Creative+and+Cooperative+Learning

Christa Leonardi and Cheryl Frankwick
 * __Creative/ Cooperative Teaching and Learning __**

**What is creativity in teaching? **
The term creativity, from an educational/training perspective, refers to the creative process within the teaching-learning environment. It involves the stages of thinking an individual goes through to generate original solutions to open-ended problems and opportunities. It is the ability to discover problems and opportunities, to generate novel ideas, and to transform these ideas into workable solutions. Creative thinking involves developing a clear vision of a future state and then delineating the steps necessary to achieve this image.

**In what ways can creativity enhance the teaching, learning and organizational development and training process? **
Perhaps the most productive approach to develop students’/trainees’ creative-thinking skills is to focus one’s efforts on the more concrete abilities subsumed by creative thinking. By targeting specific abilities, teachers and trainers are able to put a structure around creative thinking, thereby inviting students to directly manipulate one aspect of creative thinking at a time. People prefer to learn creatively – by exploring, questioning, experimenting, manipulating, rearranging things, testing and modifying, listening, looking, feeling – and then thinking about it – incubating. Schools and colleges have insisted that people learn by authority - by being told, incubation takes too long and is uneconomical. …active instruction and organizational development is most beneficial to student learning, and that, in particular, creative-thinking skills are best taught through experiential delivery modes. If instructors truly desire to impact students’/trainees’ abilities to engage in creative thought, they must allow students/trainees to become active partners in the learning process. Creative thinking is a dynamic process whose full effect can only be appreciated through engagement. Active learning must be thoughtfully woven into one’s instruction. Experiential activities must be carefully selected and developed so that they enrich learning rather than distract students from the main goal of a lesson. To avoid the perception that experiential learning activities are frivolous, they must be well set up, implemented and debriefed. Any active learning exercise should not be treated as an end, but as a valuable means to and end; which is to encourage creative thinking and to engage students actively in the teaching/learning process.

[|http://www.buffalostate.edu/academics/guidebk/archive/chapters/chapterSix.htm#_Pre-_Unit_Self_Assessment]


 * __Creating a Creative Learning Environment__**

“Practitioners need to consider the way that space and resources can be used to encourage children’s investigations.” -Pat Brunton and Linda Thornton Key Aspects to Consider-
 * Layout and organization of space
 * Open-ended resources as starting points for exploration
 * Tools and equipment
 * Documentation and display

media type="youtube" key="-Q47mhlgxtQ" height="377" width="672"
 * __Youtube Video__ (inspiring creativity**)

**__Benefits to Cooperative/ Collaborative Work__**


 * Each person can learn something from someone else
 * Collaborative activities can lead to positive experiences- can be more enjoyable to interact/ be social with others
 * Collaboration develops a sense of community and belonging- everyone works together and has something to contribute
 * You can view and use other people as learning resources- helps in problem solving
 * When solving a problem, it is good to know you have the support of others
 * Group work fosters active listening and active talking by group members
 * In some situations, leadership skills can emerge or develop (to guide the group)

Carrie: Sadly, I don’t think that my instruction is very creative. Because I teach kindergarten you would think that there should be a lot of creativity involved, but I feel like I am so focused on the curriculum and assessments that we are told we need to teach and complete that there is not much room for creativity. This year in particular I feel like I am in survival mode. I’m just trying to keep my head above water. I’m teaching day to day. If I have definite plans for the entire week, life is grand! On occasion, I will have my students do an art project that I have a sample of, but I allow them to create it as they wish. That is about as creative as it gets in my classroom. I don’t know that my students being 5 and 6 years old would understand the concept of creativity. Some may, but I think overall it may be too abstract of a term for them to understand. If I were a student in my classroom, I would say no, there is very little creativity. It is sad for me to think that this is the case, but it is what it is at this point in time. I try to allow them to be as creative as they can be in their writing. They typically can choose what they want to write about and illustrate their books as creatively or uncreatively as they wish. It is wonderful to see how creative some students will be. Some are nervous that they may make a mistake (which of course, is impossible with creativity), but I try to reassure them that there is no right or wrong answer when it comes to their creativity and their writing pieces. As long as they are doing their best (We often say-Do your best, nothing less.), then I am happy. When we do a whole group project that is up to them to create. I really like to use paints especially. Some other teachers even in my grade level cringe at the thought of their students or classroom getting messy, but they love it and I love seeing them enjoying what we are doing and getting a little messy too! I try to have them work with partners or a small group whenever it is appropriate or possible. I think they tend to learn a lot from each other and especially in kindergarten learning social skills are so important. A lot of our Everyday Math (curriculum) work allows for group or partner work. It’s great especially in kindergarten where you have such a huge range of learners. If you pair children with someone who may be stronger with someone who struggles, both benefit from each other. It’s great to see students who normally wouldn’t work together work well with each other. There is so much students can learn from each other- not just social skills. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">My students have reading partners that they meet with every day. They learn from them how to take turns, listen and talk respectfully to their peers. They also work on reading journals together to discuss the beginning, middle and end of the books they are reading. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">In writing, they also have writing partners where they learn how to respectfully give criticism along with how to accept it, listening skills and taking turns when sharing their writing pieces. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">When I am doing a Read Aloud Think Aloud, my students have to work together to take turns sharing what they think, predict or notice in a book that we are reading. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">It is amazing how many life skills I seem to teach in kindergarten such things that if they do not learn this school year or at all, they may struggle socially in their lifetime. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 10pt;">Mainly I assess cooperative work informally by observing how they work with their partner or small group.

<span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Irene: I wish that I could say that all of my teaching was planned as creatively as possible. I can blame lack of planning time because of traveling, as creative teaching often means preparing special materials that are a step off the path of the same files that were used last year. As each group of students is different from last year’s, I think that the lessons also need to be “tweaked” to be meaningful to a new group. Our district has begun using the term “authentic” to describe learning experiences that are meaningful to students. It’s sort of a buzzword, but one that makes sense.

It seems to me that much of what I teach is not inherently creative; however, I strive to interact with students in a way that respects their creative ideas, helps them extend their thoughts further, and come to new levels that they would not have pushed themselves to, alone. If we are editing for sentence structure and use of periods, for example, I can encourage their ideas within the paragraph, and not criticize them even if misstated or incomplete. If we are studying past tense, I try to make it a game at least for part of the lesson. If it’s new vocabulary, I try to bring real objects or toy versions of the real thing, so that they are not just using line drawings from a book. Students seem to enjoy the classes very much, if that is a measure of how creative the lessons are. I feel that our district puts a higher emphasis on following directions and achieving the style that is modeled, than on innovation and creativity in student work.

I have done cooperative lessons when teaching new vocabulary. The students wrote a story cooperatively using the specified vocabulary. One wrote, the rest supplied ideas, and suggested changes; it went very well. As far as assessing cooperative work, ESL does not report numerical grades and so I haven’t developed rubrics to “grade” the work that they do. I feel that I will be told to start doing so in the near future, though.

Stephanie


 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">Journal Questions for December 5, 2011 **

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">**What level of creativity characterizes your instruction?** I tend to think that I am not the most creative person around. I think the level of creativity that characterizes my instruction is not very high but I do try to make each day exciting for my students and for me.


 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">Do you think your students would view your instruction as creative? **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;"> At the ages of 7 and 8 I don’t know that my students have a clear understanding of what creativity truly is. I also don’t know that they would know if I am being creative or not. I do think that they have fun while learning at the same time. I do not like every day to be the same and I’m sure the kids would not each day to be the same. If my students were bored each day they would probably say that my instruction was not creative. Since I try to change things up maybe they would say my instruction is creative.


 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">Does your instruction foster their creative development? **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;"> I do think my instruction fosters creative development in my students. I offer choices for them while they are working. I want them to be able to complete their work in a way that is best for their learning style, a way they are comfortable with.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">**What activities do you consciously plan to nurture their creativity?** Some of the activities that I plan to nurture the creativity of my students are fun writing opportunities. The students can choose what they would like to write about, they can type their story if they want to, they can create art work that ties to their writing. Each week I have a project time, while my students are working on math I provide extension activities, manipulatives, and extra assistance so my students can be creative in the way they learn. Not every student learns the same way every other student learns. During reading I try to provide various learning activities in hopes that it will foster their love of reading as well as their creativity. Do you include cooperative learning within your instruction?


 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">What activities do you teach that promote cooperative learning? **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;"> Throughout the day I provide opportunities for cooperative learning. I don’t know that I have activities that I teach to them but I encourage them to work together especially during math and reading because sometimes a strength that one student has can help another better than I can. I find that there have been times in math when I teach then re-teach a lesson but some kids still may not understand it. But, if I have students work together they can teach each other in a way that the struggling students can understand. I don’t want to force them to work together because some students work better on their own and are more comfortable while others are more comfortable working in groups.


 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">How do you assess cooperative work? **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;"> When I do have work that is done cooperatively I do not always assess that work. Many times I would rather make sure the students are working well together so they can strengthen their communication skills. I often times will collect that work to see how well they have completed the task but do not grade it.

<span style="color: #1e9f7e; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 120%;">Audra~

With being a special education teacher and not a regular classroom teacher, I find that I tend to be more of a support person, than a lesson planner. I am the one that modifies, accommodates, supports in the classroom, enforces IEPs, helps give the tests, gives remedial (double doses) of reading, watchdog of behaviors, etc. I don’t have long lessons that I need to plan for a group of 20 some students. With that being said, I also don’t get the luxury of making fun and creative activities throughout those lessons. I honestly don’t think that my students would say that my lessons are creative, the two students that get a double dose of reading from me each day, I’ve gotten their lessons from a program that is already designed and laid out for me, it’s not thrilling by any means. With my time spent in my remedial reading lessons along with time spent in the classroom, I do try to make the learning as intriguing as possible, but I wouldn’t say that it’s “creative.” I know that I can’t make a math test fun for my students, but I use the tools around me to make it seems as enjoyable as possible. With the students that I work with, I don’t really get a significant amount of time to make their learning completely creative. I also don’t get to be in a setting that fosters creative development. It’s really unfortunate to being saying that I can’t be entirely creative, but when the reality is, the district has guidelines that you have to follow in a certain amount of time, than we are stuck with non creative avenues.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Jennifer, I wrote a paper on Creativity for my field study so I am going to use this for my reflection.

<span style="color: #008080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Amy: I have to agree that I do not always feel that I am fostering as much creativity in my students as I would like. I also feel the pressure to meet curriculum and assessment demands and find little or no time for creative projects. There are, of course, times that students can be more creative in writing when it is their "choice" piece. Anytime we have an art project to go along with anything I try to encourage students to move past my example or I simply do not show them an example. <span style="color: #008080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">I would like to say, however, that I feel I am creative in my teaching every day. I make quality lesson plans but the need for "on the spot" adjustments are always present. It takes creativity to see that something might not be working and adjust accordingly. It also takes creativity to modify an assignment on the spot for a higher or lower student. Especially this year, my co-teacher and I have found creative ways to meet every student's needs despite severe behavior issues that arise daily. I believe that the alternative curriculum that we have designed for a certain severe behavior student is very creative and has had to change almost weekly. Sometimes I feel like there is just not enough time to be as creative as we want to be.