CLEAR 2 by GEORGE DIAMANDIS

New Met hodol ogy

Contents 1.THE PROJECT

1.1.A prologue

1.2.Preface

2.INTRODUCTION TO A NEW METHOD

2.1.Cretivity

2.2.Learningo

2.3.Education-Teaching-Knowledge-Pedagogy

2.4.Learning Environments

2.5.Creative Learning

2.6.Why Crative Learning

2.7.General principles of Creative Learning process

2.8.Arts and Creative Learning

2.9.Theater and Learning

2.10.Creative Learning and Socialization

2.11.What the children learn from art and learning through Creative Methods

2.13.The Importance of play in Creative Learning

2.14.Dramatic Convetions

3.THE TEACHER IN CREATIVE LEARNING

3.1.Teacherss role

3.2.The teachers role -The New teacher-student realationship

3.3.The teachers role at the Nursery and Primary School

3.4.Teachers role and Element of drama

4.THE NEW METHOD

4.1.Approaching the new Method

4.2.Theatre and Creative Learning

4.3.Theatre in the Classroo

4.4.What a teacher need to start off a Creative Learning Lesson

4.5.Actors Art and Function

4.6.Creative Learning like a story telling

4.7.The story of a lentil

4.8.In a few words what should i do

4.9.Evaluation in Creative Learning

4.10.Criteria Concerning the development of Students

4.11.Particular critiria for Evaluation of a Lesson

4.12.Example of possible Evaluation for subject of Maths

4.13.Self -Evaluation

1.THE PROJECT

1.1.A prologue The project is aiming to introduce a new innovative method that will make use of theatre techniques in order to make more attractive the teaching of the school subjects in the Through the improvement of the attractiveness of these subjects and through the active participation of the students in the classroom, the project aims to improve the educational achievement of the students in these subjects. The project aims also to develop innovative resources for the teachers embedded in the digital era. It is aiming to develop an elearning course for the training of the teachers as well as a portal whichthrough the interactive resources of the project. In this way, by creating open and innovative resources, accessible in different European languages, it aims to expand its impact all over Europe and develop resources that will be widely used and accessible to all elementary school teachers interested. The use of theatre techniques in the elementary school is proven to be very effective for the improvement of the school performance (see for example the work of Kieran Egan, Dewey and Jean Piaget). It addresses at the same time linguistic spatial, logical, bodilykinaesthetic intelligence. It makes the class more attractive and it promotes the active participation of the students in the class improving in this way the

educational performance of the children. The project is aiming to produce a comprehensivey for the use of theatre techniques for all the subjects of the school curriculum and for all the classes of the elementary school. This will be a very useful resource for all the elementary school teachers in Europe who will be able to find suggestions and tools in order to implement artistic techniques for teaching the curriculum. The scarcity of teacher training in this field is another need addressed by the project. Throughout Europe, there is scarcity of teacher training seminars on the subject and when they are organised, they are usually concentrated in the big cities. The material that is available online is usually fragmented and limited in â&#x20AC;&#x153;tipsâ&#x20AC;? that could be used by the teacher in order to teach specific subjects in specific classes. The project is aiming to develop interactive online resources that will be comprehensive; they will cover the whole curriculum of the elementary school (adapted in different national realities) withimplemented by other teachers that would be practical and easily implementable by teachers all over Europe. Nicholas Kamtsis

1.2.Preface Creative learning is the title. (Clear) It aims to become a useful tool for all those involved in the educational process and provide material for significant experiments at school. CLEAR addresses mainly to teachers and concerns primary education. It has theoretical and practical character. It attempts to redefine philosophical and pedagogical concepts such as learning, creativity, imagination, and suggests ways so as the school become a field of creative forces and fertility source for teachers and students. It aims that the school become a space vivid and attractive so that the teacher and the student, can love and support it. The student could link the knowledge with the pleasure and the teacher could reassess its role in the educational process. The teacher-student relationship can reveal its true meaning and magic power. The goal is the school community to become a creative interaction field where both individual advancement and collegiality will be promoted equally. To hunt these grand objectives, CLEAR suggests as weapons theatrical techniques, technology (multimedia, etc.), game, creativity and arts. The arts-music, visual arts, Theatre-do not constitutes independent fields of knowledge or “supplements” of education. There are not “lessons” that can be put roughly in the jam-packed train of

program so as to provide an alibi for an education sterile and mechanistic. Art can be a driving force to the “vehicle» of treatment, can provide the key to a comprehensive and essential education; can become the missing link between learning and creation. CLEAR focuses especially on the relationship between drama and learning. It is based on the common pedagogical place where imitation, action, role play are the ways that the child spontaneously chooses to communicate with its environment and learn from it. Theater, as the meeting place of diverse forms of artistic expression, gives the child the opportunity to explore its inclinations and interests, to unfold its personality. As an activity, eminently collective, it favors the socialization of the child making the child an “addict” to the communication and team spirit. CLEAR can be an alternative for children with learning difficulties, who are unable to respond to the traditional teaching methods and as a result, they placed in the margin of the educational process. CLEAR and its creators put a great deal: that drama can work as an effective method of teaching all kind of courses. Maybe not as exclusive method, but as an option, so that the learning process can become colorful, charming and funny. CLEAR is one of those ideas that need the right conditions to thrive. We need the right framework and planning, we need support, logistics and above all, teachers with inspiration broader education and –especially- political will. Otherwise, it is doomed to be lost in the ocean of good intentions of confusion and babble talking.

2.INTRODUCTION TO A NEW METHOD

2.1.Cretivity Creativity is defined as the tendency to generate or recognize ideas, alternatives, or possibilities that may be useful in solving problems, communicating with others, and entertaining ourselves and others. Three reasons why people are motivated to be creative: Need for novel, varied, and complex stimulation Need to communicate ideas and values Need to solve problems In order to be creative, you need to be able to view things in new ways or from a different perspective. Among other things, you need to be able to generate new possibilities or new alternatives. Tests of creativity measure not only the number of alternatives that people can generate but the uniqueness of those alternatives. the ability to generate alternatives or to see things uniquely does not occur by change; it is linked to other, more fundamental qualities of thinking, such as flexibility, tolerance of ambiguity or unpredictability, and the enjoyment of things heretofore unknown. Characteristics of the creative personality: 1. Creative individuals have a great deal of energy, but they are also often quiet and at rest. 2. Creative individuals tend to be smart, yet also naive at the same 0

time. 3. Creative individuals have a combination of playfulness and discipline, or responsibility and irresponsibility. 4. Creative individuals alternate between imagination and fantasy at one end, and rooted sense of reality at the other. 5. Creative people seem to harbor opposite tendencies on the continuum between extroversion and introversion. 6. Creative individuals are also remarkable humble and proud at the same time. 7. Creative individuals to a certain extent escape rigid gender role stereotyping. 8. Generally, creative people are thought to be rebellious and independent. 9. Most creative persons are very passionate about their work, yet they can be extremely objective about it as well.

2.2.Learning We define learning as the transformative process of taking in information that—when internalized and mixed with what we have experienced—changes what we know and builds on what we do. It’s based on input, process, and reflection. It is what changes us. 1.Term coming from Greek philosophy and history culture. Education usually holds two meanings: the narrow one is the school education. The broader one is, according to the ancient Greek beliefs, the creation of a good, decent, conscious citizen as well as the creation of a culture which equals the spirit of the cultivate human. As Richard E. Mayers mentioned1 learning is the relatively permanent change in a person’s knowledge or behaviour due to experience. This definition has three components: 1) the duration of the change is long-term rather than short-term; 2) the locus of the change is the content and structure of knowledge in memory or the behaviour of the learner; 3) the cause of the change is the learner’s experience in the environment rather than fatigue, motivation, drugs, physical condition or physiologic intervention.” 2. Learning also is the complex psycho-physical function of familiarisation and assimilation of knowledge and development of skills. The learning process requires the use of a complete methodology that involves all aspects of the person’s personality (physical, mental, emotional) 0

2.3.Education-Teaching-Knowledge-Pedagogy EDUCATION The act or process of imparting or acquiring general or particular knowledge, developing skills, for a profession or the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life. TEACHING Teaching is the on purpose and by planning transfer of knowledge that aims at the students’ education. Teaching is the teacher’s supply of knowledge, is the student’s introduction to the current culture, is the exercise of the physical and mental powers and skills within the educational system. KNOWLEDGE The fact or condition of being aware of something or of knowing something with familiarity gained through experience or association. Acquaintance with or understanding of a science, art, or technique the fact or condition PEDAGOGY

Pedagogy is the discipline that deals with the theory and practice of education; it thus concerns the study of how best to teach (transfer the knowledge). Spanning a broad range of practice, its aims range from furthering liberal education (the general development of human potential) to the narrower specifics of vocational education (the imparting and acquisition of specific skills). Instructive strategies are governed by the pupilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s background knowledge and experience, situation, and environment, as well as learning goals set by the student and teacher.

2.4.Learning Environments Education is considered to be necessary for the physical, emotional and intellectual development of man. For this reason, the functioning of the means (the learning environments) that educate the man is considered to be vital. These means are: The natural environment, the family, the school, the church, the mass media, the society and the state. The Natural Environment The natural environment plays a vital role in the learning process. The climate, the ground, the weather, not only do they affect our emotional and physical world but also give us the first substantiated examples. Within our natural environment we can find the basic learning structures (biological, mathematical, chemical, social etc.) and it offers us plenty of stimulus and for this reason the environment is an endless source for learning. Consequently the kind of the natural environment we live in (forests, heat, lack of green etc.) can affect not only the quantity of learning but the quality as well. The Family The family factor plays a very important role because it is the first and the basic cell of social life. The child formulates its first attitudes towards the social situations in the family life. The child is affected by the parents the family circle and familiarize the human

relationships and tests its first social behaviors andknowledge. The first foundations for its character and personality are put in the family. The School Schools and every kind of educational institute exert a very decisive effect on the children not only through the people that are involved in the teaching process (teachers, students) but also through the organization and the way of life of their members. The educational philosophy (a result of state and social philosophy), the educational relationships and the material taught (to what extent it applies to the children’s needs and society’s needs) affect the learning process decisively. School is the first organized, basic educational cell within which the learners adopt or question the knowledge they acquire. The Church-Religion Although these two terms are strongly interrelated, they havetwo different aims. Religion refers to the philosophical level offers answers to philosophical and existential questions. Church teaches the principles and morals not only of religious life but also social life and formulates specific views and attitudes. Depending on the philosophical frame of each religion, we have different emphasis on learning and education. Christianity kept the faith on the power and meaning of education that the ancient Greek had. According to the priests the teaching of the Christian beliefs plays an important role by affecting and altering the person’s beliefs. Christianity also stressed the importance of the person’s responsibility. To the extent that church affects learning by its organisation and its teaching of morals on every level (social, 0

intellectual, emotional and philosophical), it consists a very powerful learning unit. The Mass Media The mass media are an integral part of our life from the first steps of our life. Their power as a learning environment is found in their presence at children’s life daily and for many hours every day. As a social means it is considered to have the most powerful effects on society’s members because it affects directly and indirectly on every level of personal and social life, on language (supports, or formulates linguistic forms), on religion, on arts, science, on economy, on morals. The State Aristotle was the first to recognize the main characteristic in man’s nature: that he is a “political animal”. Man can only live, create and survive within the society’s limits. Politics as the utmost art in action ensures the people’s bliss and in theory it defines what this bliss is. The effect of the state of government is placed within this frame. All the social structures (and therefore the educational structures as well) reflect in a way the kind of the governmental system and vice versa (liberal, authoritarian). A liberal, democratic environment creates a way of life that respects the personality of a developing person. On the contrary an authoritarian environment resigns the family and every social element to the state, supports the authoritarian relationships between the children and the

parents and is in favor of a despotic domination. The state and governmental system as well as the politicians of a country have a great impact on the development of the youthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s personality. The state affects education and school system with its laws. It intervenes dynamically and in many ways, directly and indirectly, not only as a carrier of certain beliefs as to what education is and which its aims should be, but also as an indicator as to how the teachers, the students, the parents should function and what attitude they should have. The Society When we refer to society as a means of learning what exactly do we mean? What is the society? Society is the total of people, their relationships, of institutions, of principles and all the factors mentioned above (state, family, church etc.). By the term Society we mean a big, autonomous and organized form of people and social groups that affect each other in the frame of a common culture within the specific geographical limits and have common goals and interests. The childâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s personality is a product of a slow but steady development that is being affected by all the social factors. Family is the most important unit, the centre of the social influence. Within the family the first conceptions are developed. It is the social laboratory to work on beliefs and principles. Then the school comes to reinforce and develop these influences. The system of government together with the Mass media and Church are also vital factors that help the children achieve their goals and prepare them for the successful adaptation in the society. Learning Environment in School 0

People have spent a great deal of time in the classroom, beginning in kindergarten and extending for years beyond. They are lucky those who have a school or classroom where the teacher paid close attention to the learning environment, or the physical, psychological and instructional atmosphere. The learning environment in the classroom is vital to student success and impacts students in many ways. A negative learning environment or setting that adversely affects student learning in many ways, such as low student achievement, poor behavior, student anxiety, or depression. The Physical environment in the classroom: The use of space includes how furniture is arranged and organized, how materials are stored and maintained, how clean the classroom is and the overall color and brightness. Bright posters, organized spaces and cooperative learning arrangements help. Students need a clean, bright, organized space to strengthen learning experiences. The psychological environment is how students feel about their learning. A calm atmosphere helps students to learn, both intellectually and socially. The students react negatively when they feel things are unfair, unclear or are worried about getting in trouble. The instructional environment is the setting for all teaching. She plans her instruction to make sure her students are able to comprehend by using different teaching practices, such as lecture, hands-on activities, cooperative learning groups and plenty of games using theater, role playing, narrating. All these various and

different methods make the school an attractive environment and the students to be focused, engaged end efficient.

2.5.Creative Learning Learning is a complicated psycho-physical human functioning (inner and exterior factors are both involved) , thanks to which humans obtain knowledge and develop dexterities. The capacity of learning appears on the very same day a person is born, lasts for life, and is considered as a critical condition for one to fulfill his personality. The quality, as well as the aim of learning follows oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s personal evolution. Thus learning, instead of being a simple psychical phenomenon-a reflective reaction to environ-mentprogressively becomes a deliberate action pursuing the farther goal-Creation. Learning offers the necessary equipment for a person to use his creativity in a meaningful way. There is a dynamic, interdependent relation between creativity and learning. Learning is by definition a creative process, while every form of creative expression is an important learning source. In creative learning, creation serves both as a mean as well as a motive for learning. In other words, creative learning is the conquest-through a process of creative interaction- of knowledge and dexterities which can be used for creative purposes. The creative character of learning in school is nowadays an object of argument among experts, politicians, teachers, parents and students. The quality of learning provided within the school environment is doubted and the educational system as we know it seems to have reached a dead end. The creative learning theory and practice includes all the attempts towards a radical reform of the school institution based on the

philosophy of making school a field of creativity and a source of euphoria for both teachers and students Aims Creative learning is aiming on the following: To make school, especially public school, an attractive place where teachers and students would really invest their energy and their dreams. To connect knowledge with pleasure, so that students will learn to love learning. To encourage teachers to re-evaluate their part in the learning process. To build a new kind of teacher-student relationship To help students explore their talents and inclinations To develop judgment and non-conventional thinking To develop social values encouraging communication, companionship and cooperation To make the school community a field of creative interaction where personal and collective evolution will be equally promoted. Means and instruments To cover the distance from traditional to creative learning some new methods of teaching should be invented and applied. To make creative learning from attractive theory educational fact, teachers need to enrich their teaching resources. Technology (multimedia), play and art-especially theatre-might be proved valuable instruments towards this direction. In our opinion, the arts-music, fine arts, theatre-are not independent areas of knowledge. They are neither “supplements” nor “subjects” to be added in the curriculum as an alibi for an education basically sterile 0

and mechanistic. On the contrary, we strongly believe that art could serve as a moving energy, as a key for an olistic education, as the link between learning and creation. We are especially focusing on drama based on the pedagogical common place that imitation, action and role playing are the ways a child impulsively uses to communicate with its own environment and to learn from it. More specifically: Drama, as an area of cohabitation of several different forms of creative expression, gives a child the chance to explore its talents and inclinations, to develop his or her personality As a group activity, drama encourages communication and companionship Drama may be also used as an alternative for children with learning disabilities who do not respond in the traditional teaching methods. The challenge is to prove in practice that drama can be applied as an effective teaching method for all the subjects included in the curriculum. Not exclusively but alternatively to make the learning process flexible, multi-colored and amusing. Assumptions As an attempt to a radical educational reform, the creative learning theory and practice seeks suitable ground and adequate conditions to succeed. The minimum assumptions to be considered are the following Scientific planning by experts in cooperation with teachers Financial support on behalf of the state and the European community

Teachers well qualified, talented and with a wide area of interests A radical change in the politics concerning education The international community ought to decide upon some important philosophical and political issues such as: What is the ulterior motive of learningâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the conformation or the deliberation of the human beings? In what kind of persons, in what kind of citizens we would like to trust the future of the humanity? What are our social visions for the age coming? Otherwise, attempts like ÂŤcreative learningÂť are meant to be lost in the ocean of confusion and loquacity.

2.6.Why Crative Learning The creative learning process as a method at the teaching of the curriculum brings back the real dimension and the real purpose of education; the one of searching and understanding knowledge in order to use this knowledge in the real context of the everyday human life. The CL offers inexhaustible variety of human situations that are imaginative (they are within the frame of imagination, â&#x20AC;&#x153;as if â&#x20AC;&#x153;situations) in which a need is created to use knowledge provided in school. Working within a frame with content and not using itemized, isolated, repeatable exercises and activities we move away from sterile, repetitive learning towards more human, experiential situations that give life to the trapped in the books knowledge. Knowledge is closely interrelated with action and interaction. The children interact in a safe environment where knowledge is tested and at the same time they create something they are interested in. It is their creation and they take full responsibility for that. Whatever is happening in the class is happening from them, and for them and not for the sake of their teacher or a mark.

2.7.General principles of Creative Learning process Creative learning method is based on 5 principles: 1) All people have an inborn characteristic: the ability to mime and the ability to play through which people test and learn (because by miming people are experimenting as well). 2) All people learn when they have the motives and when they feel that what they have to learn interests them. 3) All people and especially students learn and understand better in an active environment, full of actions and events. This means that it is not enough to teach by telling or numbering what we want them to learn. It is the experiences itself that will help them learn and experience derives from action. 4) The participants are responsible for their life and the acquirement of knowledge. The teachers become the enablers to their effort to learn, they guide and show possible ways of learning, thinking, operating. 5) Finally, CL sees the process of learning as a process for change. The emotional and intellectual change leads to maturity and therefore to knowledge.

2.8.Arts and Creative Learning Arts in general target the audience. The people who come to see a painting or to watch a performance. Everything is happening, is created by the artists not only for their own satisfaction but mainly for the sake of the spectator. In an environment where creative learning is taking place, the source of expression and creativity is not the recognition by the audience but the satisfaction the participants themselves take by participating in the situation. The roles of the creators and the spectators interchange in the classroom. The creative learning uses the rules and the elements (roots) of the arts (movement, painting, dramatic conventions, music etc) but does not necessarily target to a performance for an audience. Whatever happens during a creative learning lesson happens from the children and for the children. Arts help them understand and conceive meanings. Arts may have a more flexible form but we never forget their elements and main principles and the teacher helps the children to learn how to use these principles. It goes without saying that we can use this method of the creative learning in order to teach art itself. We take advantage of the main element of the Creative Learning which is creativity to teach art that is creation and expression.

2.9.Theater and Learning The most important and the most immediate relationship between theater and learning is the one that the Ancient Greek people have expressed: you are being educated while being entertained. Children in a drama situation do not remain passive in front of a presentation-performance (just watching) but they are emotionally and intellectually involved and they â&#x20AC;&#x153;experienceâ&#x20AC;? the knowledge. Children start to recognise their personal abilities and understand themselves and their reactions better. Theatre is an experiential frame of learning, but because it includes the elements of evaluation, discussion, reflection, it also involves the intellectual part of the human. Children investigate the different drama situations that the teacher prepares for them and s/he makes sure to include the curriculum aims that s/he wants to teach. In a drama lesson teachers and students are involved in a collective effort and search to understand and resolve the problem in the drama situation. By definition drama involves co-operation and interaction. Learning is more probable to happen if there is such a spirit of co-operation and active involvement.

2.10.Creative Learning and Socialization Forming social values and behavior (sociability, companionship, communication, tolerance, cooperation, etc) through creative learning in primary school One of the main purposes of school education-especially at infant and primary schools- is the child’ s socialization, its passing from the world of “me” to the world of “us” , from the protective family arms to a wider circle of interpersonal relationships, governed by rules and principles. The emotional climate of this journey is critical not only for the child’s school progress but also for the building of its personality. As it is commonly known-and confirmed by the experts-a child who passes the school doorstep for the first time suffers some kind of shock. The effect of this shock (intensity, duration, consequences) depends on a number of factors, wholesale divided in two groups. The first group of factors is related to the child’s background (character, previous experience, the type of family and community he lives in, the socio-educational level of the parents etc). The other one includes all the assumptions concerning the school itself (environment, the emotional climate in the classroom, the teacher’s personality etc). For a child, however, to enter the school community is considered a major change, possibly the greatest challenge ever faced in its life. Especially for children who live in big cities, who grow up in apartments and are used to play on their own, the change is

enormous. For the first time they realize that they are not “the centre of the world”, that their needs may be in conflict with other people’ s needs, that they have obligations besides rights and that they now have to claim and earn things they used to take for granted, such as attention, admiration, praise and love. And all this in a new, unknown environment, with specific rules of functioning, with strict timetable, with demands of progress. They are expected not only to adjust in this new condition, but also to conquer knowledge and abilities, “to learn”. The creative learning practices are meant to facilitate children’s adjustment in the school environment and to encourage their socialization in general. Taking part in activities alike group games, children communicate with each other, share experiences, test their limits and discharge unpleasant feelings. Children, as we all know, are much more willing to learn and respect rules in a game context rather than in a “serious” circumstance. When the kids play, they are usually honest, fair and disciplined. The group itself sees to bring back “in order” the cheating “delinquent”! The interaction within a play context, with rules and goals, impels children to adopt various roles (leading or supporting ones) and to enlarge their perception of reality. The self-centered thinking subsides along with selfish behavior, giving space to tolerance and sociability. The mutual goals, as well as the mutual difficulties faced during the process, reduce competition and promote cooperation and companionship. The teacher co-ordinates the “game”, guiding it tactfully towards the learning goal. He/she intervenes whenever necessary to offer outlets and motives and to ensure the coherence of the team. His/her calm, friendly and stable behavior forms the adequate 0

emotional frame and serves as a model for the little ones. In modern society, school is expected to respond not only at its traditional role but also at needs and demands covered in former times by family and neighborhood. Children, nowdays, have neither enough time nor space to play with each other, and this deficiency affects their mental health and their social adjustment. Modern school should cover this need introducing play into the classroom, in combination with the curriculumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s purposes.

2.11.What the children learn from art and learning through Creative Methods It might be late but eventually the direction changes in European education and globally. More and more schools and school programs give opportunities to creativity in the school program and to art in general.Universities of advanced countries teach to the future teachers and educators, courses based on creativity in the classroom.The four courses with the famous name STEM(Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) became STEAM as the Art is among Εngineering and Math. Indeed there are many skills children learn from the arts. We make highlight to 10 of them: 1. Creativity – Being able to think on your feet, approach tasks from different perspectives and think ‘outside of the box’ will distinguish your child from others. In an arts program, your child will be asked to recite a monologue in 6 different ways, create a painting that represents a memory, or compose a new rhythm to enhance a piece of music. If children have practice thinking creatively, it will come naturally to them now and in their future career. 2. Confidence – The skills developed through theater, not only train you how to convincingly deliver a message, but also build the confidence you need to take command of the stage. Theater training gives children practice stepping out of their comfort zone and allows them to make mistakes and learn from them in rehearsal. This process gives children the confidence to perform in front of large audiences. 0

3. Problem Solving – Artistic creations are born through the solving of problems. How do I turn this clay into a sculpture? How do I portray a particular emotion through dance? How will my character react in this situation? Without even realizing it kids that participate in the arts are consistently being challenged to solve problems. All this practice problem solving develops children’s skills in reasoning and understanding. This will help develop important problem-solving skills necessary for success in any career. 4. Perseverance – When a child picks up a violin for the first time, she/he knows that playing Bach right away is not an option; however, when that child practices, learns the skills and techniques and doesn’t give up, that Bach concerto is that much closer. In an increasingly competitive world, where people are being asked to continually develop new skills, perseverance is essential to achieving success. 5. Focus – The ability to focus is a key skill developed through ensemble work. Keeping a balance between listening and contributing involves a great deal of concentration and focus. It requires each participant to not only think about their role, but how their role contributes to the big picture of what is being created. Recent research has shown that participation in the arts improves children’s abilities to concentrate and focus in other aspects of their lives.

6. Non-Verbal Communication – Through experiences in theater and dance education, children learn to breakdown the mechanics of body language. They experience different ways of moving and how those movements communicate different emotions. They are then coached in performance skills to ensure they are portraying their character effectively to the audience. 7. Receiving Constructive Feedback – Receiving constructive feedback about a performance or visual art piece is a regular part of any arts instruction. Children learn that feedback is part of learning and it is not something to be offended by or to be taken personally. It is something helpful. The goal is the improvement of skills and evaluation is incorporated at every step of the process. Each arts discipline has built in parameters to ensure that critique is a valuable experience and greatly contributes to the success of the final piece. 8. Collaboration – Most arts disciplines are collaborative in nature. Through the arts, children practice working together, sharing responsibility, and compromising with others to accomplish a common goal. When a child has a part to play in a music ensemble, or a theater or dance production, they begin to understand that their contribution is necessary for the success of the group. Through these experiences children gain confidence and start to learn that their contributions have value even if they don’t have the biggest role. 9. Dedication – When kids get to practice following through with artistic endeavors that result in a finished product or performance, they learn to associate dedication with a feeling of accomplishment. They practice developing healthy work habits of 0

being on time for rehearsals and performances, respecting the contributions of others, and putting effort into the success of the final piece. In the performing arts, the reward for dedication is the warm feeling of an audienceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s applause that comes rushing over you, making all your efforts worthwhile. 10. Accountability â&#x20AC;&#x201C; When children practice creating something collaboratively they get used to the idea that their actions affect other people. They learn that when they are not prepared or ontime, that other people suffer. Through the arts, children also learn that it is important to admit that you made a mistake and take responsibility for it. Because mistakes are a regular part of the process of learning in the arts, children begin to see that mistakes happen. We acknowledge them, learn from them and move on.

2.12.To play,to learn,to educate It is commonly accepted that the established teaching methods have banished creativity and creative thinking from school. The Shape is so narrow and stereotype that gives no opportunity for innovation and initiatives. Children are terrified that if they escape a little bit from the standard ‘street’, they are threatened by unknown dangers. The daily official program in school is rigid and this phenomenon does not happen only in Greece, but in most education systems in Europe. Machine learning (rote) is prevailing and fatally, children become “information and data accumulation containers» (and not real knowledge). Exceptions are the Scandinavian countries that try alternative education systems with clear direction to make the school program and the education systems more creative. Using subjects such as subjects of constructions and simulation, they encourage the children to cooperate, to talk, to ask, to use their hands and generally, their body. They give children the motivation so as to create a way of thinking more independent, rich and creative. The view – widespread among teachers, parents and the statethat the “playing”, -“to play” 2 is a waste of useful time, is incorrect and with no realistic basis. The playing (the accurate word is “to play”) is a spiritual adventure for the children. “To play” raises problems and requires solutions from children, it encourages cooperation and collective effort, it requires initiatives and in this way shows talents and skills that children may have. Through playing, an abstract notion –so blurred and unknown- becomes specific and the child understands it, conquers it, because this notion takes shape and form. And with this, we do not mean something vague and imprecise, but certain things and objects derived from courses. Notions of physics, chemistry, mathematics, 0

that through the eyes of a child are dry and boring, can become, through the creative process and the playing (in the sense that we defined above), exciting and fun for students. The only thing required is the teacher to find ways and give such forms in the subjects. For example, when it comes to the English system, three magical words are spread between the teachers: In free translation, we would say AUTHENTICITY, AUTONOMY, UNCERTAINTY And we explain: AUTHENTICITY: Real problems (even the theoretical problems they take realistic form) are set and solved in the right way. As a result there is motivation and interest for the solution. AUTONOMY:Children have the opportunity to explore their own ideas and solve problems that they themselves set. UNCERTAINTY: The problems, raised by any subject, are not treated as solved (by others) that we have to assimilate with no negotiation, but it allows questions, objections, complaints and â&#x20AC;&#x201C; as a result- argumentation and discussion. Problems, obstacles and objections in such a procedure, are already formulated and summarized in two words: School Program. Indeed, the real tyrant is the timetable that official ministry sets. But a crevasse must be found so as to begin the fall and the demolition of this wall.

2.13.The Importance of play in Creative Learning Play and specifically the imaginative play is something that appears in man’s life in a very early stage. Children experiment within play, they adopt different roles, they try to discover new ways of behaving and they see the actions and the reactions towards those behaviours. In thecreative Learning this play becomes more organised (and this is where arts in general contribute) and they have more specific educational aims. Furthermore, the Creative Learning takes the frame and the content of these games and not only does it transfer it to the real every day life but in the Creative Learning we also look for the universal meanings of life. Play and Creative Learning are closely interrelated (a lot of times we use games in the process) but still have some basic differences. The similarities and differences are the following: – Both activities are based on the human need for playing/enacting, for working I an imaginative context that suspends the real time, place, roles and actions. – The time, place, characters and actions receive a more symbolic character in both activities and our ability to participate in both these activities depends on our ability to forget the reality for some time and on our ability to read and understand the symbolic actions and meanings. – Both activities have rules and principles. However, in games and imaginative play the rules are clearer cut, while in the Creative Learning aremore internal. – Both activities need a physical, mental, intellectual and emotional commitment and involvement. 0

– Both have the elements of tension, surprise and the focus is clear. But in Creative Learning we need to consider the further elements that have to dowith the arts. – The Creative Learning unlike play has specific educational goals and we use Creative Learning in order to teach our objectives. – The Creative Learning offers us the opportunity to avoid repetition, something that is common in the play, and we can choose from an indefinitenumber of imaginative situations and human contexts. – In the Creative Learning there is no superficial imitation where students just mime actions but they participate with the whole selves, they work intellectually and emotionally within a particular context, an experience that resembles the reality but does have the consequences of real life. The children bring themselves in this imaginative context and they do not try to escape to an imitation. – In the Creative Learning we have a very conscious implementation of the dramatic form on the creation of the meaning. – Finally in the Creative Learning the elements of the Arts hold a very high position.

2.14.Dramatic Convetions The dramatic conventions are techniques that we use in drama to structure the dramatic activity. We use the conventions to explore, to focus on a specific action, to promote drama etc. The following list contains some but not all the conventions. STILL-IMAGE: The participants create an image, a picture with their bodies that looks like a photo or waxworks or statues. INTERVIEWS: The participants act as reporters or detectives or historians looking for information. Convention used to promote drama, or to discover new elements or to understand a situation. MEETINGS: Formal or informal meetings to present information, or to take decisions, or to plan the next actions, or to solve problems. Forms: Assemblies, family discussions, union meetings, protests etc. THOUGHT-TRACKING: The revelation of the private thoughts of the child in role either by questioning or by presentation. To reveal hopes, fears, deep thoughts about the situation. GIVING WITNESS: The description of an incident by someone who claims to have been a witness but not a participant in the situation. COLLECTIVE DRAWING: We give a physical, collective image to represent the people, the place, the situation. MANTLE OF THE EXPERT: Children become specialists on a field; historians, architects etc. The teacher is not the person with the most knowledge in the classroom. The power moves, shifts from the teacher to the children. The teacher explores with the children. The children have the skills and the know-how. MAP-MAKING/DIAGRAMS: In or out of role the participants recreate the place where drama takes place (the factory, the forest, a village, a town, a laboratory etc). ROLE ON THE WALL: The children draw a diagram/a frame of the 0

human body using their own body on a piece of paper that they put on the wall, and on this they work the internal and external characteristics of the character. HOT-SEATING: Children as a group ask open or close questions to different characters in the situation in order to discover the motives or the background of the characters. TEACHER-IN-ROLE: The teacher adopts a role different from his teacher role in the classroom in order to move the drama on or to help the students in a possible dead-end, or to help with questioning, or emphasise a point. IMPROVISATION: A spontaneous representation of a specific situation by the participants who have little time to prepare the scene. A given set of information is give but the children are left alone to create and bring themselves in the situation. REFLECTION: It is a convention used in drama to reflect on events in role or out of role in order to enhance the understanding, to summarise or to answer any questions and solve any problems. THE USE OF OBJECTS AS SYMBOLS: The use of objects to start or continue a drama. VOICES IN THE HEAD: When a character in the drama faces a dilemma or a difficult decision, the rest of the participants become the second voice representing the contradictory thoughts of the character, or react as the collective consciousness of the character. FORUM-THEATRE: A situation or an improvisation chosen by the children in order to investigate the particular experience is presented in front of the rest of the participants. While the rest of the participants, â&#x20AC;&#x153;the audienceâ&#x20AC;?, are watching everybody has the right to halt the action when they think that the action does not

lead anywhere and try to take on the role that they think is weak and try to enact it differently. CAPTION MAKING: In groups the children create slogans, titles for the newspapers or magazines, Book Headings, or give titles to pictures. DIARIES, LETTERS, JOURNALS, MESSAGES: These are written texts from the students or the teacher during or before or even after drama, in or out of role, and they are used for reflection, as evidence or proof or as a way to bring in new tension. RITUAL, CEREMONY: The participants are faced with particular situations that have a traditional, particular, ritualistic character and which involve rules and codes. For instance, wedding, march, funeral etc. ANALOGY: A problem is being handled not in a direct way but through a parallel situation that reflects the problem. Usually such situations are the very painful ones or the very familiar ones or the ones that can bring prejudice. Examples of analogy are the myths and the fairy tales.

3.THE TEACHER IN CREATIVE LEARNING

3.1.Teachers's role According to the beliefs of this method, the basis of which is that the focus of the learning process is the child itself, the teacher’s role is changing. It is no longer descriptive, corrective, authoritarian. We give more emphasis on the teacher’s qualities as an enabler, friend, colleague, facilitator, as person that wants to help the students in their effort to learn. The teacher trusts his students enough to let them make their own choices concerning knowledge and how they would like to acquire it, in a process that concerns mainly the students themselves. Teachers become more sensitive towards the social and emotional needs of the students, they empathise and respond positively. That does not mean that the teachers do not follow a curriculum programme or that there are no rules in the learning process. On the contrary, there are rules and subjects but the students participate in the procedures of deciding these rules and the way the curriculum is going to be taught and the teacher makes sure that these rules are going to be followed. More specifically, the teacher at the nursery and primary school tries: – to support the interaction among the students themselves and between the students and the teacher – to provoke and cultivate the student’s interest in different creative ways – to urge and to give opportunities of expression and participation – to show authentic interest in what the student does – to offer chances so as the child will be able to search and acquire the knowledge and has the chance to experience a lot of things 0

â&#x20AC;&#x201C; to allow and urge the child to do things independently and in groups.

3.2.The teachers role -The New teacher-student realationship In the creative learning process, the nursery school teacher and the primary school teacher have adopted the basic conception that learning starts from the children and ends to the children. It is the so-called Student-Centred method that has as its basis the children themselves and not the teacher’s power. The teacher has a facilitating, supportive role in the classroom. The teacher’s student’s relationship is based on an environment of participation, mutual trust, acceptance, co-operation. The teach is no longer the powerful image in the classroom that knows everything, the authority, and becomes warm, human and ready to share the children’s questions. As a true human being the teacher shares the different human and social relationships andneeds. There is strong emphasis on the creative, self-discovering of new knowledge. The student’s self-creativity plays an important role because at the perception level of learning all types of knowledge need the child’s activity.

3.3.The teachers role at the Nursery and Primary School According to the beliefs of this method, the basis of which is that the focus of the learning process is the child itself, the teacherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s role is changing. It is no longer descriptive, corrective, authoritarian. We give more emphasis on the teacherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s qualities as an enabler, friend, colleague, and facilitator, as person that wants to help the students in their effort to learn. The teacher trusts his students enough to let them make their own choices concerning knowledge and how they would like to acquire it, in a process that concerns mainly the students themselves. Teachers become more sensitive towards the social and emotional needs of the students, they empathize and respond positively. That does not mean that the teachers do not follow a curriculum program orthat there are no rules in the learning process. On the contrary, there are rules and subjects but the students participate in the procedures of deciding these rules and the way the curriculum is going to be taught and the teacher makes sure that these rules are going to be followed. More specifically, the teacher at the nursery and primary school tries: to support the interaction among the students themselves and between the students and the teacher to provoke and cultivate the studentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interest in different creative ways to urge and to give opportunities of expression and participation to show authentic interest in what the student does to offer chances so as the child will be able to search and acquire the knowledge and has the chance to experience a lot of things

to allow and urge the child to do things independently and in groups.

3.4.Teachers role and Element of drama In the creative learning we use drama as a method of teaching. It is an alternative way of learning. This method, as it is clear from the name itself, borrows a lot of the drama art itself, and these may be used amateurishly or not in a drama lesson, but they are still very important and vital elements for the frame in which we as teachers are going to work. These elements should be included in a drama lesson and considered before planning one. The basic elements are the following: Human Context: The basic source through which we derive our material for the creation of the imaginative frame is the human being itself. Man with his relationships, his opinions, his prejudices, and his everyday roles is giving us the source in order to choose and find on which imaginative context we are going to work. In drama we have to face â&#x20AC;&#x153;as ifâ&#x20AC;? situations that resemble reality. These situations include dilemmas, problems, questions that need an answer and a solution. The Human Context gives us the material to create the drama context. Drama Context: From this human context which offers indefinite number of situations, we choose one context, one situation that fits the imaginative frame that we would like to work on. For example, a trip to the space where the humans are trying to convince an alien to return with them to the earth. The human context here is the situation where someone is trying to convince

someone else to do something. The Imaginative context is the trip to the space. Roles-Characters: Within this drama context there are characters that act. We choose the possible roles that are going to be involved in the action and we give them certain characteristics. In the above example we do not just have an alien but we have someone who is afraid, hesitating but still want to meet humans. In this way we give them more concrete roles but we also leave the children space to add from themselves. What and how detailed information we give to the children for the characters depends on us and what we would like to achieve. Tension: In the dramatic context we have chosen there must be a kind of tension, a problem that needs resolving, otherwise the interest will fade away quickly. As in every kind of drama activity (performance, film, improvisation etc), we need some kind of emotional or intellectual tension but not necessarily coming from a big disaster. The source of tension could be more internal such as an unexpected event, or a dilemma. Focus: As soon as we have chosen the dramatic context and the tension, we need to find a focus on this tension. A specific question that we would like to investigate through this context. Imaginative Place: In a drama session we have to choose a place that fits our situation and holds a symbolic meaning as well. We can change the settings within a drama lesson but we need to take care of the coherence. It is important that the students would not be confused and distracted by the place changes. Time: A drama lesson takes place during a classroom hour. This is the real time but in drama context we are also concerned with the 0

fictional time which can be more flexible. We can move through the past and the future with the same easiness that we would move in the present.. We also have to choose a time frame that fits the drama situation and place. There is flexibility but we have to pay attention not to loose the coherence. Methexis (Participation): This is the part of drama that connects the art with the learning. While the participants are working in the fictional context, somewhere in their mind realise the real context as well, because they work as themselves and they bring themselves (which is very real) in the drama. This becomes more evident when the teacher stops the drama and reflects out of roles. Through this reflection, what they have been experiencing becomes more conscious. Children as the audience in the performance live at the same time in the fictional and real world. Language and Movement: The means of expression in drama is language and movement. We use them not only to express or describe our feelings, ideas and so on but also to make sense of the world around us. What makes these two means distinctive in drama is that the movements, the words, the expressions, always hold some kind of symbolic, powerful meaning. The choice of the ways of expression is more conscious and more powerful concerning the meanings and reminds of poetry. There is no need to overload the expression and speech or ask from the children to move all the time.

Symbols: Part of the drama language includes symbols such as objects, movements, sounds, marks. It is necessary to have clear symbols in the sense that the implied meaning is given, even if the children are not consciously aware of that. But we do not need to have the perfectly designed symbols in order to have drama. Sometimes children can find implied meanings where we have not looked. For instance, in a drama lesson that concerns racism if we have a white journalist and a black employee to give a handshake that could be a symbol of trust and hope.

4.THE NEW METHOD

4.1.Approaching the new Method Creative learning is an acquisition of knowledge and skills through active participation. It is a combined procedure of a creative exchange between the individual and his natural or social environment. Learning is a complicated human function which has roots both in the psychological, and the physiological part of man. It is the outcome of internal as well as external operations, aiming at acquiring knowledge and skills. The process of Learning becomes more interesting and compound once it moves out of the state of memorizing , to a state where fundamental human functions are involved. Learning can be called creative if it stirs up imagination, memory, sensitiveness and the sentiment, mimesis, [following the Aristotelian idea], play, art and creation and also, learning, is creative, when it gains experience from the above. CLEAR aims at deciphering the connections between the above functions for the sake of the educational process .It aims at introducing a contemporary both in theory and in practice teaching method, which differing from the existing, will provide new lively elements to the teacher pupil relation. This teacher-pupil relation has been undergoing many changes, and methods. It has taken up the theatrical game, the game of roles [role playing, or participation theater], or it has used story telling. However what, the target is always one; the conquering and evolution of manâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s knowledge of himself, of his environment 0

and the laws that govern it. Drama in education, theater in education, development drama. These we could call the ancestors and the foundations of the method that Clear wishes to cover, formulate , and take hold of.

4.2.Theatre and Creative Learning Certain things should be made clear from the very beginning. When we speak about creative learning, it is not implied that we refer to the theater. Creative learning aims at entirely different targets. According to Berthold Brecht: the theaterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s aim is to entertain, while the specific concern of creative learning is to grasp and acquire knowledge through theatrical ways and paths If the man of the theater wishes to reach the Aristotelian catharsis by the end of each performance, by the same token, the tutor working in creative learning, desires reaching an analogous plateau, such, that only the conquering of acquired knowledge can provide. On observing a theatrical play, we see that there is a theme running, a myth or a story that builds the action and within its boundaries, the characters communicate, converse, conflict, sacrifice and live their lives all over again. We come now to say, that a similar situation is likely to arise in a classroom while the teacher is dealing with the teaching subject. All he has to do is to discern the myth and the conflicts, to organize the plot, and to arrive finally at the end of the road. In a similar way that whatever occurs in the natural world is likely to form part of our lives, we could say, that some person, or other people could have it reenacted and then live through the experience. 0

4.3.Theatre in the Classroom Creative Learning makes use of Theater techniques while comprising a methodology for teaching. Creative and practical elements originating from a range of other arts are likely to be used. However, the theater is likely to be the main source since, here we have the action and the experience incorporated, mainly the collective experience rather than the individual. Here we have an alternative kind of learning, a methodology which takes elements from Drama that could serve amateurpurposes or not, but which however, are indispensable for creating the setting in which we are to work. The Art of Theater differs from Creative Learning. In a theatrical play, our main interest lies in the final outcome that it is integral and perfect, in other words, that the play is worth attending, In creative learning our main interest covers the medium, the techniques, and the various ways we use within the boundaries of teaching, whereas the final outcome depends on the extend of learning the students have acquired in other words, how well each time they grasp the learning object. Once more we should make clear that creative learning should by no means get involved in the requirements of a ‘work of art’. The ‘beautiful’ we seek in a work of art, has an entirely different meaning in the issue of creative learning. In the specific case when speaking of the beautiful, we make reference to extend of knowledge gained through playing, acting or creating. Our interest and preoccupation should delve in the field learning, on how well we assimilate knowledge, and to what extend we conquer the

object of learning. It is therefore within this scheme which is formed according to our educational aims and the manner in which the lesson is planned that we should take into consideration the following: Human field Imaginative realm Roles â&#x20AC;&#x201C; characters The dramatic conflict The center of interest Imaginative place Time Participation Language and movement Symbols A careful analysis and definition of the above could be accomplished by using an example from the scheduled primaryschool program.

4.4.What a teacher need to start off a Creative Learning Lesson 1) Above all a teacher needs to have WILL and he needs to seek to make the lesson more entertaining and interesting. 2) To set in motion his own imagination 3) To know what “he carries in his suitcase” meaning to know his strengths and weaknesses, in order to make use of them in the creative process 4) He needs to be aware and to know his class social health and the children’s abilities and needs ( what their interests are, if and how they can work in group, what personal experiences they carry etc) 5) To be able to pose questions and search for the answers with the students 6) Will to cooperate and accept the children’s proposals.

4.5.Actors Art and Function The actor does not memorize. Not because he/she has a memory capacity, but because he/she does not learn by heart in the way that students have to memorize a mathematical form or a paragraph from the history book. The actor ‘learns’ pictures, reacts to stimulants and experiences feelings. With this kind of inner force the actor ACTS. Acts, internally (lives, feels, suffers) and externally (acts with concrete actions, movements, speech, etc). Actors, with the help of their imagination and sensitivity, and of course their experience, read under the lines and discover the sensitive, emotional material that exists beyond the words and meanings. They live this sensation and coherence of the feelings, and this living of words, makes them say the lines, as the author wrote them, possibly in another historical period and place. In this way, they “translate” words into images, stimulants and experience and then again into words. Only now, the word of a play is full of emotions and experienced. So, the actors “live” another “life”. And many times, this life is real (or even more) real than the real life. The words gain motivations and color, rhythm, movement and emotional weight and the text is fermented together with the actor and his/her expression, it is printed into his/her cells. In this way, the actor can re-product the words spontaneously and accurately, whenever he wants, without great intellectual effort. He/she justhas to find the beginning …. the start of the line of emotions, then one emotion brings the other, one feeling is born from another and everything comes naturally. Like the hooks of a chain ones always brings the next. 0

In actor’s case, we cannot speak about memory in the real sense. But there exists a different kind of memory. The memory of Emotions. Every feeling that the actor lives, corresponds to a certain expression. It becomes a speech with structured syntax, rhythm and intonation. In Creative Learning, we use all these “ingredients”, to consist a learning process and not an artistic creation. We form an environment, an atmosphere in which we choose to exist with the children that are sensitive to emotions. An environment rich in stimulants to serve as a ground for children’s imagination. Motivation is an instantaneous fact that can happen inside us (a thought, a remembrance) or outside us (something we receive with our feelings only) and which actually causes changes in our emotional situation

4.6.Creative Learning like a story telling Creative learning can come in the form of narration. As a story telling or a fairy tale. Our aim is that thechildren achievethe best possible understanding and comprehension. The teacher therefore, is the one to choose the best possible way in handling each educational topic. It is known that there is a variety of issues and topics that we can approach and teach in the form of narration. A lecture could also come as a combination of narrative and action. It could begin with storytelling, continue with action, and end with a story. Teachers know that repetition and routine spoil the childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interest and concentration span, and therefore finding new teaching methods and presentations that could initiate the unpredictable, the astonishing, or simply the novel, is highly advisable. If we are to introduce an instructional proposition to a lesson of such kind, we could begin by mentioning the following; DEFINING THE TARGET What meaning do we want to convey byteaching thespecific lesson. What do we want to prove? USE OUR INVENTIVENESS IN CHOOSING ANINTERESTING FABLE WHICH HASâ&#x20AC;Ś

Conflict in the middle of the plot An interesting plot beginning like… once upon a time… , development of the theme and finishing like….they lived happily ever after… conflict between two antithetical main characters or two controversial themes By the end of the story, weshould be ready to have reached our goal. DEFINING OPPOSITES FACTORS… Which battle – discuss each other- so as with the confliction to reached our final goal (Result-conclusion-message) DEFINING-BRING OUT MAIN CONFLICT RESULTS If our narration was lapidary, children with the appropriate encouragement will express by themselves their results.

4.7.The story of a lentil An example from botany. A plant is born. The procedure of sowing, growing, and bearing fruit ,up to the time a new plant is reproduced We define our target: our intention is teaching the children the reproduction of the plants, and under what circumstances this takes place. We make up an interesting little story , like : The adventure of the restless spirit of a tiny seed of chickpea that decided to seek its fortune to unknown world and places. A beginning that might run as followingâ&#x20AC;Śonce upon a time ( dialogue with mother chick pea and declaration that she wants to leave) Development : meeting a number of remarkable people [air, soil, sun etc] End (The end could be something likeâ&#x20AC;Ś theylived happily ever afterâ&#x20AC;Ś) Repetition of the same story, the same plot, and same dialogue with the new seed , the outcome of this We define the controversial factors who talk to each other, fight , and (1) so that the outcome brings out the desired final goal[outcome , deduction, message] Our first hero is the seed. The other could alternatively be the air [ that picks the seed and carries it elsewhere ] A lump of soil that happens to be next to where our seed has fallen. The water running nearby, that waters the seed. 0

A pebble that temporarily obstructs the seed’s roots to expand and it’s leaves to grow the sun the most indispensable element for And the story goes on and on until our new plant is ready to produce seeds of it’s own DEFINITION – CLEARING OF THE FINAL CONFLICT (1) In the given example we have many: Talking with the sun, the air, the soil, with the pebble, etc CONCLUSIONS How nature operates, spring, winter, conditions permitting etc.

4.8.In a few words what should i do PREPARATION-BEFORE THE LESSON 1.Using your imagination transform the lesson into…pictures As if it were a film made up of small static pictures [still of a film]. Create a simple “story Board” sketching an image for every chapter of the lesson. So, you will have the lesson in an order like a guide in your hands. 2. Methodically, have at hand whatever materials you will need. A few simple, everyday materials that we can find in the house or classroom. White paper roll, A4 papers, colors, a box or a basket, a piece of cloth from an old sheet, some thin rope or cord etc can be very useful and be used many times in different classes. IN CLASS 3. Excite the children’s interest with a proper introduction. Find a first element to surprise the children. A strange clue to excite their imagination and arise their creativity. 4. Who will be the heroes of this story-film They will be historical figures in a history lesson, or they might be chemistry elements in chemistry, or numbers, math conceptions and relations in a math class. It is not necessary a number, a word 0

or a chemical element to be played by children. It could be an object animated and used by the children. Through this animation the children will have to move, act, and adopt behaviors. In general to give birth to active roles and “heroes” in the theatrical sense. 5. Personalize these heroes Direct the children so as to make the action and active roles, interesting “characters” that act for a specific reason according to the object of knowledge. 6. Specify the plot and Define the existing relations between the children and the heroes. What these heroes are after, what they aim at, what are their fears, and whatthey wish to avoid, what works towards the action. The rules are simple. Defined by the teacher and followed by the children. 7. Choose a simple story Where the “heroes” can live, be protagonists, develop relationships, have conversations, or arguments, or simply be with each other, resulting in the outcome the lesson wishes to employ. 8. Devise or borrow from elsewhere, an enchanting environment

(storytelling, theatre plays, mythology etc) where the creative action will take place. A place that excites the children’s imagination. Within this place, the children’s imagination will be provoked enabling them to talkabout things,to have new ideas, to create a world of their own, contributing to the lesson. 9. Formulate a simple scenario Make an outline of the basic sequences phase, from where the action will pass to reach the desired outcome. Action is likely to build up after confronting various adventures but not to reach the end very easily. It is up to you to find the right method that will lead action to the conflict. The “bell sound” can be a “tool” that allows the teacher to change the action so as to reach the desired end. 10. After reaching the peak of action, the end should not be far From the peak, [crescendo], we should be able to reach the adventure’s end quickly avoiding any superfluous details. However, makesure to save a little surprisefor the end.

4.9.Evaluation in Creative Learning The issue of evaluation and assessment in the Creative Learning process is particularly sensitive since the child is not being assessed and evaluated in the traditional way (teaching, studying, examination, questioning, marking), but his/ her progress and change is being evaluated in the whole. Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not forget that learning means change and education is the process of change. By saying all these however, we do not want to reach the conclusion that there should be no evaluation of the CL process or the knowledge obtained in this process. Nevertheless, we should keep in mind three main points concerning evaluation: 1) What the children finally learned or gained in the process could be exposed mush later than we expect. We could see some or little change but the true change might come to surface much later. 2) The process of evaluating refers as mush to the knowledge that the students have acquired as to the evaluation of the teacherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s involvement in the process, how productive they have been themselves, if they have used the suitable techniques, if they have chosen the suitable activities to the theme. All in all, first to evaluate their own planning before they reach conclusions about what the students have/have not learnt or why or why they have so many difficulties. 3) Whatever way we choose to evaluate and assess the children, they should be informed about the criteria we as teachers have chosen to use. Generally speaking, we could say that in order to evaluate the knowledge that the students acquired, the simplest thing we can

do is to write down the educational aims and objectives from the beginningof the lesson and then see how many of them we managed to achieve. If, for example, I have set two curriculum aims (development of the use of the persuasive language and acquaintance with the Asia) and two objectives concerning learning drama terms, then in the end all I have to see is how many of these I managed to achieve. Let us see in more details what we can evaluate and how. There are no set standards and criteria for a teacher but still we can have some kind of categorising.

4.10.Criteria Concerning the development of Students 1) Criteria concerning the attendance and the participation of the students a) If s/he attends regularly b) If s/he is punctual c) If s/he respects the place and what they create in the classroom d) If s/he follows the teacherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s directions and if s/he respects the wishes of the rest of the class e) If s/he works seriously and purposely with self discipline and if s/he participates in the process without force and pressure f) If s/he has the courage to risk in the process and accept the success or failure and take responsibility of his/her actions. 2) Criteria concerning the skills development and understanding of the process: a) If and how well he knows the rules that govern the process b) If and at what extent s/he has assimilated the terminology that we use in the Creative Learning process c) How freely s/he can improvise, sustain a role, mimes, or listens to the other kids d) To what extent s/he participates actively and s/he is not being distracted, and of what quality work s/he presents while in role.

4.11.Particular critiria for Evaluation of a Lesson These depend on the specific objectives of each lesson. If for example our goal is to teach maths (sizes, grouping), to help them take decisions, to discuss and to try to use the persuasive language, then these are what we are going to evaluate. This does not mean that we have to forget about the general criteria. The list of criteria could be indefinite and all we have to do is to decide on which levels of development we target, and which our particular goals are. It will be helpful if we divide the criteria into general aims and particular objectives. HOW? We mentioned before that the children should be aware of the criteria on which they are being evaluated. The first kind of evaluation through reflection is happening in the classroom but this in no time involves assessment. The children should not feel as if they are being tested on what they have learned. The evaluation in the classroom with reflection could be done in different ways: 1) In role: children express their opinion for the events-actions while in role 2) Out of role: Either in the middle of the process or during a break or at the end of the session the children discuss with the teacher about what happened in the classroom. In this stage the teacher is able to get the first information on what the children have learned. 3) By writing in or out of role (sending a letter, writing an article, writing a diary etc) 4) By drawing (in or out of role) 5) By creating still-images for which the children offer their opinion. ** One of the most important elements to remember is WHAT the teacher will ask and HOW he will pose the questions. 0

4.12.Example of possible Evaluation for subject of Maths WHAT WE EVALUATE ( COMMENTS) 1) Attendance 2) Punctuality 3) Participation (quality of participation) 4) Behaviour 5) Co-operation 6) Use of the appropriate language (i.e.maths language) 7) Understanding of the main points of the lesson 8) Processing and elaboration of the points the learnt (could they work on what we gave them?) 9) Way of handling the knowledge they acquired (how they used what they have learnt to solve the problem within the imaginative context)

4.13.Self -Evaluation After finishing the lesson and before we sit down for our final evaluation and assessment, we should evaluate ourselves and our planning because we might have been unproductive because of our fault. We can ask ourselves a few questions towards this direction: 1) Have I managed to communicate my expectations to the class? 2) Have I offered satisfying experience to the students? Do the children come willingly to the classroom? 3) How much has the experience changed them? 4) Have I asked too much or too little form the students? 5) Have I done enough to help them in the classroom? 6) Have I used the suitable techniques? 7) Have I used material that is suitable to my studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; needs and abilities? 8) Have I asked productive questions? 9) How has the status I chose in the process affected the children? Should I have taken on the role I took or would it be better if I had chosen another role? 10) Did I have the power to stop the process if I could see that the classroom was not productive in the process because of my mistake and change my planning? We have to keep in mind that we deal with human beings and every time that something else, beside the aims and goals we have set comes up, then it is good to take advantage of the chance and discuss it. We do not necessarily have to change our complete planning and aims.

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