Encouraging Teachers to Teach Creativity

by | Jun 5, 2012 | Less Teacher, More Student, Local Professional Collaboration, Passion Based Learning, The How of 21st Century Teaching, Voices

As the person most directly responsible for our school’s professional learning, I have been wondering what professional development looks like when you turn Bloom’s on its head and ask teachers to encourage students’ creative thinking early in the learning process. Teachers need to model their own creative thinking and embrace “messy” assessments.

Flipping Bloom's Taxonomy

by | May 15, 2012 | Less Teacher, More Student, Passion Based Learning, The How of 21st Century Teaching, Voices

I think the revised Bloom’s Taxonomy is wrong. I agree that the taxonomy accurately classifies various types of cognitive thinking skills. It certainly identifies the different levels of complexity. But its organizing framework is dead wrong. Here’s what I propose. In the 21st century, we flip Bloom’s taxonomy. Rather than starting with knowledge, we start with creating, and eventually discern the knowledge that we need from it.

Constructing Creativity in the Classroom

by | Dec 8, 2011 | Passion Based Learning, The How of 21st Century Teaching, Voices

A creative, kaleidoscope mind is one that innovates – invents – inspires. It takes what it knows and turns it upside-down, inside-out, and backwards to see what new possibilities and patterns emerge. It will be able to view a problem from many perspectives, and find a solution/design more rigid minds could not. I have coached an Odyssey of the Mind team for five years now, and I’ve seen evidence that creativity is definitely a skill that can (and should) be taught.