Creative teaching

In the fast changing world of the early 21st century public education is also changing. As part of the changes the role of schools and education will also be different both in the educational system and in the society. Together with them the role of teachers will also change. In my essay I am going to focus on the importance of using creative teaching methods in young learners ‘ education. I will depict the characteristic features of ’ideal’ teachers by exploring the meaning of creative teaching and its benefits both on children and on teachers. Before talking about the benefits of creativity in teaching one must define what creative teaching is. Is being creative means being talented? Or being skillful? Or maybe simply being original? I n fact Creative teacher is the one who demonstrates how to think creatively using diverse methodological approaches and resources. According to National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education (UK) NACCCE (1999) ‘ teaching for Creativity involves teaching creatively’. In this context, it is important to emphasis on the importance of creative teaching since its absence from school curriculums may be the reason behind the downfall of the current education system.  Hence, Creativity must be embedded into school curriculums across the country because of the benefits it has in each educational setting.  In addition, creative teaching methods are vital for the effectiveness of a teacher and can only reveals the degree of the teacher s’ ability. Indeed, the teacher s’ creativity makes the delivery of the curriculum more interesting in a manner that appeals to their students and enhance the benefits of active learning. Activating creativity allows students and societies to move forward and allows individuals to produce new thoughts, ideas and solutions which are one of the main purposes of school curriculum.   Without creativity we lose thinkers, scientists, biologists, doctors, teachers, etc., and this in fact can be very damaging to our societies.  Therefore, school curriculum should never be fixed on using one single ideology or theory it is through consistently embedding creativity in the classroom makes us recognize that there are multiple ways to achieve things and do them differently. Yet, it is the teacher s’ primal role to know how to include creative teaching methods in his teaching. One of my good teachers once said there s’ no perfect teacher but this does not deny the fact that there s’ a bunch of very good ones. To be creative a good teacher must first, use creative teaching methods that make the students learn in their own unique manners, in other words he uses creativity to teach creativity. Second, he must adapt the materials of the curriculum, and take ownership of it making constant use of the surroundings in a way that facilitates the engagement of the students. Third, It is important to keep up to speed with trends, fads, technology, and prevailing attitudes and why not find a way to creatively incorporate this knowledge base into the teaching methods. And as the Chinese proverb says “ A mediocre teacher tells, A good teacher explains, A superior teacher demonstrates, A great teacher inspires. ” However, to successed in his mission any good teacher needs some creativity tools like fluency which impose to think of many ideas. Also, flexibility by thinking of varied ideas and maybe some, originality by thinking of unusual ideas which demands the presence of elaboration that is to make ideas better. Yet, all of these tools can be summarized in one single idea which is to think outside the box. When creativity is correctly embedded in the educational system this can be beneficial for both teachers and students. In fact, teachers will find themselves using more and greater variety in activities which can help children express their feelings in ways in which words fail and encourage them to invest themselves in the learning. Moreover teachers become able to recognize children as individuals and build closer relationships with them which in my opinion will reduce many of the behavior problems and encourage original and independent thinking. Thus, children will feel good about themselves, and their self esteem will increase. They will start seeking more answers to problems, and learn problem-solving methods and this can in fact lead to Individuality, independence and the master of new skills. while feeling secure and confident their determination, curiosity, a willingness will also improve and they become able to take risks and Discover new ways through which they might respond to tasks and knowledge in general . In the end, I can only use SIR KEN ROBINSON s’ words to summarize the whole idea he says “ Children have immense natural capacities of innovation, of creative thinking, of alternative ways of seeing. They are deeply personal capacities, and great teaching has always been there to model and to bring them out”. This in fact proves that creativity needs teacher’s talents, preparation and teaching time classroom management and students s’ acceptance of the methods being applied to teach them.