Welcoming Creativity In the Young

Learner Classroom.

José Luis Morales,2009

Which of these views do you subscribe?

A) All human beings can be creative.

B) Only gifted individuals are truly creative.

 What is creativity?
Sanders & Sanders, (1984, pp 24-27)

f you want to be creative, stay in

art a child, with the creativity and
vention that characterizes children
efore they are deformed by adult
society.”
Jean Piaget
“New Know”
Robert Samples
“Divergent thinking in
problem solving”
J.P.Guilford
“...the emergence in activities of a
novel relational product, growing
out of the uniqueness of the
individual on the one hand, and on
the materials, events, people, or
circumstances of his life on the
other.”
Carl Rogers
 “The combination of
previously unrelated
tructures in such a way that
you get more out of the
mergent whole than you put
in.” Arthur Koestler
 “ Cr ea tivit y is a proces s
that in volves se nsing
gaps o r dist urbin g
mis sing elem ent s,
making h ypot he ses ,
test in g t hem,
com mun ica tin g the
res ult s and po ssibly
modif ying an d r et est ing
thes e h ypot hes es. ”
Paul T or ra nc e
 The concept evolves:
R ob er t J. St er n b er g , P r of es so r of Ps y c h olog y a nd
Ed u c a t ion , Ya le Un iv er s it y.

Mystical Approaches –
Plato’s view of the poet as an empty
vessel filled with inspiration by the
Muses.
 Psychodynamic Approaches
– Freud (1908/1959) – creative work is a way
for the artist to express unconscious wishes in a
publicly acceptable fashion.
- Gestaltists and the concept of ‘insight’.
Pragmatic Approaches
– De Bono (1971) Lateral Thinking
- Osborne (1953) Brainstorming
Confluence approaches
– Csikszentmihalyi (1988,1996) Systems
approach
- Sternberg & Lubat (1991) Investment theory
of creativity.
 Investment Theory of creativity
Sternberg & Lubat (1991, 1992, 1995,1996)

Creative people are those who are

willing and able to “buy low in order
to sell high”
Creativity as
a process lBeing open to experiencing

lFocusing on one’s experiencing

lWorking with discipline

lBringing the work to a close

Foshay in Creativity in
Teaching edited by
Alice Miel (1961)
Creativity as
a set of traits lFluency of ideas – lots ?

lFlexibility – variety?

lOriginality – new, unusual?

lElaboration – any gaps?

Torrance Tests of
Creative Thinking

Torrance (1974)
 lIntellectual abilities
Creativity as a
lKnowledge
set of
interrelated lStyles of thinking
resources lPersonality

lMotivation

lThe environment

Investment Theory of
Creativity Sternberg &
Lubat (1991)
 Definition of Creativity
Longman Dictionar y of Contemporar y English

Cre-a-tiv-i-ty n [U] the ability to use your

imagination to produce new ideas, make
things etc: artistic creativity/ Teachers have
been attacked for stifling creativity in their
pupils.
 Teacher Responsiveness and
Creativity:

A teacher’s creativeness is exhibited to a

significant degree in the nature of the
response made to children or youth in this
process of interaction.
Marie M. Hughes (in Miel, A.1961)
 What is integrity in classroom
relations?

The state or quality of being

complete, individual, or
unbroken; entirety; an
unimpaired state.
Dieg o’s
stor y
 Teacher responses that protect
creativity:

Child A: Is the house too big?

How do you want it? How does it
feel to you?
Teacher A: It’s okay.
ChildB: I need a title for my story.
What is your story about? What
Teacher B: What about
did you“My best friend?”
write?
 Protecting
Creativit y in
Teacher-Child
interaction

How a teacher reacted

to the child’s comment:
Child – Mirá Simba.

Teacher – Repeat after me.

Look! It’s Simba.
 Protecting
Creativit y in
Teacher-Child
interaction

How the teacher could

have reacted to preserve
the integrity of the
child’s comment:

Child – Mirá Simba.

Teacher – Yes. It’s

Simba, the lion.
Using space
creatively
Use the unexpected,
unconventional: ceiling,
floor, backs of chairs,
corners, back of the
room.

Invite the learners to

hold things up for
classmates to admire
their work if there is no
display space available.
Using humble
things
creatively
Boxes

Paper bags

Paper

String

Fabric

Objects
Use a
variety of
activities.
From
closed...

Necessary focus on
target language but little
or no room for the child’s
creativity (linguistic or
other)
...controlled

language
 ...to more
open-ended...

Some room for the child’s

creativity: learners can
add their own objects and
color as they like before
they place phone orders.
...freer...

Make room for the

child’s creativity
(linguistic and/or other)
...creative
thinking and
language use.

Plenty of room for the

child’s creativity
(linguistic & other)
 Creating with words:

Read the activity and suggest a

way to increase linguistic pay off
while allowing the children some
creativity.
 Possible adjustment:
Each player must say a
word for the next player
to say the opposite.
 It is a time for wondering and
observing and figuring out…
Without creative ability, we
remain at the mercy of all that is
going on around us, finding our
lives lived for us.
Peggy Brogan
 REFERENCES
•Miel, A. ed. 1961. Creativity in Teaching:
Invitations and Instances. Wadsworth, Belmont,
California.
•Morales, J.L. et al. 2006. English Adventure 1 to
6. Pearson Longman, White Plains, NY.
•Sanders, D.A., & Sanders, J.A. 1984. Teaching
Creativity through Metaphor: An Integrated
Brain Approach. Longman, New York.
•Sternberg, R.J. 1999. Handbook of Creativity,
Cambridge University Press.
•Torrance, P. 1974. Torrance Tests of Creative
Thinking, Scholastic Testing Service, Inc,
Bensenville, IL.
•O’Neil, H., Drillings, M. 1994. Motivation:
 Thank you very
much for your
participation!
José Luis Morales

joseluis.morales@pearsoned.com