In a classroom setting, in order to develop creativity in the classroom, I would allow time for creative thinking. A teacher can be creative in his/her assignments and projects, but in order to really inspire creativity in the students, it is important to allow them to come up with creative ideas on their own. For example, allow the students at the beginning of the week to brainstorm ideas for writing prompts, they can jot down words, phrases, or actual questions that will provoke thought. Then, throw them in a basket, and throughout the week, draw a card, and have the students do short writings about the word, phrase, or question. This is a fun and creative way for students to engage in writing activities they would otherwise see as bothersome and boring. Because they and their peers have made the prompts it automatically makes the writing more enjoyable. It also creates and opportunity for the teacher to recognize standout writers. For example, I have seen it done where a student wrote down the word "frustrated" on his card. When it was drawn later in the week, the responses were surprisingly deep and thought provoking. I will definitely use this creative writing technique in my future classroom.
Courtney,
ReplyDeleteI really love this idea! I think the students would not only be able to think creatively about the word, phrase or question they put in the basket but about the writing assignment as well. If given time to do both of these I would expect to see some pretty creative writing out of the students.