Creativity

On Creativity – An Introduction & Index 
intertwined ring

Creativity and creative processes are absolutely essential in developing solutions to today’s problems and in anticipating problems to come. The arts, training in the arts, and national broadcasting services related to the dissemination and appreciation of the creative arts, are absolutely essential to the vibrancy of our nation’s creative spirit. 

The National Endowment for the Arts, and The Corporation for Public Broadcasting are federally created and supported programs. They are responsible for many of the programs airing on our local PBS channels. Please read my article on why the arts are important to the develpment of our children. Consider what these two programs offer the American public, and their importance in our lives and those of our children and in defining the fabric of our national culture. Please support these programs, both with your voices to your congressional leaders and with donations, however small.

Fostering the creative soul: 

The most powerful way to develop creativity in your students is to be a role model. Children develop creativity not when you tell them to, but when you show them.”

Robert J. Sternberg in How to develop student creativity

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I used to teach a graduate course in creativity. During the course there were several points I tried to make upfront.

  • My first point was that creativity is usually a messy process – while highly personal, it is often very chaotic.
  • The second thing I tried to stress was creativity is not formulaic — there are no tried and true cookbook approaches to becoming creative, or to fostering the creative spirits in others.

It is my belief that developing personal creativity is a series of personal evolutionary steps, trial and error procedures, and again, a process of sorting through messes. This is often intensely personal work. For some individuals there is even a spiritual dimension to creative endeavors. We only have to look at the endless array of religious and spiritually driven creations in art, music, dance, theatre, and in celebration and in ritual, to understand the immense power of the spirit in finding and developing creative expression.

Finding one’s creative spirit is a journey into the unknown. On this journey there may be wonderful guide books, compasses, and willing gurus, but the ultimate destination is often elusive, enigmatic, one of changing panoramas and uncharted destinations.

And from these perspectives the primary directions of my graduate course on this topic had to do with exposure, immersion, and exercises in changing perspectives. I also offered my students opportunities for self-discovery and self-definition. I hold the belief that before anyone can effectively foster creativity in others, fathom aspects of the creative process, or understand highly creative people, they need to have been immersed and consumed by the act of creating something themselves.

Many of those ideas are explained more fully on the pages in this section. Please feel free to browse the ideas offered. Hopefully you will find something useful or thought provoking. Some of the pages include thought questions or interactive exercises where users are ask to internalize thoughts or provide answers for reflection or for focused conversations with others. Enjoy.

A hunch is creativity trying to tell you something.”

                                                       Frank Capra (film director)

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Index for this section

Advice on thinking creatively
Blockages and barriers to being creative
Books – Some of my favorite books 
Brainstorming
Caring for your creative muse
Characteristics of creative children
Characteristics of highly creative individuals
Criteria to help evaluate creative ideas
Creative children – Homes and families
Entering the state of creative “flow”
Finding your creative muse
Forms of creative inspiration
Learn to celebrate your creative spirit
On definitions of creativity
On fostering or killing creativity in children
On levels of creativity
On types of creative thinking
Basic rules of creativity
David Perkin’s Snowflake Model of creative thinking
The importance of persistence to creativity
Using negative emotions to fuel creativity 
Poetry Corner — Poems about teaching and learning

Blog entries about creativity

Original materials on this site are copyrighted to Leslie Owen Wilson – E-mail

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