March 12, 2010, Newsletter Issue #281: Teachers Fostering Creativity

Tip of the Week

Teach children to appreciate and be pleased with their own creative efforts.
Be respectful of the unusual questions children ask.
Be respectful of children´s unusual ideas and solutions, for children will see many relationships that their parents and teachers miss.
Show children that their ideas have value by listening to their ideas and considering them. We can encourage children to test their ideas by using them and communicating them to others. We must give them credit for their ideas.
Provide opportunities and give credit for self-initiated learning. Overly detailed supervision, too much reliance on prescribed curricula, failure to appraise learning resulting from a child´s own initiative, and attempts to cover too much material with no opportunity for reflection interfere seriously with such efforts.
Provide chances for children to learn, think, and discover without threats of immediate evaluation. Constant evaluation, especially during practice and initial learning, makes children afraid to use creative ways to learn. We must accept their honest errors as part of the creative process.
Establish creative relationships with children--encouraging creativity in the classroom while providing adequate guidance for the students.

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