Creative thinking in education

The topic of creative thinking is as limitless as the Universe – there are innumerable recommendations and books teaching us to be creative and innovative.

The Subject

The words “creative” and “thinking” are familiar if taken apart from each other, but being joint together they form an enigmatic and attractive structure. Do you want to have creative thinking? Certainly, yes.

Many authors and bloggers recommend us to develop the skill of creative thinking as one of the keys to success in profession and—as a consequence—in life.

Creative thinking is an ability to make up original ideas and methods, which we are—however innovative and progressive our modern world could be—all lacking dramatically. Among thousands and millions of life hacks, which our brains consume daily, how to choose the most original and creative ones?

This is the right moment to go back to basics and remember the old and wise Bible, where we read: nil novi sub luna—nothing is new under the Moon. The aim of trying hard to invent something new in our particular topic—education—may just be the road to nowhere.

Aim stating

Why do we need creative thinking in education? — this is the key question, which kicks us towards building the right strategy and developing right ideas. We do need creative thinking just for one, but a crucial thing: to be able to achieve the stated goals. Considering English teachers, only if your students are guaranteed to reach their targets, you can boast of becoming a “guru” of teaching processes.

Therefore, our teaching universe is student-centered. We start with writing down the features of the object of our future educational course. Here are some vital questions to think over:

1) How soon does the student want to reach his goal?

2) What exactly does he want to improve in his English?

3) What is the psychological portrait of your student? Is he lazy, shy, talkative, engaging, gloomy?

Following the rules by Dale Carnegie, we should never forget that the most interesting topic for everyone is him- or herself. That’s the teacher who should think of a student as of an own child and take the student’s goals as own ones.

Actually, it’s an extremely interesting work as you feel yourself a kind of Hercule Poirot by Agatha Christie. The most powerful tool applied by Poirot in his crime investigations was recreating a psychological portrait of the victim.

Tools

Now, when you know enough about your student, we are ready to work out the tools and methods for teaching. All of us have a number of techniques, in which we succeed particularly well.

That’s the right moment to revise them and to filter as per more and less convenient for a certain student.

It is perfectly obvious that the course for a talkative person should be based on spoken practices and even grammar rules must be discussed in a dialogue rather than in written exercises. When teaching talkative students, one must have 5-6 topics in mind to discuss in accordance with the interests of the student. Besides, do not forget to be patient and listen: this way, undoubtedly, you will become the most interesting person to talk in the world.

If your student is shy, it is better to avoid personal questions in conversation (and there are a lot of personal questions in standard lessons). Shy people do written exercise willingly, but it’s extremely difficult to develop their speaking skills.

Sometimes, you might need to tell an anecdote or even play a game—all this come from the personal needs of the student as you understand them. Some students have an original mindset and they like paradoxes and extraordinary things.

But, of course, one trick will never be good in all occasions. Well-known practices, common exercises, games and questions should be regarded as a kind of Lego details: assembled in different combinations, they give us truly unusual and original lessons.

Analysis

Analysis is an indispensable part of the teaching process. Which trick you applied during the lesson was good and which failed? This is to be written down and modified in the future. Step by step, you will have a precious collection of unusual, original, unique techniques and methods, which will allow you to create a high-class tailor-made educational course for any student basing on such a simple and common thing as creative thinking is.