Fostering Creativity

How boring life would be without creativity! Remember that every human endeavour, world changing invention, or blockbuster movie started with one persons creative thinking, someone thinking beyond what they can see. Creativity does not just happen; it needs to be cultivated, and the cultivation of creativity in every kid starts from the classroom (Bharti, 2014).

Providing a safe, encouraging, and stimulating classroom for students is the best way to foster creativity. A safe and encouraging classroom means students are feeling comfortable and confident to express their thoughts, feelings, and creative ideas. To promote a safe and encouraging classroom we can focus on Dimension 1 of the Dimensions of Learning, Attitudes and Perceptions, more specifically Feeling Accepted by Teachers and Peers-

• Establish a relationship with each student in the class.
• Monitor and attend to your own attitudes.
• Engage in equitable and positive classroom behaviour.
• Recognise and provide for students' individual differences.
• Respond positively to students' incorrect responses or lack of response.
• Vary positive reinforcement offered when students give the correct response.
• Provide opportunities for students to get to know and accept each other (Marzano & Pickering, 1997).

Providing a stimulating classroom means using engaging activities to promote creativity from the students. Using effective 'hooks' in the beginning of the lesson will ultimately set the mood for the whole lesson. Ensuring your 'hook' is intriguing, luring, and interactive will immediately have students thinking creatively if done correctly. Creating a stimulating classroom means permitting frequent classroom discussions and interactions with and between students, this leads to sharing ideas, furthering knowledge, and promoting higher order thinking. Additionally using a variety of activities and different models throughout the unit to have students continually being creatively challenged and stimulated will foster a creative classroom.

The following are some great links with ideas to foster creativity in the classroom - 

http://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/30-things-you-can-do-to-promote-creativity-in-your-classroom/

http://doug-johnson.squarespace.com/blue-skunk-blog/2014/3/10/18-ways-to-promote-creativity-in-your-classroom-everyday.html

http://www.teachhub.com/teaching-creativity

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/how-promote-creative-thinking

References:

Bharti, P. (2014, May 25). How to Promote Creativity in your Classroom? Retrieved July 6, 2015, from Ed Tech Review: http://edtechreview.in/trends-insights/insights/1155-how-to-promote-creativity-in-your-classroom

Marzano, R. J., & Pickering, D. J. (1997). Dimensions of Learning. Colorado: McREL.