![The Museum of [Creative] Failure](https://creativiteach.files.wordpress.com/2022/07/museum-of-failure.jpg?w=160&h=120&crop=1 "The Museum of [Creative] Failure")
All of us fail. A lot. Failures come in all shapes and sizes, some serious, some not-so-much. Most recently, I’ve been failing repeatedly at trying to get a determined mother mouse to relocate her nest in the lovely brush behind our fence rather than on our deck (or in our grill!). I’ve failed at inventing … Continue reading
The Beer Festival is back in Ypsilanti, Michigan. In most ways, this doesn’t matter to me at all. I’m not a beer drinker and my tolerance for crowds is greatly diminished after more than two years of pandemic. But still, the notion of any kind of festival is a joyous jolt of normalcy. Our county … Continue reading
Ever since I was young, I have loved inventing new worlds. I have quite vivid memories of sailing into space in a rocket constructed among the clothes in my closet, visiting planets unlike those anyone else had seen. As I grew older and learned to write stories, I wrote about characters with magical powers (always … Continue reading
At its best, creativity allows individuals to pursue new ideas, express themselves, and explore problems that are important to them. This month I read about a group of middle school students who did exactly that. AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islander) Youth Rising describes itself as follows. AAPI Youth Rising is an organization started by … Continue reading
Recently I was heading to my back yard with a 5-year-old friend, and she dropped a ball, which then bounced down the steps to the lawn. She looked at me and without missing a beat, she said, in perfect rhythm: What’s that bouncing down the deck? A ball, a ball! Oh, what the heck. It … Continue reading
“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
I’ve always loved picture books, and I read them to anyone from visiting preschoolers to graduate students. I also love folk music and, in particular, the Midwest’s own Carrie Newcomer. This week I had the chance to enjoy both, in Sandy Eisenberg Sasso’s The Story of AND: The Little Word That Changed the World, with … 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
Ever since I started teaching, back in the misty annals of time, I’ve tried to give students options for sharing ideas. My students, from elementary to graduate school, have written reports (of course), created poetry, acted out scenarios, built art works or models, composed music, recorded radio dramas, made charts and diagrams, etc. etc. Each … Continue reading
When does creativity not look like creativity? Perhaps, sometimes, because we do not recognize it. Recently, Kaufman and Glăveanu suggested we may need a new concept to describe the space between “Wow, this is creative!” and “Nope, that’s not creative at all.” They’ve called it “Shadow Creativity.” Most definitions of creativity focus on two dimensions: … Continue reading
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