As a child, I never considered myself to be creative. I would watch the other children draw magnificent pictures of people, while mine looked like a somewhat glorified stick figure. Others would craft beautiful clay pots, while mine would remain in the kiln because the handle and top fell off. Not only did I see my lack of artistic abilities at school, but in the home as well. My mom always was able to whip up any type of drawing just by quickly looking at a photo. She would paint magnificent landscape portraits on canvases. Growing up, she tried to involve me in classes at the local art museum, but that was very short lived.
As one can clearly see, I felt as though I lacked the creative gene. This fixed mindset frame I was in all changed when I attended the Columbus Museum of Art Creativity Institute this past summer. I was proposed with the opening statement, “Creativity does not equal art skill.” At first, I was a bit confused. I never thought of creativity as not being able to draw the perfect landscape scene or cartoon character. The institute taught me that we are all artists in our own unique way. One does not have to possess art skills to be creative. Taking an alternative route home from work is thinking creatively. Taking a photo of your dinner and editing it is being creative. Organizing your freezer like a Tetris game so all your food fits is thinking creatively. My eyes were opened to forming a new definition of creativity.
The institute referred to the text, “Making Thinking Visible” by Ron Ritchhart. The book promotes students to notice and wonder about the world around them. Students are encouraged to be curious and use multiple pathways of critical thinking to find many possible solutions. Teachers must engage and provide students with models to promote their thinking. Students must be open to disequilibrium in their thinking in order to achieve the highest level of creativity.It may certainly look messy and unorganized, but it is the thinking process that is most powerful. Educators need to understand it is always about the quality of thinking versus the quantity of the thinking. One must embrace the world of ambiguity in order to help adapt this creative mindset.
After this powerful mind shift experience, I wanted to quickly incorporate it in the classroom. I wanted my students, and their parents, to know that creativity is not just being able to draw the perfect image. For our school’s open house, I asked the parents to partake in a creativity challenge where they received a brown lunch bag full of random items. The instructions were simple and concise: collaborate in small groups to create an emotion. The ambiguity of the instructions alarmed some, but they began right away. I walked around and documented the conversations overheard, and at the end of the challenge, we reflected on all the thinking processes observed. The parents were amazed at the higher order thinking skills that were demonstrated with the simple task. Next, it was onto the students.
We completed the creativity challenge, and we reflected on our challenges and triumphs. The students shared the collaboration piece was key when they faced a moment of disequilibrium. They saw the value in the questions, “What do you notice?” and “What do you wonder?”
In our class, we encourage all to speak our common language to promote creative thinking. I encourage educators to take this leap to bring creativity in the classroom. Always remember, creativity does not equal art skill.
Cameron Carter is a first-grade teacher at Evening Street Elementary in Worthington, OH. He is the Elementary Lead Ambassador for the National Council of Teachers of English and the Elementary Liaison for the Ohio Council of Teachers of English Language Arts. To continue learning with Cameron, follow him on Twitter @CRCarter313
Several months ago, I observed reading in three ELA classes in a district not far from Virginia. Students were reading the same novel and completed a packet of worksheets. Teachers sat at their desks grading worksheets students turned in earlier in the week. During my visits to each class, I noticed students always sat in rows and there was no discussion of the book. The required five whole class novels had been selected by the school district ten years ago, and their relevance to today’s students was questionable. In addition, each ELA class had students complete the same sets of worksheets for each book. The district’s rationale was the worksheets provided grades and showed whether students had read the books.
Scores on state tests dipped each year, and the new director of instruction invited me to work long-term with teachers to develop a student-centered approach. First, I surveyed students because I hoped to use their responses to initiate a discussion with teachers about best practice and reading workshop. Here are the three survey questions students answered:
What do like about your reading class?
What would you change in your reading class?
How do you feel about reading?
Survey Results
There wasn’t one student who enjoyed completing packets of worksheets for each book. In each class, several students complained that they struggled with reading the book and did poorly on the worksheets. Sometimes, the book was available on a CD and they could listen to it. Suggestions from students included:
Find books we can read.
Find books we enjoy.
Discuss the books in groups and sit in groups.
No more worksheets; they make us hate the book.
We want to choose books.
The students were on the same page as the new director of instruction. It was time to abandon the myth that one novel can be read and comprehended by all students. And while I do just that, I’m also going to bust other myths about reading instruction and what works and doesn’t work for students.
Five Reading Myths That Need Busting
Reading Myth 1: The whole class novel for all students provides the teacher with a common text. Purchasing and using pre-made worksheets students complete reveals their level of understanding and gives teachers the grades they need.
Myth Buster: Since most classes have a wide range of instructional reading levels, one book won’t meet the needs of every child. Use an anchor text—picture book or excerpt from a long book. Use the anchor text for mini-lessons, think-aloud and make visible your emotional connections, inferences, and knowledge of text structure. Divide the anchor text into short chunks and spread the learning over five to eight days. Now you can create a reading workshop with a common text for teaching and invite students to choose their instructional and independent reading books, ensuring students read every day from books that motivate and engage them.
Reading workshop offers many assessment opportunities: readers’ notebooks entries; journaling; analytical paragraphs, applying literary elements to texts, showing how figurative language links readers to big ideas in a book, small groups discussions, book talks, and book reviews.
Reading Myth 2: Silent, independent reading is not learning. Students aren’t doing anything that can be measured or graded.
Myth Buster: Silent, independent reading of self-selected books leads to students developing literary tastes and a personal reading life. It also enlarges vocabulary and background knowledge and improves reading achievement. Anderson’s 1988 study, published in The Reading Research Quarterly, showed how time spent reading self-selected books correlated with reading achievement. Students who read 65 minutes a day read 4,358,00 words a year and scored in the 98 % on reading tests. Students who read 1.8 minutes a day read 106,000 words and ranked in the 30% on reading tests. Outstanding educators like Steven Krashen, Richard Allington, Dr. Mary Howard, and Donalyn Miller agree that daily independent reading of self-selected books is the best way to develop lifelong readers.
Reading Myth 3: Collaborating is cheating. When I was in school, we sat in rows and had to cover our work so no one could see it. Completing work became stressful because I worried that if I looked away from my desk I would be accused of getting answers from a peer. This belief is alive and thriving in many schools.
Myth Buster: Collaboration is a skill students require if they are to be successful in the workplace and college. Large corporations as well as state and federal governments invite groups to collaborate to generate ideas and solve problems. In addition to preparing students for their futures, collaborating has important benefits. Students learn to:
become active listeners who respond to others’ ideas;
value the diverse literary interpretations of classmates;
compromise by negotiating with peers;
observe that there’s more than one way to tackle a problem;
generate a wealth of ideas to solve a problem;
observe alternate analyzing processes;
Collaborating opens learning doors that continually working alone closes.
Reading Myth 4: Teachers reading books aloud that students can’t read is a good accommodation.
Myth Buster: Those who need to read to improve—students—aren’t reading. Moreover, it’s unlikely that students are listening if the teacher reads aloud more than 12 to 15 minutes. Research is clear: volume matters and students need to do the reading in order to build stamina and skill.
Reading Myth 5: Teachers need to assess independent reading by having students summarize in a journal their nightly reading or require students do a project for each completed book.
Myth Buster: First, doing a project for each completed book punishes students who read widely and voluminously, and it also punishes teachers who feel they must grade each project. In fact, I’ve known teachers who wanted to abandon independent reading because grading projects and reading students’ summaries had turned into an onerous job. Considering the research, such a decision would be detrimental to students’ reading progress.
I invite teachers to reflect on their independent reading lives. They don’t write summaries; they don’t complete projects, but they do discuss books in book clubs, share favorites with friends, and read book reviews to discover newly published books they want to read. It’s important to offer students similar, authentic options such as:
Invite students to do a book talk a month. Model what a short, effective book talk looks like or use a search engine to find examples of what a short, student book talk looks like.
Organize book club discussions where students share a beloved book with a group of peers, and focus their talk on a literary element or what they learned.
Have students read book reviews from magazines and/or newspapers or read students’ book reviews posted on the Internet. Basically, a book review opens with a short summary; the bulk of the review is the author’s opinion of the book. Once you and students have developed some guidelines for books reviews appropriate for your grade, invite them to write a review of a beloved book two to three times a year.
Closing Thoughts
Keep reading instruction real! To me, this means that if you don’t do worksheets, projects, and summaries for every book you read, then don’t have your students do these “school-made” activities. Trust them to read. Look at the glass half-full. Remember, if students have choice and time to read at school, they will develop a lifelong and joyful habit along with the expertise to apply their reading ability to research and learn as well as find innovative ways to solve problems and share information. Remember, by making reading authentic you are preparing students for their tomorrows!
I have been a consistent basketball player for over forty-five years – I have played regularly during that period and also remained consistent in the mediocre level of my play. Nevertheless, any time I moved cities, I was easily able to connect with new-found friends on the court. And, apart from soreness, a few black eyes, and one broken wrist (I did finish the game despite that injury!), I had been able to escape with any serious physical problems.
Until last March, when I suffered a severely herniated disc.
It’s been seven months, and I’ve almost recovered. In fact, I just played in my first friendly game of basketball since the injury (though I have retired from league play). During my successful rehabilitation process, I noted a number of similarities between what it takes to be a successful patient and what it takes to be a successful learner and gained increased empathy for my students.
Here are a few things I learned:
It’s easy to give up if not initially successful
During the first few weeks of my injury, I spiraled into what my wife called “the abyss” – I was making no progress, saw no future progress on the horizon, and had nightmarish visions of never getting better.
If I, a person who has a long list of personal and professional successes behind, can feel this way, how must a student who might have a much less positive track record feel when he or she is just “not getting” some concepts?
A little bit of progress can go a long way
Professor Teresa Amabile is well-known for the research behind The Progress Principle. She found that the key to motivation was daily progress – no matter how small.
Through physical therapy, I was able to begin escaping my “abyss” by noting even the tiniest amount of progress – I was able to walk one additional step without experiencing excruciating pain, I was able to do one additional set of an exercise. And both the physical therapist and my wife (who is a nurse practitioner) helped create situations where that progress happened and pointed it out even when I didn’t notice.
For struggling students, how easy is it for us to miss very small, yet positive, steps they might be taking? And how many of us take the time to help deliberately create situations to increase the odds of those small positive steps happening?
Words can make a difference
When my regular physician referred me to a sports doctor, the specialist nonchalantly dismissed the idea that I would ever play basketball again – within the first five minutes of my appointment. I was devastated, and shaken, and began to fall into the “abyss” again.
How often do teachers make a comment about a student’s goals – to be a professional athlete, or performer – that can appear to them as dismissive? What kind of impact can those words have on them, even if they are successful in hiding those emotions? How much motivation can be quashed by a few misplaced words?
You often can’t get very far without deliberate practice
The concept of deliberate practice, a strategic and focused practicing of a skill, is often discussed in education and athletic circles. One element of deliberate practice which is sometimes missed, however, is the role of coaching – the need for someone to observe and give you detailed feedback.
In my physical therapy, and in my regular TRX exercise sessions, it became very clear that regular feedback on my techniques were and continue to be crucial to my recovery. It’s easy for a novice to make numerous mistakes – both big and small – that can hamper success and even cause harm.
It’s difficult for a teacher with thirty-five students in his/her classroom to provide regular and consistent individualized coaching. But if research shows that it’s critical to success, should we place a higher priority on exploring ways to generate more of it – for example, through top-notch peer editing and other specific ways that students can provide quality feedback?
I’m not pretending that any of these meanderings are lightbulb-worthy insights. Nevertheless, I figure my teaching practice will never be hurt by gaining a little more empathy for students….
Larry Ferlazzo is a long-time teacher at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, California. He has authored nine books on education, writes a weekly advice column for Education Week Teacher, and hosts his own popular resource-sharing blog for educators.
Though we are social beings who crave relationships and meaningful interactions with others, we also relish having time alone. And that’s a good thing. Alone time cultivates reflection, the ability to raise questions and to look back at an experience, think deeply about it, and gain self-knowledge.
Recently, Gracie, a fifth grader, and her group finished reading Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner. Gracie closed her eyes for a few moments, hoping more pages would pop into the book. “There has to be more,” she blurted out. “It can’t end. I want to know what happened after Searchlight died.” Gently, her teacher reminded Gracie that she could imagine what happened by extending the end of the story in her mind, and she could continue to think about what she had learned from the characters and events.
Gracie and her teacher illustrate what reflecting about reading looks like, and how reflection can boost students’ connections to characters, conflicts, problems, and new information. But it can also do more. Gracie and her group developed empathy for being an orphan and little Willy shouldering adult responsibilities.
Defining Reflection
Reflection is the act of thinking about something and can be a personal experience like planning a vegetable garden, mulling over a book during and after reading or thinking about a movie or play. A powerful learning and imagining tool, reflection enhances experiences by deepening our insights, helping us make sense of new information, and making it possible to use prior knowledge to create new understandings. Those who reflect experience joy in reading, learning, and daily life. They also develop agency and the capacity for positive change.
A solo activity, reflection is unique to each person’s experiences and prior knowledge. It’s also meta-cognitive, providing a learner with knowledge about processing information, connecting to past experiences, and transferring learning to new situations. However, reflecting is individualized thinking and learning that requires modeling and practice.
Promoting Reflective Classrooms
Teachers who squarely see the benefits of questions and reflection in their lives can become the intermediary in developing the habit of raising questions and reflecting among students. When teachers reflect on lessons, observations of and conferences with students, they collect stories and information that can support scaffolding learning and provide insights into students’ behavior and attitudes. It’s helpful to set aside ten to fifteen minutes each day to think about what worked and what you can do to increase students’ engagement and desire to learn.
Reflecting on Teaching: For me, the level of success in a class has everything to do with students’ engagement in the work and their motivation to work hard and learn. By cultivating the habit of thinking about each teaching day, you can celebrate successes as well as repair areas that require attention. The questions that follow encourage reflecting on teaching:
How can I help students become more involved in their learning?
Why were most students engaged, and a few disengaged?
How do I involve students in planning learning experiences?
Do students offer input and feedback on using technology on the classroom?
Why is it important to invite students to help decide how to arrange our classroom for project-based learning, book discussions, genius hour, collaborative planning?
Am I giving students feedback that helps them improve?
Are students doing most of the talking and work? If not, how can I flip this?
Is choice a part of independent and instructional reading? Of collaborative projects? Of presentations?
Does the way I use technology enhance students’ learning?
Am I effectively modeling how to reflect on reading, on a discussion, a collaborative project, and on the use of technology?
Nurture your curiosity and ask questions to examine your teaching and students’ learning. Your questions can help you resolve issues independently or more likely, send you to colleagues for suggestions. When you wonder why a student didn’t absorb a lesson or why a child misbehaves or can’t complete a task, you’ve taken the first step to explore ways to scaffold and support. Be curious. Wonder. Find the path to help yourself and students grow.
Students Reflecting on Learning
To help students actively reflect on a lesson or work they’ve been doing, first invite them to silently think about their work. To guide students, make your inner voice visible and think aloud to show them how you might consider the task. You can say something like: I wish I had set aside more time to work on projects today because 20 minutes wasn’t enough; I’ll do better tomorrow. Or We don’t seem to get to independent reading every day, I’m considering starting the class with it. Doing this builds students’ mental model of what reflective thinking is like. Point out that frequently reflection can lead to a decision that improves learning and use of time.
Have pairs generate and share questions, write these on chart paper, and invite students to choose one or two. The goal is for students to integrate reflective questioning while working on a task or project, and after it’s completed. What follows is a list of some learning experiences for student reflection. You and students will pinpoint many more.
Reflective questioning deepens understanding and can lead to positive changes. When you and your students reflect and then express what you learned, thinking moves beyond the experience to self-knowledge and transfer to other learning and life situations.
