The Creative Teacher

1. Definition of a creative person

A creative person is curious, experimental, adventurous, playful, and intuitive. In our society, we tend to view certain kinds of people, like artists, scientists, and inventors as being creative. But what about teachers? We're all born with creativity, and if you believe you are a creative person you will find ways of using this creativity in your teaching. All it takes is an inquisitive mind, a willingness to take risks, and the drive to make things work-three qualities that are available to anyone.

Take a few moments to think about a time when you reached a goal or accomplished something when the situation seemed hopeless. You were stumped, or trapped, or caught in a bind you'd never been in before. But you found a way. That's creativity.

Maybe you even had the experience of inventing something or coming up with an idea only to find it already exists in a store or in a book. This just means that some clever person just took your idea a few steps further.

Thinking creatively almost always comes out of what you already know or from knowledge borrowed from other people. Take for example teacher's resource books.

Very often we read about an idea and we think, "Oh I've been doing that for years" or we think, "Oh, I know what I can do. I can change this and that and it will be perfect for my group."

Recognise that all your novel little solutions are the result of real creativity, and give yourself a little pat on the back. You'll start to feel more confident in your ability to explore and come up with ways and means, which will make your teaching more satisfying to yourself and your students.