Creativity in Schools and Classrooms
Creativity - now this is a hard concept. As an Arts Educator - Film, TV and New Media, this is something I always strive to improve in students but I find this a really hard trait to develop. I am continuing to have this problem but more so with my middle school students. In my senior school students I am starting to see results which is fantastic in the topics or ideas they create for their short films but unfortunately the middle school students struggle. I know with the boys alot of this has to do with their brain at this stage of life but I need to explore ways to look at how to dissuade them away from death and destruction and for the girls bullying and self image.
Last year I went to a conference where Professor Doe Mayer presented a session on 'Can Creativity be taught and she shared some really interesting ideas of how to develop creativity. She got us all to write down our life story and then she got us to do it again giving us less time was really interesting what different teachers wrote down alot of people wrote life events in chronological order some teachers chose a particular event and how it made them feel as their life story. She then showed us some inspiration journal from Film students at University in where her subject was totally about creativity in films. Mayer then presented the 5 I's of Creative Filmmaking: Introspection, Inquiry, Intuition, Interaction and Impact.
Introspection which is a consideration of how the act of looking within ourselves can help us draw on who we are and how we see the world. It looks at how we might discover the specific kind of work we have a passion for and are particularly well suited to do; the importance of seeking personal connections in the material we choose to work on; and how we can reference and draw on own specific experiences, including the darker, more difficult aspects of our lives, weaving bits of ourselves into what we create in order to deepen our sense of connection and authorship.
In Inquiry, we see the importance of having a broad knowledge of the other arts and diverse fields of knowledge; the value of seeking direct first-hand experience of the world of a story; and the need for research, looking deeply into a subject, a setting, a culture, or an era in a way that enriches our understanding and point of view.
Intuition is neither guesswork or supernatural insight - it is dependable in proportion to the extent we have prepared ourselves well through education, observation, research and life experience. We can strengthen our receptiveness to our non conscious inventiveness by connecting more deeply to our ability to dream, daydream, and become lost in play.
Film is a profoundly collaborative art, and through Interaction we can draw effectively on the ideas and responses of others. And impact where we can look at the impact that a film has on others and discover the deep layers of a film. And its important to explore the powerful effect of films on audiences and how it brings complex questions of responsibility for the images that as filmmakers can be created.
I have to to this end continually think about these 5 I's and how I can continue to develop this in students I feel that I can do this with the Year 9's by creating and maintaining an Inspiration Journal. Which I will through different introspection activities look at what inspires them.
