Session 72 – Thursday 17th November 2011

Session Title:

How can we build children’s imaginations so that they have more to choose from for their writing?

Session Summary:

Once again, the discussion was fast but not furious as apart from the use of grammar (see below) there was a great consensus of opinion. The topic came from my role as producer of the 100 Word Challenge. This is a weekly creative writing challenge for children under 16. I set a prompt of a few words or a picture and the children have 100 words to write a creative piece. This is then posted on the class blog then linked to the Head’s Office where it is shared with all the children who have entered.

I am concerned that many children will write about blood and gore even when I have carefully (or so I think) set a ‘not gorey’ prompt!

The discussion was full of ideas to encourage creativity. From lots of reading out loud to using film, animations, cartoons, telling stories, using prompt writers, cover-it-live, wikis. A point that was emphasized throughout was to get a sense of audience so that there is a purpose to children’s writing. Obviously that brought in praise for class blogs!

There was a discussion around grammar and whether it was a necessary evil or a vital component to children’s writing. I think that one is like marmite – you either love it or hate it!

One strong thread was that all teachers should take on the responsibility to support creative thinking and writing. It should not be just an English teacher’s responsibility. Maths and geography teachers explained that they are involved in creative writing within their subject.

For my original concern @imrandjk suggested  – I dont necessarily think it’s about beating it (blood & gore) – more about embracing it

The use of questions was also emphasized as it was felt often children don’t know what they know. Play, drama and specific role play were also suggested as were music and the arts in general. Getting a cross curricular approach especially with areas like PSHE can provide the impetus for writing without it being a ‘writing’ lesson.

There were so many ideas and suggestions, I do recommend you look at the archive to get a fuller feel of what was discussed. http://t.co/8KaIKOi

Notable tweets from the session:

@photographamy – #ukedchat writing in different places and on different things. We have lots of whiteboards in EYFS. Chalkboards, ring bound notebooks etc.
@Educationchat – Get children to TALK together before writing.  Don’t accept their first answer – give them time to be more imaginative & model it #ukedchat
@_imaginaryme – SEAL resources, esp photocards, great for empathy #ukedchat
@deputymitchell – Writing shouldn’t be a lonely task! Pupils should plan through collaboration with support from peers. Ideas will flow, risks taken #ukedchat
@JCBarrington – #ukedchat Time is a big issue – Creativity can’t be forced into a short timeframe, it must be cultivated slowly.
@deputymitchell – RT @LeeDonaghy: Bit of a narrow #ukedchat tonight – one for the English teachers only. <–All teachers must have goods to offer on this.
@deerwood – #ukedchat has anyone tried writing film scripts? Even using cue prompters?
@teacherofyr5 – if you as a Teacher shows your PASSION for reading, you WILL inspire even the non-readers #ukedchat
@MissSMerrill – #ukedchat two picture books – The Mysteries of Harris Burdik and the Arrival. Great for sparking off talk for writing and drama!
@wildblu – #ukedchat Used online comic strip maker to create ‘Bullying’ story today, Y8 loved it
@kennypeiper – #ukedchat 750 words is great for senior kids 750words.com

Tweet/s of the Week:

Here are the thoughts of some children on our topic! http://t.co/Qhp7R0Qp @_imaginaryme   #ukedchat

@LawrenceBham -  the world is bigger than the class room, show them that! #ukedchat

Links from the Session:

Click to see all links...

About your host:

I am @theheadsoffice (Julia Skinner) & I’m a retired head teacher who has been given a second career  through class blogs and the 100 Word Challenge. Do go check it out and join in either as a class or as a commentator!

http://www.theheadsoffice.co.uk/how-can-schools-develop-imagination-ukedchat-homework/

Session Info:

Number of Contributors: 183

Number of Tweets:865

View the archive at: Scribd

Session 4 – Summary by @ianaddison

Topic of Discussion

What are we doing to promote creativity in the classroom?

Summary of Discussion

The discussion covered a lot of different thoughts on creativity. This included trying to define it, discussing if we could assess it and wondering whether it was possible to be creative when given constraints such as timetabling or impending Ofsted visits. We also talked a lot about ways to get teachers to be more creative and to take risks as well as providing a culture for children to do the same. Some people talked about taking a whole-school approach to creativity and this seemed to work well. The general consensus is that creativity needs to be embraced by the head teacher and by management before it can be fully embedded into the school. There needs to be an element of risk from teachers and this needs to be modelled for the children. Once they see how we deal with risks and failure, they can become better at it themselves. Providing children with the opportunity to try different tools and to have these to hand will help to develop their creativity.
We discussed whether it was possible to assess creativity and with this it was decided that our assessment also needs to be creative.

Eye-Catching Tweets from the Session

@primarypete: to allow creativity to flourish, you need to allow children to risk and fail with grace
@dughall: I think we can only have creativity with a high degree of pupil choice, involvement and personalisation of the curriculum
@sport_ed: open ended tasks are important- however it is vital students have skills to be able to select creative ways of completing tasks.
@carolrainbow: creativity involves two processes, thinking then producing
ecce1: we have to look at giving multilpe options for how students demonstrate their knowledge
@dughall: teacher confidence is crucial in promoting and maintaining creativity in the classroom
@chrisfullerisms: not just taking risks but encourage an environment in which errors are accepted/embraced. by erring, we often learn more
@josepicardo: failure is just an opportunity to be better
@vikh46: with all lessons, it’s the ability to act when things aren’t going well and children are lost that makes a good or outstanding teacher
@cgeo28: to be creative, pupils need to be inspired, this can only come about thorugh a relevant curriculum delivered by motivated staff
@mynictle: use their imaginations, give the children a germ of an idea and let them think about it
@daviderogers: one aspect would be to allow choice e.g. you can write, sing, dance, draw etc as long as you tackle the issue
@malcolmbellamy: creativity is about options e.g. how many ways can we use this piece of string
@natty08: people have to realise that there is noise and there is active noise. Both sound the same but are TOTALLY different

Tweet of the Week

@cgeo28: to be creative, pupils need to be inspired, this can only come about through a relevant curriculum delivered by motivated staff

Relevant links highlighted during the Discussion

http://www.creativityatwork.com/articlesContent/whatis.htm
http://gg.tigweb.org/PTPIGYM
http://kn.open.ac.uk/public/document.cfm?docid=12916

Bio Details of the Host Moderator

I’m a primary school teacher that has spent the past two years working with the local authority to help train and prepare schools for the use of the VLE, Studywiz. This has also included opening their eyes to other possibilities with web 2.0 and working together. In September 2010 I return to the classroom.