Character Strength of Creativity – Instructional Strategies and Activities

The following are instructional strategies and activities to help integrate the strength of CREATIVITY into the culture of your classroom.

• Creativity Calendar – Choose a month to post a daily creative activity for everyone to try. Here is a kindness example for February.

• Creativity Sketchbook – Introduce Da Vinci’s notebook as a model for students to keep a sketchbook where they record problem-solving ideas, connections, inventions, art, music, etc. A guiding prompt to support creative and lateral thinking when students encounter new information is to think “that makes me wonder who-what-when-where-why…”. Students can use a paper or digital journal to record their sketches and journaling efforts. Sketchnoting and mind mapping are helpful tools for this strategy.

• Creativity Websites – There are so many websites and apps that promote creativity. Go down the page to find a few resource sites.

• Genius Time – There are various approaches to giving students time to apply their curiosity in pursuing a question they wish to answer. Look to design a way to have students inquire, research and report their learning back in a creative way to the class. Using the design cycle is one approach to take. Here is one resource to help students engage character strengths during their creative time.

• Inward-Outward – Think of ways to use the strength internally for your own wellbeing. Think of ways to express the strength outward to benefit others. Example: Inward- Come up with a few ways to handle a personal problem. Outward- Create a painting, poem, song, etc. to share beauty with others.

• See-Think-Wonder Thinking Routine – Use the STW routine in a variety of ways to help students develop as a habit when encountering new situations and information. Ask your students how they might apply their creativity as they pursue their “wonders”.

• Think – Puzzle – Explore Thinking Routine – This routine can become a part of the class culture when approaching new topics. It also can be taught as a personal algorithm for students to engage when they feel they really know a lot about a topic. Change the “you” in the questions to “I” and maybe add a fourth question of “Who can I talk to to get another take (perspective) on this?”.

• Universal Design for Learning (UDL) – Use the UDL principle of providing multiple means of action and expression to help students communicate their creativity. Technology can offer opportunities but they need to be balanced with time spent in the construction process.

Websites to Support Creativity>

• Colour Colour from Tate in London

• Design Squad at PBS for STEAM problem solving ideas

• NGAKIDS Art Zone from the National Gallery of Art

• Poetry4Kids writing resource

• San Francisco Symphony Kids to “hear, listen, have fun, and play games with music”

• StoryBird illustrated story maker

• StoryJumper illustrated story maker

• Tate Create Activity Center from the Tate in London

• The Artist’s Toolkit to learn how to create art

• Word Cloud generator from Tadexo

Photo by Ameen Fahmy on Unsplash