This short presentation is about the need for creativity within students work. Teachers need to encourage and praise creativity across all key learning areas to allow students to express their unique and indivdial ideas within their work.

3. What is your understanding of creativity?

5. Investigation

6. Concept/Scenario: Teachers make judgments according to set criteria to assess their students. What effects can assessment have on a students’ creative expression?

7. How does the assessment of creative subjects restrict student’s learning? Assessment restricts the creative development of students 2. The incapability of assessment to measure a broad range of learning.

9. Projective Investigation:Hypothetical past event What could have happened if Joern Utzon was restricted from expressing his creative flair when designing the Sydney Opera house? What could have happened if a different design had been granted? Would we still have the iconic Australian landmark we have before us today?

11. How does assessment support creativity?

12. Assessment can both restrict and support student’s creativity. Educators should ensure assessment tasks are authentic and allow for differentiation. Creativity should be embraced as an assessable element within criteria rubrics. Resolution

13. A+ Assessment

14. There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly.(Buckminster Fuller) As educators it is important to allow students’ creativity to be expressed throughout their work.

16. Fostering creativity in the classroom Confidence: Instil in students a confidence in their abilities in all activities. Many students believe that they just aren’t any good at writing, art, music, performance and general problem solving. Creativity can be shown across the curriculum and children must be encouraged to try their skills at everything. There are many underachievers in creative behaviour, but few overachievers. The challenge for teachers and parents is to discover ways of equalising creative potential and creative achievement. Confidence in themselves as learners and creators is an essential element of this. Respect: Respect students for all their ideas and contributions. Show that you value creation. Encourage students to think of knowledge as incomplete, to ask questions, to look beyond given facts. Enjoy: Learning and creating is fun! Far too many adults have lost their joy in creating. Recapture in your classrooms the energy and joy that characterises young students learning and discovering in the natural world. Abandon the distinction between work and play in the classroom. Provide opportunities for students to explore and create in a non-evaluative atmosphere. Activity: Provide opportunity for unstructured and active involvement in learning and discovering. Excessive seatwork and formal exercises can stultify creativity. Time: Allow time for students to reflect; this will allow ideas to incubate. Rather than expecting immediate responses and disciplined schedules of production, encourage students to research , think, rest and then come back again to the task with new insights. Show students how to use time effectively for reflection – model it yourself! Integrate: Design learning experiences that integrate formal logical thinking with the opportunity for divergent thinking. Show how they work n tandem to produce really important knowledge. Show that information from a variety of sources can and should be used to solve problems. Show how there is mathematics in music and science in art! Value: Reward and praise the unusual and unconventional as mush as the conventional and convergent. Show that you value the creative contribution made by individuals whether it be in academic, social, interpersonal or performance areas. There should be a place where students can exhibit their art, display their stories and demonstrate their abilities. Treat students’ ideas with respect, as indifference or ridicule will stifle student’s creativity. Invite: Members of your school’s community have many talents. Invite them into your classroom as colleagues to motivate students to be creative. Tolerate: Be prepared to tolerate disorder and messiness during the creative process. If you insist on neatness and everything being done in the ‘right way at the ‘right’ time, you will stifle creativity. At the appropriate time students should be disciplined to ‘ verify’ their production according to the appropriate criteria for presentation. Remember that being creative is not an excuse for a sloppy final product, but a certain level of disorder is essential to the creative process. You must also be prepared to tolerate certain level of the unexpected, whether is be in behaviour or product. When students are given the opportunity to create, the will also set out to shock. You: Yes, you play a very important role in developing the creative powers of students in your care. Through your expectations, modelling, designing of appropriate educational experiences, valuing and enjoying what your students produce, you are a major player in the student’s development as a creator and thinker.

17. The End