| Creativity in the Classroom: Schools of Curious Delight is a book about creativity written specifically for teachers. It was designed for a graduate course that helps teachers incorporate important aspects of creativity in the daily activities of classroom life. Teachers who understand the creative process can choose content, plan lessons, organize materials, and even grade assignments in ways that help students develop essential skills and attitudes for creativity. To do this well, teachers need both a firm grounding in research and theory regarding creativity and a variety of strategies for teaching and management that tie research to practice. This book is designed to do both.
This is not another book on research regarding creativity, although research and theory are important components of the book. It is not a book of creative activities or "What do I do on Monday?" lessons, although it contains numerous examples and strategies for teaching and classroom organization. It does build bridges between research and practice, providing the reflective teacher with appropriate strategies for today and enough background to develop effective strategies for tomorrow.
The book has two parts. The first part, Understanding Creative People and Processes, provides the theoretical framework for the book. It has four chapters. Chapter 1 is an introduction that considers the nature of creativity and how it might be recognized in students. Chapter 2 reviews theories and models of creativity, including creativity across cultures, and chapter 3 reviews the characteristics of creative individuals. Chapter 4 examines research on talent development, identifying key ideas and research used to organize the remainder of the book. Although the purpose of the first part is to build understanding of research and theory, it considers each from the viewpoint of teachers and schools, examining how theories may be applied to young people and considering the implications for classroom practice.
The second part of the book, Creativity and Classroom Life, deals directly with strategies for teaching and learning. Chapter 5 teaches techniques developed specifically to teach creative thinking and examines how they may be applied to the classroom. Chapter 6 describes approaches to teaching major content areas—language arts, social studies, mathematics, and science—that support and encourage creativity. Rather than approaching creativity as a supplement to classroom content, this chapter concentrates on creativity as an organizing strand that shapes the core curriculum. Both chapters 5 and 6 include lesson ideas developed by teachers with whom I have been privileged to work.
In addition to the usual updating, there are a few changes and additions in this third edition. In the first chapter there is a section addressing the appropriateness of teaching for creativity in a time of increased emphasis on teaching to content standards. This is supported in chapter 6 by examples of content lessons developed for the MI (Michigan) CLiMB (Clarifying Language in Michigan Benchmarks) that also support creativity. Created for the Michigan Department of Education, MI CLiMB provides clarification and teaching examples for Michigan standards and benchmarks. It includes many fine examples of lessons that teach to content standards and creativity simultaneously. |