative task, that they aren’t creative? The number is likely to be quite high. And yet, when given the opportunity and the space to think outside the rigours of standardized ways of doing things, students will surprise you, and themselves, with original ideas and thinking, new ways of approaching problems and innovative solutions.
… what we know about creativity is that everyone is capable of it, and it can be developed and deployed in a wise variety of ways. It’s at the heart of being human, something we have evolved over a long period of time.
– Ina Goller and John Bessant, Creativity for Innovation Management
Creativity is something that is in all of us, it may simply need coaxing out as any unused natural skill would. It needs training, practice, and refining, but we can all be creative. For students used to a structured classroom without space to share or explore their own ideas, it may be a challenge for them to develop their own creativity.
In her book, Creativity in the Classroom, Alane Jordan Starko explains:
‘The creativity-friendly classroom … provides an atmosphere in which it is safe to take creative risks and where exploring creative ideas and interests is a normal part of the classroom routine. This is the place in which students develop the confidence and the motivation to be creative…’
For students of any age, whether you’re teaching in schools, colleges, or universities, a creative classroom will allow your students to achieve a deeper understanding of the topic they’re studying as they question and explore in new ways.
When asked what creativity is, many people picture artistic endeavours such as art, music, writing. And while these things are the result of creative thinking and creative action, creativity itself is the act of using original ideas, imagination, to create something. That something can be a new method of doing things; it can be a new approach to solving an old question; or it can be a question about a subject that has never been asked before.
Creativity sometimes involves breaking rules, changing perspectives, seeing things differently…. That’s not always a comfortable position because it can involve going head to head with an established view of the world. Those who hold it are likely to defend their view strongly.
It can be difficult to think creatively if it is new to you, and for many students it will be. Creating an environment for them that encourages them to think creatively, to follow a different path of thinking to any they may have trodden before, is essential to enabling your students to reach their potential.
In his blog post, Nobody Gets to Be Wrong, Vince Gowman lists some important aspects of creating a creatively open classroom that lecturers and teachers should keep in mind:
Creating more time and space to hear a variety of perspectives
Believing in people’s innate capacity to express and be creative
Having compassion and patience for those who don’t feel comfortable expressing themselves at first.
Being self-aware, and self-managing in moments you feel yourself about to judge or react
Here are four things to keep in mind to ensure that your classroom encourages your students to think creatively, and through it, to reach their full potential.
