CREATIVITY

What is your concept of creativity?

Who are creative people?

What are some methods creative people use?

How can you be more creative?

How can creativity be “graded”?

Questions to Answer:

Creativity is very difficult to define. Many people have tried to put the feeling of “being creative” into words unsuccessfully. Basically, it is a condition or state of mind where a person is using higher brain powers to focus on something. When a person is in a creative state, they have almost a sense of euphoria that is unexplainable until you have experienced it.

You can probably find more than sixty definitions of creativity if you look hard enough! Here are some of the best ones I found:

- The literal definition comes from the Latin word creatus which means “to have grown.”

- The ability to look at the ordinary, and see the extraordinary.

- A mental process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts, or new associations of the creative mind between existing ideas or concepts.

- Act that results in producing or making something new, giving an existing product new details or uses, imagining possibilities that have not been examined before, or seeing something differently than thought possible or normal before.

Discuss the following with a partner:

-Have you ever experienced creativity?If so, when, where, how, why? If not, have you ever seen someone in a creative mode?

- What characteristics do you think people who are creative have?

Creative PeopleSome Examples and Distinctions

How are these people creative?

This is Nancy Cox. She is a native of Iowa whose great ideas about a microbe may stop the next flu pandemic. She actually grows the bird flu virus to see if she can get it stop mutating and growing through her ideas.

Anyone can be creative! It doesn’t matter who you are or what you do! There are three main distinctions of people who are considered “creative”. Each of the distinctions can easily be applied in anyone’s life!

YOU!

AbilityPeople who have a strong creative ability are able to generate new ideas or products based on their current knowledge. Some of these ideas may be simple things that others just haven’t thought of, while others may be brand new ideas that are incredibly brilliant. All people have this ability, putting it to use takes the other two distinctions!

AttitudePeople who have a good attitude about things are usually more creative. Think about, when you want to do something it is easy, right? But when you don’t, it is more difficult. In order to be more creative a person needs to accept change and newness, play with ideas and possibilities, be flexible in their outlooks, and enjoy their work.

Can I Ruin Your Attitude?Yes… I can.It is easy for a teacher to stop you from being creative. All they have to do is limit your choices and give you work that you feel is unproductive to your life or BORING. I’m sure you have all seen it before, even in this classroom.In this class, I really want to encourage your creativity, not inhibit it.So…You will have choices for most writing assignments. You always will be allowed to follow your own thoughts and ideas with the assignments given. Also, please let me know if I am stopping your creative process. If I don’t realize I am doing it then I won’t be able to fix the problem!

A negative attitude about something stops a person from being creative. Have you ever said any of the things below?o Oh no, a problem! I will just avoid it.oIt can’t be done! There is no way!oI can’t do it. There is nothing I can do. oI’m not creative.oWhat will people think?oI might fail.

ANOTHER ATTITUDE INHIBITOR… YOU!

ProcessEveryone finds their own creative process. We will discuss the different methods in the next section and how people use them. Keep in mind that most great ideas don’t hit a person at one moment and then history is made. It is work and it requires a person to analyze and criticize their own work and works of others.

Creative MethodsSome Ways to Be More Creative

The first thing I want you to do is think of “creative thinking” as “problem solving”. If you see solving a problem in terms of an opportunity your outlook will improve greatly!By doing this, you are thinking in terms of every problem having a solution. But does every problem have one solution?

No, every problem can have numerous way to be solved. For example, if I told the class that I wanted everyone to put words on paper, how would you go about completing this task?

Just because we do things different ways doesn’t mean they are wrong. What matters the most is that it works for you and that you are happy with the solution to the problem. Also, do you think we currently have the best way to put words on paper? Thinking we already have the best is a major inhibitor to creativity. Being able to see the possibilities makes people more creative!

Be CuriousIf you want to know something, you are going to find out. But why? Creativity comes from wanting to figure things out or solve a problem. Creative people want options, reasons, and facts on everything. They ask a lot of questions. Sometimes they ask a lot of people the same question so they can figure out their own thoughts. Knowledge in itself can build curiosity and enable a person to think about normal things differently.

Challenge the OrdinaryWe all make assumptions about things. Instead of making assumptions, try to break them and come up with new ways to think of things. Remember, it is okay to make mistakes but the challenge is learning from the mistakes.

Example: What do you think of when I say “going to college”?

Be ConstructiveIf something bothers you, find a constructive way to solve the problem. What does constructive mean?

This does not meaning whining about a problem, it means find solutions that will actually work to solve the problem and have meaning. Enjoy the challenge of having a problem in front of you and try to solve it in the best manner possible for you.

Be PositiveMake sure you know the problem can be solved, the assignment can be tackled, and that you can do it!

Have confidence in yourself!

If you see a problem as a challenge that is interesting and worth tackling it will be a lot more fun to solve than if you see it as something you “don’t want to do.”

Don’t Judge or CriticizeMany ideas are put aside because others think they are stupid, worthless, or just weird. Sometimes these weird ideas are just what are needed to make a difference in life.

Think about these quotes:

"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."- Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of DEC

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."- Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943

"Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons."- Popular Mechanics, 1949

"So we went to Atari and said, 'Hey, we've got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we'll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we'll come work for you.' And they said, 'No.' So then we went to Hewlett-Packard, and they said, 'Hey, we don't need you. You haven't got through college yet.'"- Steve Jobs, cofounder of Apple Computer

See The Good in the BadInstead of saying, that is a horrible idea, ask yourself what is good about the idea. By thinking about the good instead of the bad ideas may come that will help you adapt the bad idea into a good idea.

Sometimes…The Problem is the Solution

Sounds strange?

3M still exists because chemists were trying to figure out how to stop super glue from sticking people’s fingers together. They were trying to weaken adhesives and thus made one that would not stick to fingers. It wouldn’t hold as much together as Super Glue, but it would stick paper to objects. Presto… Post-It Notes!

GRADINGMy Thoughts

What do you want to put into your work?

Your grade in this class will have a lot of basis in effort! If you are working during the given times, your grade will be better than if you choose not to work.

I do not want to judge your ideas unless they are illogical

Unless something is completely illogical, I will try to keep my personal feelings and reactions out of the grade. I am looking for you pushing yourself, not if the story is something I would read in my free time.

Writing Skills

As much as I would just love to grade your papers based on your thoughts and ideas, I will have to look at the skills you are using in writing and grade accordingly.