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The ability to be creative exists in each of us. It manifests itself through both internal and external processes beginning with a thought or idea and culminating in its own unique external form. Creativity in education is a complex matter requiring teachers who have the ability to determine which of the myriad creative processes is dominant in each individual student and to encourage, strengthen, and nurture it. We each have diverse strengths and capabilities. One student may have an exceptional talent for writing, another student's creative ability may stem from a love of art, while yet another may have a penchant for public speaking. Every teacher has an obligation to help each student in his or her charge to develop his own unique talents to the fullest.

The ability to do this requires a certain amount of creativity on the part of the teacher. Once a student's strengths have been identified, the creative teacher will be able apply them to any subject being studied. My favorite high school English and History teachers worked this way and were able to get the whole class involved in a hands-on approach to their subjects. Participating in these classes in such a unique way made each of us feel as though we had something important to contribute to the lessons. Sketching, writing, and public speaking have always been my strongest talents, and I spent many hours up at the board diagramming parts of speech as though they were members of a family, and creating charcoals and paintings of the various historical events we studied to bring them to life for my classmates through my own personal interpretation. Of course, my "personal interpretation", both visual and verbal, sometimes had my classmates falling to the floor convulsing with spasms of uncontrolled laughter causing neighboring teachers to make numerous (usually impolite) requests that we keep the volume down. I recall working on a project with the "class nerd" who was a math whiz and had a penchant for planning attack strategy. He planned, and I sketched. The debate that ensued when we presented our project could have taken place in a war zone. Every student in each of those classes had a useful talent that these unique teachers incorporated into their lesson plans. Somehow, we all felt as though we were teaching each other, and indeed this is exactly what we did. I have successfully used this method of teaching as well.

Attempting to confine creativity to any specific time or place is impossible. An inherent ability existing in each of us, creativity will not be denied its expression. The small child who screeches with excitement as he squishes his food until it oozes from between his fingers and then smears it on the table, his clothes, and his mother's face as she approaches to clean it up is expressing his creativity. The doodler, the person sitting next to you humming, whistling, or drumming his fingers on the desk, the graffiti artist, the mail person dancing up your driveway like my letter carrier does, the friend or relative who makes every statement into a sermon, they are all expressing their unique creative talents.

Learn more about this author, V T DeLeo.
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