Instruction
Teaching Methods and Strategies
Malcolm Gladwell, in "The Physical Genius" tells how doctors are screened before being admitted to neuro-surgery training. The best candidates are those who say, "'I make mistakes all the time. There was this horrible thing that happened just yesterday and here's what it was.' They were the best. They had the ability to rethink everything that they'd done and imagine how they might have done it differently." On the other hand, the candidates who claimed that they could not recall their own mistakes could not be admitted to the profession because they turned out to be failures. Nothing else was found to be a good predictor of success as a brain surgeon.
-"I apprentice at great work to analyze the motivations behind the work--not to find something that I can visually mimic."
Matt AuchMoedy
-Time: Explore technique and materials before committing to ideas (individual time or family style around banner paper)
-Allowing student choice in subject matter.
-Whole class brain storms.
-Allow edits to lesson suggested by student that would allow goals to be met but according to their thinking.
Liz Chaffee
-Give specific feedback on art, don’t just say its great or I like it (that kills creativity).
-Growth mindset, not fixed mindset.
Daniel Pink on Sam Glucksberg
-Rewards/ Incentives narrow focus and lower creativity. Intrinsic motivators promote cognitive tasks and Extrinsic confines cognitive tasks. (The Candle Problem)
Tim Brown
-Playfulness helps get to creative solutions
-Break the rules (Need to set new rules to break old rules)
-Gain different judgment
-Go for quantity to reach quality
Salman Khan (Kahn Academy):
-Flipped Classroom frees up class time and allows time to be creative in class with peers and teachers. Students come in already knowing the basics and having the tools to do a project.
-Flipped Classroom Video
Marvin Bartel
-Assessment without rationale gives no useful information that helps a person be creative.
-It is better to steal, rather than borrow ideas. To really be creative with an idea, one has to believe it and own it.
-Good artists borrow, great artists steal. -Picasso
-Encourage a student to do some experimentation or variation of cliché images or symbols.
-Start off class with idea generators or innovation practice.
-I Kill Creativity when I Demonstrate instead of having students do Hand-On Practice or Experiment.
-A future challenge can be presented long before the actual production so the subconscious mind can be focused on it. Creative people generally have several projects going on simultaneously at different stages of development.
-"Image flooding" (showing many examples) may be inspirational, it can also be intimidating and very suggestive.
-I Kill Creativity when I Praise Neatness and Conformity more than Expressive Original work What I want is student ownership.
-I Kill Creativity when I encourage Freedom without Focus
-We have to require limits on mindless repetition of past success.
-Other related wisdom: Freedom by Daron Earlwine
-A creative classroom environment must include experimentation.
-It is often better for the students themselves to set the limits and the focus
-Student choice provides for autonomy and ownership.
-I Kill Creativity by Making Suggestions instead of asking Open Questions.
-I make my students less self-reliant and more dependent on me. I teach them not to think for themselves.
-I Kill Creativity if I Give an Answer instead of teaching Problem Solving experimentation methods.
-I Kill Creativity when I protect students from making mistakes.
-It could be better not to tell them my discoveries before they try it, but for some students who are too impulsive, it may be good to model the skill of asking good open questions.
(Making Art Together, 37)
“The limitations provided by structure and form open up larger possibilities in the realm of creativity.”
-Set “Attitudinal Framework”
-Expecting success
-Set “Physical Framework”
-Decide type and form of project
“A framework (…) allows participants with vastly differing artistic skills and styles to collaborate successfully.”
To not be afraid to make mistakes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyLYYcXWKfk