What's do you think creativity has to do with language teaching/learning?
“Most
people are born creative,” say Tom Kelley (University of California/Berkeley
and University of Tokyo) and David Kelley (Stanford University) in this
thoughtful Harvard Business Review
article. “As children, we revel in imaginary play, ask outlandish questions,
draw blobs and call them dinosaurs.” But as the years pass, formal education
takes its toll and many people no longer see themselves as creative.
Kelley and Kelley
believe creativity is vital to getting results, and they’re in the business of
helping people rediscover their creative confidence, defined as their “natural
ability to come up with new ideas and the courage to try them out.” They use
“guided mastery” to help people get past fears that inhibit creativity:
•
Fear of the messy unknown – One’s
office is cozy and predictable, say Kelley and Kelley: “Out in the world, it’s
more chaotic. You have to deal with unexpected findings, with uncertainty, and
with irrational people who say things you don’t want to hear. But that is where
you find insights – and creative breakthroughs.” Venturing out of one’s comfort
zone and treating it like an anthropological expedition is a sure way to fire
up creativity.
•
Fear of being judged – “If the
scribbling, singing, dancing kindergartner symbolizes unfettered creative
expression,” say Kelley and Kelley, “the awkward teenager represents the
opposite: someone who cares – deeply
– about what other people think. It takes only a few years to develop that fear
of judgment, but it stays with us throughout our adult lives, often
constraining our careers.” People self-censor ideas for fear they won’t be
acceptable to peers or superiors, constantly undermining the creative process.
Kelley and Kelley recommend keeping an idea notebook or whiteboard and
scribbling ideas – good, bad, indifferent – with abandon. It’s amazing how much
good stuff is written down by the end of each week. They also suggest scheduling
“white space” time when the only task is to think and daydream – perhaps while
taking a walk. It’s also important to reach an agreement with colleagues to use
more supportive language in response to wild and crazy ideas, shifting from
“That will never work” to “I wish…” or “This is just my opinion and I want to
help.”
•
Fear of the first step – “Creative
efforts are hardest at the beginning,” say Kelley and Kelley. “The writer faces
the blank page; the teacher, the start of school; businesspeople, the first day
of a new project… To overcome this inertia, good ideas are not enough. You need
to stop planning and just get started – and the best way to do that is to stop
focusing on the huge overall task and find a small piece you can tackle right
away.” A boy who procrastinated on a school report on birds till the night
before it was due was on the verge of a panic attack, but he got some great
advice from his father: “Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.”
•
Fear of losing control – Many people
think they have to solve problems or come up with answers by themselves. Kelley
and Kelley say that when we’re stuck, we need to let go and reach out for help.
“Confidence doesn’t simply mean believing your ideas are good,” they write. “It
means having the humility to let go of ideas that aren’t working and to accept
good ideas from other people.” Call a meeting of people who are fresh to the
topic and brainstorm. Let the most junior person in the room lead the meeting.
Look for opportunities to let go and leverage different perspectives.
Is an important article because it mentioned a very important key to success in any field you want to engage someone: creativity.
ReplyDeleteIt is true that at first people are afraid that your idea is not good, but are also good contributions and best of each, as mentioned in any of the above.
Another important point that play is the fear of being judged, but I think everyone is different and that each of us has a gift, maybe some are not good for some things but for other things if we have to learn to respect the views or the creations of others.
Finally, it is a good text, in education creativity is important because it is one of the foundations of it, and as educologa involves creating and creating every day to be good people.
Creativity is something many people desire to have, but that not many people make and effort to achieve it. I loved this article cause I think its very truth each thing it says. For example, I am in agreement when it says that most of the time formal education is the reason of our lack of creativity. This idea may sound crazy for some, but I think is true, cause since were are little teachers and educational official programs say us what to do, in what ways and at what time.
ReplyDeleteLets give the opportunity to our students to evolve by themselves without that inner voice that is telling us what is correct and what is not.
The four points Kelley and Kelley shares with us (guided mastery) are some good recommendations we should now and apply. Each one of them could personally be applied in our daily life´s, so lets take advantage on them and make a difference in us and in our community.
Great text!
Most of all this article tell us how to do the things that we want to do, no fear from judgment, no fear to the first step and the incoming unknown but the most important is believe in us and our idea, make out our self-confidence of what we want and not what they want, is the same with the opinions to other people don't make a command make it as a suggest, its terrible that we loose the creativity as we get our education formally, it is only up to us to keep it to the maximum development in our
ReplyDeleteminds, activities and projects that we want to do.
The main purpose: creativity.
ReplyDeletePeople think creativity is such a difficult ability to have, but I think everyone has his own creativity. The keys that the authors mentioned are very useful, because sometimes we are the only person that stops us. Nobody can do it, just you.
Let’s try new things, let our brain think something crazy about.
So, at the time we are with the students, it’s a good recommendation to let them think and comment about something, anything they want to talk, so they can start making his and her owns opportunities to see the future and how to act with it.
The fears just exists in adults. Kids don't know when something isn't good till somebody else tells them that are wrong, is that time when the fears start to constrct in ourselves and we limit our mind to do the things in a ''correct'' way and is true that it is the reason for what we stop to be ceative persons, and that is awful because the creativity healp us to be better and to make dreams come true.
ReplyDeleteFear, as we saw in one of our first classes, false evidence appearing real. That is what fear is most of the time. Something that we think exists and most of the time it never happens.
ReplyDeleteCREATIVITY! Everywhere I turn seems like there is someone talking about creativity this days.
ReplyDeleteI like this article because in this days we have to be creative, the kids, the teens, the adults even the old people need to be creative. By reading this article I realize that the school that suppose to be the one who encourage the kids to be creative, it seems that with the years they want creative students but they don't give the freedom to the students to be creative. So we have to take the tips or recommendations the author give us and try to apply the creativity in every aspects of our life's :)
I think this coincidence have a lot of meaning, because I have course a subject online, and the theme that I have seen in the last days, was the creativity, and I´m fascinated because the innovation and originality because they are opening a lot of doors in the life.
ReplyDeleteSometimes in the schools the teachers do not care to the creativity, and didn´t pay attention in this part, is very significant to all persons to express themselves and share with others what they think or feel.
I believe in the power of the brain, and the importance of keep busy, not only with tasks or something like that, but if all the persons give a chance to feel through the art, maybe would be more pacific and see the life different.