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creativity in what we do every day in the classroom

01Adam Simpson

Sabancı University,

School of Languages

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A) The theory…

•What is creativity?

•What gets in the way?

•How can we overcome these barriers?

B) The practice…

•The who/what/where/when/why story

•The alien planet

•The DO IT technique

•The scene of the crime

01T

oday

’s w

orks

hop…

The big questions… (1 of 3)

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What is creativity?

Can you give me some key words or expressions?

02

imaginative

new

of value

original

purposeful

The big questions… (2 of 3)

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What gets in the way?

Any ideas?

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• Thinking ‘I’m not creative’

• Thinking ‘my classes can’t be creative’

• Fear of risk taking

• Trying to create an end product in one step

• Lack of experience / technique

• Lack of time

The big questions… (3 of 3)

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How can we start to overcome

these barriers?

Any ideas?

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• Remember: we are all creative!

• Encourage risk taking

• Encourage innovation

• Make time for each step

• Provide access to experience

• Take advantage of ‘lack of experience’

• Teach the techniques

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03Scan through all those old teacher’s books you have kicking around your place of work. Find one of those activities where there are a load of pictures.

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• Such activities will come with some kind of instructions, usually along the lines of ‘put these pictures in order.’

• Our only real requirement for making this a more creative task is to completely ignore any such instruction!

03Teach some grammar or vocabulary; whatever the coursebook suggests is appropriate for the particular class.

Prepare a set of pictures, one for each group of three or four learners.

Explain that each group is going to prepare a story. The images on each of the pictures tell the story; each group has the freedom to decide on the sequence of events according to whatever makes sense to them.

03Let’s try with some images from ELTPics:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/eltpics/

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04

This was originally a response to a question posed on the British Council’s Teaching English page on Facebook:

‘Have you got a favourite lesson plan or class activity that you come back to and use again and again? What does it consist of? What makes it work?’

www.facebook.com/TeachingEnglish.BritishCouncil

04

• You are going to write a paragraph that tells a story.

• Your paragraph will be a response to a series of questions.

• Any sentence you write is OK, but you must follow the sequence of questions.

04Write the following questions on the board

• How long have you been on the planet?• Why did you go there?• Describe the two people who are with you.• Why is your spaceship damaged?• When you decided to leave your ship, how far did you walk?• What were you looking for?• When did you realise that someone was following you?• Describe the creature.• While you were running away, you tripped and fell. What

happened?• What was the big surprise at the end of your story?

04Varying things…

• When did you go to the planet?• go / did / you / why / there / ?• Describe the characters of the two people who are with you.• What was your spaceship damaged by?• When you decided to leave your ship, how far did you walk?• The reason I left the ship was to________• How far had you walked by the time you realised that someone

was following you?• Describe the physical appearance of the creature.• While you were running away, you tripped and fell. What

happened? What would have happened if you hadn’t fallen?• What was the big surprise at the end of your story?

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05What is DO IT?

DO IT is a fantastically simple way of enhancing the creative thought processes that are perhaps overlooked when preparing for exams.

The acronym stands for ‘Define’ problems, be ‘Open’ to many possible solutions, ‘Identify’ the best solution and then ‘Transform’ it into effective action.

This formula can be applied to simple gap fill grammar exercises.

05‘Define’ the problem• There’s a gap in the text which needs to be

filled with the verb in its correct form.Be ‘Open’ to many possible solutions• Let’s identify every possible correct answer

based on what we know.‘Identify’ the best solution• Looking at our available options, which one

works best?‘Transform’ it into effective action• Fill in the gap

05

Frederick __________ (work) in five different countries.

1. ‘Define’ the problem2. Be ‘Open’ to many possible solutions3. ‘Identify’ the best solution4. ‘Transform’ it into effective action

05

Frederick __________ (work) in five different countries. He worked in Vietnam in 2003, China in 2005, Singapore in 2007, Malaysia in 2009 and Sri Lanka in 2011.

1. ‘Define’ the problem2. Be ‘Open’ to many possible solutions3. ‘Identify’ the best solution4. ‘Transform’ it into effective action

05Frederick __________ (work) in five different countries. He worked in Vietnam in 2003, China in 2005, Singapore in 2007, Malaysia in 2009 and Sri Lanka in 2011. He __________ (die) on 12th January and __________ (bury) several days later.

1. ‘Define’ the problem2. Be ‘Open’ to many possible solutions3. ‘Identify’ the best solution4. ‘Transform’ it into effective action

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06Grammar point• This lends itself to modals of speculation

Materials needed• Anything you want to set up a crime scene. Good props are packs of

cards, empty glasses and some ‘mystery’ items such as a key, a paper with a phone number on it or a memory stick.

Preparation• Set up the crime scene in the classroom before your learners arrive.

Setting the scene• When learners arrive, inform them there’s been a murder (depending

on the age of your learners, you might want to acknowledge this is fictional).

• Warn learners to be careful not to touch anything.

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Procedure

• With learners seated so that they can see the crime scene, select two volunteers to come and inspect (disposable rubber gloves are great for adding to the atmosphere).

• The volunteers hold up the items slowly and encourage others to ask questions.

• Go through your language objectives (e.g. ‘The phone number might have been important.’)

• Put learners in groups to discuss the evidence. They will need to be creative to incorporate all evidence in a meaningful way.

• Have a debate between groups about their theories.• Follow up with a group reenactment of the crime, or a written

report about the events.

Thank you for coming!

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Contact details:

www.teachthemenglish.comwww.twitter.com/yearinthelifeofwww.facebook.com/theadamsimpsonadams@sabanciuniv.edu

http://www.presentationmagazine.com/coloured-slides-template-background-467.htm