Growth Mindset: Creativity

For this week's growth mindset challenge, I decided to look into how the growth mindset and creativity can go together. Nicholas Provenzano wrote an article, "Creativity in the Classroom," which I think shows how the two ideas go hand-in-hand!

A wonderful quote by Arthur Koestler (Source: Omar Reyes)

When you are focused on getting end results (A's, a certain GPA, good test scores, etc.), you will get into a habit of doing a robotic-like routine to get those results. Instead of exploring different options, you will only do things that will get you that A. This is where the focused mindset puts a hinderance on creativity - being creative doesn't always get you that A, so put away your creative ideas and do things by the book.

By approaching things with the growth mindset, you don't have to sacrifice creativity - even in the classroom! Provenzano outlines three strategies to being creative while learning at the same time!

1. Open-Ended Projects: students get to choose the type of project they create and the rubric by which they will be graded. This allows for them to not be focused on the grade, but rather be passionate about exploring and discovering information about something that truly interests them!

- I think this is an excellent option for the classroom! Obviously, for some projects a teacher needs some guidelines for the sake of making sure their students are learning the important things. However, I think giving this out every now and then could be really beneficial. Take this blog post for example, it is a part of a very open-ended assignment. In fact, it is extra credit. I didn't HAVE to do it, I didn't HAVE to do my post over this article, I didn't HAVE to write as much as I have already written. But, because I was given the opportunity to do an open-ended project, I had the ability to explore something that interests me - and I think that is fantastic!

2. Genius Hour/20 Time: Devote a period of time each day/week for students to explore something that they are passionate about. They get to attempt things that they might not do outside of school, and can make connections between their passions and their learning!

- Oh wow! How easy would this be to implement in the classroom?! I always had those random bits of free time in class. If my teacher would have suggested something like this, I would have been able to get so much more accomplished! I think allowing students to explore their personal interests in a school setting is nice - they have someone to go to for help (how can they research their hobby, what does the library have to offer, what does the teacher know about it)!

3. Creative Team Building: Allow kids to get together and do some team building. The class isn't a competition (even though students are brought up to think that the one who gets an A is the 'winner'). When students are competing against one another they can forget how helpful it is to actually WORK TOGETHER!

- This is such an excellent point! I remember at the end of each year, the school would have an award assembly. Each student with the highest grade in each subject would get a medal. I was an overachiever, so I always got the gold medal - in every single class. Now, it was nice to be awarded for my hard work. However, my friends would turn against me. The students who didn't do so well immediately became the biggest bullies in school. And by the end of the day - I HATED those medals. If instead, we would have done something more inclusive for all students who TRIED and LEARNED throughout the year, this separation would never have happened. Working together would have been such a better goal, rather than pitting us against one another.