I think I’m not the only teacher who often feels that I’m not creative. Although I enjoy doodling for my own eyes, I cringe at the thought of being asked to do something “creative”. My first thought is “I’m never going to come up with any ideas”, followed by “whoever is assessing this is going to find out how uncreative I am and I’m going to fail”. I suppose I’m imagining that I’m expected to produce something like a professional novelist or artist might. These thoughts have meant that, with very few exceptions, I’ve been able to avoid creative tasks since the beginning of high school. In turn, this avoidance has meant that I haven’t had any real opportunity to hone my creative skills.
One of the readings this week for my English unit for my Graduate Diploma in Education, Teaching English Creatively by Teresa Cremin (2009), struck a real chord with me. It talks about “little creativity” being something that everyone can express on a daily basis, rather than the kind of creativity you would expect from a grande artiste. As opposed to accepting everything as it is presented, teachers can model and encourage asking creative questions, making original connections between ideas and interpreting or using materials in novel ways. I’m feeling a bit more inspired about jazzing up my lesson plans, but might just need a bit more inspiration to help me tackle my upcoming creative writing assignment for my online paper. Wish me luck!
ESL Teaching Tales 