Mulling some more over creativity

I've actually had 4 different individuals respond to my discussion starter in the Educator's PLN and I've found all of them to be helpful. One person, Marisa Constantinides, recommended an article she wrote about this very topic "The Art of Being Creative." She borrows someone else's definition of creativity to include fluency (lots of ideas), flexibility (different types of ideas), elaboration (building on other's ideas) and originality (original thoughts).

One line in her article grabbed my attention. "I would like to suggest that the lack of creative thinnking skills in an educator needs immediate attention for many reasons,..." Oh boy, good thing I'm doing this inquiry now!

She also takes a stab at why some people, like me, have blocks to creativity. And , lo and behold, one of them has to do with social environment...ie, how I grew up and what kind of school system I had way back when... I was right! This has also led to a "self-image block", I believe, in that I no longer feel like I am creative or can do creative things.

She then goes on to give some ideas for developing creativity in teachers. I might try one or more of them. I'll let you know how it turns out.

I like how she ends the article. "This article is based on the firm belief that by undergoing training in developing our own creative thinking skills, those of us involved in the teaching profession will enhance our potential for dealing with the problems of daily teaching and find new ways of making our approach to teaching more exciting and stimulating."

Here's hoping!