Overall, this course has been very beneficial.  From the beginning, I did not realize the variety of ways to be creative.  In addition, I learned that every person has some form of creativity within themselves—they just need a learning environment that enhances that creativity and allows them to reach the highest level of creativity among themselves.  Moreover, I have become aware of the variety of ways to incorporate creativity into a classroom.  There are several methods and techniques that allow the best chance at creativity among students.  If I had to pick only one chapter that helped me the most in understanding creativity, it would have to be Chapter 4, Definitions and Theories II: Classic and Contemporary Theories.   Studying the various views of creativity opened my eyes to the endless possibilities that come with being creative.  Likewise, I found it very interesting to read about barriers to creativity and to associate them with myself.  However, acknowledging the barriers within myself has allowed me to overcome some of them and thus influenced me to use my creative abilities more often and to be confident in what I do.  This class has definitely been an interesting and beneficial class—I am hoping to land that teaching position in a couple of weeks and I will definitely encourage my students to be creative. 

The best way that I know to inspire higher levels of creativity in my classroom is through discovery learning.  I had a methods course that was modeled this way and it was such a successful class.  When I first began this type of class I thought the class was going to be a joke.  Nonetheless, my instructor had very craftily designed the class so we could have the best chance at creativity.  In the same way, he never answered one of our questions, he gave us questions to think about and we gathered the conclusion on our own.  We also learned from each other in this class and we did a lot of group work. 

Personally, it would be beneficial for me to find out answers on my own—that is a way for me to inspire higher levels of creativity in myself.  I believe you learn more by finding answers on your own, rather than someone handing you what you are looking for.  You have to think when you are searching yourself.  As far as creativity for my students, using higher order thinking questions encourages them to think and use problem solving skills to put their answers together to form a conclusion. 

In my daily life, there are several things that inspire me to be creative.  My children inspire me to be creative with learning games and activities.  Cleaning house inspires me to be creative with organization methods to very craftily store materials without looking cluttered and messy.  There are times when I must be creative to avoid an accident while driving my vehicle.  There are numerous ways that we are creative in our daily lives and we don’t acknowledge our creativity.  In the same way, right now my family and I are having difficulty financially and it is very important that I use my creativity skills to make ends meet.  In the same way, I have decorated my daughter’s room and used my creativity skills to create a magical room for her. J  Nonetheless, we are creative people whether we consider ourselves creative—thus, our daily lives allow us opportunities to strengthen our creativity skills. 

Overall, I have had a time trying to make bows with no examples.  First of all, I bought some adult head bands and it was too loose on my daughter head.  Second of all, I have tried to figure out how to use intertwined ribbon in the middle to form a knot.  Also, I have tried to use a small piece of ribbon to hot glue onto the bow, but it is a task to hold everything together with only two hands. J  Nonetheless, I emailed one of my friends and she suggested that I use wire to hold the bow together and make adjustments and then insert a center piece.  I am determined to get the bows figured out and I have my neighbors interested.  J 

While working through this project, I have noticed that I have an uncertainty about myself.  I am a fairly creative person, but I tend to doubt my abilities until I have some acceptance from others about projects that I have created.  Also, I have a tendency to want to see what is out there first and mimic what others have created—then I elaborate from there.  Anyway, I am determined to figure out a better way to hold the bows together and making my own hair bows will save a lot of money in the long run when considering one bow will cost $10-$15.  

Here are a few pictures of my bows.

This was the first bow and covered my daugther’s entire head!

This bow was a perfect size, but the head band was a little big.

This was a perfect fit!!  It’s about time!

This was wired ribbon–different type of bow.

You are the principal of your school. If you had to select the ten most unimaginative, rigid thinking, tradition-oriented, and conforming teachers to teach in your school, how might these teachers be identified?

Identifications of teachers: 

·         Allows no group work

·         Allows no discussing in class

·         Offers daily lectures

·         Offers no variety of teaching style

·         Presents no personality

·         Presents no humor

·         Functions as strict and by the book

·         Expects same routine—no variety in lessons

·         Offers no variety in assessment methods

·         Offers no rewards in class

As I think of this list, I wonder what could make me want this type of teacher teaching my child.

·         I am familiar with daily routine, homework, expectations, etc.

·         Because of the one sided lectures/routines, my child will be treated equally with all other children

·         There are no surprises—children know the routines

·         My child understands the seriousness of school—school is not just fun

·         My child can develop creativity on his own—without an influence from school.

There are several factors that can determine why one person is more creative than others.  Now, do I believe all people have the same chance at being highly creative?  Everyone has the ability to be creative but at different levels—if everyone was highly creative the world would definitely be interesting, but where would the varying uniqueness of a person be?

I believe personality, qualities, experiences, culture/environment and opportunities each play an important role in the creative abilities of an individual.  Moreover, there are some people that are very outgoing, do not care what people think of them, are willing to try new ideas/procedures, very free with expression and often times they appear to be somewhat more on the creative side just because they are free to try new procedures without hesitation. On the other hand, the person that is scared to express because of what people might think, scared to try new ideas/procedures, and worried about what everyone else is doing, sometimes appear to be less creative, but in reality their lack of self-confidence might actually hinder their creativity level. 

Wherefore, in the classroom it is important to offer various opportunities to be creative.  There should be various opportunities for students to make his/her own choices for projects or assignments.  In addition, promoting a positive self image and ability to be confident with choices is important.  If we can combine the two among our lessons, I feel that children will be given the best chance to reach their highest level of creativity.

I am pondering to see if I have recently done anything creative.  My daughter’s baby book has been a big task over the past couple weeks.  Because of little space in our new apartment, I have been craftily looking for ways to make the most of what space we do have.  Likewise, I have been on the job hunt, so I have been applying and rearranging my resume to hopefully get an interview.  I have been taking several pictures and experimenting with diverse tones and spacing—I love photography!

I guess if I had to pick one of my creative projects it would be photography of my kids.  I had the chance to view some of my friend’s pictures that they had taken professionally and I got the idea to experiment with some different backgrounds and poses.  Needless to say, the pictures have turned out really interesting.  I have worked with different angles, color coordination’s, lighting, and expressions.  I am going to post a few of my favorite pictures. J 

It amazes me that I have grown up to somewhat believe in only specialized-talent creativity.  Wonder what else that I have misinterpreted?  As I have pondered on self-actualized creativity, I couldn’t help but think of a teacher that I know.  This lady is very outgoing, confident, doesn’t care what others think, willing to try new ideas in the classroom, and she organizes a very entertaining classroom.  Thus, I can see her as being high in self-actualized creativity, but at the same time I see her having some special-talent creativity as well.  She paints decorations for her classroom, creates very artistic designs for holidays, etc.  To me, she is a very well rounded creative person.  Now, does every person have to express both types of creativity?  I don’t think people have to have both types, but if a person is high in self-actualization, he/she probably has freedom of expression due to confidence.

Two implications for being high in self-actualized creativity would be: good mental health and confidence—the two go hand in hand.  With good mental health, stability would be present and confidence would be a result.  In addition, trying new ideas and ways to solve problems would not be an issue.  Furthermore, the individual would not hesitate to go forward with new projects.

On the other hand, two implications for being high in special-talent creativity would be: great creative talent and freedom of expression.  There are several instances where people with special-talent creativity naturally have a talent without any training.  On the other hand, some people have had formal training and discovered they have high talent in that area.  In either situation, there is a special talent expressed from the individual.     

Ok-this is my first post for EDEL 600.  When I first began online classes, I had no idea what a blog was.  I remember asking people and them looking at me like I was crazy.  Needless to say, I had to use my best friend, Google, to figure out my unknown.  I am really excited about this class–I know it is going to be fun and interesting!