Am I a Creative Teacher?

Kirsten 0:01

You're listening to the creative teacher podcast a show for busy teachers looking for ways to engage, inspire and make an impact inside and outside of the classrooms. I'm Kiersten, a full time classroom teacher and part time business owner who is all about simple and actionable tips, strategies and resources that result in wins, big or small to in each week, as I give you my best advice on classroom teaching, and starting and growing a teacher business. If you're looking for that extra spark of creativity, you've come to the right place. Let's dive in together.

Hello, and welcome to the very first episode of the creative teacher podcast. I thought it would be pretty cool to start with a overview or an episode about what it means to be a creative teacher. So we're laying the foundation of this podcast with some definitions of what I believe creativity is and reasons why people might be motivated to be creative. What exactly it might mean to be a creative teacher. And we're going to end off the episode with six ways that teachers can foster their creativity, whether you are a teacher in the classroom, or you are a teacher working on your TPT business.

creative teaching has become so important in shaping learning experiences of so many students. If you can remember back in the day, or at least something that was for me is we sat in rows, we did these drills, we did these math fact quizzes, textbooks all the time, we would always have a page open in our notebook, we would turn to a certain page and work on a notebook and check it together as a class. So it was very direct, it was a lot of teacher led instruction. And we in the last decade have been moving away from this type of direct instruction. And teachers are thinking of newer and more innovative ways to teach and engage students. And this is especially proven true in the past year teaching through the pandemic, we have had to do a lot to be a little creative, whether we are virtual, and teaching students through a distance learning platform, or if we were face to face with masks. So yes, we may have gone back to rose in a certain way. But just in a different format, we still are trying to figure out ways to creatively teach.

So I have this definition from a man named Robert E. Franken. And he wrote about creativity. He is a psychologist. I'm going to give you his definition because I think it's pretty accurate with where I'm going with this podcast and what I believe to be true of what it means to be creative. He says that creativity is defined as the tendency to generate or recognize ideas, alternative alternatives or possibilities that may be useful in solving problems, communicating with others, and entertaining ourselves and others. So it's the ability or tendency to be able to create or recognize ideas or possibilities that might be useful in solving a problem.

And there are three reasons he says why people are motivated to be creative in the first place. One reason would be the need for new variety of activities. So maybe it's just something they needed to switch it up and I'm one of those people I need to be changing things up in my classroom. I'm never good with the same thing all the time. I like to switch things up. up, and it keeps my students on their toes a little bit, and it keeps me on my toes, it makes me more motivated. Another reason why people might be motivated to be creative is the need to communicate ideas and values. So there is a certain need, of course, it's required for us as teachers to communicate ideas and values that are able to increase achievement in our students. So, of course, we want to make sure we want to what we're doing, the way we're delivering our instruction, the way we're communicating our ideas, is in a creative way for our students so that they are encouraged and motivated. And then a third reason why people might be motivated would be just a need to solve problems, maybe their students are just bored in class where they're acting up. And they're trying to figure out ways to mix it up so that they aren't bored, or they're not falling asleep in class, or they are more engaged in general. So things to think about, you want to be able to view things in new ways, or from a different perspective to be creative. And that's a really big thing to think about. It is important in order to be creative, to see things in a new way, despite the fact that you may be very regimented or very structured. In order to bring out creativity, you want to make sure that you have new alternatives. And you're open to those new new alternatives.

So now that we've kind of taken a look at the, you know, scientific, psychological definition of what creativity is, let's take a look at what exactly it means to be a creative teacher. There is this assumption that not all teachers are creative, some are just naturally talented, while others just have to learn it and figure it out or find ideas from other people. But it's not about teachers being gifted with creativity. Because if we think of it this way, who we may classify as highly creative, are actually just motivated to give their teaching instruction a twist in order to engage their students, they're able to view teaching in a different perspective, they're willing to pivot or make shifts, they want to switch things up, they want to try something new in their classroom, they may want to communicate and connect with their students in a unique way. They also may want to solve a problem, whether it's a behavioral problem, going back to where students might be too talkative, or they might seem bored or uninterested in the content, but they may come up with the idea themselves, and they may find the idea from others. So it doesn't matter. If you get your creative idea from somebody else, you see it on Instagram, or you come up with it on your own, you are still a highly creative person. It's all about finding alternatives, whether you're researching alternatives, or you're able to generate those alternatives. That's what makes you a creative teacher.

And I think we all have varying degrees of creativity, especially throughout the year. For me, I tend to be more creative, as soon as I wake up in the morning, so sometimes I'll just wake up with an idea. It just pops into me when I'm getting ready for work. Maybe, you know, sometimes it kind of stems from maybe the night before, I'm just oh, this kid, he just won't stop talking. Or he won't sit still, or she won't stop bothering some other student. And so, you know, sometimes a good night's sleep can help me with better ideas. So my creativity comes in the morning a lot. And also, especially in the summertime. And it's important to channel what we do have at any given time, and be open to an idea to meet the needs of our students. So just being open in general to any ideas, whether it's feedback from your appraisers, feedback from your mentors, or just ideas that you get on social media, be open to ideas in order to meet the needs of your students whenever they may pop up.

Let's think about six ways that you as a teacher, or teacher seller can foster your creativity. So these are going to be six simple ways you can start to build or grow your creativity, even if you feel like you don't have much of it. So Way number one would be to be open, be open to new ideas be open to new ways of thinking and new perspectives. Especially in this day and age where you know, we have a lot of social issues coming up in the forefront. It's in the news. Be open to different changes. And maybe you might have some hands tied. You may not be able to say exactly what you really want to say. Right now. writing that aspect, but just be open to new ways of managing students, new ways of having students working together, thinking of what you currently do, what you see other people doing, and maybe you're just like, I'm not ready for that, that's going to be too much, it's going to be too messy, just being open to trying something a little different.

The second way you can foster your creativity is to be on the lookout for new ideas. And going back to, you know, gathering more ideas, finding, researching, and getting some ideas from colleagues, there are so many new ways to find ideas, you can go look up, teacher, tic TOCs. And you can see some really cool hacks that they may be sharing podcasts, Pinterest, teacher, Graham, there are so many ways to look for new ideas. And they can be super simple. So if you find something that you think, well, I could do that, that seems something that's doable, then try it out.

Another way to foster your creativity is to start with your strengths. So think about what your teaching strengths are, maybe it's classroom management, maybe it's really getting those reading groups in, maybe you're really good at professional development or test prep. Think about what you can do to generate or find new ideas to engage your students or audience through that area. So just using what you are talented at or what you know, that you're good at, and you've gotten a lot of positive feedback from, and see what you can do to amplify that and find more ideas in that particular strength or area.

The fourth way teachers can foster their creativity is to not doubt yourself, listen to your inner voice speaking, but don't strike something down immediately. And think to yourself, oh, this is dumb, this is not going to work. No, I can't do this, be kind to yourself, give yourself the benefit of the doubt, you can do this, you can try it. And worst case scenario, it's a total flop, and you don't do it again. But at least you tried. That's the main thing.

Number five would be to be open to failure. So sometimes going into that total flop thing, you might try something new, and it fails completely. And that's something where you don't give up. I had an example that happened for me last year where we had I had a GT core cohort. And I chose to start a passion project with them. So they were going through this project, and it was more self directed learning and they were be able to come up with some type of burning question. And they were going to research that burning question and share that information in some type of product. But here's the thing, when I launched this, this project with them, it was on line. So we were completely online. I had never seen my third graders face to face at this point, I had never met them in person. And it was very hard, it was much harder than I anticipated. Because I only had a short window of time to meet with them. And I knew that there was going to be so much more time that we really needed to meet, especially with the beginning of the year, where you know, third graders may not be as independent as you would like them to be, they still need some assistance. But despite that, I said, You know what, we were going to finish this later. And we did, it wasn't until it was actually the end of the year, it was one of our end of the year projects. And it wasn't just with my GT students, it was actually with the whole class. So I was able to, you know, we were face to face by that point we had been face to face since October. And I was finally able to implement the project and it went a lot better than it did the first time. So don't give up on something that you do try, it was something I'd never done before. So just learn from your failures and see what you can do to improve them and make them even better.

And then the sixth way would be to be spontaneous. Surprise your students and even yourself, do something that you normally wouldn't do to keep them on your toes. So this is something I am very good at. Because my brain is all over the place. I like to change things up. I'll change my mind in the middle of a lesson sometimes. And I'll just, you know, I'll be in mid sentence and I'll be like, You know what, actually, I think we're going to do this in partners, or something like that, you know, I'll switch it up and they're of course excited. So it really just depends be spontaneous, be willing to change things up. Be willing to be open to change.

All right. So As promised, at the end of each podcast episode, I have a action tip for you. And since this is the creative teacher podcast, we are going to call this the creative action tip. So here is your creative action tip. So what I want you to do is, do a brain dump of all the ideas you may want to try, that might be different than what you normally do. And then for one reason or another, you just haven't gotten to or haven't done or you're afraid to try list problems you have, whether it's in the classroom or in your teacher business. And think of possible ways to solve them or think of possible alternatives, focus on at least one to come up with a creative solution. Research on social media, gather some ideas from your colleagues, and put that plan into action this week. So that is your creative action tip, do a brain dump, list some problems you may have or something that you're thinking about trying but are afraid of, and follow through and come up with a creative solution.

So that is the end of this first episode. I'm so excited to have more of these little chats with you. But I did want to make sure that you had the basic understanding of what it means to be a creative teacher, you do not have to have ideas just blooming out of you every single time. It's all about where you can find your ideas. And if you're able to come up with ideas on your own awesome if not being open to new ideas around you. So that is the end of this episode. I hope it was of some inspiration to you. I wanted to start off his podcast with a really good juicy one with some insight on being creative. So that is all I have. I will see you next time. Thanks for tuning in to the creative teacher podcast. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode, feel free to subscribe and leave a review. I'd love to hear your feedback. You can also find me on Instagram at the southern teach. I cannot wait for you to join me in the next episode for more tips and inspiration. Have an amazing day.