“Creativity comes from the right side of the brain.” “Children are more creativity than adults.” “Creativity happens primarily in art.” “Only a few rare geniuses are really creative.” Not true. None of it. Creativity myths are found across the globe. In fact, Benedek et al. (2021) examined beliefs about creativity across six countries: the United … Continue reading
Years ago, one of my friends, who had a houseful of teenagers, cried out in mock despair, “All these years I’ve worked to teach my children to be independent, and now they ARE!” Somehow the goal of self-directed children seemed easier before the children actually began choosing their own directions. Of course, her despair truly … Continue reading
In creativity, as in all of life, beliefs and emotions matter. When individuals feel confident in their ability to work creatively, they are more likely to undertake creative projects and stick to them when times get tough. Teachers who have confidence in their own creativity are more likely to teach to support students’ creativity—and find … Continue reading
Recently I’ve been working on a chapter for a book on creativity in mathematics. I am, to say the least, an unlikely choice to be an author in such a book—a fact of which I‘ve reminded the editors more than once. I’m not a mathematician. Sadly, I am from a generation in which, when I … Continue reading
I had a birthday last week. I had balloons, courtesy of a five-year-old companion, ice cream sundaes, and many greetings from friends. I even had presents. These included a small plastic glow-in-the-dark cat and two puppets, one a giant clam, complete with pearl, and the other a little girl who looks as if she could … Continue reading
I left elementary school absolutely convinced I could not draw and, in fact, that I was no good at art. Any art. I’m not sure exactly when that happened. As a young child I enjoyed drawing, painting, clay, and creating all manner of things with boxes, sticks, etc. But a few years later I knew, … Continue reading
Failure is not an upbeat subject. Now, as the school year begins, even in this strangest of school years, few of us are likely to be thinking, “OK, let’s go in there and fail!” And yet, I’ve been thinking about failure a lot. First, of course, I’m thinking about failure because it is the last … Continue reading
I’ve always been a curious person. Most of the time that has served me well, though when I was young, it occasionally led me into trouble. Observing the insects in the yard was interesting. Exploring the plants in the nearby woods was problematic, when some of them turned out to be poison oak. The only … Continue reading
In my last post, I began thinking about The Henry Ford’s Modeli for innovation, and particularly its Habits of an Innovator, as they express social and emotional characteristics associated with innovation. Thinking about the first one, “Be Empathetic” was straightforward and I could easily envision how it could be be taught and supported in schools. … Continue reading
What a time we are living through. All around me, educators are wrapping up a crazy online school year mid-pandemic, with still very little knowledge of what is coming in the fall. And across the world, there is increasing awareness of long-term inequalities that gives rise to frustration, anger and calls for new ways of … Continue reading
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