How to Cultivate Creativity

This week as I was searching for a topic to write about, I found a TED-Ed video that really interested me and captivated my attention. The talk by Ramsey Musallam focused on three rules that teachers should consider to help cultivate curiosity in the classroom. The rules for teaching curiosity education are: (1) curiosity comes first, (2) embrace the mess, and (3) practice reflection.

In previous blogs, I have discussed the idea about using inquiry education and passion based education to help foster students’ drive to learn. I think that various instructional approaches such as wonder walls and passion based learning can help students grow and develop their critical thinking skills. These two approaches incorporate students’ learning while integrating the curriculum with what they enjoy learning. I think that Musallam’s perspective on curiosity education can be synthesized into these approaches, extending my knowledge about about inquiry learning.

          

Musallam used a metaphor for teachers in the classroom to be like a surgeon. Surgeons are knowledgeable, and we trust our life with them to repair our bodies. Like surgeons who learn from each different case, teachers also need to consider each child and their differences. This is an important consideration for all teachers when they are working to cultivate curiosity in their students. Teachers need to think outside the ‘box’ of purely accomplishing the curriculum, they need to think about what would bring meaning to each student during their day at school.

This is where Musallam’s three rules of teaching play a role. The first rule, curiosity comes first, is driven by the student’s questions. Student’s questions drive where great instruction can lead, but great instruction cannot lead to questions of curiosity. This rule really hits home for me because it shows that by having the student’s interest, they will learn, understand, and be able to think critically. The second rule, embrace the mess, is forcing the teacher to accept that that learning does not happen in a linear fashion. Musallam describes that trial and error is what has to occur for students to learn fully. The third goal, practice reflection, is the only way that teachers will be able to improve and customize their instruction methods to fit students and their learning ability.

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The TED talk by Musallam concluded by stating that student’s questions of curiosity are the greatest tools for our classrooms. This statement is very impactful for my teaching philosophy that has grown over my four years of undergraduate study at Brock. Since first year, learning about John Dewey and his philosophy of hands on learning, I have taken a real passion towards integrating hands-on learning into my classroom. Last semester I took a class where we learned about higher level thinking in math and science. We discussed inquiry based learning and how to encourage students to think critically while participating in fun and engaging activities. Recently my learning has progressed further, understanding how to use inquiry-based knowledge using 21st century literacies. During my 21st century literacy class, we discussed various literacies to incorporate into our classroom to help acknowledge the diversity of student learning.

I think that curiosity learning allows the teacher to have more freedom to incorporate so many more aspects than just the curriculum. It allows the students to drive the lesson. It also allows the teacher to stretch the student’s learning and scaffold their learning beyond what they thought was possible. I think the only way to accomplish an effective curiosity driven classroom is by incorporating 21st century literacies that will help drive their thinking and questioning further beyond what is right in front of them. I hope to implement this teaching method in my classroom!

Passion Based Learning

Using the 21st century literacies in the classroom, there are multiple opportunities for teachers to intrigue students by using an integrated curriculum and passion based learning. As discussed in my 21st century literacies education class, an integrated curriculum connects various disciplines together. By doing this, associations are made with regards to content, the curriculum is brought to life, and boundaries are broken down. This allows students to see the larger picture and understand multiple perspectives, which is what 21st century literacies strive to achieve.

Passion based learning is an instructional approach that is under the umbrella of inquiry education. It allows students’ interests to drive how the curriculum will be integrated into the classroom. Drake, Reid, and Kolohon (2014) outline that passion based learning has only become more possible recently due to the increased use of technology in education. Technology has allowed teachers to extend their lessons on specific topics by allowing students to explore a wide variety of online research.

Creating a classroom that captures students’ attention involves more than just integrating the curriculum with the 21st century literacies. It entails creating an atmosphere where the student’s interests are accounted for, and the teacher adjusts the tools that are used. Technology is one strategy that teachers can use to create such a classroom. But the first step to creating a classroom that can incorporate technology involves teachers instructing their students to think critically about the information that is read. Once students are able to think critically about the content, then tying the curriculum with their interests can occur.

In my previous blog, I outlined how I would integrate weekly journals in my classroom to incorporate global literacy. I also stated that these journals would allow my students to research different issues that are happening around the world. This approach includes both the passion based learning concept, and provides opportunities for cross-curricular integration. What I find the most beneficial about implementing this into my classroom is that there are so many opportunities for me, as a teacher, to create very teachable moments for my students. There will also be opportunities for my future students to guide the direction of what is being learned in the classroom.

Saga Briggs outlines 25 ways to institute passion-based learning in the classroom. Her blog illustrates important points such as allowing students’ passion to develop and change. I think this is crucial for allowing any student to grow and develop as an individual in such an inquiry based type classroom. If freedom is given to the students, but we as teachers still limit where their curiosity can be explored, it does not allow for students to learn what interests them on a deeper level. A quote that I think summarizes all of this accurately is by W.B Yeats; “Education is not the filling of a bucket, but the lighting of a fire”.

Resources:

Drake, S. M., Reid, J. L., & Kolohon, W. (2014). Interweaving curriculum and classroom assessment: Engaging the 21st century learner. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press.