Can Creativity and Innovation Be Taught?

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Shifting back to the Barn
On Wednesday night, 175 educators got to play together with a revisit to the Barn in Milton.

The theme of the evening was “Can creativity and innovation be taught?”.  We’ve come to believe that the answer is a resounding YES!  As we have been exploring here at the Shift, there are learning conditions that foster innovation, in our schools and for our students.  This is where we started with The Case for Innovation and exploring these conditions, followed by Community Building and Risk Taking, and more to come soon.  Rethinking the structure of our classrooms and our schools is what we are aiming to do as we aim to answer the important questions of whether creativity and innovation can be taught.  This is our BIG why as shifters.  This goal is in context to changes happening at the Ministry level as well.  Our report cards are on the verge of a major overhaul.  The stated goal by the Ministry of Education is to “help students of all ages meet the changing demands of today and tomorrow.”  We don’t know what tomorrow might look like, but we do know that navigating the 21st Century world will require skills in communication, problem-solving, critical thinking, creativity and global citizenship.  

If we want to teach Innovation and Creativity we need to realize that each school is different, with challenges that are big or small.  Some of the solutions to the various challenges can be found inside our home schools and some challenges need the experiences of those from other buildings.  Yet, everyone on the team has a role to play in overcoming the challenges we are facing today.  Things go faster if everyone shares their successes and failures.  You might possess the experiences that another school needs to overcome their particular challenge, so share your strengths and join the conversations.  Sometimes, solutions can be found in unexpected places.  Sometimes the box that we work within needs to be shaken and flipped upside down.  Teaching is a puzzle that can only be appreciated when we stand way back and see the contributions of everyone involved.
Working as a team, we can solve this puzzle!
Networking, asking questions, making observations, experimenting and connecting the dots of our learning are all skills that innovators need to have.  If you are an HDSB educator who is interested in exploring how to teach Innovation and Creativity, why not consider applying for an Innovation Grant! Consider learning more about the skills that innovative people possess and the conditions needed within a classroom or school for innovation to thrive as your starting point.  What is your WHY?  The application is really quite easy, and incredibly flexible in scope, so why NOT?

You can find the details on the grant proposal here on slides 23 to 29.

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