Creative teachers and creative teaching strategies

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore the factors that influence creative teaching and to find out what effective strategies are used by three award‐winning teachers in the learning area of Integrated Activities. As creative thinking is crucial for the knowledge economy, it is essential that education serves its purpose in improving this important aspect. The methods used for data collection include in‐depth interview, focus group interview, classroom observation and content analysis. Three teachers with a GreaTeach Creative Instruction Award for creative teaching in the Integrated Activities field were selected as subjects. Results were acquired by analysing the interview content, the teaching plans, teachers’ reflection and the classroom observation videotapes. The study found that: the factors influencing creative teaching in Integrative Activities are (a) personality traits: persistence, willingness to develop, acceptance of new experiences, self‐confidence, sense of humour, curiosity, depth of ideas, imagination, etc.; (b) family factors: open and tolerant ways of teaching children, creative performance of parents, etc.; (c) experiences of growth and education: self‐created games and stories, brainstorming between classmates, etc.; (d) beliefs in teaching, hard work, motivation and (e) the administrative side of school organization. Among these factors, beliefs in teaching, hard work and motivation are the main aspects. The effective teaching strategies used by the awarded teachers are: student‐centred activities, a connection between teaching contents and real life, management of skills in class, open‐ended questions, an encouragement of creative thinking and use of technology and multimedia. Integrated Activities are closely connected to life experience and a basis for the development of creative thinking within education.

Creativity in Greek Music Curricula and Pedagogy: An Investigation of Greek Music Teachers’ Perceptions

“…It is also essential that teachers themselves manifest characteristics of creative persons, such as: drawing satisfaction from the nature of their work and not only from the financial income or any distinctions it may provide; that is, to be motivated by intrinsic and not extrinsic motivation; to be easily susceptible to external feelings; to express their thoughts and ideas easily (Horng et al, 2005); to look for ways, means and materials; to plan interesting teaching and creative experiences for their pupils (Sharp, 2004) taking care, at the same time, that their creative personalities do not to overshadow the initiatives and efforts of their pupils (OFSTED, 2003).It is also part of teachers' work to use the appropriate strategies, so that they are the accommodators of learning, the co-operators and co-creators (Dineen & Collins, 2005), as well as the classroom managers where the strict hierarchy of traditional teaching is absent and all views are freely heard (Belkin, 2002). It is important, however, that by no means, in the name of an ill-defined creativity, to overlook the quality of learning (Sternberg, 2003).…”

“…Sharp (2004) as well as a number of other researchers (e.g. Amabile, 1996;Cropley, 1997;Horng, Hong, ChanLin, Chang, & Chu, 2005;Lindström, 2006;Mahboub, Portillo, Liu, & Chandraratna, 2004) think that children's creativity can be enhanced in education in three aspects: The creative learning environment, the creative educators and creative teaching.…”

A Review of Research on Creative Teachers in Higher Education

“…Another study was conducted among creative instructors (Horng, 2005) to look at the factors that influence creative teaching and effective strategies used among three instructors who received awards for creative instructions. All three instructors were subjected to individual in-depth interviews, focus group interviews, classroom observations as well as teaching content analysis.…”

“…According to Horng (2005), developing creative instructors should begin with their training. These instructors should be equipped with the knowledge and skills of giving creative instructions.…”

Investigating Students Creativity Based on Gender by Applying Virtual Laboratory to Physics Instruction

“…In learning, creativity arises spontaneously through the relationship and interaction between teachers and students in a very specific and challenging situation [9]. One of the goals of creative teaching is to create a learning environment that enables students to imagine freely within a student-centered classroom, multimedia-assisted learning, classroom management, connect topic of instruction to real life situation, open-ended questions and encouragement for creative thinking [10]. Creativity involves discovery, curiosity, imagination, experimentation and exploration [11].…”