The Creativity Core:
Transforming Language Arts Classrooms
Into Creativity Workshops
Since I first set down my ideas for the Creativity Workshop in book, website, and blog, the “Common Core” has been invented and implemented. (Kind of quickly too!) As a high-school English teacher, I kind of like the Common Core Requirement's fire-and-brimstone attitude about improving reading expectations and teaching essay skills.
However:
Based on the Common Core – and most high school English classrooms I’ve seen – the dominant methods of studying language are:
a) Reading it and b) Writing essays about the reading.
Very little time is devoted to c) Having students create original works.
I know reading lessons and essay skills are important, but our language arts classes can accomplish even more. They can be studios where artists work and laboratories where scientists experiment. Language has creative, therapeutic, and reflective powers – and our schools can do more to teach them to students.
David Coleman, the Common Core’s architect, is not a touchy-feely type, and he has mocked the importance of the personal narrative in our classrooms. He said a boss will never tell an employee, “Johnson, I need a market analysis by Friday, but before that, I need a compelling account of your childhood.”
Coleman is dead wrong. The personal narrative is the heart of all writing. Writing isn’t a market analysis and it isn’t a researched argument about global warming. Writing comes from the soul; it aims to enlighten writers and move readers.
I now propose the “Creativity Core”:
In the Creativity Core: Students experiment with all genres and styles of writing and related arts. They write poetry, memoir, plays, stories, songs and more. They also create language art like mind maps, cartoons, and visual poems.
In the Creativity Core: Teachers employ the Creativity Workshop. Across the K-12 spectrum, class-time must be used more often to write and to create art than to discuss writing and art.
In the Creativity Core: Students create from the heart. They produce careful art that has real meaning. Given time and space to discover their own voices, they are encouraged to think about themselves and the world around them – and to respond to what they see and experience.
In the Creativity Core: Students learn that our websites, blogs, magazines, newspapers, and contemporary literature are not filled with Common Core essayists but with artists who can express their own original ideas.
In the Creativity Core: Every student leaves with a portfolio, a feeling of accomplishment, and a stronger sense of identity.
There are a lot of people calling for more creativity to be taught in our schools. But who knows how to teach creativity? And who can teach teachers to teach creativity?
I can! And I can show you how too!
Daniel Weinstein
English teacher, Great Neck South High School
However:
Based on the Common Core – and most high school English classrooms I’ve seen – the dominant methods of studying language are:
a) Reading it and b) Writing essays about the reading.
Very little time is devoted to c) Having students create original works.
I know reading lessons and essay skills are important, but our language arts classes can accomplish even more. They can be studios where artists work and laboratories where scientists experiment. Language has creative, therapeutic, and reflective powers – and our schools can do more to teach them to students.
David Coleman, the Common Core’s architect, is not a touchy-feely type, and he has mocked the importance of the personal narrative in our classrooms. He said a boss will never tell an employee, “Johnson, I need a market analysis by Friday, but before that, I need a compelling account of your childhood.”
Coleman is dead wrong. The personal narrative is the heart of all writing. Writing isn’t a market analysis and it isn’t a researched argument about global warming. Writing comes from the soul; it aims to enlighten writers and move readers.
I now propose the “Creativity Core”:
In the Creativity Core: Students experiment with all genres and styles of writing and related arts. They write poetry, memoir, plays, stories, songs and more. They also create language art like mind maps, cartoons, and visual poems.
In the Creativity Core: Teachers employ the Creativity Workshop. Across the K-12 spectrum, class-time must be used more often to write and to create art than to discuss writing and art.
In the Creativity Core: Students create from the heart. They produce careful art that has real meaning. Given time and space to discover their own voices, they are encouraged to think about themselves and the world around them – and to respond to what they see and experience.
In the Creativity Core: Students learn that our websites, blogs, magazines, newspapers, and contemporary literature are not filled with Common Core essayists but with artists who can express their own original ideas.
In the Creativity Core: Every student leaves with a portfolio, a feeling of accomplishment, and a stronger sense of identity.
There are a lot of people calling for more creativity to be taught in our schools. But who knows how to teach creativity? And who can teach teachers to teach creativity?
I can! And I can show you how too!
Daniel Weinstein
English teacher, Great Neck South High School
A Call for Creativity in the Classroom
As I was working on this project, the July 19, 2010 issue of Newsweek was published with the cover story entitled, “Creativity in America: The Science of Innovation and How to Reignite Our Imaginations.” Among the highlights:
“American creativity scores are falling. [The culprit is] the lack of creativity development in our schools. In effect it’s left to the luck of the draw who becomes creative: there’s no concerted effort to nurture the creativity of all children.”
...
“As school stuffs more complex information into their heads, kids get overloaded, and creativity suffers.” America’s focus on “standardized curriculum, rote memorization, and nationalized testing” is based on an outdated model.
...
“When creative children have a supportive teacher – someone tolerant of unconventional answers, occasional disruptions, or detours of curiosity – they tend to excel.”
...
“While our creativity scores decline unchecked, the current national strategy for creativity consists of little more than praying for a Greek muse to drop by our houses.”
“American creativity scores are falling. [The culprit is] the lack of creativity development in our schools. In effect it’s left to the luck of the draw who becomes creative: there’s no concerted effort to nurture the creativity of all children.”
...
“As school stuffs more complex information into their heads, kids get overloaded, and creativity suffers.” America’s focus on “standardized curriculum, rote memorization, and nationalized testing” is based on an outdated model.
...
“When creative children have a supportive teacher – someone tolerant of unconventional answers, occasional disruptions, or detours of curiosity – they tend to excel.”
...
“While our creativity scores decline unchecked, the current national strategy for creativity consists of little more than praying for a Greek muse to drop by our houses.”
A Note from the author
My book, blog, and website are created in response to articles like this and to the national call for better teaching, more effective learning, and superior educational tactics. If you want to learn how to be an inspirational teacher who teaches students to be creative, please explore the material on this website, experiment with its practices, and contact me if you have any questions.
A key aspect of The Creativity Core is having students create the colorful mind-map projects you'll see all over this website. However, these graphic works are just a piece of the overall philosophy - and you'll learn how to get your students to produce them in the mini-lessons. The bulk of the work is creating poetry, memoir, and other forms of writing.
All student-samples are used with permission. Both the book and this website are copyrighted.
A key aspect of The Creativity Core is having students create the colorful mind-map projects you'll see all over this website. However, these graphic works are just a piece of the overall philosophy - and you'll learn how to get your students to produce them in the mini-lessons. The bulk of the work is creating poetry, memoir, and other forms of writing.
All student-samples are used with permission. Both the book and this website are copyrighted.