Some the of the phrases we can use as Teachers to encourage creative thinking are:
Imagine if …..?
Why not ………?
What would you do if ………?
What can we do?
There are some great tools out there to spark creativity in students. One of these is:
School Retool http://schoolretool.org/
Share your ideas and resources here including any valuable links to resources.
when listening to this I also thought about times when I have been burnt from those around me and how that makes me react. It then starts me thinking about the amount of trust I have in those who burnt me before. It would be so good not to have those feelings to have a place where you felt same and happy to invest in identifying ways to do things differently.
Very understandable. And also creating safe space for yourself and choosing your reactions.
Imagine if …..?
Why not ………?
What would you do if ………?
What can we do?
Teaching in 2020/2021 has been possible by embracing each of these questions .
We all have had to be innovative within our teaching practice , work around tech issues ,ensure inclusiveness for all our learners , find news ways of delivery , think outside the box. For myself it was about learning to teach a trade in an imperfect setting which resulted in more of a collaborative learning process for all .
Time consuming and exhausting ,however I am a better teacher for the experience
Covid 19 has given us the opportunities to try something different as in this case it was not what would we do with out the classroom. The classroom was not there. How much of what we have learnt over the past two years will stay with us
Very good points, Fiona. There’s nothing like a crisis to bring out innovation!
I always encourage students to incorporate some small aspect of them into whatever they do, for example in a baking class, what flavours are relevant to them (cultural, familiar etc) recently a student of Vietnamese background, created a “Banh mi pastry”
I love this idea of allowing them to take control of their own learning in any way that we can.
Yes, Tayce, You are right. We should do our best to make our students to take control of their own learning instead of relying on teachers without thinking.
Exactly students from various backgrounds and workplaces have a lot to share and expose to one another.
That’s a great idea, it helps connect them to an initially difficult process. Thank you 🙂
I use it often in class, how can we get where we want and need.
Especially with students with a disability, the how and what can is important.
As many have already said 2020-21 has given us a great opportunity to experiment with:
1. Why not…..?
2. What if…….?
3. What can I do?
In the ESOL world that I am working in, the organisation threw a lot of time and resources into conducting training into alternate/mix mode delivery and as educators we were all able to adapt quickly to the change.
The challenge was that the students didn’t have the same technology available to them, the skills to needed to access the ‘delivery platforms’ or the English to navigate it all. Through trial and error, we did however develop a system the worked for everyone and learning was able to continue. Although it wasn’t a total success, I would say it was a ‘nearling’ and definitely gave us something to build on for these latest lockdowns.
I have continued to make videos of important key skills and vocab to use in my lessons and put on line for the students to use for revision and consolidation.
Some great ideas. Unfortunately creativity is stifled by training package requirements and compliance in VET
agreed, and as always the governing body is the slowest to adapt.
I agree. Students and teachers are overloaded with the amount of work to do/complete that creativity is sometimes suppressed.
Could not agree more
Hard going for all!
Covid during 2020 and 2021 has definately been an eye opener as to what can be achieved and how much “thinking outside the box” has become the norm when facilitating the online classroom.
I agree, Melissa. So much innovation in such a short time – it’s amazing what can be achieved when we are forced into areas out of our comfort zones.
I agree, it has forced us to use technology more effectively and encouraged us to be creative in the delivery of content. We now need to transfer these ideas and skills to our everyday practice.
Some great ideas and starting points though the what can we do gets us due to funding constraints … and the powers that be seem to think that all our students want to learn online (that’s why they come to campus rather than enrol through Digital ???)
Asking the question and having the ideas ready for if we do have some excess to utilise is always good though
Financial constraints are always a challenge but so is the use of technology for a number of our students. The digital world has bought about a number of changes in the work force and now we are trying to move those who do not always have that knowledge along in this world as well
Using technology (e.g. QR codes for student to access information or fill out work using their phones instead or pen and paper)
I think we answered all of the Imagine if
why not?
what would you do?
what can we do?
when we all were in lockdown nothing is impossible. Just needed a reason
Fly by the seat of our pants first time and hopefully we have it right this time in lockdown .. a bit better prepared as we are now asking the question
100% been a very scary time but also a time of great learning
I totally agree, I think the silver lining of it all is that it has forced us to change and adapt our practises to suit the world we are living in.
I totally agree! My confidence in using technology & different platforms has grown so much & I can see so much potential for the future…..I just need to allow myself the time to be creative, be brave enough to speak up & start taking risks!!
Imagine if …..?
Why not ………?
What would you do if ………?
What can we do?
In 2020 we got to experience all of this first hand moving very quickly to new platforms and using new resources and we haven’t looked back .
I totally agree!
Online teaching during Covid 19 raised all those questions for the teachers and for students.
Yes and a very quick learning curve!
super steep learning curve and learn as you go
Moodle is a new tool we use – new way of not wasting paper – learning from home as well
I agree with you Jackie Moodle is great students can get all the
resources they need to prepare for their class No Paper
What we are moving onto – A great Online Tool.
not quite user friendly though.
agree. i prefer hard copies. but younger generations seem fine with softcopies.
Unfortunately-our Moodles have gone to a statewide model which makes it really difficult to contextualise materials for local cohorts. In theory-great to have full materials on-line for ‘learn when you can’
What would we do it…….? What can we do……? This happened when COVID hit, Personally I had to learn very quickly how to deliver classes on line. Not being particularly tech savvy I had no choice but to become so. Look at what we had to offer and learn how to do. Fast. Encourage and teach students to do the same.
There were both positive as well as some issues with COVID-19 in education. It definitely motivated some educators to bring about a major change in the way they delivered content, but the students who are from non English speaking backgrounds found it extremely difficult to engage even though the organisation had a variety of resources that were provided for the students. Using the above phrases would have been a great resource to encourage creative thinking with both students & teachers:
Imagine if …..?
Why not ………?
What would you do if ………?
What can we do?
I was one of those educators that was motivated to bring about major chance to how I delivered my classes. I had no choice but to learn very quickly how to do that. Honestly one of the best things that happened to me.
I agree ,when pushed out of our comfort zone we realised anything is possible.
It certainly pushed me out of my comfort zone and forced me to approach and think about things differently. It also allowed me to question – what was really important to teach and what skills did I need to encourage my students to learn, practice and hone
What would you do if…….? Diff would create good discussions.
COVID certainly disrupted some sacred cows especially in the form of hands-on practical assessment. Much of these were “virtualised” or simulated with a large degree of success and will hopefully be further developed moving forward.
Unfortunately we weren’t able to our practical component being the beauty industry. We were however able to deliver all theory online. Something not done before but definitely a way of the future. We also continue to communicate with students using MS Teams. It’s great.
I prefer Shat would you do if …? and What can we do? questions. That put educators in the position of taking responsibility for helping out rather than evading for good excuses.
Due to covid, we learnt quickly the news ways of delivering on line. With covid lock down returning during the school holidays now we will need to remember how it was all done…..
At least we have the holidays to brush up on all of this again
Everyone took the responsibility for coping. It was so efficient and co-operative.
yes and individual efforts to overcome the barriers were welcomed
A similar experience was evident among my colleagues it also gave us the opportunity to see how clever & creative some of our colleagues were, got to see and find a lot about other teachers & their amazing skills.
it was amazing what we learnt differently when we had no choice
Yes but online is only one aspect of learning it is not the answer to everything most students wish to interact with each other as soon as possible.
yes the facetoface physical connection is essential to all/most people.
When we want to make changes, you need the community involvement for the change to take place and stick. If it is there decision and there is ownership to making change happen. No idea is silly or unworthy. You will apply
Imagine if …..?
Why not ………?
What would you do if ………?
What can we do?
Believe in it and have a go. It may not work but at least you have tried. Then try another approach.
this is a good idea i will try this next week Ritula
Yes, just give it a go. Before this training, I was trying to avoid asking question Imagine if …..? because it looked silly to me.
I am surely going to use these questioning strategies during our staff meetings.
Yes community involvement is vital
thanks to covid MS Teams, Kahoot, menti meter, padlet and even facebook!
Couple of years ago my year 12 students taught me Kahoot, Teams is great! During teaching with Technology workshops, we learnt many ways of engage students. Just need the time to practise and get better at it.
it is amazing how we have had to learn all these online platforms like; teams, and zoom RTO manager etc and how Instagram etc have taken off
Couldnt agree with you more Karalyn!
changes were forced upon us and we embraced new methods for engagement and teaching purposes – but, unfortunately, the assessment remained the same for compliance
yes many of us had to learn how to use these – they do not work well for practical such as trades
I agree Jackie. There is only so much you can do through these resources for nursing courses.
I would like to try some online delivery with Kahoot or Zoom as nearly every student owns a mobile phone. and these are more user friendly. thats what I Can do
Why not try Teams in a face to face classroom with a shared whiteboard that they can use to collaborate with.
I like that idea, many ways of collaborating with documents, gives lots of opportunities.
Looking at the four questions, we have created blended classrooms, created video content for students to use outside of class, we put together on online tutorial class and have created blended face to face and online classes
I agree in a short time we have made many changes.
Creativity keeps the learning space interesting and allows students to come up with all sorts of ideas, helps with problems solving, team building, teamwork and collaboration
absolutely – sometimes this can be challenging but thats why i love teaching!
Agree – creativity in the classroom and during class discussions allows the student to expand on their thinking, ask questions they may not have previously asked as well as building self confidence.
Totally agree KLee, creativity is the key!
totally agree with you Kate
Our way to help learning throughout the covid pandemic was to move our classes to online to try the continuation of learning
Mark – as much as Covid has been a curse, it has also been a blessing in creating new ways to deliver
COVID was a great way for everyone to gain new skills that can be valuable to take into future employment, not just the classroom. Our students and teachers gained from the experience.
the best thing to come out of covid – yes it was full on! but we did it and now have some many new skills!
I foster peer-to-peer learning in my classrooms. I encourage students who are at different levels to work together at different times as this assists both sides to benefit, as the proficient student reinforces what they know and the student who is trying to learn or catch up has a personal coach. Every student has something to teach: they could be tech savvy; up-to-date with the latest information on certain topics; have a great sense of humour etc.
Great idea Suzanne but can be problematic if one student has language difficulty and not keen to work with other student
I like that idea of peer to peer learning – and we learn more when we teach
Suzanne, in my ESOL classes I pair up students from different First languages to complete a task together. This way both of them try. and it works. Some times students at different proficiency levels are paired together to complete a task
Study buddies and also those who have done something before to assist the novice works well. Getting younger ones who are tech savvy to help older ones is fun too.
Great resource that needs exploring and thinking about
Being creative during Covid and delivering classes online to adults has been challenging but pushing the students to engage with the learning activities using things like Whiteboard, Padlet, Forms embedding Youtubes into factsheets and other bits of tech has been a great mindwidening experience for all of us. Adding more of the ‘image if, why not etc’ will add a whole new dimension. I can’t wait to try it!
Agreed, this will be an interesting experiment
Jan, not only students but as teachers we had to adapt to the new modes of delivery during Covid 19 lockdowns
With Covid, we had to move our classes to online learning. This was especially difficult for students with low levels of English who didn’t have the technological ability to navigate the systems, or the internet at home or even a computer. We had to ask ourselves “what can we do”, and we were able to engage those who either did have the know how or the physical equipment to do classes on line, and for those who couldn’t, we replicated the lessons in paper form and posted packages to the students. We also asked students how they would like to receive their materials, and surprisingly, a lot said they preferred the posted packages, even though they had the capability to join an online session.
I prefer hard copies to online versions personally. I spend up to 16+ hours per day with a computer screen and given the opportunity to read a paper based document is like heaven. Hard copy documents can be taken anywhere, and read over and over and no access to the internet is required. There are many benefits that will be lost when hard copies are not around any more.
What if students could listen to their English texts read by a current “star” in the era of the students? That way the students could connect with the reader and then hear their book – great for students who struggle to read.
yes it would
Really good idea, we use that and encourage students to listen to the content in immersive reader
Creativity in re-designing the classroom can result in ‘for and against decisions’ which can be a good learning tool and the need to accept choices which aren’t always plausible and wont work in this situation.
And allowing the students and opportunity to participate in creating their learning space is valuable too.
Totally agree – such a great idea!
Why not remove all the desks in the classroom and ask students to re-design the room? It energises creativity with lots of discussion.
What if students were able to download text books and listen to them. Instead of using social media on the way home on the school bus they could listen to their books and so are able to leap ahead when asked to do homework.
Hi Maureen, great idea! I agree 100%. This would help them to remember information also. It could be similar to virtual reality learning that is now starting to become a new trend.
I love the idea of using the creativity starters in the classroom to generate discussion.
Me too. Really think it will engage my adult learners, and help them take risks with their learning.
These questions are very powerful – I will incorporate them into my classes and see where it goes.
I am going to do the same. Very powerful
Some interesting ideas on the School Retool site. I particularly like the idea of students teaching students. Students are a valuable resource; the creative challenge is working out how to combine two groups in a way that improves learning outcomes for students in both groups.
Great resource. Need to explore further and try some of the ideas.
I too love this idea. It would not only improve learning outcomes for both groups but would foster respect and tolerance and enable them to safely engage without fear of judgement or recrimination. They may even enjoy it!
that is a great idea. It’s said that the best way to learn something is to teach it. I’ve found that when I use this approach with my students, they feel very empowered.
Such a fantastic resource,! students teaching students was very apparent within MS teams especially within the chat
To spark creativity, it is imperative to use open ended questions to encourage discussion.
Yes – watching and listening learners engage with each other constructively, discussing ideas and problem solving is a joy.
Not only do these questions encourage creative thinking, they also open up the communication and engagement with students
I feel that many staff were/are or in the dilema of “Use it or lose it” with creative thinking.
creativity is and must be exploited to make learning fun and also giving students the sense of achievement, why not? is so powerful , exploring other ways of reaching your goals
“Failure is the mother of Success. ” –It is also one of the core topics of Creativity.
If we accept students’ failures and encourage learners to learn from their failures, make sure it’s not “Life and death failure.” ——It is an important learning process.
Agree – failure can be our motivational driver and an important process to resilience.
I agree, failure can be a great motivator for students to strive for better outcomes.
I agree – fear of failure limits risk taking and ultimately learning.
I agree. I think we have all felt the fear this past year. I know that I have tried and failed a few times when grappling with online tech and trying to engage my students through the screen both with myself and the others in the class. But we have all gained.
THis year with covid we have been able to provide courses to students who live far away from the campus.
I agree with Ariane. Online learning is the “Blessing” from Covid -19 in 2020.
Most students on earth are forced to stay home and keep learning.
Even adult learners with limited IT skills are able to enjoy learning and chatting via Zoom or MS Teams.
It has shown that most students have choosen to become resilient and encouraged during COVID 19 lockdown.
When Covid require teaching and learning to move online, many teachers felt that students with low literacy levels would not be able to cope with the amount of reading, use of digital tools and absence of teacher support. Interestingly students fared much better than anticipated – with higher levels of participation and completion than previously experienced in face to face teaching. A more creative environment would have asked: What if students had to study online? Until we actually tried this we would not have known how well both students and teachers could manage this. Creativity is not just about ideas but about trying things out, even if we are not confident they will work. You don’t know till you try.
Learning online s allowed some students to explore their creativity in a less confrontational way and with less peer distractions.
Indeed.
We had this same dilemma – how would we reach the students who couldn’t access online classes? We were very surprised at how many did manage to get into the online classes, and were equally surprised by those who chose to receive physical packages instead, even if they could have accessed the online forums.
As I work and teach in the early childhood field, the question to spark creativity is I wonder where can we find that or I wonder what can we do about it… depending on the topic but I wonder is a good start for meaningful discussion.
We were lucky to have an alternate thinking Principal at our school in recent years (she’s moved on to running learning centres in Asia) and her efforts have started to become tangible – play equipment in the yard, painted and resurfaced sports courts and the acquisition of a house adjoining our small school yard. She said “what if …” and surveyed the students/staff and submitted proposals to the “governing education organisation” who said those proposals were the best they’d ever seen.
It’s essential to encourage change or else staff will get stuck in the treadmill and perhaps leave the profession.
A resource – http://psychlearningcurve.org/creative-teaching-and-teaching-creativity-how-to-foster-creativity-in-the-classroom/ – discusses using Da Vinci’s note book to encourage children to be creative and then goes on to other related topics and resources.
Alison, you were very fortunate to have such a innovative , forward thinking Principal in your school. More schools need leaders like that. I my previous school there were too many teachers who had been there for way too long. Enthusiastic, creative thinking new teachers were brought ‘into line’ before long. Some, however escaped to grow and blossom at other schools. My strategy was to ‘plant seeds and quietly go about fertilising them .People are often more willing to get on board if they can see something good….or if they think it was their idea! 🙂
One of my favourite sayings as a teacher is, “Mistakes are not failures, they are growth points.” If (when) you make a mistake it is important to model to your students how you will learn from it, rise above it or say ‘sorry’ and make amends if it has caused harm.
Good point Joanne. Modelling learning from mistakes and rewarding those who try to be innovative or creative is really helpful.
I’ve noticed that students are ok about teachers’ mistakes, as long as we own it. Unpacking why we made the mistake and what we learned from it encourages students to have a go.
I agree teaching programming I always start by saying you have to make heaps of mistakes that’s how you learn.
“Failure is the mother of Success. ” –It is also one of the core topics of Creativity.
If we accept students’ failures and encourage learners to learn from their failures, make sure it’s not “Life and death failure.” ——It is an important learning process.
for sure learning comes from making mistakes, as the saying goes failure is mother of invention
Great statement, I too, model mistakes, it is important to own any mistakes you have made and it is good for students to see that we are all human, as long as we learn from our mistakes.
My favourite saying is: “if you’re not making mistakes you’re not trying!”
Also being open about your own mistakes is a great example to the students.
Imagine If is great to encourage students to start thinking of ideas and rolling with these ideas which encourages creativity.
I think “Imagine if..” is a great starter too, especially when backed with music and images and perhaps a mediation prior to launching the “Imagine if…” statement.
encouraging creativity in education is very important to open up areas in the creative space that people never ventured because of sacred cow rituals, this taboo has to be broken especially with the newer generations where technology plays such a pivotal role
the question why not? really sticks with me. many students feel like they aren’t confident enough to take risks and tell you what their real ideas are. by posing the question why not? it helps students to break down that barrier and give them the opportunity to have a go. This question can be quite powerful in my opinion.
The question that resonates with me is What can we do? we often get stuck in what we have always done. what can we do with what we have invites creatively approaching problems/situations
exactly, giving that opportunity to think about something different rather than just relying on what we know.
Yes there can often be so much negativity we don’t focus on what we can do.
Sometimes just changing up the venue really sparks creativity. Taking the class outside, or to the library, or on an “inter-campus” excursion seems to really lift spirits and bolster creativity. Also, tying in specialised interests such as history or current news also sometimes prompts quieter members of the class to share opinions or show interest where often there is none or mimimal.
yes i believe this, being stuck in the same classroom can really kill creativity. changing up the scenery or working in a more authentic environment allows for students to be more open to new ideas.
I believe the same, changing the venue or changing the position of the tables/desks is enough to make classroom more inviting.
One of the best teachers my children had changed the classroom (year 5) into a news office – students became journalists, editors, photographers, marketers, bloggers etc, they had team meetings to plan stories, review progress and come up with new ideas. The furniture was moved around to replicate a workplace and walls became planning and display areas. All subjects were run in this new environment and the students thrived.