Educator Reflection 3
Creativity can be defined as being inventive with new ideas, making new meaning, and going beyond traditional interpretations and methods (Dictionary.com, 2015). Bringing creativity into the classroom means being innovative with teaching methods and teaching strategies. Creativity and innovation are often linked. Bringing new ways of looking at something can refresh the curriculum.
I most often find myself being creative in more of a crafty sense. I have a good eye for colors, textiles, and patterns. As an adult leader in my church’s youth program for seven years, I had the opportunity every year to organize a “craft day” with my sister for our junior high girls. Pairing projects with lectures gave me the experience of putting together a topic of interest with something fun that emulated the theme. We would always have a discussion of why the craft that we were participating in was matched with the devotion given, and told the students that our wish was that the project would remind them of the lesson even after they went home.
This will serve me well as I transition to the adult education classroom. Having the ability to pair creative teaching strategies with topical material required to be covered in class will be beneficial to me. Applying what I have learned in the past and adding new ways of thinking and doing to it will create innovative teaching techniques that I can utilize both in and out of the classroom.
Bringing a fresh set of eyes can renew and rejuvenate a course. It only takes a spark to light a fire. If passion is the driving force behind a change in thinking and strategy, then fostering this intrinsic motivation within the educator is important to innovation in a program of learning. Extrinsically, students will catch the fire and fervor for the new and unknown. The thirst for knowledge will cause participation and active learning among the students. Creativity is the match that will issue forth the spark that will in turn catch fire and spread.
I most often find myself being creative in more of a crafty sense. I have a good eye for colors, textiles, and patterns. As an adult leader in my church’s youth program for seven years, I had the opportunity every year to organize a “craft day” with my sister for our junior high girls. Pairing projects with lectures gave me the experience of putting together a topic of interest with something fun that emulated the theme. We would always have a discussion of why the craft that we were participating in was matched with the devotion given, and told the students that our wish was that the project would remind them of the lesson even after they went home.
This will serve me well as I transition to the adult education classroom. Having the ability to pair creative teaching strategies with topical material required to be covered in class will be beneficial to me. Applying what I have learned in the past and adding new ways of thinking and doing to it will create innovative teaching techniques that I can utilize both in and out of the classroom.
Bringing a fresh set of eyes can renew and rejuvenate a course. It only takes a spark to light a fire. If passion is the driving force behind a change in thinking and strategy, then fostering this intrinsic motivation within the educator is important to innovation in a program of learning. Extrinsically, students will catch the fire and fervor for the new and unknown. The thirst for knowledge will cause participation and active learning among the students. Creativity is the match that will issue forth the spark that will in turn catch fire and spread.