Subject: Creativity

Posted by Sharon Villines on 10/12/2010
In Reply To:Creativity Posted by Connie Woodberry on 10/10/2010

Message:

On 10 Oct 2010, at 6:44 PM, Connie Woodberry wrote:

> When asked how long does it take to create an innovator I say 10 weeks and have seen this work with thousands of students.
>
> The step by step process is simple – getting all of the players (teachers etc) to play is harder. Nevertheless here’s the simple pattern.


The process of creative problem solving is very nice and having it taught and available to all teachers and students would be a worthy goal that would improve all our classrooms. But this process starts with a definition. The problem is given. The context is defined. Follow the steps. Good steps, but still lock steps. Can it nurture creativity?

Creativity for me is when a person both defines the problem and sees a solution. That takes my breath away. That's the kind of creativity our schools perhaps rightly can't teach, but do squelch. It's the child who is off-topic. No framework. Or no given framework. Who defines their own framework. Or sees more dimensions of the problem than have been given. Or is off working on their own problem.

I wish I had a more dramatic example but one of my granddaughters (not the genius, just a regular kid) is routinely off the grid. In this progression of problem solving she would be asking the question that turns a geography lesson into a lesson in psychopathology asking questions that the teacher is unprepared to address. How many children in a classroom can a teacher manage who do that?

When the teacher is telling the story about the boy who has forgotten his lunch but everyone gives him a piece of theirs illustrating both generosity and the ability to accept help from friends, my granddaughter is the one who points out that he is in big trouble now because he only has 10 minutes left for lunch and he can't eat all that food in 10 minutes. The teacher does not want to hear that. She only has 2 minutes to finish the lesson and that wasn't the one she was teaching.

My granddaughter happens to do well in school and has been lucky with teachers who can swing with her, but will that be true when she is no longer a cute little kid? When her questions are bigger? No matter how diplomatic she learns to be, she will still be off the grid. Her perceptions will always be a little deeper, more grounded, seeing the humor, and a little bit off in that other direction where no one else is going.

Our classroom structure is not prepared for that.

Sharon