Critical Thinking and Creativity

To continue the discussion of whether critical thinking habits of mind engender creativity, I want to review what I know of the creative process.

First of all, there needs to be a problem to solve for creative thinking to occur.  ”Freedom inhibits creativity. There are nothing like restrictions to get you thinking” says Jeffrey Baumgartner. This reminds me of the difficulty that too broad a range of choices can actually make things harder because it takes so much longer to begin.  I remember giving my students total freedom in selecting a topic for their three minute speech thinking it would make things easier for them.  Most of them did not mind, but one bright student objected to this freedom saying it would make it harder and she felt she would be judged more severely by her peers whatever topic she choose.  This recollection made me realize that it is important to define the problem clearly and give it some limitations before applying creative thinking.

Once the problem has been articulated, then the free flowing of ideas needs to begin.  This part of the process uses the part of the brain which honors flow rather evaluation.  At this stage, critical evaluation is detrimental to the process.  Brainstorming is one technique of working on the problem.  Free writing is another.  Free writing means the writer just writes whatever seems to be in her head without any critical judgement.  This is the rough draft stage where no one will see the draft except the writer herself so anything goes.  Once a certain amount of brainstorming or free writing has taken place, it is time to evaluate.

This is when the critical habits of mind come in.  The ones that would be most appropriate here are openess of mind, respect of other views, flexibility and the other more faculties involved with comparing the solution to the problem.  The creative process is recursive.  There is a place for the critical habits of mind, but there is also an arena (such as brainstorming or freewriting where this is not helpful.

Creativity is a strength

Some popular books on working on your strengths, Now, work on your Strengths, Strength Finder 2:00, are receiving praise.  I recently bought The Truth about You by Marcus Buckingham which basically summarizes the essence of the other books without the online test (which can only be taken once).  This simple book poses the question,”What do you do that makes you feel strong?”  Note, not what you are good at doing, as lots of people can be good at things that they hate to do.  With a little verbal massaging, I came to the conclusion that creating with others and by myself is one thing I love doing.  Creativity, by the way is not one of the 34 traits identified in the first book.  However, it is something I am fascinated by and want to continue growing in: becoming more creative and finding ways to teach others how to be more creative.

In a conference I recently attended, Garfield Gini Newman, who represents the Critical Thinking Consortium so well, declared that teaching creativity uses some of the same intellectual tools of the ones used for Critical Thinking.  Habits of mind is one of those tools and they are 19 of them: inquiring mind, critical mind, open mind, fair mind, independent  mind, circumspect, empathetic, tolerant of ambiguity, self reflective, initiative taking, humble, attentive to detail, flexible, respectful of others, constructive, inclusive of others, accommodating and consultative.  We also often ask students to create products that transform the learning when we require students to perform, rework or design something to show their learning.  Tomorrow I am going to test these attributes with my own experience to see how the habits of mind work in the creative process and also share what I have read elsewhere about the creative process.

My First Webinar!

This last Friday, I attended my first webinar.  The topic was “Personal Learning Networks”  hosted by Lynda Weinman with guest, educational thinker Will Richardson.  Will Richardson has recently authored Personal Learning Networks which addresses how the social networks have already impacted how students learn and how educators should embrace the possibilities of a new way of learning through connectivity over the internet.

I have been an admirer of Will Richardson since I read the book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms which was so clearly written and teacher friendly that I bought an extra copy for the library at our school.  So I was ready to pay rapt attention, only to find that what actually happens at an interview like this or even a talk by Will at a conference, is constant backtalk!  The Webinar set up actually encourages this.  While Will was speaking there was a constant flow of written conversation and comments from the audience which was monitored by Lynda and others to ask questions.  The people in the audience were mainly educators from schools to university and they had comments on everything Will said and what other members of the audience were writing.  The Webinar was like a classroom where everyone was passing on notes to one another while also paying attention to the teacher and everyone could see the notes that were being passed!

Will Richardson is used to presenting under such conditions.  In fact, when he addressed us recently at the 21 Century Learning Conference he encouraged the audience to use Todaysmeet.com where the speaker can see the backchannel (that is the mood and comments from the audience) and the audience can communicate within itself.  Active learning and thinking goes on in a public way through this website.  I have often wanted to react with my neighbor when I attended a learning session and now I see how it can be done without being rude as typing is not as intrusive as speaking.  Webinars and even sessions have embraced another level of connectivity.  For the record, the webinar was recorded at nmc and the conference session backchannel at todaysmeet.com/otftoronto (kept online for one week).

Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century Day 1

Last week I attended the Ontario Teacher Federation sponsored “Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century” which I would like to reflect on in the next couple of days.  It was difficult not to feel overwhelmed and to make sense of all that happened is a process I am still working on.

The first day was presented by Garfield Gini Newman who currently teaches at OISE and is a key proponent of the Critical Thinking Consortium.  Critical thinking opens up the classroom in to problem solving requiring the student to make a judgement based on specified criteria.  This immediately directs the students to the realm of ideas rather than the retention of facts.  As the student builds background of the issue at hand, she is also directed to use the information she is acquiring to solve the problem at hand.  To give a very simple example, a public school teacher wants the student to research animals.  By framing the question, “What animal would you like as a pet?” the student is given criteria and guidelines for judgement.  Every lesson can be framed into a thinking question that requires judgement on the part of the student.  It is the way I have always wanted to teach and it is wonderful to think that new teachers are being inducted to this method of teaching right from the start.

How does this fit into 21st century learning?  With the ubiquity of the internet, facts can always be looked up almost instantly.  What students need from teachers is the ability to process the fact finding by not accepting everything at face value.  Critical thinking involves habits of mind, such as evaluating the information, being open minded, circumspect in conclusions and being willing to look at several sources of information for example. Technology has changed the playing field as content can be now shared with the world and information is all around us.  It is not about the tools but the new ethos of instant communication, information overload, and the need to make sense of it.

Read and Write Gold for Everyone!

Read and Write Gold is software that enables students  to write and read more efficiently.  It has a powerful dictionary feature, reads what is written aloud (which is a great way to check for grammar) can be downloaded, has study features which enable the students to summarize and highlight, keeps track of websites visited and so much more!  Most students would benefit from this program, which is sponsored by the board if they knew it existed.

That was what the training sessions on May 20 in our library were all about. Seven teachers and twelve students were inducted into the world of Read and Write Gold by Nicole Bell, a technology consultant from Learnstyle Ltd.  Nicole took us through most of the features of Read and Write Gold with the expectation that teachers and students would be leaders in instructing the rest of the school.

This session thoroughly opened our eyes to the aspects that make Read and Write Gold perfect for most students in reading and writing.

Nicole Bell

The Library as an Art Gallery

Art Show May 19

Last night the Dewey section of our library was transformed into an Art Gallery.  This took several hours to set up but as you can see from these pictures the result is spectacular.  All grades were represented including our three IB students. 

Ms Greene, Ms Ravenhurst and Ms. Mootoo hosted the event.  Ms. Mootoo created a movie, “Fushion”, of all aspects of the Art and Tech Design programmes which played continuously during the show.  The music from “Fushion” set the tone of the gallery atmosphere. 

The Fashion Design department was also represented.  Ms. Irving’s students’ work was displayed on the posters and on clothing dummies.  Elegant purses, fashion sketches and clothing were in full view. 

The evening was a stunning display of creativity and talent. Thank you Art teachers and students for a great show!

Art in the Library

Some books are meant to be devoured...

When I came back from studying Fine Art at York University, I was so keen to bring the Arts in everything I did and that included the library.  These past two years a small group of students workded on various artistic projects to revitalize the library decor.  The pictures show some of the work that finally got completed this year.

Crayola Model Magic Fish