The Japanese have been studying the U.S. education system to determine why U.S. students are more creative than Japanese students. Having studied Gardner's multiple intelligences, I could see how connecting to a student's intelligence would lead to more engagement. Everyone likes to find success. Framing lessons to support student's passions would lead to success and could foster creativity. I believe the biggest challenge the Japanese have with promoting creativity has more to do with a culture that prioritizes conformity. Homogeneity makes it hard to celebrate the square peg in the round hole.
Mobley, Carol Dweck and Jo Boaler are proponents of a growth mindset. The culture at google also agrees that if you do not fail, you are not growing. You have to push yourself out of your comfort zone. But teachers need to be careful that we are not giving students permission to wildly guess without putting in the study/work to give answers that have been obtained through a disciplined and reasoned process, even though they may be wrong. Only then will they be able to learn how to reason and find the correct answers.
There is so much for students to learn. We do not have time to let each one discover what they need to learn. They need to learn how to collaborate and work without shutting their classmates down. I do not want to be the sage on the stage, and I can see the value of having students be able to critically think and justify their own thought processes. I think it is a mistake to allow students to think that just because they said an opinion that the opinion will never be challenged. That is why I especially like using AVID's Philosophical Chairs. No one can make someone creative. The set up of lessons has to make opportunities for students to be creative.
Heterogeneous groupings are another way for teachers to promote teaching students to respect differing perspectives. Diversity not conformity helps students to broaden their horizons. Stretching their thinking gives space for creativity. Giving students a global perspective also helps students empathize with people that have a very different upbringing. Most students think their experience is the same for everyone. That is why I love bringing in literature that expands student thinking by introducing my fourth graders to characters that show them another world. We began this year by reading "Prairie Lotus" by Linda Sue Park where we got to know a girl that is half white and half Chinese. We had lots of discussions about racism and fairness. Next we will read "Land of the Cranes" by Aida Salazar, that chronicles the modern day experience of a young Latina. I am aware that having two books with girls as main characters could be questionable if it weren't for the next book "By the Great Horn Spoon" by Sid Fleischman has a young boy as the main character. I think of Franklin Chang-Diaz who dreamed about becoming an astronaut as a child in Costa Rica. Or Henry "Hoby" Wedler who was profoundly blind since birth was able to obtain a PhD in chemistry from U.C. Davis. These individuals and characters give us lots of context for deep critical thinking and many avenues for creativity and rigor.
Students need to learn how to use a wide array of tools to express themselves. Beginning with scaffolded drawing lessons while taking away those scaffolds over time so that students have to operate within their zone of proximal development is another way to push them to be creative. Or teaching them to use Flipgrid or BookCreator are other ways to give students tools that they can use to express themselves. Physical education, music education and social-emotional learning all contribute to a self-actualized individual who can express themselves creatively.
The most important thing I can teach students is a "can do" attitude. I think it is a mistake to focus on the unknowns, because that can be unsettling for young minds. By giving them examples of different ways to live life and make the future positive by giving them role models that have navigated life's journey, I will give my students the confidence to find their way and in the course of time they will make the world a better place. As Buzz Lightyear said "To Infinity and Beyond!".
Mobley, Carol Dweck and Jo Boaler are proponents of a growth mindset. The culture at google also agrees that if you do not fail, you are not growing. You have to push yourself out of your comfort zone. But teachers need to be careful that we are not giving students permission to wildly guess without putting in the study/work to give answers that have been obtained through a disciplined and reasoned process, even though they may be wrong. Only then will they be able to learn how to reason and find the correct answers.
There is so much for students to learn. We do not have time to let each one discover what they need to learn. They need to learn how to collaborate and work without shutting their classmates down. I do not want to be the sage on the stage, and I can see the value of having students be able to critically think and justify their own thought processes. I think it is a mistake to allow students to think that just because they said an opinion that the opinion will never be challenged. That is why I especially like using AVID's Philosophical Chairs. No one can make someone creative. The set up of lessons has to make opportunities for students to be creative.
Heterogeneous groupings are another way for teachers to promote teaching students to respect differing perspectives. Diversity not conformity helps students to broaden their horizons. Stretching their thinking gives space for creativity. Giving students a global perspective also helps students empathize with people that have a very different upbringing. Most students think their experience is the same for everyone. That is why I love bringing in literature that expands student thinking by introducing my fourth graders to characters that show them another world. We began this year by reading "Prairie Lotus" by Linda Sue Park where we got to know a girl that is half white and half Chinese. We had lots of discussions about racism and fairness. Next we will read "Land of the Cranes" by Aida Salazar, that chronicles the modern day experience of a young Latina. I am aware that having two books with girls as main characters could be questionable if it weren't for the next book "By the Great Horn Spoon" by Sid Fleischman has a young boy as the main character. I think of Franklin Chang-Diaz who dreamed about becoming an astronaut as a child in Costa Rica. Or Henry "Hoby" Wedler who was profoundly blind since birth was able to obtain a PhD in chemistry from U.C. Davis. These individuals and characters give us lots of context for deep critical thinking and many avenues for creativity and rigor.
Students need to learn how to use a wide array of tools to express themselves. Beginning with scaffolded drawing lessons while taking away those scaffolds over time so that students have to operate within their zone of proximal development is another way to push them to be creative. Or teaching them to use Flipgrid or BookCreator are other ways to give students tools that they can use to express themselves. Physical education, music education and social-emotional learning all contribute to a self-actualized individual who can express themselves creatively.
The most important thing I can teach students is a "can do" attitude. I think it is a mistake to focus on the unknowns, because that can be unsettling for young minds. By giving them examples of different ways to live life and make the future positive by giving them role models that have navigated life's journey, I will give my students the confidence to find their way and in the course of time they will make the world a better place. As Buzz Lightyear said "To Infinity and Beyond!".