Module 23 Blog 1

1. In this module it talks about encouraging creativity within your classroom in order to engage and enhance the learning experiences of those who are creative. But what do you do when you have students who are not as creative? I remember in my grade school classes that there were just some students who were not into being creative or artsy when it came to doing activities. How do you deal with these students? Do you still incorporate creative activities into your curriculum?

2. Creativity can be thought of as a form of higher order thinking because it involves the idea of problem solving and looking for new and innovative ways to solve some given problem. Furthermore, creative students look for different ways to manipulate information and ideas in order to gain a better understanding of the topic. I think there are multiple ways in which I could promote creativity within my French classroom. There are numerous projects and activities that I can do/create that would give the students the opportunity to be creative. For example, I could assign each student a famous French figure and have them create a brief autobiographical speech. The student should also look to create a costume which would resemble the clothing that said historical figure would wear. This activity promotes creativity in the sense that students are free to think from the perspective of that figure and also design and create an outfit to wear. Students could also write short stories incorporating the vocabulary we are learning at that point in time. This would allow the students to be creative in the content/plot of the story, but also in the design of images to go along with the text. These are just a couple of teaching activities that I could use in the classroom to encourage creativity. Instead of simply giving vocabulary quizzes and tests to cover the content we have learned, the students could do some sort of project which would allow them to think outside of the box and use their creative skills. I know that since I would be teaching younger grade school students, I can't leave activities to be completely open-ended because these students need some guidance in projects and assignments. In my classroom, I can ensure that I create an environment that is open and accepting, allowing students to feel comfortable opening up and using their creativity.