The document discusses promoting creative thinking through classroom activities. It provides examples of classroom exercises that encourage creative thinking, such as coming up with stories from pictures or defining words in new ways. The overall message is that creativity should be valued equally with literacy in education and that students learn best when they are able to explore ideas freely without the pressure of finding a single right answer.

1. Promoting Creative Thinking
through Classroom Activities
Eduardo Santos

2. Why Creative Thinking?

3. Creativity is thinking outside the box.

9. Stefan Sagmeister TED Talk Oct 2009
“Every seven years, designer Stefan
Sagmeister closes his New York studio
for a yearlong sabbatical to rejuvenate
and refresh their creative outlook. He
explains the often overlooked value of
time off and shows the innovative
projects inspired by his time in Bali.”

11. Sir Ken Robinson TED Talk June 2006
• “Creativity is as important in education as
literacy and we should treat it with the same
status.”
• “If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll
never come up with anything original.”

12. http://zhaolearning.com

14. • “Children learn things serendipitously. When
we discover something new, an idea which is
ours, this helps us develop our own thinking
skills. – Herbert Puchta
• “Break out of the chase for right answers.
Look for learning... not right answers.” – Jim
Scrivener

15. Dr. Robert Fisher
We all have the capacity for creative thinking:
 generating and extending ideas,
 suggesting hypotheses,
 applying imagination,
 looking for alternative innovative outcomes
in any activity.
Fisher R. (in press), ‘Expanding Minds: Developing Creativity in Young
Learners ', CATS: The IATEFL Young Learners SIG journal. Spring 2006

24. Open your eyes!
• Draw the Braz Tesol Conference.
• Compare your drawing with the person next
to you. How similar/different are they?

32. Context & Meaning
Create the context & meaning for one of the
following lines:
• “The door is open.”
• “I feel tired.”
• “What are you looking at?”

33. Lame Excuses
• Watch the first 10 seconds of the video.
• Discuss with the person next to you what
happened before this scene.
• The group will choose the best excuse.

35. The book of your life
• Draw the cover of a book about your life.
• Explain what the book is about, set the price
and sell your book to the group.
• Students choose which book they would like
to buy.

36. Photo Stories.
• What’s the story behind this image?
• Ask SS to bring their own pictures to the
classroom and come up with short stories or
anecdotes.
• Encourage them to be creative and to explore
different possibilities.

39. Define the word
• In groups of 5, each student will write the
definition of a word given by the teacher (OR
students will choose the word).
• Define the word: meretricious

40. meretricious
adjective very formal /ˌmerəˈtrɪʃəs/
Seeming to be good, useful, or important but
not really having any value at all.

42. PUSH
YOUR
STUDENTS
FORWARD

43. Creativity is not about
thinking outside the
box, it’s about thinking
there IS no box.

44. Thank You!
@eltbakery
eltbakery@gmail.com