Creative learning and creative teaching and the new curriculum Gwen Gawith

Bruce Hammonds wrote on his Sunday 5th August blog on the subject of creative learning and teaching and the legendary Elwyn Richardson. Both are favourite hobby horses of mine so Bruces blog triggered some reflection on the o ortunities resented by the !new curriculum to teach for dee er" more interesting and more creative learning # learning that involves students" engages them" fascinates them challenges them" gets them e$ loring their own hysical and mental worlds. Bruce cites the !new curriculum view of students as !active see%ers" users and creators of their own %nowledge. He sees these and other !new ideas as !more old wine in new bottles. & refer to see it as an indictment of the fragmented" hideous 'urriculum Statements which hijac%ed a generation of learners and teachers ( and many teacher educators and )* develo ers. +ill a slimmer curriculum lead to a renaissance in creative teaching and learning, -his assumes that what has been reventing us from teaching creatively" and students from learning creatively" is the aforesaid fragmented" bloated curriculum statements. &ve been around to long to believe in sim le anaceas. &ll e$ lore four concerns and draw on Elwyns wor% to translate them into four .of many/ ways of contributing to creative learning. 0. 1irstly" des ite losing some weight & thin% the !new curriculum added to the myriad of !things we do . and see as a !must in the school year/ is still obese. -here will still be too much to do" too much fragmentation" too much su erficial !s lattergun" once#over#lightly learning. -eachers are driven by all the things they have to do" and continue to have to do. +e are too busy#busy#doing stuff to as% the one 2uestion that & thin% should drive every classroom" all curriculum lanning and )*. How well" how ddee ly and how creatively are the children in my classroom learning, +hat evidence do & have other than that we are !getting through the curriculum and our classroom is a bright" ha y learning environment, 3. & thin% Bruce ma%es a valid oint when he tal%s about visiting 4numbers of classes with lots of &'!bling and !higher#order thin%ing s%ills but with few roducts of genuine creative teaching to be seen.5 +hat & wrote about" tal%ed about" moaned and groaned about 1&1-EE6 years ago is still evident ( the folly of e2uating the use of &'- with !creative learning. -eachers insisting that childrens education is deficient if they havent got their own blogs. 7ive us a brea%. Since when is blogging" er se" an e$am le of creative learning, Surely it de ends on the content of the blog" the ideas and the o inions of the blogger. 1or e$am le" Bruces blog was worth reading because it had clearly e$ ressed" relevant .to teachers/ o inions and solid content .a summary of some of Elwyns %ey ideas on creative learning and teaching/. But not all blogs are created e2ual. Remember 7&78 ( garbage in" garbage out, 8ne of the few things children learn at school that they are unli%ely to learn elsewhere is that ideas" o inions" claims grounded in evidence are better .yes" better in terms of academic learning" business and daily life and the media/ than vacuous" unsubstantiated" ego#driven" often inaccurate and biased waffle arading as info" ideas and o inions. So blog away" ossums" but dont confuse the medium with the message" and dont assume that the use of technology e2uates with creative learning or teaching. 9. -hirdly" with the new curriculum in itself influence our e$ ectations, +hen & read Elwyns wor% what stri%es me forcibly is his e$ ectation that each and every child in his class had the otential for creative learning. But far from having e$ ectations and ho ing that children would live u to them." Elwyns mastery of creative teaching encom asses his ability to turn e$ ectations into recision and detail" tools and rules" modelling ( showing and telling ( roviding feedbac% that is recise" ositive and gives sha e and form to the rocesses of creative learning ( e$ loration" e$ erimentation and transformation. +hen teachers do too much" cover too much" it is inevitable that while ado ting inclusive language" 4+e did this" we did that" we tal%ed about" we shared :"5 the classroom is teacher driven. Bruce tal%s about the roblem today being 4too much teacher in ut with; e$em lars" criteria"

objectives" testing" im osed ! intentions and formulaic teaching leading to well done but hardly creative roducts5 and concludes 4 the teachers role become benignly o ressive.5 But nor is !creative" child# centred learning the sim listic res onse ta%en when teachers let children choose what they want to learn and leave them alone .facilitation</ to do it. -his re resents the freedom to fail" not the carefully guided freedom Elwyn rovides to hel children draw dee ly on their own internal and e$ternal environments and e$ eriences" ma%e mindful choices about medium and method" and e$ eriment and e$ lore within the boundaries of medium and method. =. -his leads to my fourth concern. & thin% that it is sim ly not ossible to ma%e e$ ectations and creative learning e$ licit and concrete if one has never e$ erienced truly creative learning oneself. 'reativity isnt what ha ens when children are given a tas% and resources in a su ortive learning environment. 1reedom > materials > time > encouragement and somehow the creative juices will flow, 6onsense< 'reativity in A6? field or s ort is inevitably the result of a slow rocess of learning the disci line" the rules and tools of that field or s ort. 'reativity is a transformative rocess using .and transcending/ rules and tools. .&ts a dee rocess" but not boring and dull/. +ill teachers with e$tra time rovided by slimmer curriculum coverage confuse de th with ! doing to ics to death slowly, 'reative de th coe$ists with layfulness because it results from Elwyns rocesses of e$ loration" e$ erimentation and transformation. 5. 1inally" consider that creativity might be influenced by the teachers mental attitude to learning and the current climate in schools. &f teachers are e$cessively tas% driven .4-hese are all the things & have to do" all the !stuff & have to cover5/ which is inevitable in a busy#busy# do#more#climate" it is highly unli%ely that time will be given to two of Elwyns %ey considerations ( mindfulness and layfulness. -o create ideas" understandings" %nowledge re2uires more than just the usual to ic @ 2uestions @ go#and#find#out@ aste u #some#dis arate#facts ( manually or electronically reci e that asses for !in2uiry. 'reative thin%ing is not about using de Bonos hats. 'reative learning ha ens when learners are given the models" the time" the encouragement to lay with their ideas" to consider what their minds are doing and cn do it with the raw material they feed in ( to stand aside from their minds to become !mindful thin%ers and learners. 'reative learners enjoy laying with ideas and e$ loring" layfully" the rocess and content of their learning. So how can we e$tra olate some edagogy from these concerns that reflects Elwyns !best ractice and fits the environment of the slimmer !new curriculum. 0. 'urriculum lanning; -he only antidote to the 4 we are so busy" busy busy we must be learning5 syndrome is whole school curriculum lanning. & dont mean inflated documents full of the edagogical e2uivalent of motherhood and a le ie and a large dose of wishful thin%ing. a/ & mean a tight one or two age document with no com uter gra hics and salacious colour" written in lain English" outlining +HA- each teacher will teach in a term based on the !new curriculum. b/ & mean as%ing +H? it is im ortant that children of this age s end time learning this stuff. .&f it isnt worth learning" why bother,/ c/ & mean .des ite the lac% of s%ills in the !new curriculum/ an outline of the s%ills that must be taught .not just assumed to be used/ during the term" and outlining methods for documenting the answer to the 2uestions & as%ed above; How well" how dee ly and how creatively are the children in my classroom learning, +hat evidence do & have other than that we are !getting through the curriculum and our classroom is a bright" ha y learning environment. &n other words" curriculum lanning should focus on +HA- are children going to learn" and H8+ we will describe or measure that learning so that we . and the children/ themselves %now +HA- they have learnt" H8+ and +H?. &f the focus from the to .the rinci al/ is learning# focused and infuses curriculum lanning at whole school level and individual teacher level. &t is infinitely harder for teachers to ado t the tas% focused" teacher driven edagogies which run contrary to creative learning. 3. -he technology of learning; see &'- !bling and band wagons li%e higher order thin%ing s%ills for what they are ( otentially creative tools if the learning rocess itself is creative. -he learning horse needs to ull the technology cart" not the other way round. Aearning itself is a technology ( children need to learn the language of learning" the rules and tools that ma%e learn ing wor%. +hen learners understand how to harness literacy and cognitive tools" and how to mine their own own rich internal

and e$ternal e$ erience and environments in a rocess of building understanding" insight and %nowledge" a variety of materials and technologies can be e$ loited creativelyB +hen it comes to resources we see more as better and children as de rived without technology#based information. 6onsense. S-AR- with the environment they live in. -each them as Elwyn taught his children" to loo% and see" really see" an give them the vocabulary to describe the richness of what they observe. *86- let them run to the internet as a default res onse when you as them to !find out. )resenting information is not the be all and end all. 6egotiate the best way" the best medium and method" to demonstrate and a ly the %nowledge and s%ills theyve been building. 9. E$ ectations; Cost teachers would claim they had high e$ ectations. +e are good at ma%ing e$ ectations of classrooms behaviours e$ licit but do we assume that general e$ ectations of learning behaviours and attitudes is enough ( e$ ecting children to do their best" show ersistence" etc, Elwyns mastery of creative teaching encom assed his ability to turn e$ ectations into recision and detail" tools and rules" showing and telling and roviding feedbac% that is recise" ositive and gives sha e and form to the rocess of creative learning. -his means that e$ ectations of childrens learning have to be made s ecific. -H&S *8ES 68- CEA6 -EAA&67 -HEC +HA- -HE&R AEAR6&67 &6-E6-&86S ARE. Aearning intentions are what each learner intends to learn" not what the teacher intends them to learn by intending to teach them. *o what Elwyn suggests to ma%e learning e$ ectations e$ licit; Show children that you value recision and detail" demonstrate tools and rules" model ( show and tell ( articular s%ills and rovide feedbac% that is recise and ositive. &n other words" give sha e and form to the rocess of creative learning ( e$ loration" e$ erimentation and transformation. Show children .tal%ing aloud as you do so/ how to ma%e mindful and self#conscious choices about medium and method. Allow them time to e$ eriment and e$ lore within the boundaries of medium and method. Ac%nowledge the im ortance of their own internal and e$ternal environments and e$ eriences" and let them loo% at the world around them in all its variety and beauty" tal% to the eo le around them" res ecting their wisdom and e$ erience .not just as%ing re#set !2uestions after brainstorming/. =. Ca%ing rules" tools and rocesses e$ licit; &f creativity is a transformative rocess using rules and tools as well as the three rocesses ( e$ loration" e$ erimentation and transformation ( teachers need to model .li%e a master builder teaches an a rentice/ the rules" the tolls and the framewor%s" the s%ills and the rocesses for e$ loring their inner and outer worlds" the world of documented information . including libraries and the internet/ for e$ erimenting and for transforming what they see and hear into their own clearly articulated res onses using a variety of methods and media. -eaching them doesnt mean giving them tas%s and access to resources and technology ho ing that by doing the tas% they will learn the tools" the rules" the s%ills and the rocesses. 6ot so< -here is no research to su ort this !learning by default not design edagogy. Any teacher who has done my 9*oors D rogramme will recognise what & say when & claim that most teachers confuse their %nowledge of teaching tools with what children understand about what learning tools are and how they use them for different ty es of learning. &t comes as a shoc% how often tools have to be used before children internalise and own them. Enowing the tools" the rules" the rocesses are re#re2uisite scaffolds for fro creative learning. +ithout the structure and disci line rovided by these scaffolds" learning tends to be direction#less" mind#less ( gormless and formless. 5. Cental models; As Elwyn suggests mindfulness and layfulness are integral to creative learning. 'reative learning ha ens when learners are given the models" scaffolds" time and encouragement to lay with ideas" to consider what their minds are doing with the raw material they feed it ( to stand aside from their minds to become !mindful thin%ers and learners. +e need to give them models" scaffolds" time and encouragement to e$ lore what their minds are doing and how their minds are doing it. -his does 68- mean that we hand out tem lates of so#called gra hic organisers. &t means encouraging an attitude of mindful layfulness by encouraging learners to e$ lore and e$tend their thin%ing" their ideas" their o inions" and hel ing them to analyse" synthesise and inter ret their %nowledge but many teachers dont teach these s%ills ( just assume they arise in learnes in the course of !doing learning tas%s ( !learning by osmosis. Cindfulness is not enough. -he whole idea of layfulness is integral to creative learning and thin%ing.

+hen time is short and teachers are tas% focused" layfulness is sacrificed on the altar of !finsihing so we can move onto the ne$t to ic. Cany 9*oorsD teachers struggle to a ly the 9*oors mantra ( !little" light" fre2uent" fun. -eachers introduce the rules and the tools with alight touch" in a game#li%e way" ideally sto ing an coming bac% to the same tools the same day" the ne$t day" the day after" so that children learn and internalise them incrementally" handling them layfully but mindfully" seeing little#by#little for themselves what the tools do" how they wor%. )lay isnt fun. &t isnt a waste of timeF its integral to creating and creativlity. 3GGH Start your curriculum lanning for 3GGH by as%ing yourselves" as individual teachers and as a whole staff what creative learning loo%s li%e and feels li%e. -ry to describe it" not using latitudes and !teacher#tal% clichIs but in lain language as if you were e$ laining it to your grandma. 'onsider 0/ ?our curriculum lanning 3/ ?our use of cognitive and information technologies for su orting learning 9/ ?our e$ ectations for childrens learning =/ How you ma%e rules" tools and rocesses concrete and e$ licit for learners and finally 5/ ?our own mental attitude to learning. -hin% about how you can use each of these to build a creative learning environment in 3GGH.