Creative

The Case for Creativity: Reversing the Decline of Creativity What do a Disney animator, a traffic engineer, and a scientist all have in common with 21st century learners? Give up yet? Well, they all use creativity to solve problems and answer questions! While that may sound like a bad joke, the decline of creativity in students is no laughing matter. Recent studies have shown that creativity has been declining in students since 1990. This comes at a time when 21st century jobs require more creativity than ever, just like the three examples above. In fact, the Partnership for 21st Century Learning has identified creativity as one of the Four Cs for learning and innovation necessary for job readiness. The focus on assessment in the classroom, the lack of free time at home and in the school day, and an overemphasis on technology all contribute to suppressing our students’ natural creativity. [...]

Houston, We Have A Problem Exploring the connections between Giftedness, Creativity and Leadership Do you remember Captain Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger? He’s the pilot who famously landed his US Airways flight in the Hudson River when birds flew into one of the engines shortly after takeoff. Captain Sullenberger proved that even the best training can’t prepare us for every scenario in life, but truly effective leaders can identify and execute creative solutions to big problems under pressure. Given the challenges facing society today, we need our G/T students stepping into leadership roles and offering creative solutions more than ever before. In “Giftedness, Creativity and Leadership,” Benny Hickerson, Ph.D. discusses creativity and leadership in gifted students and explores problem finding and problem solving strategies that can be used in the classroom. Dr. Hickerson is a retired school teacher and administrator, a part-time instructor at SMU, and a G/T consultant to many [...]

Everything is… Creative Encouraging and Valuing Creativity in Students Did you think I was going to say “Awesome”? If you’ve spent more than five minutes with an elementary age boy in the last year, you already know “Everything is Awesome,” but Nicole Shannon has another message for G/T teachers. Her message is that “Everything is Creative!” It used to be that society was separated into two classes: You were either smart or creative (also known as left brained or right brained). Today we are learning that creativity is an essential key to being awesome in anything we do. In this course review of “Encouraging Creativity,” Nicole Shannon explores why creative thinking is so important today, debunks creative myths, introduces some leaders in creative thinking, and shares practical creative activities you can use in your classroom. Nicole Shannon has over 18 years of experience in gifted education. She serves as the [...]