A fire to be kindled - guest post by Paul Cornies

Nearly every morning a real treat appears in my GoogleReader - a link to one of Paul Cornies's Quoteflection posts. I've mentioned Paul's work before on the Blue Skunk here and here and Paul's been kind enough to write a guest post, 10 Students Who Taught Me, for this blog. His book 365 Quote Quest: Reflection on Vital Quotation has an honored place on my bookshelf.

In a world of fast communications, of rapid conclusions, and of too often ill-considered bombast, Paul offers readers an oasis of reflection and deep considerations. Get to know Paul and his work.

A Fire to Be Kindled

Education is still very close to my heart despite my 'retirement' from teaching almost two years ago.  One sign of that ongoing  interest is my blog quoteflections which is now in its fourth year.  One recent 'theme' post highlighted 16 of my favorite quotes about education.  I think they reveal a lot about some of its dynamics and importance in society.  

(Another source of enjoyment, by the way, is babysitting with my wife a precious 14 month old granddaughter several days a week and participating in her skill development.)

Paul Cornies

The second half of creativity

In preparing for my webinar for Linworth "Developing Creativity in Every Learner" tomorrow afternoon, I've been thinking and reading about how one might assess creativity*. (Thinking - boy that hurts!) One common recommendation is that creativity needs to be defined before it can be assessed.

I've always had the same attitude toward creativity that Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart had about pornography: that while he couldn't define it, he knew it when he saw it. 

Apparently I am not the one who struggles with the definition of creativity. According to creativity guru, Donald Treffinger (Assessing Creativity: A Guide for Educators. NCR G/T, 2002), there are over 100 definitions of creativity in the literature.

While I can't claim to have read them all, those I have looked at have two components in common. First, that creativity has an element of the new, the innovative, the original - something not yet done before. OK, this is not surprising.

But the second, too often overlooked, common element in most definitions is that creativity adds value to the task or objective to which it is applied. Not only must the approach be new, it must make the product, the procedure, or the experience more effective. To me, that second element gives educators the key to valid creativity assessment.

We must be asking not just if the work is original, but how the originality improve the end result. 

OK, it takes longer for some of us to have those "aha" moments than others. I'll bet most of you already understood this. Sorry.

Any "creative" means you have used to assess if a kid's been creative that I can share during the webinar tomorrow? I will give you full credit.

* Most of the literature seems to be about assessing the innate creativity in individuals using tests and such. I would argue that, like intelligence, all human beings are creative only in different ways, so such measures are rather meaningless. To paraphrase Sir Robinson, it's not if a person is creative but how a person is creative.

Seven Wonders - almost

Warning - another self indulgent post on travel. 

What's on your bucket list? Seeing all the Seven (new) Wonders of the World?

Oh, I've also seen the Seven Wonders of Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Great Wall of China

Petra

Christ the Redeemer

Machu Picchu

Chichen Itza

Colosseum

Grear Pyramid of Giza (considered "honorary" so it is actually the 8th Wonder)

Six down, one to to ...

Taj Mahal - you're next on my list!