Unfolding- Classrooms emerging from a platform of creativity

A recent tweet in yet another fascinating conversation with the Nemeticists...

Unfolding-a word with such great connotation as applied to nemetics- its what has always been, just "unfolded."

flickr photo via lorraine santana

There is a saying that the best place to hide something is in plain view. I think we miss a lot of plain views, important things within our classrooms because they are all folded up. Just like the comfort of a favorite blanket that's sitting nicely folded on the armrest of the couch, our students' creative abilities aren't realized until we unfold them, and boy do we need to unfold them. I believe the viability of our collective human future depends on it. Schools are the best places to nurture the creative wonders of children... our gifts to the future. We have to package them well.

The shrinking world is throwing more curveballs at us every day. Increasingly complex social, emotional, and cognitive challenges confront us in an ironic world where surging technology has made every corner of the globe accessible to us, whether in person or through a cyber-connection. At the same time, our exposure to each other's social, emotional, and cognitive realities has never been more prominent; our collective worlds are growing. As the perceived distance between us is reduced, we are now presented with glorious opportunities to harvest consciousness and be more attuned to each other's creative purpose; to collaborate on solving problems together. Educators need to focus on this creative purpose by ubiquitously supporting the development of creativity in kids.

  In “Five Minds for the Future,” author Howard Gardner establishes a framework
  of consciousness that he asserts will help us navigate tomorrow’s challenges.
  Gardner’s five minds include;

 The Disciplined Mind 

  In the future, individuals who wish to thrive will need to be experts in at least one
  area—they will need a discipline.
 
 The Synthesizing Mind
  As synthesizers, they will need to be able to gather together information from
  disparate sources and put it together in ways that work for themselves and can be 
  communicated to other people.
 

The Creating Mind
Because almost anything that can be formulated as rules will be done well by computers, rewards will go to creators—those who have constructed a box but can think outside it.

The Respectful Mind
The world of today and tomorrow is becoming increasingly diverse, and there is no way to cordon oneself off from this diversity. Accordingly, we must respect those who differ from us as well as those with whom we have similarities.

The Ethical Mind
Finally, as workers and as citizens, we need to be able to act ethically—to think beyond our own self-interest and to do what is right under the circumstances.

Gardner’s theory posits that the complex social, emotional, and cognitive challenges of tomorrow's world will require thinking that is disciplined, synthesizing, creative, respectful, and ethical... and to extend the creative context, I believe thinking that is flexible, adaptable, and original will also be required. Kids who can think in these domains will be well-prepared to meet the challenges of our future.

Another interesting irony presents itself. Educators make concerted efforts to teach kids how to be creative, yet as Gardner explains,

Members of one age group need little pressure to assume the creative stance—young children before the age of formal schooling. Given a modestly supportive environment, youngsters are not only intrigued by a wide range of phenomena, experiences, topics and questions; they persist in exploring, even in the absence of encouragement, let alone material rewards. Few are the children who are not galvanized by a trip to a county fair, an amusement park or a children’s museum; their playfulness, curiosity and imaginative powers are palpable. The mind of the five-year-old represents, in one sense, the height of creative powers. (Gardner, Five Minds for the Future, 2008, p. 84)

This meta-creative ad from Samsung illustrates Gardner's point brilliantly, and perhaps more importantly the necessity to glare at the creative tendencies of students; to worship their creative abilities as tools they use uniquely to show us what they can do.

A critical question begs; do we need to ‘teach’ kids how to be creative, or is the role of the teacher better and more simply defined as a diviner of the creativity that already exists in children as they enter school? Children arrive at school as already intellectually curious and creative thinkers: they think; they do; they dream. How can we nurture and grow this perspective over the kindergarten to grade twelve spectrum so kids don’t lose it in the shuffle of formal education? Perhaps the answer to these questions is simpler than we think. Perhaps we just need to think differently about how we deliver curriculum so our teaching and learning environments include ubiquitous elements of creativity in every lesson plan and activity...in matter of speaking, we simply need to unfold the creative minds that join us at school every day. Perhaps a focus on the Five Minds will establish a framework for this effort.

Subject Matter vs. Discipline:
Gardner asks,

why, despite the best motivational efforts, do so many students continue to adhere to erroneous or inadequate ways of thinking? A major reason, I believe, is that neither teachers nor students nor policymakers nor ordinary citizens sufficiently appreciate the differences between subject matter and discipline. (Gardner, Five Minds for the Future, 2008, p. 27) 

There is an element of learning that requires us to devote effort to memorize a large number of facts, formulas, definitions, meanings, dates, and names... those bits of information referred to as subject matter. Effective recall of subject matter is an undeniably desirable skill for those who wish to know. Disciplines are quite different. Gardner explains that “facts and figures are welcome ornaments, but the structure and processes of disciplines are the Christmas trees on which those ornaments must be hung.” (Gardner, Five Minds for the Future, 2008, p. 32) To achieve a disciplined mind, he states that four steps are necessary:

1. Identify truly important topics or concepts within the discipline. Some of these will be content and some will be methodological... Notice  
2. Spend a significant amount of time on this topic. If it is worth studying, it is worth studying deeply, over a significant period of time, using a variety of examples and modes of analysis... Focus 
3. Approach the topic in a number of ways. Here is where education for disciplinary understanding takes advantage of the variety of ways in which individuals can learn. Any lesson is more likely to be understood if it has been approached through diverse entry points: these can include stories, logical expositions, debate, dialogue, humor, role play, graphic depictions, video or cinematic presentations, embodiments of the lesson in question in the ideas, behaviors, and attitudes of a respected person... any topic worth studying is open to a plurality of approaches... Mull   *Note: Gardner points out that approaching a topic in a number of ways can be synonymous with making use of his theory of Multiple Intelligences 
4. Establish “performances of understanding” and give students ample opportunities to perform their understandings under a variety of conditions... both teacher and students ought to strive to perform their current understandings; much of training should consist of formative exercises, with detailed feedback on where the performance is adequate, where it falls short, why it falls short and what can be done to fine-tune the performance... Engage 

Gardner's four steps mimic the nemetic thinking process of Notice/Focus/Mull/Engage. It's easy to make the argument that thinking grounded in this four-step platform sets the stage for the creative process without limiting what we would refer to as creative thinking. That's what platforms do for us; they allow us to explore possibilities by providing a solid base (in this case, a base of thinking process) from which to confidently stretch our limits. Contemporary social, emotional, and cognitive challenges require us to stretch our thinking, and teachers are blessed to serve the millions of creative souls in our classrooms every day; why not put these young, creative minds to work by providing the sort of classroom environments that notice, focus, mull and engage routinely in search of the solutions we need to navigate our future.

Thinking about how we think is a great place to start. I suggest educators who are grappling with how to make creative thinking omnipresent within their classrooms start by reading Gardner's book, "Five Minds for the Future."