Creativity for Change

I can think of many reasons why the teacher’s creativity is important, but in this article, I will focus on just a few.

First off, I look at teaching as if it were a problem-solving activity of sorts. I don’t mean ‘problem’ in the negative sense of the word, but more in the sense of challenge. I’m convinced more creative approaches to teaching have equipped me with a larger palette of strategies to solve the many challenges I encounter in the classroom. One such issue is, how to deal with the diversity that governs our groups. Close your eyes and think of the latest group you’ve taught: if your students are anything like mine, you will have noticed that they are bound to have different cognitive styles, different degrees of motivation, different expectations from the course, different personalities, interests, ethnic background, first language, age groups etc. Any teacher knows that simply relying on a coursebook to find a way to address these issue and reach out to include ALL their students is not the best possible route. I need creativity to come up with solutions that are pedagogically and culturally viable.

Second, I look at a lesson not as a linear string of pre-arranged events, but as a largely stochastic, random activity. (Diane Larsen Freeman has compared teaching to chaos theory to emphasize this point). This is because teaching is transactional, an activity based on the interaction between people. It’s done by people to serve people, and just like any other social exchange is, almost by definition, unpredictable, and uncertain. Teaching is not something that gets done.

Hence, learning how to handle those numerous spontaneous moments that will inevitably crop up when humans interact, those unscripted moments that often are the juiciest bits in a lesson, is quintessential. For that, I will need creativity.

Third Human beings are constantly on a quest for thrills, for experiences that are emotionally rich. This is why we listen to music, or go to the theater, or read a novel. I believe teaching is, or in any case, could be turned into, one such experience. I know from experience that I’ve been most successful when I managed to offer my groups an experience that transcended language per se, and pushed them beyond the boundaries of the lesson. Maybe because I used a concept/idea the students found stimulating, or maybe I introduced them to a piece of music they didn’t know, or a poem that resonated with them. Whatever it is, the language is almost a pretext for learning something new about the world, quest our thirst for knowledge. In this respect, I need creativity to manufacture pedagogical ideas that are sound, original, culturally valuable and which can lead to the students’ surprise. Why surprise? Because surprise, that is, the discrepancy between what the students expect and the actual experience, triggers engagement, and we don’t want to teach students who are feel disengaged, I don’t think.

So what is creativity, then? And can anyone be creative? How?

The best definition I’ve come across is one coined by Robert Sternberg (arguably the world’s leading expert in the field): Creativity, he says, is a decision you make. If you believe that’s the case, and I do, this answers the second question I asked above. Yes, anyone can be creative, on the proviso, and this is important, that by creativity we’re not thinking of Leonardo da Vinci or Einstein or Marie Curie… What we need is: motivation (what do I want to do with creativity?), an open mindset (willingness to embrace risks, to accept failure are both indispensable, for example), and we need strategies. Hard work is one such strategy. Creativity doesn’t just happen like that, it needs to be nurtured, embraced, cajoled. Patience, grit, perseverance are all very important elements on the road to success.

So, to conclude, is creative teaching a miracle cure? No, of course, not. It’s just one strategy, one more tool in our toolbox. And one that may not work if the teacher operates in an unsupportive environment.

About the author:

Chaz Pugliese is Director of Education and Head of Teacher Training at Pilgrims, UK.

He’s published Being Creative (Delta,2010) and Creating Motivation (Helbling, 2017). In 2013 Chaz founded (with Alan Maley) The Creativity Group.