My Reflection on #28daysofwriting

It was in about early January when I began to mull over the idea of getting back into a writing habit. I wanted to renew the discussion and connectedness I enjoyed through my blog and get myself writing regularly again. The #28daysofwriting idea sprang from that desire.

I have managed a post every day – in case you missed any, here are my 28 blog posts (using OneTab). Here is the link to the #28daysofwriting blog category.

It has been a fascinating experience to be sharing it with over 100 other writers, educators and bloggers from around the world. Some of those who signed up didn’t manage to stick at it and others didn’t post everyday. But it doesn’t matter. To begin with there was lots of “I am not sure if that is breaking the rules” type comments, which made me smile.

However you participated and I am grateful to everyone, whether writer, reader or commenter, who took part, I just hope the challenge has made you think about what professional or personal writing means to you and you have learned something along the way. Here are some of my reflections.

Writing as Thinking

For me I have learned that this is a vital part of the way I think and the way I work. The month has challenged me to write and publish more frequently, and the effort has only strengthened my belief that writing is core part of my life. It is vital to me and I have enjoyed every moment. It has helped me share ideas that were swimming around and has proved the cathartic process I knew it was.

Forming the Habit

This challenge was a very personal endeavour to write more frequently and regularly, to dispel the blog guilt and begin to form a habit of publishing. I still think time will tell. This spike in activity will not continue for me and I will fall into a more mellow rhythm of posting I suspect. I have learned that I can find the time to do it. One of the reasons for this is that I value it. I have been able to find the time because writing is important to me.

Reading and Commenting

In the future I am keen to turn my attention to reading and commenting (#28daysofcommenting is all set for March) as the natural parallel to maintaining a blog. This month has been about writing, but for our education communities to remain strong we need habits of reading, commenting and discussion. If you are looking back on a month of writing like me, perhaps you will consider a month of commenting and discussion.

I maintain that it is a fading part of our professional communities and the longer form discussion is being replaced by micro engagements that barely scratch the surface of what is possible. Let’s rally round and show our support for those brave enough to share by leaving an encouraging comment or challenging question. Let’s show the community we are not just lurking but there with them. Let’s increase the frequency, depth and quality of educational blog comments and discussions.

Being Accountable to My Network

I stated I was embarking on this challenge for February to tens of thousands of people. It is quite a clarifying experience being accountable to that. Scott Belsky refers to it in his book Making Ideas Happen. It has been even better to share the month long writing experience with so many others also having a go. As I have already said, I am so very grateful to everyone who accepted the challenge and followed my crazy idea.

A Wise Crowd

I have been able to learn so much from the sharing of others. Throughout the month I have been able to read blogs from connections I made years ago as well as teachers I have not had the chance to meet with yet. It has been so refreshing to see blogging and professional writing alive and well and to share in the wisdom within these special networks. I have always advocated for this particular type of professional sharing and I hope it inspires more people to start a blog and begin to share.

What is Different and Next Steps

From the experience this month I am more confident about the structure of my writing, I know how long I need for certain types of posts, I know when I write best and in what conditions. I have a better sense of the types of posts I want to write about and the core topics I will be exploring in the future. I spent a lot of time this month studying the way content is being published online nowadays and I have better understanding of the technical requirements of generating great writing.

#28daysofwriting continues. There are many who will be still writing and posting so keep tabs on the hashtag. Another round starts for some in March and although I am not blogging I will be maintaining the mailing list I set up for those who signed up. I will be sharing more tips and ideas on writing, and general curiosities about professional blogging.

#28daysofcommenting begins in March. Please consider joining this challenge to complement the success in February with your own writing. Just comment on other people’s blogs, you can do one a day or 28 minutes of commenting each day – whatever you like. Tweet and share your comments using the hashtag.

Thanks again for your support and whatever you do, keep writing.

What Makes People Creative?

 

When you start to explore the literature around the definition of creativity, or what it means to be creative, the lists and references go on and on. In this post I wanted to share a few key characteristics of what we might deam a creative approach or disposition. In my last post I shared the idea of developing a creative council in the classroom to learn about key role models and why they were/are so influential in their fields. With a better sense of the characteristics of creative people we can form better perspectives on our own work and speak more confidently about what makes up ‘being creative”.

What makes people creative?

  • Tenacity – grit, determination, resilience, call it what you like but some people don’t allow bumps in the road get in the way of the journey.
  • Courage – it is not just bumps in the road but sometimes the traffic is against you. Creative people are often risk takers and go against the common paradigm.
  • Inventiveness – to be able to explore new connections and combinations, to continually push what is possible.
  • Leadership – some people are moths others are flames.
  • Impact – some individuals either through their established position or their authority have had greater impact in their fields than others.
  • Vision – not just being able to project what is ahead in a field of study or development or art, but to bring that horizon closer much quicker than others.
  • Passion – an unquenchable fuel.

I am not saying that this is an exhaustive list in fact I would welcome your additions and amendments. The complexity of defining these characteristics means that many individuals would display some of these dispositions more strongly than others. Some were natural leaders whereas others showed greater courage as they worked alone. We each show these tendencies in different measure, making up the unique definitions of creative people and what creativity is.

Thomas Edison’s Creative Approach

I really enjoyed this piece by Wouter Boon who outlines the characteristics of Thomas Edison that contributed to his creative success:

Persistence / Conviction / Associations / Productivity / Trial and Error / Combinations / Imagination / Relaxation / Diligence / Collaboration / Knowledge and Skill / Value / Luck / Entrepreneurship / Curiosity

And this from the Centre of Excellence in teaching in Learning at Iowa University expands on some of these ideas when they suggest the following characteristics that researchers look at when measuring creative aptitude:

  • Fluency (number of ideas generated)
  • Originality and imagination (unusual, unique, novel ideas)
  • Elaboration (ability to explain ideas in detail)
  • Flexibility, curiosity, resistance to closure (ability to generate multiple solutions)
  • Complexity (detail and implications of ideas; recognition of patterns, similarities and differences)
  • Risk taking (willingness to be wrong and to admit it)

Creative Flow

One of my favourite concepts in the study of creativity and the creative process is that of Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. In Creativity – Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention he suggests the following characteristics of the creative personality:

  • Creative individuals have a great deal of energy, but they are also often quiet and at rest.
  • Creative individuals tend to be smart, yet also naive at the same time.
  • Creative individuals have a combination of playfulness and discipline, or responsibility and irresponsibility.
  • Creative individuals alternate between imagination and fantasy ant one end, and rooted sense of reality at the other.
  • Creative people seem to harbor opposite tendencies on the continuum between extroversion and introversion.
  • Creative individuals are also remarkable humble and proud at the same time.
  • Creative individuals to a certain extent escape rigid gender role stereotyping and have a tendency toward androgyny.
  • Generally, creative people are thought to be rebellious and independent.
  • Most creative persons are very passionate about their work, yet they can be extremely objective about it as well.
  • The openness and sensitivity of creative individuals often exposes them to suffering pain yet also a great deal of enjoyment.

Take your pick from all of those. One thing that you quickly realise is that even defining characteristic of creative people becomes divergent. However simply beginning conversations around the common themes or elements would be a great discussion with your colleagues or class. Take another look at my creative shortlist at the top and let me know what you think.

 

Convene your Classroom Creative Council

Creative Council Member Ada Byron

During some research on Thomas Edison I stumbled on the fact that he deliberately surrounded himself with a diverse range of expertise in order to generate new thinking and ideas, a creative council. In a recent post I referred to the concept of “casting widely” to make creative connections, Edison gathered people into his creative council to accelerate this. It is a practice that has been replicated by many visionaries, inventors and, more recently, innovative companies.

Classroom Creative Council

Andrew Carnegie called this creative council a “mastermind group alliance” a gathering of people towards a common creative goal. I was struck by this lovely idea, not so much in the sense of connecting classrooms with a varied external expertise, but the idea that you could convene an imaginary Classroom Creative Council.

Encouraging a creative mindset and learning about what this actually means can be done through creative inquiry processes such as design thinking. They emphasise the imperative of thinking and connecting deeply with a topic and developing a range of dispositions. But one hugely important element within an experience of creative inquiry is the modelling from peers, adults and who we might learn about.

Just picture an imaginary Classroom Creative Council of visionaries, inventors and innovators from our past and present, who epitomise the mindsets and dispositions we all want to uphold. A Creative Council filled with members that everyone in the class has learned about and who we recognise for their individual strengths.

Who Would Have A Seat?

You might plan for literacy, science and history lessons about these characters as they are introduced, or indeed offer the opportunity for the class to put forward their own recommendations for the council. The reason you would have such a reference group would be as Wily Walnut puts it, to:

“tune in” to the vibration, to the morphic field, to the archetypal meme, perhaps to the very soul of that person in order to share in their wisdom, insight and ways of thinking, acting and being.

With one of the members of the Creative Council in mind we might ask a series of questions and provocations to establish a new point of view about a project or idea. Imagine if Edison or Da Vinci, or any number of creative visionaries, were the subject of the following prompts:

  • What would…think?
  • How would … approach this problem?
  • What historical precedent or example can inform us about what to do next?
  • Who would be smiling about what we are doing and why?
  • What would … say are the biggest challenges to this approach?
  • What actions would … take next?
  • What would … say we had forgotten and why?
  • Would … be proud of us?

In order to answer these questions well, with a depth and authority that allows a new perspective to contribute to our work, we would need to better understand the people involved. The members of our council should be familiar to us, we would need to know their mindset and approach to work and life. Equipped with a deeper knowledge of these role models, we might be able to gain insight from their imaginary mentorship.

I am always inspired myself by historical figures who are beacons of creative light for us to follow and in some future posts I will outline some of the elements we might look for in those figureheads.

In the meantime why not make a suggestion in the comments as to who would be in your Creative Council. Who inspires you? Who would you like as a virtual mentor contributing to your ideas? Who would have a seat in your Creative Council chambers? I would be fascinated to learn who you would nominate.

pic – Portrait of Ada by British painter Margaret Sarah Carpenter (1836)

Education Suffers from a Lack of Knowledge Urgency

Knowledge Urgency

Dave Binks, a headteacher you would happily call a leader, was one of the first principals I worked with. He gave me the space and time to enjoy my teaching, to innovate and explore the untrodden path. To take risks and to fail.

Many years later I moved on and became a deputy headteacher myself and I really struggled. I had some of the hardest most challenging times in my working life. I struggled to find that balance between management and teaching and was having to compromise the quality of what I was doing – just to get it done!

I didn’t have access to the knowledge and ideas I needed in those moments when I needed it the most. How I wished I could have browsed Dave’s brain.

A Lack of Knowledge Urgency

We have a lack of knowledge urgency in our profession – we don’t feel the sting of wasted ideas or the importance of capturing and sharing our knowledge and experience, it simply is not in the front of our minds. There are over 430,000 teachers in the UK and in Australia just over 250,000 according to 2011 figures. But only a tiny fraction share ideas using Twitter.

On average in England over the last 25 years there have been around 15,000 teachers retiring from the profession every year. People like Dave who take their expertise and skill with them.  That equates to nearly 525,000 years worth of teaching experience laying quiet and dormant on the back 9 of golf courses and between the aisles of garden centres. This saddens me.

This great body of latent knowledge going missing, but also the lack of urgency from current teachers to capture and share what they know. Let me give you an example of what I mean by knowledge urgency:

In 1972 the Imperial War Museum established the Department for Sound Records and began in earnest to archive and collate oral histories of those involved in conflicts and especially those involved in the First and Second world wars. It is a striking and extensive archive of over 56,000 hours worth of historical records. The urgency to capture this knowledge is clearly linked to the passing of the generations involved.

These pieces of knowledge are lengthy to produce and take time and deep thought to capture. Social technology has begun to reshape the timeframe needed to share our expertise all we need is a simple device and we can tweet and blog our experiences on the go.

Ross Selkirk Taylor was a British Army driver during the second world war and his pocket diary was his record of his experiences. Since then his grandson has begun tweeting his written diary entries, but in 1940 they were private to him and had no immediate impact on those around him. The postal service was often the sole means with which to share his experiences whilst away from home and that was heavily censored. The ranks of other army drivers could not learn from his published experiences and connect with him to learn. (Despite some hunting the original @DriverRoss account is no longer active.)

Twitter perfectly encapsulates the fragmentation of our knowledge and I think it has a direct impact on the frequency of sharing – the likelihood that people, teachers, openly share an idea or publish their thinking is increased if the scale is smaller.

Share What You Know

As teachers we need to be more open about our work and quickly realise that the whole profession can benefit from our collective expertise – we mustn’t become silos of knowledge ourselves. Nor do we want our knowledge and experience, our stories and ideas to lie dormant, our knowledge needs to live on and impact those around us, to be contextual and be flexible enough to improve the lives of as many people we can.

The phrase “Pearls of wisdom” is often attributed to this poem by James Russell Lowell.

These pearls of thought in Persian gulfs were bred, Each softly lucent as a rounded moon; The diver Omar plucked them from their bed, Fitzgerald strung them on an English thread.

I love the delicate description of the pearls of thought – “softly lucent as a rounded moon” – we need to ensure we treasure the jewels of knowledge we have – and continue to pluck them from their seabed and do more to share them with other teachers, display and publish them, string them on threads, and help everyone bathe in their moonlit glow.

My EDtalk Interview from ULearn14

During my trip to New Zealand last October I was contributing some sessions on design thinking for learning to the impressive ULearn conference in Rotorua. Strangely it was the first time I had spent any time in New Zealand running workshops or working with teachers.

It was a memorable week for lots of reasons and the following film was crafted for Core Education‘s Edtalks, in which I outline some ideas around design thinking for learning in our schools.

Tom Barrett from EDtalks on Vimeo.

Tom Barrett of NoTosh in Australia believes there is a place in schools for rigorous creative processes that are built on a similar set of values in the pedagogy we use. He explains Design Thinking, which allows learners to engage with an approach based on curiosity and creativity, and to have an impact on the world around them.
Tom talks about the way technology can speed up “the finding out” – the move from unknown to known, and he challenges teachers to find ways to protract the uncertainty. If children can “stay in the question” for longer, we will allow the inquiry and creative process to begin.

I hope you enjoy the little snippet of my actual voice and not just my writing voice – feel free to drop a comment below if you have any questions about what I share. If you are interested in learning more about my work with schools on design thinking for learning you can also check out NoTosh.