"How to be Creative"

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203370604577265632205015846.html

I was reading this article from the Wall Street Journal this morning on Creativity.  I found it very interesting because it went totally against what I have believed about "creativity".

Like so many I thought only some people are naturally gifted with creativity.  You either had it or you did not.  I was not expecting to read that anyone can be creative- it just takes practice.  Whoa I thought to myself.  NOT!

As I read further into the article I started thinking about some of my realizations I have acquired through my years of teaching.  First of all, I realized a couple of years ago I too could be an artist.  I have never had any natural ability to draw, paint, mold, and create a visual image of art.  In all my years of teaching kindergarten a directed drawing program from “Animated Literacy” fascinated me.  Every year the precious little five year olds would tell me with such admiration,

"You are such a good drawer.  How did you learn that?"

I would reply by rote:

"Well, I've had lots of practice.  You too can be a good artist if you practice."

The more I thought about it,  I realized I too could learn to draw, paint, sculpt, and throw a pot if I just practiced.  Really nothing was out of my reach.  I could learn ballroom dancing if I want.  I could take watercolor classes and learn to paint.  It would just take doing it.

Now I realize I may never be world-renowned artist or have a "natural sense of space or color".  But I could learn to draw and paint.  

So why could someone not learn to be creative?

The author then brought in the brain research.  I am a solid fan and believer in the brain research and how our wonderful brains work.

It comes down to 2 approaches.   First of all, there is the relaxation and have a beer creativity.    When we stop thinking about the problem often times an insight will "pop" into our brains.  I don't know about you but I have had some great ideas in the shower or waking in the middle of the night with a break through.

The other process is the good old work ethic approach.  It is called "sweat and failure" in the article.  It is trying over and over again to get something right, rejecting the bits and pieces that don't fit.

That is where I have had my "A Ha!" moment with my writing.  I don't always feel like writing.  I don't always like what I am writing.  It seems trite, cliché, worn out and old.  It is so easy to just stop and give up.  I have found though, if I keep writing, more often then not the insights and the juxtaposition of ideas creates some pretty dramatic word images,..... and then sometimes not.  Even through I think it is "CRAP", I find myself revisiting it, tweaking it here and there, totally rewriting it from a phrase, word, or image.  I may never like it but I preserve it for something I can maybe someday go back to and make it work. 

I like what the article says with some reservations.  It seems a bit geared toward the business end of the world and not the artistic venues of the world.  I still think there is a genetic component and I do buy into the multiple intelligences.  I am a creature of words.  They captivate me and ensnare me in the magic of their meanings.  I love to play with them and connect them in odd, strange, beautiful ways.  It is much easier for me to do that then wield a paintbrush or get my fingers dirty in clay.  Sure I can learn to paint and draw but it would never capture my heart like words do.

I will keep telling my students that they can do anything if they keep practicing - write their name, draw a dog or cat, write a sentence, paint a blooming tree.  I will also keep telling them that it never comes easy to anyone.  Even with natural ability they will still need to practice, practice, practice.

I will also keep telling myself to keep writing even when the words spit back at me in scorn.  In that practice, my creativity, will always satisfy that hunger within me to play and dance with my words!


A Ha!  The plasticity of the brain!!!!!

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/06/06/33neuroscience_ep.h31.html?tkn=YWMFkn%2BngMR6x8JIDO54htKUCVqA8D4EoxGy&cmp=clp-sb-ascd