Nurturing creative thinking in the writing classroom By Sarah Bakker, Strategy Manager, Teacher Resources, Seven Steps to Writing Success
more ideas, particularly from less confident students.
Building on ideas If students start to run out of ideas, get them to review what they have come up with. Do any of the ideas spark a chain of related ideas? Can they think of an opposite idea? Can they join two ideas together? Sometimes this may happen naturally, and sometimes you may need to prompt this thinking.
According to the late Sir Ken Robinson, “Creativity is as important now in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status”.
Questioning
Creative thinking is part of the curriculum, and it can be taught in very practical ways. The key is to make time to explicitly teach it and for students to practise and hone their skills. Where better to do this than in writing lessons, where students are free to try out ideas, make mistakes and think outside the box? One way to get students’ creative juices flowing is to introduce them to a range of different brainstorming strategies. The more students practise these strategies, the more creative they will become and the easier they will find it to come up with original and unexpected ideas.
Generating great ideas
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As teachers, we need to prepare students for jobs that don’t even exist yet and for a future we can’t predict. The more importance we place on creativity in the classroom, the better students will be at adapting to whatever they have to face at school and beyond. boost creativity! More than one mind means more ideas, different perspectives, and the joy of jumping from idea to idea and person to person.
Learning from the experts As well as learning from each other, students can also learn from professional authors. When brainstorming, share books and videos that students can use as a springboard for their own ideas. Discuss favourite stories and characters to inspire students’ own ideas. Retell or rewrite familiar stories by changing the characters or problems or adding a twist. Show students
that the same ideas can be used in many different ways; there is room for many varied voices in the world – including their own.
Visualising the topic Get students to close their eyes and visualise a topic or prompt before they brainstorm in groups. What does the topic make them think about? How does it make them feel? Is there anything in their life experience that speaks to the idea? Does the topic remind them of a story or some research they have heard? Visualising the topic gives students time to think before they share their ideas, which will often result in
Every author knows that your first idea is usually your worst idea because it is the one everyone else thinks of too. So, the question is: How can you teach students to think more deeply and be more creative?
Thinking differently Prompt students to think about whether the stimulus (word, phrase, image) has another meaning. For example, when brainstorming ideas for ‘connection’, they could be stuck on connection through friendship. Direct them to think of alternative meanings, such as an electrical connection, internet connection or flight connection.
The ripple effects Simple suggestions, aren’t they? Teach students these strategies and you’ll see their creative thinking skills bloom and their writing improve significantly. Imagine the writing classroom that will result – a vibrant and interactive space where students are engaged and enjoying writing, and, best of all, having fun. This can then be transferred to other aspects of literacy, other subjects and other areas of students’ lives.
Collaborative brainstorming © stock.adobe.com
First, get them working together. Writing doesn’t need to be a silent, solo activity – noisy collaboration is proven to help brainstorming and
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Ask questions to help students develop or expand on their initial ideas. For example, if their idea is about a frog in a castle, ask: What kind of castle? Where is the castle? Why does the frog have a castle? Who else lives in the castle? Model this for students or give students question stems to get them started.
EDUCATION
When you actively nurture creativity in the classroom, you are equipping students with the skills that they will use and value the most in this ever-changing and challenging world. Term 4, 2022 | school-news.com.au
