Free yourself from the “testing culture” and unleash your creative beast! From high-tech to no-tech, practical ways to get students, teachers, and parents to be active designers and tinkerers. (V2 from presentation at ISTE 2012)
3. #creativity-defined
Partnership for 21st Century Schools
Think Creatively
• Use a wide range of idea creation techniques (such as brainstorming)
• Create new and worthwhile ideas (both incremental and radical
concepts)
• Elaborate, refine, analyze and evaluate their own ideas in order to
improve and maximize creative efforts
Work Creatively with Others
• Develop, implement and communicate new ideas to others effectively
• Be open and responsive to new and diverse perspectives; incorporate
group input and feedback into the work
• Demonstrate originality and inventiveness in work and understand the
real world limits to adopting new ideas
• View failure as an opportunity to learn; understand that creativity and
innovation is a long-term, cyclical process of small successes and frequent
10. #value
• Human/social progress
• Economic engine
• Expression of values and emotion (fun!)
• Personal growth
12. #value
• Human/social progress
• Economic engine
• Expression of values and emotion (fun!)
• Personal growth
14. “Creativity does not have to be about
developing something new to the world, it
is more to do with developing something
new to ourselves. When we change
ourselves, the world changes with us, both
in the way that the world is affected by our
changed actions and in the changed way
that we experience the world.”
Infinite Innovations Ltd
16. #myths
• Creative ideas come during random,
A-HA moments
• Creativity happens solo
• Creativity is what “artists” do
• Creativity is innate: some have it, some don’t
19. #myths
• Creative ideas come during random,
A-HA moments
• Creativity happens solo
• Creativity is what “artists” do
• Creativity is innate: some have it, some don’t
28. #myths
• Creative ideas come during random,
A-HA moments
• Creativity happens solo
• Creativity is what “artists” do
• Creativity is innate: some have it, some don’t
32. “I have a dream that my four little children
will one day live in a nation where they will
not be judged by the color of their skin but
by the content of their character.”
35. #myths
• Creative ideas come during random,
A-HA moments
• Creativity happens solo
• Creativity is what “artists” do
• Creativity is innate: some have it, some don’t
43. “Time pressure stifles creativity because
people can't deeply engage with the
problem. Creativity requires an
incubation period; people need time to
soak in a problem and let the ideas
bubble up.”
Teresa Amabile, PhD
Harvard Business School
52. #more conditions
• Freedom/autonomy/choice
• Real, challenging problems to solve
• “Thinking with you hands”
• Clear understanding of constraints and
resources: time, money, tools, team
• Knowledge/skill/expertise/mastery
• Encouragement and recognition
53. #attitude
• Personal passion provides the spark
• Give yourself permission to be creative
• Happiness matters A LOT
• Discipline/commitment
55. #attitude
• Personal passion provides the spark
• Give yourself permission to be creative
• Happiness matters A LOT
• Discipline/commitment
56. #attitude
• Personal passion provides the spark
• Give yourself permission to be creative
• Happiness matters A LOT
• Discipline/commitment
57. #attitude
• Personal passion provides the spark
• Give yourself permission to be creative
• Happiness matters A LOT
• Discipline/commitment
58. Jerry Seinfeld’s Chain Calendar
Create better jokes by writing everyday and mark an X on the
calendar every day you do it.
"After a few days you'll have a chain. Just keep at it and the
chain will grow longer every day. You'll like seeing that chain,
especially when you get a few weeks under your belt.
Your only job next is to not break the chain.“
70. #teaching
Teachers: modeling openness, encourage failure
Open Language: “could” “might” “possible”
“how else” “tell us more”
Methods: mashups, mimicry, design thinking,
tinkering, exhibitions
Experience: LOTS of different ideas and
situations
Assessment: Can it be measured?
Participants need to be setup in a circle to start – Have 30 seconds to make a paper airplane AND write a word/phrase/question about a dream you have They “bomb” me as I stand in the middle of the room – I’m the dream catcher – all your dreams can come true! Quickly read a few messages Play is “freeing” and also projects what we want to be sometimes – like when kids “dress up”. It allows us to DREAM.
Print out for all participants…. Design as many things as you can in the circles in 30 seconds Quality doesn’t matter when first exploring… quantity matters
“ I’m floating on air”; “Everything’s going my way”; “I’m Reagoning”
“ I’m floating on air”; “Everything’s going my way”; “I’m Reagoning”
“ I’m floating on air”; “Everything’s going my way”; “I’m Reagoning”
“ I’m floating on air”; “Everything’s going my way”; “I’m Reagoning”
Wiki racing, kyle’s b-day
Wiki racing, kyle’s b-day
Wiki racing, kyle’s b-day
Wiki racing, kyle’s b-day
Wiki racing, kyle’s b-day
Methods: La Strada street fair @ Napa New Tech H.S. Envision Culminating Exhibitions Measure: Sure, but let’s not over think it. Creativity Rubrics College and Work Readiness Assessment (CWRA) Measures critical thinking, analytic reasoning, problem solving, written communication Proof is in the pudding