THE REPORT on the topic “The influence of the teachers’ creative potential on the development of their students’ creativity”

THE REPORT

on the topic

“The influence of the teachers’ creative potential on the development of their students’ creativity”

Developing creativity is not an easy option and poses future challenges. It has been compared to a muscle that needs the constant constraining discipline of exercise to strengthen individuals’ innovative thinking and problem-solving. Creativity is widely believed to be a ‘good thing’, enriching the quality of life and of learning.

I would like to start with an amusing but revealing anecdote from one of Sir Ken Robinson’s talks on creativity. A six-year old pupil in a drawing class said she was going to draw a picture of God. The teacher said: ‘But nobody knows what God looks like’. ‘They will, in a minute’, the child replied.

Creativity isn’t something which is reserved for a specific part of a course or a lesson, but that it is something which can and should be integrated into every aspect of our classroom practice and at every level of our learners’ experience.

We have no need of expensive equipment and technological gizmos to stimulate the creativity of our students. The less we have, the more we make of it. The human beings who make it up, with their richly varied personalities, preferences and experience are the most important things. Even very small changes can bring large creative benefits.

The core idea of ‘making something new’ is at the heart of creativity. We could, for example, wear a clown’s red nose to class. This would certainly be doing something new and unusual but it would only count as creative if we then did something with it, like creating a new persona.

In the learning context, creativity also seems to stimulate, to engage, to motivate and to satisfy in a deep sense, creativity tends to improve students’ self-esteem, confidence and self-awareness.

Some ways lay the foundations for a more creative climate. They are important because creativity in teaching does not simply happen in a vacuum. We need to create favourable conditions for it, some ways in which we can develop creative activities – for students, for teachers, for the classroom and for materials.

You should establish a relaxed, non-judgemental atmosphere, where students feel confident enough to let go and not to worry that their every move is being scrutinised for errors. Do not try to do too much. Take it easy. Try introducing small changes over a period of time. And allow time for activities and for talking about them.

Do the activities regularly in order to get the best effects. Be a role model. This means working with the students, not simply telling them to do things. This is especially true for reading and writing activities. If they see you are reading, or writing, they will be more likely to engage in these activities themselves. If we want our students to sing, we must sing too. If we want them to act and mime, we must act and mime too. If we want them to write poems or stories, or to draw and paint, then we must engage in the same activities as they do. If we want the bread to rise, we need to provide the yeast. In order to do this, we need to become part of the group, not someone who is above it or outside it.

Creativity is facilitated by a wide variety of inputs, processes and outputs. Make sure you offer a varied diet – of inputs, of processes and of products. As a teacher, apply the four golden principles: acknowledge, listen, challenge, support.

A playful attitude and atmosphere seems to be a key ingredient for creativity.

Show that you value what they bring to the group. Learn to listen carefully and without pre-judgements to what they say or try to say. And offer support. It sounds easy but of course, it is not. Do the opposite. Examples would be: if you always stand up to teach, sit down; if you teach from the front of the class, teach from the back; if you usually talk a lot, try silence.

Yes, a big class has its problems. Yes, it’s difficult to help each individual student and to give them the focused attention they each need. At the same time, a large class offers some possibilities a smaller class cannot.  When singing, how much more powerful, moving and memorable 100 students are than 15!

Drama, stories, music, song, chants, poetry and dance. How deep the expressive arts go, in our beings, as humans! Once a teacher had about 150 students. He divided them into two groups: one group said ‘Good’ and the other group said ‘morning’ and then the whole group chanted ‘Good morning to you’, with rhythm and goodwill. What power! What working together! What a memorable sound! What a positive start to the lesson! Cost? Nothing!

Stories, legends, and proverbs and personal and family anecdotes. Stories are a huge potential for language use in the classroom and then in future life when English is used as an international language. People must not only transact with English but represent themselves as characterful human beings. What better way than telling stories? This is a free resource, which the students care about, providing teachers don’t dominate it.

For me, teaching is not an exclusively creative proces. It is based on knowledge, professional understanding, technical know-how and the personal qualities of the teacher. How this knowledge is synthesised, filtered, interpreted and translated into teaching is a complex process involving higher-order thinking and cannot be ‘learned’. But remember without developing creativity, students might as well be taught by robots!’

Creativity is the bringing and developing of original ideas. What isa creative lesson? ‘A creative lesson is one that involves one or more of the following:

spontaneity

music

colour

variety

fun

humour

movement

personal meaning

unpredictability

a balance between challenge and security,

relaxation and tension.’

You can add ingredients of your own to this list.

All this gives us a refreshing and optimistic view of what we are aiming at. By the way, does it feel good to create? If asked, we might say without too much thought that the act of creating feels wonderful, feels easy, free as a breeze. However, when John Tusa, a BBC radio and television journalist, interviewed over 50 established actors, painters, sculptors, musicians, architects, playwrights, film makers and choreographers about how they felt when working creatively, some said they felt worried, others that they couldn’t sleep, or felt they were building something painstakingly slowly, pebble by pebble. Others said they felt lonely, that it felt very, very risky. So we need not expect to feel great while we create nor, necessarily, to be lauded by our colleagues for our creations!

Teachers are under the stress to follow too many rules and are given very little opportunity and encouragement to think outside of the box.

Outside the Box

Being inside the box

was comfortable –

warm and cosy.

We curled up

with cushions of routine,

wadded with words,

blanketed by books,

swaddled in certainties.

A bit stuffy perhaps,

and we sometimes felt cramped,

but never mind,

we were so used to it

that it felt normal –

and, as I said,

comfortable.

Out here we are exposed,

and cold winds blow.

We need to hold on tight,

keep our eyes open

for sudden snow squalls,

hidden crevasses.

It’s a precarious existence now –

but here we can move and breathe,

see clear to the far horizon.

And if we come to a cliff,

we know we can step off it

into empty air,

trusting it to bear us up.

We have no fear

of

falling.

Alan Maley (Nagoya, November 2010)

Encourage students to learn how their unique mind works and how they can use it to its full capacity. Creative thinking can spawn from breaking the rules that students have been taught to follow and showing them how to think outside of the box.

Let’s suppose that we are still keen to become more creative and to help our students become creative too, believing that, though it may be hard work, it will bring interesting and useful results.

The only rule is we must say ‘yes” creativity.

 I want my students sing, mime and act. I want my students write poems and stories, draw and paint. As you understand I should be a model for them. I try. I like to feel like a child doing different activities with my students. What helps me in my teaching profession, in preparing different activities for my lesson? My hobby. I am fond of poetry. I started to writing down poems in my notebook when I was in the 6^th form. I found poems in different books, newspapers and magazines.

I can say that I collect poems and I like most of all those ones which make me think about life in general and real episodes of the daily routine.

 My favourite English poem is very short but philosophic:

Little drops of water, little grains of sand

Make a mighty ocean and a pleasant land.

Thus the little minutes

Humble though they be

Make a mighty ocean of eternity.

 At my lessons I widely use quotes, proverbs, words of wisdom and of course poems. I like to write the words to the music and to make a new song. Today you’ll have a chance to listen to the song the words of which were written by me. As you see my hobby works for my job.

 It’s a secret, but sometimes I try my hand at composing poems.

But the problem is I don’t like to recite poems.

However, today is a special day and if you want to listen to my own poem, I’ll try. Would you like? May be not?

It was written about 10 years ago. I described in it the real situation of my life. And it was devoted to my Mum’s birthday.

Була неділя, теплий літній ранок.

Прокинувшись, з кімнати вийшла я.

Застелений рядном був до дверей наш ганок.

Сиділа мама там – красива й молода.

Наповнений наш дім був щебетом і сонцем

Ще й пахла кукурудза на плиті.

«А, відгадай-но, доню, чим поласуєш сьогодні?»

І я за хвильку пахощі відгадую оті.

Сьогодні знов приходять літні ранки

І кожен з них несе сюрпризи нам свої.

Я хочу, щоб завжди була на ганку мама

І пахла кукурудза на столі!