Creativity in the Classroom

​When I think back to my personal experiences in school, the assignments I learned the most as well as had the most fun with were ones where I had some creative liberty. I remember being in grade 2 and being very excited to get my first homework. It happened to be math homework, but it didn’t matter, because I could approach it in a creative way, by carefully colouring in the graphs in my pie charts with different colours of felt marker. In grade 8 French class, we were asking to create a song, story, or any other type of presentation we chose, so long as it was in French. I can still recall every word of our French rap that my friend Amy and I wrote: «Esque tu aimes la musique? Ou peut-être juste une type spécifique?» I also remember the rap we made up in our grade 10 biology class to help us recall the digestive system (with matching hand signals) as well as the short film we wrote, directed, and starred in for one of my English classes. My classmates and I worked together to create something original and educational, in a platform that we enjoyed and enjoy to this day. The key to all of these assignments is they were open-ended and tapped into creative passions: students were left to their own devices to engage with the material however they wanted. This creates a wonderful sense of autonomy and intrinsic motivation, as well as an opportunity to have some fun. A feeling of pride and ownership develops in a student’s work when they are able to say: “I created this.” In our student’s lives, so much of their reality is determined for them. The spend their time in school or at home where there are generally clear rules and guidelines that they are expected to follow. However, students of all ages crave choice and a sense of personal responsibility. Teachers can provide the perfect opportunity for this by letting students make decisions that support their passions and identity as well as their learning. In my classroom, students will be encouraged to discover their passions and ways to express themselves and be able to cater their learning according.