This post will gather some of the ideas I consider important for a teacher to have and for creating an environment that fosters creativity
About Creativity
I believe that creativity is one of the top skills that should be practiced, as it brings concepts such as curiosity, flexibility and design thinking together in order to create value out of something that might seem not to have it.
As I learned in my studies in Canada, creativity is built from hard work, smart work, guts and luck. This allows diversity and team communication, fosters sharing ideas and grows when there’s more empathy and mindfulness within the group.
The enemies of creativity are:
-When there is only one good answer
-When there is excess of logic (if solution is not logic it doesnt work),
-When the rules that cannot be broken, are extremely concrete and the discussion is practical.
The team that fosters creativity should watch out for mistakes, as they are important in the process of creating a better prototype.
Perhaps the biggest goal is to rethink our traditional understanding of creativity as unstructured and lacking rules or patterns, which forces you to wait for inspiration, the muse to descend, or some unusual spark of brilliance before you can begin.
Gary Hamel explains that the best way to have and entrepenurial idea is to have a lots of ideas and the filter them apropiately, and there are multiple kwown team exercises to enhance this process (which I share in the UX post)
In order to promote creative thinking, it would be a good idea to keep in mind that creativity flourishes when theres a genuine interest in the problem, and when its felt that superiors will apreciate such wit. One example of this is Picasso, who had his wit intact because didnt let his inside kid die, he approached problems with fresh view and didn’t define any limits
Finally, I would suggest as a goal to create something creative that lasts in your lifetime .
Suggested reading: Creativity inc
Teaching
Reading has something cool: it lights bulbs in the head, more than a movie. Discussions in class also lights bulbs, as they have students focused in the moment.
University should focus on building confidence, making failure happen and creating lightbulb moments in students. Make them fall in love with the process rathher than the result. Teach them to think in creative ways.
Simulate failure somehow is important for classes, to teach students to deal with failure is more important than rewards, to reward trying and failing and climbing rather than results which come naturally.
Some teaching tips:
-When people need to be quiet, loudly say alright pause for 5 seconds
-Try to make students wonder what’s happening behind what’s evident , what happens while they work on a team project, what happens when a concept or class exercises is itroduced in class. Bascically create some introspection, more than transmiting all knowledge at once and and imparted.
-I love design and psychology as the ideas can get very far away, but administration can also be an art, which has to be cultivated by workshops, cases, simulations, etc.
Two class tips: Talk within ourselves and then outside low risk conversation with each other first and then see who wants to share what they’ve discussed.
Lesson planning
A lesson plan is a teacher’s daily guide for what students need to learn, how it will be taught, and how learning will be measured. Lesson plans help teachers be more effective in the classroom by providing a detailed outline to follow each class period.
In Class, the main goals are to Capture attention, Lead trough outcome, Asses previous knowledge ( Verify what students already know) ,Activate new knowledge (meat of the class)and Solidify with assessment.
A typical teaching outline should be :
-Introducing the topic and class objectives (and materials if needed),
-creating a foundtation, creating brain activation (Hook, could be video),
-deliver a body of new information, have a space to clarify, step by step
-practice (development of exercise,Individual or group activities (written, oral))
-review (Get everyone on the same page, Help focus, Clarify misconceptions and summarize the exercise)
-foster independent practice (apply learnings into their own projects)
-closure (with further adaptations and extensions, which is a fast finisher, Students apply what they learned).
adaptations, extensions
Some tips: Interact between inner and outer circles, plan lessons according to I do we do you do, to explain, start with a topic such as “who has seen this film” , “who hasn’t seen this”. etc, then explain what the main topic is about and How will I teach it, Would you rather – great conversation starter , Do they get it? Written output concepts
Soft skills to cultivate: Creative thinking, Teamwork, Communication clarity, Apttitude to take decisiones and evalauate them, Efficient and eficas time management, Prioriity definition, Negotioation skills, Working well inder ressuer and leadership Confidence
Recommended readings: The big list of class discussion strategies cult of pedagogy/speaking-listening-techniques how to teach unknown known, Bloom taxonomy: teacher planning kit
