Designing a Creativity Friendly Learning Environment
1 like1,516 views
The document outlines strategies for developing a creativity-friendly learning environment in education, emphasizing the importance of recognizing underlying assumptions, defining creativity, and creating opportunities across subjects. It advocates for a shift from a traditional teaching culture to a more student-centered learning culture that fosters critical and creative thinking. Additionally, it discusses the necessity of professional development for educators to sustain innovation and promote student agency in learning.
Designing a Creativity Friendly Learning Environment
- 1. Designing a creativity-friendly learning environment Anne Fennell annefennell@vistausd.org Vista Unified School District, Vista, California, US “Fostering creativity in children and young people through education and culture.” AMFennell
- 2. • Artifacts • Espoused beliefs and values • Underlying assumptions What are your underlying assumptions of traditional education? How do we close this gap? Educational/Organizational Culture is based on:
- 3. How do we develop a creativity-friendly learning environment • Know your underlying assumptions • Define creativity in education • Identify creativity in teaching and learning • Create intentional and explicit opportunities in all subjects AMFennell
- 4. How do we develop a creativity-friendly learning environment • Determine what students should know and be able to do • Use open inquiry, intentional language, conscious engagement • Assess process • Promote student agency AMFennell
- 5. Moving from a Teaching Culture to a Learning Culture a paradigm shift: a fundamental change in approach and/or underlying assumptions. Assumptions - what we believe to be true, through which we experience our world. They form the basis of our beliefs.
- 6. What is creativity? Old: participating in an art, creating something, fixed mindset, ‘not creative’, “you are so creative”, Current:
- 7. How do teachers come to value and promote creative skills in their students?
- 8. How do teachers come to value and promote creative skills in their students? • It can only be valued if they know what it is and can see it as an integral part of every educational experience • Define creativity as a teacher, class, school • Recognize that creativity can be found in any lesson, in any subject
- 9. How do teachers come to value and promote creative skills in their students? • When they realize they’ve been moving students to their single teacher outcome vs. student outcome results • Underestimating the learners potential
- 10. 1
- 11. x
- 12. What does teaching for critical and creative thinking look, sound, and feel like?
- 15. Hannah Clark, per. 1, 5/4/17 Creative Thinking : When I came to this section of the piece, I didn’t know how to transition it into the next section. I had composer’s block and couldn’t compose any tracks that fit with the atmosphere I was trying to create. I then listened to my peer’s compositions and found some inspiration in them. I then grabbed the mini keyboard and started experimenting, using different instruments. After a few minutes I came up with tracks that sounded good alone, but not to my liking when played together. I decided to stagger the tracks through a few seconds so the result would transition into the next section. I used the creative process of improvisation and experimentation.
- 16. What does teaching for creativity imply for teaching practice?
- 17. How does creativity work hand-in-hand with thinking? Can creativity be taught?
- 18. How do teachers come to value and promote creative skills in their students? • When they see students actively engaged, thriving, making connections, and are “invincible” • Through modeling, recognition, student reflection • when students learn through discovery and student-lead insights
- 19. Where did your idea come from? I disagree because... I think this because… What about….. I ........ What do you think? Why? I wonder… Let’s try… Tell me more What’s your idea? What words and phrases might you hear from teachers and students?
- 20. Valuing and promoting creative skills in students creates student agency:
- 21. Valuing and promoting creative skills in students creates student agency: autonomy level of control voice choice ownership of knowledge discover strengths and needs reflective
- 22. What does teaching for creativity imply for teaching practice? • prioritize what students should know and be able to do • we must know what teaching for creativity looks, feels, sounds like, how it can be placed in a lesson to open up student engagement • make a gradual shift towards student centered education
- 23. How do we develop the capacity to teach for creative thinking? • take risks, open the ‘structure’, less formulaic, allow students to lead, discover, co-create, choose, and connect their learning experience • shift the trajectory of learning from product to process and discovery ‘ipad’
- 24. How can teachers share these experiences and knowledge with colleagues in their schools and beyond?
- 25. Can innovations be sustained in one classroom, or does it require whole of school approaches?
- 26. How do you manage for ‘x’ How do we: • assess (grading), collect evidence • create opportunities for visible thinking • show process of learning • move students from the 1 to the ‘x’ • how do we educate parents What else must we manage?
- 27. What does teaching for creativity imply for teaching practice?
- 28. How does creativity work hand-in-hand with thinking? Can creativity be taught?
- 29. Can innovations be sustained in one classroom or does it require whole of school approaches?
- 30. CALL TO ACTION How do we develop a continual learning culture with teams of teachers that will teach for creativity while promoting student agency and lifelong learning?
- 31. Through Professional Development • 2015 – 2017 ongoing • VUSD OECD SITE created to house all docs • Meetings: 5-6 times in the year • define creative and critical thinking • scholarly articles, share connect • reflect and assess on: • current teaching • what types of thinking are intentionally taught/imbedded
- 32. Workshop Structure and Culture • Teachers brainstormed what teaching for creativity would look, feel, sound like • Teachers identify current customs and beliefs of critical and creative thinking. • Release testing culture. (rubrics to ‘grade’) • Building capacity and sequence for success and long term change • Inquiry driven
- 33. Workshop Structure and Culture • Collaborative (school and district teams) • Discovery as a process to inform practice • Discussion and open dialogue • Develop joint lesson plans • Focus on process of teaching/learning
- 34. Critical and Creative Thinking Learning Plan Team: Subject: Grade Level: Date(s): WHAT WILL MY STUDENTS KNOW AND BE ABLE TO DO? ● Enduring Understanding: ● Objective(s): ● Essential Questions: • • • ● Standards: HOW DO I WANT STUDENTS TO ENGAGE IN CRITICAL AND/OR CREATIVE THINKING? Summary: MY PATHWAY TO ACTION What’s my plan? WHAT Task WHO individual/partners/group WHEN Timeline RESOURCES Materials, Supplies, Technology needs ACCOMMODATIONS QUESTIONS TO DRIVE INSTRUCTION ASSESSMENT: Evidence of visible learning through the learning process (formal/informal) Beginning Middle End OECD VUSD Lesson Plan Template
- 35. Areas for Change • quality vs. amount • learner independence vs. compliance • objectivity vs. subjectivity (emotions/feelings) • concrete evidence of learning vs. variability • process vs. knowledge based • are identifying character/personality traits necessary ?– subjective and not normalized
- 36. Common Goals and Language • Rubric shifts to Continuum
- 37. Common Goals and Language • Rubric shifts to Continuum
- 38. Assessment possibilities • Digital portfolios • Self-Assessments • Student feedback and reasoning • Teacher feedback and reasoning to students
- 39. NEXT STEPS • 5 year plan • expand grade levels and site implementation • gather more lessons and artifacts • evaluate student progress & rubric • observation protocol • create critical thinking rubric • address Call to Action
- 40. How do we develop a creativity-friendly learning environment • Know your underlying assumptions • Define creativity in education • Identify creativity in teaching and learning • Create opportunities for this in all subjects AMFennell
- 41. Recap How do we develop a creativity friendly learning environment • Determine what students should know and be able to do • Use open inquiry, intentional language, Conscious engagement • Assess process • Promote student agency AMFennell
- 42. • Artifacts • Espoused beliefs and values • Underlying assumptions Educational/Organizational Culture is based on:
- 43. Vista Unified School District Vista, CA58% qualify for free lunch 24% English learners 10% homeless 60% Hispanic 28% Caucasian 4% African American 3% Asian 3% 2+ races 1% Filipino 1% Pacific Islander
- 44. Vista Unified School District Approximately 20,000 students • 15 Elementary (preKindergarten - Gr. 5) • 5 Middle Schools (Grades 6-7-8) • 3 High Schools (Grades 9-10-11-12) 1,100 Teachers 1,000 Support Staff 75 Administrators
- 45. Lesson Plan Examples Empresa Elementary Emotions of Art Casita Elementary Natural Hazards
- 46. Student Artifacts by School Student discovers line