Yes, You Can Teach Anyone to be CREATIVE! Here Are Two Tricks!

You've heard the whine.  I’m not creative, I can’t write a poem. You can change out the word poem for any genre that involves creative writing.  I know many teachers still use journal entry topic starters, but I don’t know how you interact with your students’ writing.  Do you read every entry, do you have students select certain entries for you to read and then evaluate them in some way? I always had trouble with journals because I felt compelled to read every entry and make at least some positive comment or suggestions.  I finally stopped journals and having students share journal entries because I didn't feel I was getting enough learning bang for the buck. I know many teachers do have a great deal of success with journaling and many students love it, but in many cases teachers don’t read the entries and students practice crummy grammar, ineffective word choice and don’t take the assignment seriously.

I always wrote in my journal (when I was trying my best to keep up with this) when students wrote and shared what I wrote if the time was right. I alternated collecting journals so that at any given time I only had two class sets to read through and evaluate. I developed lists of topics and told students if they were stuck, to just keep writing the word “hamburger” over and over again until something popped into their brains. I guess this bothered me because it felt like going to the piano teacher for my lessons.

I had to play the Mozart or perhaps it was Bach music drills every day with a metronome and I grew to hate them. My wonderful teacher, Mrs. Cho, knew I wasn't practicing them, except for right before my weekly lesson, and that I hated following the dynamic instructions on pieces like the Moonlight Sonata. I played it with gusto and passion and as Mrs. Cho pointed out it was pianissimo.  I wondered if my students felt the same way. Perhaps for some the journals were fantastic and the student loved doing the daily writings, for others it was a chore and for others it created a hatred for writing.  All I know is that once I felt the dishonesty of not being able to read every entry, I couldn't assign journaling any more.

However, I do have a wonderful way to replace it – writing for publication, contests, money making schemes – portfolios.  You can get The Writers Guide on-line and find many ways for your students to write for profit or for publication.  That idea generally gets their attention. How do you teach them to become creative?

Two tricks – students may do this in cooperative groups for practice after you've modeled it creating a whole new version of “Old MacDonald Had A Car” E I E I OOO – And on this car he had a bull horn E I E I OOO – With A Honk-Squeal Here and A Honk-Squeal There – Here a Honk – There a Honk- Everywhere a Honk-Squeal  . . .  (You get the gist!)

The idea is to take an old favorite and change or twist one element of the song or story. (Trick #1)  For instance, what would change about the story, Cinderella, if it were set on the Moon?  No glass slipper, but a space boot in zero gravity.  Change a few characters and add a few plot twists and a whole new story will appear. 

As you work through this process with the whole class, warn students that if their story doesn't flow easily from their brain - that means the twists or changes aren't working and they should try another story and change a different element.  You and the student will know that the creative muse is “on fire” when the new “creative” story almost writes itself.

Now that you have modeled the process with a song, and gone through it with the whole class using Cinderella or some other story that you feel will work with your class, you can have small groups create a rough draft story to share aloud with the class.  Allow student groups fifteen minutes to prepare and give them some sheets of newsprint and markers to use for story-boarding unless they have I Pads and can brainstorm a quick story on their high tech device.

I am making the assumption that this will either be an introduction to a unit on short stories, myths, legends, etc. or a conclusion.  You can reinforce all the elements of fictional writing and stylistic devices such as use of: adjectives, adverbs, synonyms, similes, metaphors and the like.

The groups will come up with some amazing stories – this is a fun lesson and a great assessment tool to see what you need to reteach. Finally, students can be asked to come up with a story on their own to publish for a contest or to try and make money using The Writers Guide or some other source for places to publish. For me, this assignment took time because my student writers shifted to stories that morphed into something they cared about – I told them they never had to stick to the original story – just let ideas grow.

If students saw a movie, show or any other piece of media that “got” to them – it was okay to use it as a starting point.  The finished story deadline was usually around every four to five weeks and replaced journal writing.  It could be a non-fiction piece after we had completed the objectives surrounding fiction and poetry.

How to be creative easy trick #2: Explain how two very unlike things are alike.  This is usually good for writing poetry.  Start with a question on the board – such as:  How is a tree like love?  How is the sun like friendship? Creativity is the smashing together of two unlike things and finding out what they might have in common.

Trees

The solid bark of the dark brown oak tree supports my back.

Sitting quietly, I am content feeling the rough texture press through my shirt.

My tree has always been here in my park. I lose my lonely feelings when I sit beneath its branches.

It makes me believe in forever.

It makes me feel safe in all seasons - in all weather.

My initials are carved in the bark – very lightly.

When the sun sets, you can barely see them - so when I come at night, I touch them with my fingers as if blind and I am at peace. (I will know when I have found true love because her initials will be there, too.)

Although this poem never uses the word love – that is the metaphor it creates – for students in earlier grades, you may want to include both words. (See the last line of the poem that I added in parenthesis with the word love because this is an abstract concept and it may be beyond their comprehension level developmentally.)

You can now banish all whining about lack of creativity in your classes because you have given students the pocket skills: take a familiar story and change one element to create a new story and take two very unlike things and find ways that they are alike.  Simple concepts, but they do take practice.

I have had adults tell me they are not creative and have taught them these two concepts in a minute or two (not real in-depth lessons) just quick illustrations.  This was so they could help their children with assignments. Most parents were very grateful for the simple tips – it was something they could understand and apply. I hope this helps you avoid bringing in a tiny violin to play when your students start to whine.