Midterm Reflections on CREATIVITY

Before I started this class, my thoughts on creativity revolved around art projects and cutesy handwriting. I now realize that creativity is much more complex, and does not have to involve the arts at all!! People have differing views on what creates it and how to promote it. I never would have guessed that a topic like creativity would be so controversial!

My favorite article thus far has been the “Paint-by-Number Teachers and Cookie-Cutter Students” article. Most of the comments shared by the author resonated with me at this point in my teaching career. I also really enjoyed the Ken Robinson video (linked at the bottom of my blog). These articles are helping me to think more critically about education and creativity in the classroom. Perhaps most convicting, however, were the squelchers. All I can say for myself is GUILTY GUILTY GUILTY. I have tried to be more aware of what I say to my students so that they feel safe to think originally.

I have really enjoyed the creative activities we have done both as opportunities for me to do things I do not normally get to do, but also thinking of ways that I could incorporate them into my instruction.

Julia Roberts and Mihalhyi Csikszentmihalyi: On the same page with respect to CREATIVITY?

In Davis (2004), the theory of creativity is outlined as seen by Csikszentmihalyi. "without the larger field or society passing judgment ('We hereby stamp this creative') the person and the product simply are neither recognized nor accepted as 'creative.' Genuine creativity does not reside in the object itself, said [Csikszentmihalyi], rather 'the reason we believe that Leonardo or Einstein was creative is that we have read that that is the case' (Csikszentmihalyi, 1988, p. 327)" (p. 66).

There is a scene in the movie Mona Lisa Smile when Julia Robert's character addresses her art class asking questions about WHO exactly decides that art is good and what are thee standards. Her thought process is eerily similar to mine as I read about Csikszentmihalyi's thoughts on society's declaration of "the standards."


(sorry about the subtitles...)

CREATIVE theorists in the media

Rank's Creative Type: Creativity flows from people who are well adjusted and self actualized--people who are "mentally healthy, self-accepting, forward growing, fully functioning, democratic, and more" (Davis, 2004, p. 2) and who use all of their talents to be as great as they potentially can be.

Examples: Miss Honey from the movie Matilda. Really, many teachers follow this, but Miss Honey came to mind first. Please excuse the video, but it shows the relationship between Miss Honey and Matilda. Miss Honey loves her job as a teacher and is happy to do anything to help her students. She ultimately comes up with a clever idea that helps Matilda escape from her family.

Imogene Herdman from The Best School Year Ever. People at school think Imogene Herdman is the most ill-mannered person, but she comes up with some very clever ideas (buttering the head of someone who is stuck in a bike rack etc) because she is secure in who she is and what she is doing. Imogene is definitely "at one with herself."

Jung's Psychological Type of Creative Person: Creativity draws on emotional shocks, and experiences of passion. Davis quotes Jung saying "the poet's work is an interpretation of conscious life that raises the reader to greater clarity and understanding. Novels about love, crime, the family or society, along with didactic poetry and much drama, also are of the psychological type" (Davis, 2004, p. 43).

Example: The Giver by Lois Lowry. In The Giver, people live in a utopian society where everyone progresses through "life's stages" at the same time. Upon finishing this novel, the reader is aware of many of the nuances of society.

Jung's Visionary Type of Creative Person: Creativity is due to dissatisfaction and a need for change or reform.

Example: Martin Luther and his 95 theses. Because of his dissatisfaction with the church, Luther posted his grievances to the church door.

Torrence's Creative Type: Creativity comes from sensing problems, forming hypotheses, testing them, and getting results. This take on creativity is a results based theory.

Example: Thomas Edison's light bulb invention.

Creative Press: The creative press, or creative environment is responsible for many of the creative accomplishments, but it can also be responsible for "squelching" the creative flow of the brain.

Example: In the movie The Stepford Wives, the environment of the characters' society made it where every woman was expected to be the same perfect wife. To ensure this, they "switched out" the wives with robot like women. Because of this, there was no originality or thinking outside of the box in this community.

Mental Happenings: Sometimes creative inspiration cannot be explained. It often comes to people in the strangest of forms, but the results are nonetheless impressive.

• Science: The Wright brothers. Wilbur Wright was "idly" playing with a bicycle inner tube box when he just came up with the idea of what is now modern flight.
• Literature: J.K. Rowling. The idea for Harry Potter and other characters came to J. K. Rowling as she was sitting on a train. Now, Harry Potter is an internationally recognized book and character.
• Music: Doug and his song Think Big. In the Nickelodeon show, Doug dreams about a song called "Think Big." When he wakes up, he writes down the words and writes his own song.
• Music (2): "Take Me Out to the Ball Game": Inspired while riding on a train, Jack Norworth wrote the lyrics in about half an hour.
• Art: Andrew Stanton, director and writer of Finding Nemo. The idea for the movie for Finding Nemo came to Stanton as a "third voice."

It is clear that these theorists are NOT outdated, as their works appear and have appeared in popular culture.

Can Transformation Reflection

I had a difficult time coming up with an idea for this project. I appealed to my friends, my teacher friends, and my family. I could not decide if I should try to design something that was functional, or just aesthetically pleasing. Plus, I am someone who struggles with “open projects” like this with few parameters and no real direction. It was my mom who came up with the flower idea, but I was the one who had to make it. I found that manipulating a can into a flower required more tools and time than I originally thought.

In any case, here is my Flower Can. It has no real purpose other than to just be pretty and decorative. :)

The CREATIVE Personality

I have encountered many creative people in my life, but perhaps one of the most creative people I know is my friend Meredith Smith. She displays all of the 10 antithetical traits presented by Csikszentmihalyi.

1. Creative people have a great deal of physical energy, but they're also often quiet and at rest.
Meredith is a dedicated and hard worker, no matter the goal. From our sorority events at Wake Forest, to her high pressure job now in Washington D.C., she always has energy to get her work done. However, she does an excellent job of balancing the energy used during "job time" with quiet time at home with her family.

2. Creative people tend to be smart yet naive at the same time.
Meredith is incredibly intelligent. She is one of those people who just KNOWS things. She also, though, has a childlike nature that helps make her "smarts" not seem so overwhelming.

3.Creative people combine playfulness and discipline, or responsibility and irresponsibility.
Having lived and traveled with Meredith, I can tell you that she is the epitome of both playful and disciplined. There is a time to play and a time to work. Meredith knows the difference, and her life ethic reflects this.

4. Creative people alternate between imagination and fantasy, and a rooted sense of reality.
Meredith is definitely REAL. She has a strong grasp of what is logical and rational, yet she is not afraid to "dream big" and push beyond what is expected and predicted.

5. Creative people tend to be both extroverted and introverted.
YES, DEFINITELY. Meredith has no problem being the life of the party, but she also needs time to recharge on her own. Depending on the day (or even moment) you encounter her, the perception of what kind of person she is might be different than the last time you saw her.

6. Creative people are humble and proud at the same time.
Though she definitely has pride for the work she does, Meredith would never advertise her successes or paint herself in a light to make her seem greater than others. She works hard and deserves to be recognized, but she is content for herself to be the only one who knows what she has done.

7. Creative people, to an extent, escape rigid gender role stereotyping.
Meredith is definitely feminine, so do not mistake this statement to say anything otherwise. As Csikszentmihalyi said, "Creative individuals are more likely to have not only the strengths of their own gender but those of the other one, too." This is absolutely true of Meredith--she would never let being a woman interfere with her ability to be strong in any aspect, creative or otherwise.

8. Creative people are both rebellious and conservative.
Anyone who knows Meredith would tell you she is not afraid to rock the boat if she feels strongly about a cause. She also, though, respects tradition and the past.

9. Most creative people are very passionate about their work, yet they can be extremely objective about it as well.
While Meredith was working on her thesis senior year at Wake Forest, I was able to see her passion AND objectivity towards her work. She labored over her paper for weeks and then was able to sit and listen to people object and question what she wrote. She took these criticisms constructively and improved her work as a result.

10. Creative people's openness and sensitivity often exposes them to suffering and pain, yet also to a great deal of enjoyment.
Meredith puts her heart into her work (job, project, and just life in general). This means when things are going well, she is soaring--she has worked hard and it has payed off! On the other hand, because she puts her heart in her work, if things do not go well, it is often a painful experience.

Overall, most of the qualities noted by Csikszentmihalyi involve a sense of balance between two seeming extremes. Meredith has an uncanny ability to maintain such a balance. I am not sure if this is what allows her to be so creative, or if it is her creativity that allows her balance. Either way, she has a creative personality that has even more creative potential, and I love getting to see it in action!

The CREATIVITY squelcher!

As I looked over the list of idea squelchers in our text book, I was both convicted by the number of these I have given to my students in just my student teaching and one year of teaching experiences AND the number of these I have heard already in my young teaching career. I am now MUCH more conscious of what I say! I try to give my students the time and space they need to be creative and productive citizens. Since reading this, though, I have come up with a few more that I have either heard as a student or as a young teacher. I am also ashamed to report that some of these have escaped from my mouth...

- Not right now. (in other words, NO, but I don't want to have to deal with this right now, so please leave me alone).
- Let's let someone else do that. (not my problem)
- Why would we do that? (your idea is really dumb)
- You don't understand how things work around here. (I know more than you do, and your suggestion is idiotic)
- When do you suggest we do that? (we don't have time for your silly idea)
- We just do not have time for that. (but even if we had a thousand years, we STILL wouldn't consider it)

If you do not feel two inches tall after one of those comments has been said to you, you have a thicker skin than I do! We should never be responsible for making our children or coworkers feel this way! Instead we should provide positive BUT MEANINGFUL and TRUE feedback to our students. If time is really an issue, explain this to them so that they know their ideas are valued.