Time to Synthesize

It's getting to the end of the term and I really should be synthesizing my learning...what have I learned?? That is the question, and one I'm not sure I can answer fully, but I'll do my best here. My inquiry started with my stated difficulty. I have trouble with creativity, a mental block, so to speak whenever I hear the word and feel like the expectation is there that I should be creative and allow my students to be creative.
So what did I do? Face it head-on was my strategy. First, I did a bit of reading and discovered that it's true: A teacher's attitude towards creativity does affect her class. I found some definitions of creativity and a few practical ideas for encouraging creativity in the class. And so I faced it directly. I let go of some of my need for absolute control...actually with the class I have this year that's an impossibility anyways, so it wasn't a great stretch....and let my students be creative. And lo and behold, it wasn't so ominous after all. I was pleasantly surprised by what emerged. Students were able to show me their complete understanding of concepts covered and explain it to me, but it wasn't in a typical, prescribed way. Students enjoyed my creativity exercises. Those were places where everyone could be successful and unique. They all tried, which is a success in and of itself.

So what have I learned? I think I learned that creativity isn't that unattainable. It's important for all of us to be creative for future success. Creativity is within all children, but the more we encourage and reward quick answers, and discourage questioning, the creativity slowly ebbs away. I learned that I can be creative and that it's not limited to art class, although that's the first place I thought I'd find it. Surprisingly, that's not what emerged. I found creativity in science and math first. I discovered that I could encourage creativity by having children do something different with an object they only knew to use one way. I found creativity when I held my tongue and listened first. I found creativity when I loosened the boundaries, but still had expectations and criteria to assess whether learning and understanding had taken place. I found creativity showed a mastery of concepts, not just a "fully meeting expectations" type of work. So yes, I think I learned something this term. :) Now to put it into a paper for next Tuesday's class!