Creativity as I now know it

Throughout this semester in my graduate school work I have been tasked with the job of defining, or at least understanding, Creativity. It has certainly not been an easy task. While I feel that I have a better understanding of Creativity I am not sure that I can define it. I do, however, feel that I can point it out. I still like my implicit theory of creativity, which I defined as, "the intentional combination of the familiar into something unfamiliar yet recognizable."

As a teacher I believe that one thing that I will have to change in my own practice is to appreciate it both when it is used on and off task. While I will continue to point my students toward correct behaviors in the classroom I can certainly appreciate the effort that they are making to be creative, which can be more difficult for some students.

The most difficult task that I have had to approach with creativity in mind was coming into a classroom while their teacher was out on disability. I have had to win those students over and find assignments that will keep them on task, as well as not complaining and referring to it as "busywork." One thing that I have learned is that it does not matter as much if the students like you, but rather, you cannot afford to let them hate you. Once a student determines that they hate you, you have a long road ahead of you. I have been fortunate enough not to have encountered this. I still have problems occasionally with students, but mostly I have had great success with my situation.

A new perspective on “The Tortoise and the Hare”

This week, I was challenged to take another look at the classic fable “The Tortoise and the Hare.” Instead of accepting the outcome given in the fable I am to critically review the fable, asking questions based on the theory of the “6 thinking hats,” created by Dr. Edward de Bono.

Below are listed each of the 6 thinking hats, along with what manner of thought they represent. My mission is to ask the questions that each hat should lead me to, and reconsider this classic tale.

White Hat – Facts

Who won the race? The tortoise.

Why? He continued his steady pace, whereas the hare, who had an early lead decided to take a nap.

Red Hat – Feelings/Emotions

How do we feel about the tortoise winning? Happy, we tend to cheer for the underdog; in this case that would be he.

Do we feel bad for the hare? Not really, there seems to be a strong message of he got what he deserved instilled in this story.

Black Hat – Caution

What are the risks of teaching this story? Perhaps teaching this story could instill a lack of empathetic abilities in future generations.

Yellow Hat – Benefits

What are the benefits of teaching this story? I am sure that the thought behind teaching this story is that regardless of what talent a person may have, if they continue trying the best that they can, they can out perform someone who has talent, but does not try hard.

Green Hat – Creativity

In what ways could we modernize this story? Well, I have seen modernized versions of this story featuring updated cartoon characters, such as Bugs Bunny. But, to truly put this story into today’s students hands, I suppose they could create a video game where you are the tortoise and you have to defeat the hare. Making it interactive could possibly make the moral become not only understood but applied in their lives.

Blue Hat – Metacognition

Why do we instinctively relate to the tortoise rather than the hare?

As I touched on earlier, I think it is the idea that the underdog can win that appeals to us.

This new look at an ancient story has certainly shed some light on things that I obviously have opinions on. These opinions appear to be strong, even though I had never really thought about them before.

How can I improve my wallet?

This week I was challenged to come up with ways to improve something that I am familiar with. As I have been considering purchasing a new wallet, I think now would be a great time to reconsider what I should expect out of such an apparatus. In order to do this I am looking over Osborn's 73 idea spurring questions list.

Adapt?

-Unfortunately, I suppose I have to consider the fact that another option would be to switch entirely out of the wallet realm, this takes me into the realm of man purses and fanny packs. These are both good places to keep personal effects; however, I do not see myself as adequately prepared for either option.

Modify?

-My current wallet has the NC State Block S on the front, there are many other ways that I could show my personality, these include stitching on various wallets, knit wallets with designs... I certainly like the idea of some sort of statement being made by my wallet, but perhaps simply a stylish statement would be appropriate.

Magnify?

-It would be ideal if there was more room for cards (credit, gift, ID, store...)

Minify?

-My current wallet is a tri-fold, which makes it rather bulky at time. Perhaps I should go for a bi-fold wallet.

Reverse?

-Typically I put things inside my wallet, I have seen many money clips that have room for cards an anything else that I would put in it typically.

I certainly have plenty of options in the world of wallets. I will have to consider long and hard which direction I care to travel in. This will not be a decision that I will make lightly.

Expressive Readings

In my classroom this week I am starting my 9th graders into reading The Odyssey. So far, we have gone through the background of Greek Culture, and The Trojan War. In an effort to involve more of my students I had them read, in parts, expressively, the myth "The Labors of Hercules." As we are preparing to read The Odyssey, I was explaining the concept of minstrels, traveling poet/singers/story tellers.

I assigned several students, both higher and lower-level readers, to each read one of the labors of Hercules. I made sure to stack the higher-level readers toward the beginning of the readings. I told them to read for "more than the words." They needed to read with emotion, and amazingly they did.

This assignment not only kept the attention of their classmates, but it also allowed students who typically acted out (often at inappropriate times) focussed on what they were about to read. Then when it was their turn they were more emotional, in their readings, than their higher-level reading classmates. I highly recommend this strategy.

Is creativity "too difficult" to measure?

This week I was challenged to think about whether or not creativity is "too difficult" to measure. I think that the deeper issue remains a lacking cohesive definition of what exactly creativity is. If you cannot define something how can you be expected to measure it?

Another problem with this is the subjective nature of creativity, particularly in its evaluation. Something that may be highly creative could easily be overlooked depending on its obscurity and the judge's value placed on such a creation.

The next difficulty that would be faced is developing a strategy for measuring it, likely some form of test. There is always an issue of eliminating bias from testing and this case would prove to be particularly difficult.

Perhaps until we develop a catch-all definition of Creativity we cannot accurately measure. I would suggest that it is "too difficult" to accurately measure creativity.

Success

The other day I was sitting in a high school classroom staring at the, seemingly endless, motivational posters on the wall. I found myself especially entranced by one that read: "Success is impossible for those who fail to try." After I got beyond how awkward the wording is, I began to think about it. After thinking on it for a while I decided that I would rather have a poster that read, "Those who are always successful have failed to try the impossible." I realize that there seems to be some sort of dark commentary there, but I think that teachers need to be there to teach their students that failure is hardly the worst thing in life. I believe there is a much more valuable lesson in my proposed poster than the fluff displayed on hers.

Of course, that is just my opinion.

Crazy Ideas

This week my Creativity textbook challenged me to “think of three bizarre ideas for increasing the creativity of high school students – ideas that are guaranteed to get me fired.” Here is what I have come up with:

1. Refusing to report potential Emotional Disabilities.

According to Davis, some people who experience Bipolar disorder are enabled to create beautiful poetry. The belief here is that the periods of intense feelings give the poet the ability to create beautiful language, and then to be critical of their work. Reporting these students would potential effect their ability to create amazing works of art. However, I doubt that this would be a sufficient excuse if one of my students were to commit suicide.

2. Refusing to establish an order of conduct for students.

While there is something to be said for an orderly class, there appears to be a correlation between many behaviors that are often considered negative. In my textbook studies describe creative people using such terms as: Egotistical, Impulsive, Argumentative, Childish, Absent-Minded, Neurotic, and Hyperactive. A student described in this way would be expected to be reported based on behaviors that would often lead to such an evaluation.

3. Refusing to provide accurate feedback

Giving students accurate feedback is obviously what is in the best interest of a person developing a skill or understanding; however, it may become a barrier to their creativity. These students, who are trying to express their creativity, could easily become discouraged by even accurate feedback as they are putting themselves out looking for acceptance. Unfortunately, while this may help some, too many people receive inaccurate feedback, and that is why the 1^st 3-4 weeks of American Idol is filled with people convinced that they are talented singers. It will not be the best for everyone, but some kids will avoid being crushed by the judgment of another teacher.

These are certainly crazy ideas, that we all hope will not be acted upon, but each one has its own merit (well sort of…). They all at least made me think for a second, and laugh for a minute. They are definitely out there, but maybe there needs to be a degree of respect for each issue that has been brought to light by each of these ideas.

My own personal Implicit Creativity Theory

In my seemingly never-ending search for a definition for creativity this week I have found myself mired in the muck of Implicit Theories. I am at that point where I have not yet been able to verbalize exactly what it means to me but I am certain that if I saw something I could point at it and say, “that is creativity in action!” In fact, just this week I have found myself admiring several things that I normally would likely take for granted.

1. The Mushroom statue inside The Mellow Mushroom, on Peace St, welcoming people to the restaurant.

2. The varied methods used before each commercial break on Hell’s Kitchen to show off their symbol.

3. The titles of certain “news” stories on The Daily Show and Colbert Report this week.

a. The Daily Show – The Pittsburgh irates (about the G-20 riots)

b. The Daily Show – Moral Kombat (about a conservative group’s “Values Voter Summit”)

c. The Colbert Report – The Atone Phone, Admitter Twitter, and Remorse Morse (in honor of Yom Kippur, allowing all of Stephen Colbert’s Jewish friends to apologize for wronging him throughout the year.)

One thing that I have found myself agreeing with from other theories, particularly Rogers, is that most things that I would identify as creative are not completely “NEW.” By this I simply mean that the pun of most jokes play off of something that I already have to be familiar with. For example, a Swine flu joke (it’s okay I already had it so I can make these jokes now…)

Q. What is the difference between the Swine Flu and the Bird Flu?

A. For Swine flu you need Oinkment, and for Bird Flu you seek Tweetment.

Admittedly this is not the funniest joke in the world, but without the familiarity with both the American pronunciation of these two animal noises and the words Ointment and Treatment, this joke would completely bomb. So, while the joke may be new there are several concepts at work which when combined, provide humor to the situation.

If I were to try to explain my understanding of creativity it would come out something like this:

Creativity is the intentional combination of the familiar into something unfamiliar yet recognizable.

Creativity Theories, as seen in the media

This week for my graduate class I was challenged to spend some time this week researching, identifying, and locating examples in the media of each of the following facets of creativity as defined in our textbook. I began by re-writing my own definition of each and then trying to locate examples of each that I am familiar with in the media/technologically-available world.

Rank’s creative type: Basically says that people who are creative are well-balanced and highly functional people.

1. Jon Stewart - http://www.hulu.com/watch/95653/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-mad-men#s-p3-sa-i1

2. Stephen Colbert - http://www.hulu.com/watch/95648/the-colbert-report-kanye-west-interrupts-taylor-swift-at-the-vmas#s-p1-sa-i1

Jung’ s psychological type of creative person: A creative person whose creativity stems out of life experiences.

1. House (TV show, main character)

2. Jerry Seinfeld - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYDA7__znfY

Jung’s visionary type and primordial archetypes: A creative person who draws their creativity from something deep inside, a basic commonality of mankind, somewhere deep dark and repressed.

1. http://www.livevideo.com/video/D0A6282A7170447F899E6744911CEB5A/the-california-raisins-meet-th.aspx this is a video from The California Raisins, fast-forward to where there are 2 minutes and 20 seconds remaining. This video begins with an image that lacks explanation but seems engraved in the subconscious of most people.

Torrance’s creative type: Scientific-method-like creativity application which describes the entire act of creation in 4 steps: Find a problem, hypothesize, test, and pass on results.

1. House (TV show, main character)

The creative press: Pressures of the social and psychological environments.

1. Teachers – The Wall Part II, by Pink Floyd - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_bvT-DGcWw&feature=player_embedded

2. Peer Pressure - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exsa70H-Hks&feature=player_embedded#t=273

Mental Happenings

o In Art

· Stephen Sondheim- Writer of Sweeny Todd- revealed to NPR that he was inspired in his writing while watching a movie. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1583370

o In Music

· Lil’ Wayne – Does not write down his music, simply writes it, while listening to beats, verbally. http://vodpod.com/watch/2140405-video-lil-wayne-behind-the-music-preview-2

o In Science

· Archimedes – When he exclaimed “Eureka!” upon discovering his theory of density while sitting in a bathtub.

o In Literature

· William Wordsworth- Who described poetry as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.”

· The “Instant Art Movement” - http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/internetlife/2003-12-03-crapart_x.htm

It seems that creative inspiration can hit anyone at any time. It comes to each of us in different ways, and for each person there may well be a theory out there.

My response to the article "About Creativity, Giftedness, and Teaching the Creatively Gifted in the Classroom"

One of the issues that I invariably have with education classes, particularly Graduate-level classes, is that in our extensive survey of complex concepts we rarely arrive at a definition, particularly early on. This is again the case in my Creativity class. However, the more that you articles that you read on each of these subjects this issue of mine is easily understood, and swiftly swept away. The reason we cannot arrive at an overarching definition is because the professionals in the field have not been able to do so either.

I really enjoyed reading the article “About Creativity, Giftedness, and Teaching the Creatively Gifted in the Classroom,” in which a teacher was interviewed and observed regarding how she views, values, and nurtures creativity in her students. I found that her 3 concepts of creativity “perceive, act, and impact,” were broad enough to attach to such a complex idea as this, but narrow enough to gain the insight that she would hope to relay regarding her understanding. I found particularly interesting her valuing of creativity that was measurable. I understand that her being a teacher it would be easier for her to value something that she could quantify, but I would hesitate to expect students to constantly be evaluated based on their creativity.

This article also helped me to understand a concept that I had recently found myself struggling with. She explained that there is a difference between Gifted Students and Creatively Gifted Students. I have experienced students who are extremely bright and get straight A’s but cannot handle the looser reigns of a less structured lesson.

I also appreciated her belief that creativity can be nurtured in students. Her activities are apparently designed to display the creativity of certain students and develop it further in others.

All in all I found this article to be very helpful in my quest to better understand creativity, particularly its value inside the classroom.

Upon my reading of the article “The Creative Personality,” by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi I was enlightened that there are in fact 10 common traits among creative people. Interestingly, each of these traits may seem counterintuitive, in that often they seem to be in conflict with each other. Csikszentmihalyi argues that it is these conflicting personality traits, which enable the creative person to think in obscure manners, yielding creative thought.

Below is a list of the 10 traits identified by Csikszentmihalyi and with each trait I have identified a creative person in whom I have witnessed such traits.

1. A great deal of energy, but often found at rest.

Jimmy- A good friend of mine, who is now a microchip designer at IBM, is the most energetic person I know. He also happens to be the most well rested person that I know of…

2. Smart yet naïve.

Sarah- My wife is absolutely brilliant, and very creative. She however often allows jokes and other things to slip right past her.

3. Combination of playfulness and discipline.

Jon Stewart- My favorite “newscaster.” His ability to report on serious subjects with the degree of humor and wit that he approaches his work with is amazing.

4. Operate between fantasy and reality.

Stephen Colbert- My 2^nd favorite “newscaster.” He does not allow himself to be bogged down by what the actual news is, and reports on things as he sees them.

5. Extroverted and introverted simultaneously.

Myself- I have a very strong tendency to be extremely chatty in certain circumstances and shy as a mouse in others. I need my “alone time,” but often when I get it I then feel the need to be around others.

6. Humble and proud at the same time.

Tommy – A previous student of mine. He was very proud of his accomplishments, but at the same time appreciated that he still had much to learn.

7. Escape gender role stereotyping.

Prince (or whatever he calls himself now)- A wonderful singer/songwriter. His extremely flamboyant mannerisms and outfits often made him come across as androgynous.

8. Rebellious and conservative.

Mark Twain- I know that is not his real name, but that is how most people refer to him. His ability to challenge his societal norms through backhanded sarcastic and often sardonic satire still impresses me to this day.

9. Passionate yet objective.

Jon Stewart- Often when interviewing people about serious subjects, (stock market issues, health care reform, war…) Jon becomes fired up, and confident in himself. He then is able to back away and give the other side a chance to explain their case.

10. Openness and sensitivity leads to suffering and joy.

All comedians- I have heard many comedians speak about what it is like being a comedian and having a bad night, it is often demoralizing. However, apparently the joy of having a successful night often brings them back to the stage soon.

While I may not be able to attribute all 10 of these characteristics to 1 person I certainly am able to see more than one in many of the creative people that I know/know of. Also, it may simply be the case that not all creative people are willing/able to show all of these inner workings that display many of these traits.

Creativity Blockers

Today’s topic is a bit of a hard pill to swallow, along with the possibility (and responsibility) to build creativity in our students, we as teachers (more often than we would like to admit) find ourselves straddling the danger of killing off the creativity that they are willing to share with us. This is a frightening fact that we must face head on. There are plenty of ways that creativity can be squashed and in order to reflect on this I reviewed a list of 10 possibilities for “Extinguishing the Creative Spirit” created by Roger von Oech in his book A Whack on the Side of the Head. Then I reviewed the list to see what I hear/experience the most often in schools. Finally, I reviewed the list looking to see what on the list I have said/felt in my own life, both in and outside of school.

Those which I have seen/heard:

1. To Err Is Wrong

This is a particularly common one in academia. There are certain subjects that have less restrictive criteria than others, but even in English classes I have witnessed students told that their interpretations of literature were “wrong,” not unsupported, just “wrong.” What a dangerous thing to tell a person, who believes him/herself to have made some great discovery or insight into both his/her own life as well as a connection with the author. Telling people that they are wrong is rarely helpful, whereas guiding someone toward a better supported theory or reviewing how some conclusion was arrived at could potentially lend a hand to the development of creativity.

2. Be Practical

Now this is just a difficult one for any teacher, or authority figure, who has spent any time with adolescents. I recently spent some time talking with a current Student-teacher who was describing to me the difficulties that he is having with encouraging his students to answer questions in a way that will propel his lesson. Instead of explaining that everything that he is working toward violates the work of Paulo Freire, I advised him that he simply needed to let his lessons flow naturally and give students opportunities to answer questions that do not control where he is going. What I took from this was that we as teachers need to be able let our students minds wander. Our thinking is likely no less linear than many of our students and confining them to this strict pattern of “our plans” is a disservice to them.

3. That’s Not Logical

Another very difficult blocker to deal with, when working with adolescents, is, seemingly, illogical thinking. Much like the previous creative block there is a strong tendency to try to force students minds to work the way that we want them to. This often becomes a struggle between student and teacher.

4. Play Is Frivolous

There is often little time for play in the classroom; unfortunately this extends to playing with ideas. I am a big fan of allowing students to have time to finesse their thoughts, but even I have found myself “cracking down” on students who appear to be playing, or in my own interpretation off task. This does not give students the freedom that they need to be truly creative. I suppose there would need to be some sort of agreement between the students and teacher as to what “appropriate” play looks like, in a classroom. This leads to another issue of whether or not creativity should be restrained in any manner. But that is for another day.

5. I’m Not Creative

This is sadly one of the most common blockers of students’ creativity. Typically, when an assignment in which students are required to show their creativity is made many students shy away and complain that they are not creative. This is terribly unfortunate.

Which do you USE the most?

1. Avoid Ambiguity

This one is terribly difficult being an English teacher. We have to teach a strict avoidance of ambiguity in writing, this sometimes leaks into speaking as well. Sometimes, I suppose, we as teachers must allow students the time to work through ambiguity, and not discourage it. Great thoughts rarely come out that way, and we must learn to relish all of our students “diamonds in the rough”s.

2. That’s Not My Area

This is one that affects me. This block happens immediately whenever a math problem presents itself. Rather than trying to solve the problem I will look to someone else. This not only limits my math skill development, but also does not allow me to create ways to solve such problems.

3. Follow The Rules

This one is very difficult for me as a substitute teacher. I often find myself shushing students more than what I probably should during group work. Again, here I think we need to have conversations with our students wherein we develop a set of rules that should be followed that are not limiting.

There are many questions to be answered as to how to promote creativity while moving students appropriately toward our goals for them.

A new beginning...

As we embark on the new academic year, I am starting my very own educational blog. It will be a place to reflect on what I am learning and what I am teaching. Feel free to read, enjoy, and comment on anything that you find fun and/or interesting.

Yours truly,

Stephen