Creativity Part III

Here are the last of my six ideas about creativity.

4. Expand/enhance teacher opportunities for creative thought and expression.

I think that one of the most important and practical things we can do to get our students to think more creatively and to be more creative in general is to practice it ourselves, and to value that practice. It is very difficult to convince other people that something is important for them to do if we don't think it's important enough for us to do.

I'm not really sure what form this would take. Working together on cross-curricular projects would be one possibility; and increasing our creative work in our classes is only a positive. But I'm also thinking that maybe we should have more opportunities for teachers to be involved creatively in other endeavors, too. Again, I think it's important, if we want kids to take the idea of creativity seriously, that we take it seriously. Maybe we could develop teacher music ensembles; poetry groups; art classes; active participation in the upcoming alumni/staff theater production; active participation in other creative groups/clubs/activities on campus...the main thing is to be involved in some creative enterprise. I know we're all busy, and it's hard to find time to do the things we already need to do. But if we think that this is important (which I do), then we should make it happen.

The bottom line is that I think we have to prove to students that creativity is important by engaging in it ourselves. And hopefully we'll mean it--and benefit from it ourselves, too!


5. Expand existing, or create new creatively oriented curricular and extracurricular options.

This one's pretty simple. If we want students to think more creatively and be more creative, then we need to give them more options and opportunities to do so. And not just in our classes, but in other classes, and outside of class, as well.

Therefore, I think we need to look into expanding our offerings for creatively oriented courses. Shawn and I have talked about possibilities like having a jazz band, music composition courses, film production courses, etc. We could also expand extracurricular creatively oriented offerings, or simply encourage more participation in those that already exist. I don't know how or what it might look like, but perhaps there should even be some sort of requirement that every student is involved in some sort of creatively oriented extracurricular activity. No slight is intended toward athletics, but I think that perhaps, in the context of a global job market, giving kids more creative opportunities is more important than giving them more athletic opportunities.

This means that we as a staff, busy as we are, would have to commit to developing these course offerings or extracurricular activities. But I look at this as potentially a real positive, and I think in the long run, as much work as it will be, the reward for both us and our students would be worth it.


6. Foster a culture that encourages student buy-in as early as possible.

One of the biggest problems we've had at Charter through the years (and we're fortunate that this is one of the biggest problems!) is the fact that we have a certain culture and certain expectations, and a number of our incoming students (mostly freshmen) first of all don't understand it, and second of all try to resist it. You all know the students I'm talking about. Now some of them start to come around by the end of their freshman year; a few more as sophomores; and a lot of them by the time they're juniors. But even so, there are always a handful who, even as seniors, have not "bought in" to what we're all about.

The real problem is not that this phenomenon exists, but that it has been increasing the last few years, first with the move to the new more "normal" campus, and then with the development of more "normal" things like the increased presence of sports on campus. (Because I've mentioned it a few times already, I should clarify that though I have no personal interest in sports, I have nothing against the concept of sports per se; but I do absolutely believe that American schools put way too much emphasis on them--especially considering the looming global job market. How relevant are sports to that?)

For the last few years, I've been doing what I can to combat this trend. The students in my classes all know why I'm here and why they're in my class. And for the rest of the school, in addition to pumping up Saxon Day as big as I can, I've started doing the occasional "bizarre lunchtime performance" with my AP Calculus class. As random as they may seem, these are not random in purpose. They are intended to be a statement of that ineffable "Only At Charter" quirkiness that (I hope) we all hold dear.

But while these have had some effect, and there continue (as always) to be converts to the Charter way of thinking, I have still noticed the increased influx and persistence of antithetical attitudes in certain segments of the student body. These kids who continue to think that being "cool" is more important than anything else--certainly, than caring about school--seem, to me, to be growing in number, and in their continued resistance to the Charter way.

I think what I am beginning to witness is a polarization of our campus, with some students who get it while others more stubbornly hold out and refuse, and the kids in the middle are pulled one way or another. For the moment, I think we end up pulling most of them over to "our" side. But I don't like this increased polarization that I think I'm beginning to see. This separation of "us" and "them." This breakdown into "cool" vs. "Charterian."

Now I know I've talked about this before, and you might rightly ask what this has to do with fostering creativity. Well, it's pretty simple, actually.

The "cool" attitude (which is anything but) is that basically, everything is stupid. "Studying is stupid. School is stupid. Saxon Day is stupid. Those kids who do those things at lunch are stupid." Tell me you haven't heard this sort of attitude more prominently the last few years. And the moment we try to implement more of these creatively oriented ideas, can't you just hear these "cool" kids? "I don't want to do this stuff. It's stupid."

So therefore, my final suggestion is to find ways to encourage student buy-in to the whole Charter deal as early as possible. Because if they buy in to what we're all about, then they'll buy in to whatever we want to do next.

How do we do this? There could be a lot of things we could do. But I do have an idea.

Well, actually, it's just a germ of an idea that actually came from JP, but he and I have talked about it, and also talked about it with a few other teachers, and as crazy as the idea sounds...I think there just might be something to it.

The basic idea is to implement some sort of a "House" type system, like that in some British schools, as portrayed in the Harry Potter books. I know--it sounds a little crazy--but I think something like this could potentially provide a big source of positive peer pressure; as well as provide built-in structure for other things we've talked about--like the senior "adopt-a-freshman" idea that came up at the meeting. I think it could definitely encourage freshmen to buy in to the whole Charter concept if they have a senior who is sort of a buddy with a vested interest, because they are in the same "House" (or whatever), who takes them under their wing and explains, "these are the things that will help us, these are the things that will hurt us."

I don't really expect you to take the idea too seriously...at least, not at first. The first time JP brought it up to me, I laughed it off as a joke. But the more I've thought about it, the more I think there could be some serious potential. So after you're done laughing, really think about some of the possibilities. Because as serious as it might seem I couldn't possibly be...I am. (If anyone wants to engage in more discussion, or if you don't know what I'm talking about, feel free to talk to me in person, or to post on here.)

In any case, whether we ever do anything like that or not, the bottom line is that I firmly believe we do need to find ways to increase student buy-in as early as possible. If we get them to buy in as freshmen, think of how many battles will be won without even being fought; and think of how much more creative we will be free to be if students are mentally here for the same reason they are officially here; and we don't have to waste as much time dealing with counterproductive attitudes.

Whatever we do, it should be with the intent of improving ourselves as teachers, improving Charter as a school, and of course, improving pupil learning. But I think in many ways we're approaching the limit of improvement in terms of refining what already exists. The next logical step in improvement, then, is to look into new things that will make us better. So let's be creative, and take some productive risks.