Recent Changes

PODCAST ABOVE
My podcast transcript:
I’m Holly G and this is my episode of group E’s podcast,.TheThe group wikispace
I believe, and it has been shown through extensive research mentioned in the readings, that the extent of creativity and imagination displayed in a classroom depends upon a few different factors. The foremost of these factors impacting on this is 1) the relationship between the teacher and students, and 2) the style of teaching employed in the classroom. Now, I know that it is very easy when talking about ‘creativity’ to draw a logical connection to activities that produce creative things such as poster making or drafting and acting out a play. These activities certainly play a part, but working towards experiencing and facilitating creativity and imagination should be extended beyond the obvious subjects and particular activities and spread out to cover their involvement in all different contexts and subject areas; it is NOT just confined to art projects. An example of creativity always existing in class comes from when I was on teaching rounds. I led a discussion in English with the issue of “should professional boxing be banned?” The students surprised me greatly with well thought-out and original answers from perspectives that I had not thought of myself - and I believe that this is only one small example of creativity in practise.
I think that to properly facilitate the experience of creativity and imagination in a classroom, a teacher needs to keep in mind that both can (and should) be experienced at any time, can be apparent in every task the students complete. Encouraging students to think 'outside of the box', as well as giving them the tools to properly communicate this, and an environment that encourages 'having a go' and sharing of opinions and ideas, is the job of the teacher.

Info
Implications of measuring creativity
Our experience of developing the CLA leads us to believe that measuring creativity
provides a real opportunity to create a shift in our vision of education for the 21st
century. It is a portal for change in the way we view:
yy the learner as an active participant, who is experimental and critically reflective;
yy the role of the teacher and other partners in schools, creating a culture of shared
enquiry;
yy the curriculum, as more integrated, dynamic and inclusive; and
yy assessment as a means of recognising and valuing the diversity of talents.
Assessing creativity is an ally in the process of transforming education as a creative
enterprise. It is an important means by which we can make visible the impact of creative
teaching on children’s willingness and ability to take creative leaps in their learning:
Without some form of assessment and evaluation the teacher cannot know what the
consequences of teaching have been. Not to know, or at least not to try to know, is
professionally irresponsible. And to claim that such consequences cannot in principle
be known is to ask people to support educational programs on faith. (Eisner, 2000)

OVERVIEW:
This reading has a lot to do with creativity; defining it, breaking it down to its elements and exploring somewhat how it is to be used in the classroom. I’m thinking, as I mentioned above, of basing my first podcast on the conclusions I’ve drawn from the source (and searching more sources for other ideas, of course) and I’d really appreciate both of your inputs for the sake of our collaborative mark. Please, I’d love ideas, and I’m more than happy to reciprocate – and lets cross our fingers for a good mark on this assessment!
This is a great article and I am going to have a read also as it covers my focus area of Creativity and Imagination in Education in the 21st Century. I am going to focus on the importances of environment and technology in education. Our two focus areas are very similar and am not sure exactly what else I should be covering. Do you have any suggestions?

discussion (3)
I'm not so sure about technology as an effective tool for creative education. Creativity is supposed to be the process of having original ideas if the internet is used then how are students supposed to develop there own individual ideas which have value?

• equipment
The Creativity Wheel
References
Centre for Literacy in Primary Education. (2009). Creative Learning Assessment (CLA): a framework for developing and assessing children’s creative learning [fact sheet]. Retrieved from http://ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learning-policy/doc/creativity/report/cla.pdf
Creative Partnerships Durham Sunderland. (2003). The creativity wheel: Assessing creative development teacher resource [fact sheet]. Retrieved from http://www.creative-partnerships.com/data/files/creativity-wheel-127.pdf
Ed Partnerships International. (2004). Creativity and Imagination [fact sheet]. Retreived from http://edpartnerships.edu.au/image/file/Creativity_Imagination_ECE_08.pdf
Ellis, S., & Lawrence, B. (2009). The influence of the Creative Learning Assessment (CLA) on children’s learning and teachers’ teaching. Literacy, 43(1), 3-10.
The George Lukas Educational Foundation. (2012). Creatively Speaking, Part Two: Sir Ken Robinson on the Power of the Imaginative Mind [video clip]. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/sir-ken-robinson-creativity-part-two-video
Zuvelek, K. (2010). Creativity and Imagination in Education framework [fact sheet]. Retrieved from http://prezi.com/knpajbk3xx4n/creativity-and-imagination-in-education-framework/

comment reply
sounds good I also watched this video of Ken robinson it was very helpful. http://www.edutopia.org/sir-ken-robinson-creativity-part-two-video

I think that creativity and imagination is so important in the 21st century and it is great to see that there is so many developments in making it possible. I think that schools however are still finding it very difficult to implement creative learning and because of this they are trying to implement a creativity and imagination framework for assessment. Although it is so hard to assess because how do you assess one students ability to be creative compared to anothers.

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Thank you for posting the creative wheel it was a very interesting article and I think that the concepts involved it it are a very good framework is assessing creativity and imagination in the classroom.

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Hello Holly and Brigid,
I agree with Holly I think it would be a good idea to compare education in other centuries as well as looking at how if any creative learning was being taught and or observed.