Creativity is one of the goals of the Board of Trustees in School District 8. It is an important and necessary one, indeed. And yet I often struggle with cultivating and nurturing its presence in my life, my children’s lives, and those of the students that I work with. I’m willing to bet that I am not alone either.
Like growing anything to develop one’s creativity it is becoming apparent to me that we require ‘prompts’ or ‘stimuli’ to help it to flourish in our lives every day. Here’s a great list courtesy of Gonzalo Gomez Rufino to help get us started.
My favourites include:
Congratulate yourself each time you do something well. Learning to drum has been a blast. I am acutely aware that I am improving, too. But, I often end my sessions abruptly or start cranking out the next tune without acknowledging that I really nailed the kick drum in the previous song.
Use a colour you do not like. Ah, yes. Peach. Next time I’m colouring with my daughter (which will probably be later today!) I’m reaching for peach. All my dinosaurs will be peach that day. Maybe I could try layering it with a shade of purple crayon? Sorry, Barney.
Give an incorrect answer to a question. Intentionally of course. It’s interesting to see where this can lead you. It may be part of the process of going with the flow. Or perhaps that there are no wrong answers or solution. Pretty much describes creativity, I think.
How about you? Are you prepared to help your students cultivate their creativity?
Creativity. It’s not just for art class anymore.
GETTING CURIOUS 