About Creativity, Giftedness, and Teaching the Creatively Gifted in the Classroom

Ugur Sak no advancement in art, literature, science, while others think it is an intellectual abili- and invention if human creativity did not ty related to academic achievement. Yet, exist. Ironically, educators sometimes few say creativity is multifaceted and can teach students about creative and eminent be fostered through supportive teacher In this case study the author explored a teacher's beliefs about creativity and gifted- people, but ignore teaching that fosters behaviors and teaching practices. ness and investigated the classroom practices students' creative thinking in their class- of this teacher of gifted students for 20 years. rooms. The importance of schooling in Do Teachers Welcome Creative Seven semi-structured and 2 open observa- the development of students' creativity tions were carried out in her classroom, and 2 Behavior? prefigured interviews were conducted with her. has been mentioned in many studies Teachers have been found to under- She believed that creative children are those about creativity. The classroom is con- value creativity (Dacey, 1989; Parnes, who are "free thinkers" and have "imaginative strued to open new pathways in chil- 1967). Cropley (1994) summarizes the intelligence." The thin line between an acade- mically gifted child and a creatively gifted child dren's creativity (Cropley, 1994; Fishkin, kinds of behavioral and personality traits is built by "imagination," "emotional intensity," Cramond, & Olszewski-Kubilius, 1999; that are common to creative children but and "curiosity." In creative writing, she tried to Lynch & Harris, 2001; Runco & Albert, not preferred by teachers. These are implement activities such as learning to write 1990; Sternberg, 1999). Therefore, teach- "impulsive, nonconformist, disorga- poetry, personal narratives, research reports and essays posing solutions to real world ers can play important roles to enhance nized, adventurous, and imaginative" (p. problems, and mystery stories decorated with any components of students' creativity. 18). Traits preferred by teachers are similes, metaphors and imaginative expres- "courteous, punctual, well-rounded, sions. In reading, students analyzed charac- receptive and obedient" (p. 19). In fact, ters, problems, places and times in stories and Teachers as Facilitators of Students' novels, and then rewrote stories. Creativity Westby and Dawson (1995) reported Cropley (1994) highlights three that teachers seemed to have a negative aspects of teacher behaviors that can view of characteristics associated with influence students' creative thinking in creativity. Students displaying creative Ugur Sak is a doctoral student in the Depart- the classroom. The first aspect is the behaviors tend to be unappealing to ment of Special Education, Rehabilitation & teacher herself as a role model. The teachers. This claim is very important School Psychology, The University of Arizona. for the future of human advancement. He holds an M.A. in gifted education, and his behaviors that the teacher displays shape main research interest includes assessment of the behaviors students develop. The sec- When teachers do not know what cre- giftedness and creativity, child prodigies, and ond aspect is the classroom atmosphere ativity is, how it manifests and how it is curriculum models for girted learners. E-mail: important, they may ignore teaching for [email protected] that the teacher builds. Creativity flour- ishes in an atmosphere that is construc- creativity; thereafter, loss of creative tal- tively responsive to unusual ideas. The ent is reflected in scientific and artistic third aspect is the teacher's efforts that advancements in particular, and in reward and foster students' creativity human civilization in general. eacher attitudes, beliefs, and through instructional activities. These Tclassroom practices are deemed three aspects reflect personality (e.g., to be of crucial influence in the develop- Classroom Practices of Teachers openness), intellectual (e.g., creativity) Researchers (Maker & Nielson, ment of students' creativity. However, and knowledge prerequisites (e.g., what teachers know about characteristics 1995a) have identified principles and instructional knowledge) that a teacher found many ways to modify content, of creative students and what they do to needs to teach creative students. foster students' creativity have been process, learning environments, and found controversial (Alencar, 1993; products that are challenging for creative Downloaded By: [Canadian Research Knowledge Network] At: 16:56 12 April 2011 Collings & Fryer, 1991; Cropley, 1994; Teachers' Understanding of Creativity students; nonetheless, teachers were Fleith, 2000; Gentry, Rizza &0wen, Scholars in the field of creativity found to be slow to integrate these modi- 2002; Mayfield, 1979; Rash & Miller, (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997; Gardner, 1993; fications into their teaching-learning 2000; Starko, 1995; Tan, 2001). Runco & Albert, 1990; Sternberg & practices (Mathers & Murdock, 1999). Lubart, 1991) discuss important behaviors Regarding content and process modifica- Creativity is important at both the associated with creativity. However, tions in the classroom, Tan (2001) found individual and the societal levels. At the teachers have been found to have insuffi- that most experienced teachers consid- individual level, creativity is relevant to cient knowledge of characteristics of cre- ered all learning activities valuable for solving real life problems. At the societal ative students. Renzulli (1976) asserted fostering the creativity of children. They level, creative individuals pioneer that teachers lack understanding of the tended to place more value on teacher- progress in science and technology and nature of creativity. Alencar (1993) found centered activities and rote memoriza- the beauty in arts (Sternberg, 1999). Cre- teachers tend to focus only on students' tion than did beginning teachers. On the ativity also is important at the global academic characteristics as indices of cre- other hand, most teachers, regardless of level. Creative accomplishments help to ativity. Fleith (2000) reported that teachers experience, perceived the importance of build a more interactive world that forti- evaluated students as creative based on independent learning and collaboration fies human civilization. In fact, Starko students' interpersonal characteristics. As for creativity. Fleith (2000) found that (1995) argues that humans would have the researchers have reported, teachers' teachers did not use students' self-evalu- beliefs about creativity are mixed. Some ations and extrinsic and intrinsic rewards Manuscript submitted August 27, 2003. for promotion of creativity. Revision accepted December 10, 2003. believe that creativity is a personality trait

216/Roeper Review, Vol. 26, No. 4 Roeper Review Summer 2004. Vol. 26, No. 4,216-222. unco (1990) and Starko (1995) about teachers' understanding of creativ- Rstate that a classroom environ- ity and their classroom practices to fos- Creativity by definition is a ment that supports unusual ideas, pro- ter it. Unless the researcher embeds vides freedom of thought and freedom himself or herself in the classroom, what complex and subjective of choice is conducive to creative he or she finds might be cosmetic infor- phenomenon, about which achievement. However, Gentry, Rizza mation. I believe relationships between human beings construct and Owen (2002) reported that students teachers' perceptions and classroom meaning out of their perceived little freedom of choice in practices can be better understood, and experiences. their classrooms. Likewise, Alencar useful practices to foster creativity can (1993) found most classroom climates be better identified through case studies discouraged students' creativity. when the researcher becomes part of the classroom setting as an insider, or an subjective. It is subjective because it is Creativity in the Classroom for the observer of the natural setting as an out- construed through effects on individual Gifted sider. The purpose of this study was to minds. Therefore, our experiences seem Does the mirror of creativity in the understand the beliefs of a teacher of the gifted about creativity and to further to play a unique role in our understand- classroom for the gifted reflect a differ- ing of creativity. For example, many ent profile than the one in the regular investigate the practices she used in the classroom to foster gifted students' cre- people's image of a gifted and creative classroom? There is little research to individual is "a little guy with thick answer this question. However, in a sur- ative thinking. To achieve this purpose, a qualitative method of investigation glasses" or "a young rebel poet" (Kerr & vey with teachers of the gifted, Rash and Cohn, 2001, p. 39). Likewise, some peo- was used; therefore, classroom observa- Miller (2000) found that teachers of the ple consider gifted and creative persons tions and interviews were carried out. gifted recognized the importance of as geniuses who share a common set of The following research questions guided process skills and used several teaching personality and intellectual characteris- the study: models. They used Bloom's Taxonomy tics such as loneliness and precocity of Educational Objectives, Enrichment 1. What does a teacher of gifted stu- (Piirto, 1998). Still, media portrays a Triad, Taba Teaching Strategies Pro- dents believe about students' cre- genius as a biopsychological intersection gram, and Creative Problem Solving ativity? of some psychotic syndromes such as model (Maker & Nielson, 1995a). Yet 2. How does this teacher foster stu- schizophrenia and intellectual gifts such Bain, Bourgeois and Pappas (2003) dents' creativity in the classroom? as creativity as seen in the movie, A reported in a survey study that, although Beautiful Mind. most teachers of the gifted were aware rom the constructionist vantage of teaching models, they rarely used Theoretical Framework point, meaning cannot be made these models in their teaching. F objectively nor just subjectively because Despite extensive research about we do not create meaning but we con- Rationale creativity, there is little consensus on struct meaning through our experiences Teachers in general seem to lack what creativity means, how it is mani- with the world (Crotty, 1998). Crotty two types of knowledge about creative fested, and how it is enhanced. On the says, "All meaningful reality is socially children. One is the nature of creativity; one hand, this is because of the diver- constructed... the basic generation of in other words, the kinds of behaviors a gence in people's understanding of cre- meaning is always social, for the mean- creative child displays. The other one is ativity. On the other hand, it is because ings with which we are endowed arise in about teaching for creativity; that is, how of the way creative behaviors are valued and out of interactive human communi- children's creativity can be fostered in differently in different contexts (Ama- ty" (Crotty, 1998, p. 55). the classroom. One assumption based on bile, 1996; Fishkin, Cramond & research findings is that most teachers do Olszewski-Kubilius, 1999; Lynch & A classroom is both a social and an not favor creative behaviors and do not Harris, 2001; Simonton, 1997, 2003; academic environment in which teach- Downloaded By: [Canadian Research Knowledge Network] At: 16:56 12 April 2011 know how to foster creativity, probably Sternberg & Lubart, 1991). The defini- ing-learning, teacher-student, and peer because most do not understand the tion of creativity varies from person to interactions take place. In other words, nature of creativity. Therefore, case stud- person, from place to place, and from what occurs in a classroom is in large ies of teachers who have experience with time to time.' Hence, creativity by defini- part social interactions whereby both teaching gifted and creative students can tion is a complex and subjective phe- teachers and students construct mean- bring new insights into understanding nomenon, about which human beings ings. A teacher experiences how stu- and teaching creative pupils. This construct meaning out of their experi- dents grow psychologically, cognitively, method of investigation also can help the ences. and physically during the course of development of new teaching and learn- schooling. The teacher's perceptions of According to the constructionist students' psychological differences vary ing strategies useful for challenging and epistemological view, human knowledge fostering creative students. from those who have never had similar is constructed through meaning-making experiences in an interactive classroom Although some research has been activities of the individual mind (Crotty, culture. Therefore, teachers' understand- done with teachers, using surveys and 1998). The same phenomenon is inter- ing of creativity and their classroom questionnaires (Collings & Fryer, 1991; preted differently by people with differ- practices can be better explained from Fleith, 2000; Gentry, Rizza & Owen, ent experiences in different periods and the constructionist epistemological view, 2002; Rash & Miller, 2000; Tan, 2001), in different places. This view of human which is what the author of this study in reality, these methods of investigation knowledge makes sense when speaking held before going to the research field. have not provided in-depth information of creativity, which is both abstract and

Summer, 2004, Roeper Review/217 Methods ence teacher, who taught in the after- practices. These 25 minute interviews noon. Student tables were in vertical took place in two sessions. They were Participant rows facing the board. Martha's table tape-recorded for later transcription. Rossman and Rallis (1998) under- was on the right front corner of the class- Because I wanted to explore her beliefs score the importance of the decision to room. There were six computers on the about certain topics, I developed inter- choose participants in qualitative studies. right side, and a classroom library on the view questions based on my previous Indeed, it is fundamental to the entire left front. She displayed students' work observations and my theoretical frame- study. The criteria I established to select at the back of the classroom. Students' work. I asked open-ended questions and the participant were as follows: willing- work included drawings, poetries, frequently asked follow-up questions for ness to participate, extensive classroom essays, stories, and some reports. While clarification and elaboration on some teaching experience, experience with she was lecturing or leading a discus- ideas or concepts. Seidman (1998) main- teaching both high and average ability sion, she usually sat on a chair in front of tains that this method of asking ques- students, and nomination as exemplary the students. tions for elaboration and clarification by school administrators or teachers. enables the researcher to better under- Martha (a pseudonym) was a teacher Data Collection stand and make more accurate interpre- of gifted students at an elementary school During a 6-month period, I per- tations. After analyzing my first in the southwest region of the USA. She formed 7 semi-structured observations in interview, I had the opportunity to ask has been teaching both gifted and aver- Martha's language arts class as part of a for more clarification and elaboration on age ability students for 20 years. She larger project, entitled Teacher Advance- issues discussed in the first interview. graduated from the University of Arizona ment Program. The purpose of the pro- with a B.A. in secondary education, a ject was to investigate through Data Analysis major in history and a minor in political classroom observations types of instruc- To analyze the classroom observa- science. Later, she went back to the uni- tional activities, learning environments, tion data, I applied an "ongoing analy- nd versity to obtain an endorsement in gifted and teacher-student interactions in 2 to sis" (Rossman & Rallis, 1998). This th education. She also took several courses 5 grade language arts classes. Martha process continued throughout the study. at a special summer institute, the Greater was one of the teachers who volunteered I read and edited my field notes after Phoenix Writing Project, and some inci- to participate in the project. Because each observation and wrote analytic dental courses in math, for she was the Martha also was the participant in this memos. This intense process enabled me math leader in her school for many years. study, I increased my observations to become familiar with the data. Obser- She was honored with the best teacher extensively her classroom, seeking vation forms helped me to analyze data award in the district in 1998. She retired answers to my research questions. I paid in a more organized way. a year ago. Employed as a part-time special attention to her classroom prac- First, I transcribed the interviews teacher, she was still teaching 3rd and 4th tices related to students' creativity. A th verbatim. Then, I underlined interesting, grade gifted students in a pullout pro- month after I completed the 7 observa- important, and salient concepts, phrases gram, which had 12 verbally gifted stu- tion, I carried out 2 more open-ended and ideas. Afterward, I coded these dents in language arts and 15 classroom observations focusing on any- through a coding system as described in mathematically gifted students. thing in the classroom. Rossman and Rallis (1998). For each ["used electronic classroom observa- idea, concept or phrase that had meaning Setting AtLtio: n forms to collect data. Employ- I assigned two numbers; one for page number, one for idea number. For exam- The school where Martha worked ing prefigured techniques, which ple the concept "freedom of expression" was an inner city elementary school. according to Rossman and Rallis (1998) was represented by 2/4 or 2/5. Here, the Seven hundred and forty-one students carefully specify and keep the focus on first number represents an idea, and the were currently enrolled. There were 41 specific events and activities of observa- second one is the page number. This teachers and 2 administrators. The tions, I took ethnographic field notes method of coding enabled a more accu- school's population was 64% White, about instructional activities; the content,

Downloaded By: [Canadian Research Knowledge Network] At: 16:56 12 April 2011 rate analysis of data. 23% Hispanic, 8% African American, structure and pacing of the lesson; ques- 4% American Indian, and 1 % Asian. The tioning, thinking skills; classroom man- After coding and listing concepts, mobility profile of the school indicated agement and environment; phrases and ideas, I developed a "Con- 223 new student entries and 125 with- student-teacher interactions; and reading ceptually Clustered Matrix" (Miles & drawals in the year of this study. Aver- materials. Each observation took 90 min- Huberman, 1994) that included concepts, age daily student attendance was 662. utes. I used a laptop to record the obser- phrases and ideas as the first column, Thirty-nine percent of the students vations, which had two components: categories as the second column, and received free and reduced lunch. The running records, which were descriptive, themes and patterns as the third column. school district provided special programs and observer comments (Rossman & Ral- A basic principle in a conceptually for students in the school: Special Educa- lis). I edited field notes shortly after each ordered display is conceptual coherence tion Resources, Special Education Self- observation. This method enabled me to according to Miles and Huberman. I Contained, Cross Categorical, Speech do some preliminary analysis of data. used the "Concept Development Strate- and Language Program, ESL, Title I, A week after I finished the last two gy" of Hilda Taba's Critical Thinking Reading Recovery, and Advanced Edu- observations, I interviewed Martha to strategies (Maker & Nielson, 1995b) to cational Placement (AEP). Martha taught explore her perceptions of students' cre- bring together items that were related in the AEP Program. ativity and giftedness. I used a semi- and to establish conceptual coherence structured interview protocol (Seidman, and to develop categories and themes. Teaching only in the mornings, This critical thinking technique strength- Martha shared the classroom with a sci- 1998) that featured questions about cre- ativity, giftedness, and her classroom ened the process of data analysis. How-

218/Roeper Review, Vol. 26, No. 4 ever, I also reviewed principles of quali- recorded interviews, Martha examined develop original ideas. That is, students tative data analysis described by Miles the transcribed interview and made some elaborated on existing stories or figures and Huberman to check the appropriate- changes (Member Check). However, she and modified them from the original ness of the technique for qualitative data did not examine my analysis. Mean- form. In fact, they sometimes rewrote analysis. while, some graduate students examined fantasy stories. Concept Development Strategy con- the interview data (Peer Check), which While she was portraying the most sists of five steps: listing, grouping, helped me in coding and analyzing ideas creative student in her classroom, she labeling, subsuming, and recycling. The from multiple perspectives. accentuated the student's imagination, first step, listing, involves differentiating expressiveness, different perspectives, relevant from irrelevant information. and original ideas. Through this step, I listed all useful and Results She tries to create and think of meaningful information (concepts, phras- new ideas and ways to think of es, and ideas) such as "linear thinking" things...she is very expressive The Meaning of Creativity and "free thinking." The second step, and can create a story that is Martha used three concepts to grouping, involves the cognitive task of extremely expressive in so many express her beliefs about the meaning of analyzing similar attributes and putting original ideas...she did a story items together on the basis of these simi- creativity. The first was "perceive," the that she created from a paper larities. For example, "imagination," second was "act," and the third was skeleton and she had the view- "fantasy," and "piggyback" could go "impact." She considered creativity a point of how the world looked under one group as fostering creativity." three-dimensional construct, one being to this little paper skeleton. Through this step, I identified multiple "perception" by seeing and understand- This student was in 4th grade and was 10 attributes of items with open and flexible ing or perceiving the complexity of the years old. In my observations, I noticed thinking, and then developed categories. outer world; the other being "action the student's critical thinking while she The third step, labeling, requires abstract- facet" by acting to accomplish a purpose was evaluating current events like "free- ing and synthesizing to find an appropri- such as adaptation to a new environ- dom" and "terrorism" from very differ- ate word or phrase to express the ment; and the last was "impact facet" by ent perspectives. She said, "We also relationship or commonality among coming up with something that had need to take another point of view if we diverse items. Through this process, I was impact. She expressed her beliefs about want to make a fair decision... I mean able to label each category with a suitable the first one as "How one sees the world those people... I mean, we think they name like "creative self." In the fourth and perceives it" while she elaborated are terrorists." However, staying within step, subsuming, the thinker has another on the second facet as "what people can the structure of the classroom was diffi- opportunity to analyze different relation- do to make the world interesting, innov- cult for her. The student sometimes ships and attributes of items. By applying ative, different, and original, and also seemed very bored and disinterested in this step, I transferred some items from put a new twist on it." Explaining the activities even though the program was one category to another as well as copied third facet of creativity she said, "com- differentiated for the gifted. On the other some items from one category to another ing up with a newer idea or manner that hand, she was at times very expressive category because of common relation- is unusual." and could hardly contain herself, fre- ships. For example, the term "curiosity" quently interrupting the teacher. While was used under both the category "cre- Creative Self Martha was describing her, she pointed ative self and "creative versus uncre- Martha used the concepts "unique, to the nonconformity of this student as ative self." At the last step, recycling, I original, unusual, innovative, impres- well as others. According to Martha, the recycled all previous steps, which helped sive, different, and interesting" many most creative children found it the most me to look at data from different angles times while depicting a creative student. difficult to stay within the structure of and promoted openness and flexibility. Creative children go beyond what they the classroom or programs: have read or what they have been told, Integration of observation notes into think outside the parameters of what is Sometimes they are labeled Downloaded By: [Canadian Research Knowledge Network] At: 16:56 12 April 2011 coded interview data was another step in normal, and come up with original "trouble makers" because the the analysis. During this process I looked thoughts. However, these ideas are not parameters that they have to at linkages between these two data sets, always original but help students grow work with are very difficult for and combined them to make meaningful and expand. She distinguished between them to be within the structure, connections. For example, while I was creation and recreation while underlying and they often do not work well reporting Martha's beliefs about imagi- "uniqueness and originality." She said with other children because nation, I infused her classroom practices that some of her students wrote unbe- they have very definite ideas of of imagination into my writing. lievable stories they claimed were their how things should be. used three of Lincoln and Guba's own but were not. According to her, I(1985) recommend techniques to they have seen these stories so many Creative versus Uncreative Self establish the credibility of a qualitative times in fantasy books, and they were Martha distinguished between two study: use of more than one method to just recreating those presentations. Also concepts as representations of thinkers. collect data (Triangulation), external she stressed that it was very hard for stu- The first one was "linear thinkers." checks on the inquiry process (Peer dents to draw the line between what has According to her, linear thinkers are Debriefing) and direct tests of findings been presented to them in books and those who cannot go outside of their and interpretations with participants what was an original thought for them. parameters and are not productive. This (Member Check). I used interview and However, she did not see this recreation group could include the gifted who are observation methods to collect data (Tri- to be "an overkill"; rather, it helped not creative. On the other hand, the cre- angulation). After I transcribed tape-

Summer, 2004, Roeper Review/219 ways. They discussed important and stories by replacing characters, times, Insight, personality, and broad ideas while connecting these ideas and places. Some stories turned out to be to their fantasy world. They read books completely different. Then, they dis- emotional intensity play on fantasy; they talked about the idea of cussed "what changed what?" That is, significant roles in fantasy and creativity and how things what kinds of key changes caused creative personality. were different. I observed that these fan- important changes in an original story? tasy and science fictions were some Martha further explained the importance major activities integrated into the con- of imagination and fantasy. According to tents of the Language Arts class. For her, imagination and fantasy activities example, I saw that students were excit- presented students different worlds ative student is "a free thinker" who can edly discussing the books Shape Chang- because they piggybacked on ideas. think outside the box and generate many er, A Wrinkle in Time, and The Hobbit. Martha said, ideas. Further, she differentiated They analyzed each character and event between the creatively gifted and gifted They read a book [of] a new in the stories. The following questions land or something of that by the term "imaginative intelligence." that Martha asked seemed to create an From her point of view, the creative stu- nature, then I give them a day interactive atmosphere in the classroom: and a time, where I now say dent has certain imaginative intelligence How was the main character's personal- that results in creative work. She said "you create your own land" and ity reflected in this story? How would the people you have in it and that those who turn out to be the greatest this story end if the main character had a have to be both gifted and creative. what would you do? completely different personality? What A nother extension of the content Martha considered Einstein as an exam- would you do if you were the main ple with his popular saying, "Imagina- ilwas the "vocabulary enrich- character? What would you predict hap- ment." Using contextual word analysis tion is more important than knowledge." pens next? Martha stated that these A nother distinction Martha made technique, the students discussed mean- kinds of activities challenged students' ings of words integrated in texts. They jtl-between the creative and the minds, ".. .they think outside the para- examined relationships between words, gifted were the "personal assets" that meters. I think we do this by just imag- ideas, and events such as color-ethnicity- each individual has. From her percep- ining things that are unusual, so discrimination, and discrimination-civil tion, people are born with certain per- imagining is good." war-civil rights. They found synonyms sonal assets that make some more that could replace a word in the text, and creative than others. People who have Other learning activities that Martha discussed how some synonyms could difficulty opening their minds and think- thought fostered students' creativity change the meaning of a sentence. After- ing outside the lines can be helped to were current events, the use of newspa- ward, they reviewed some concepts by develop their creativity. She articulated pers, journals, magazines, and book analyzing their grammatical structure that people are born with or without the reports. She practiced these activities such as civil-civilized-civilization; and aptitude. Yet without this aptitude, it can through whole-class discussions, panel segregate-segregated-segregation. be developed, "but it is within a person." discussions, presentations, independent Martha encouraged the students to use She thought that creativity was within study and individual projects. Martha the concepts in their writings they the self; "creativity comes from insight." differentiated the instruction while learned. She asked them how the con- According to Martha, insight, personali- teaching current events. For instance, cepts civilization and segregation are ty, and emotional intensity play signifi- after students read passages and news related. A student promptly responded: cant roles in creative personality. While about Martin Luther King, Martha con- When a country lias no civil talking about the most creative student in nected the topic to real world problems rights, people get discriminat- her classroom, she described that student as an extension of an activity to promote ed... I mean segregation hap- as the most "emotionally deep." students' creativity. They not only had discussions about Martin Luther King pens in that country... You Martha also emphasized the term but also about civilized people, civil know there was discrimination "curiosity" while making distinctions in our country years ago... Downloaded By: [Canadian Research Knowledge Network] At: 16:56 12 April 2011 wars, and civil rights. "They explored between the creative personality and the the true meaning behind Martin Luther Black people were segregated... uncreative one. She did not find many King Day," said Martha. because they had different bright children curious, "...they see color. They did not have the Creative writing. Another activity things in black and white, and it is diffi- same civil rights. Today, we are implemented to extend an idea was cre- cult for them to see it any other way... equal... I mean we are civilized. but they are academically gifted and I ative writing and connecting writing to see other kinds." real life. Martha believed that the more nother day Martha connected children read and wrote the more their Acreative writing to real life mat- minds expanded. In addition to personal ters. She elicited students' prior knowl- Fostering Creativity: Extension of the narratives, which were the part of regu- Content in a Welcoming Classroom edge about civil rights and world lar curriculum in the school, her students problems. Students were assigned to Reading. Imagination and fantasy were writing mystery stories by imagin- write essays posing solutions to real had very important places in Martha's ing and writing essays, poems, and world problems. Martha encouraged the teaching. She expressed her thoughts research reports. In short story writing, students to use a variety of information about how she integrated these into her they created their own characters, prob- sources such as library books, journals, teaching while practicing regular cur- lems, and events. Martha sometimes magazines, newspaper, Internet, and riculum. What they did in the classroom prompted students by asking, "How other electronic sources. The students was the extension of an idea; that is, the would you rewrite this story if you were wrote about world peace, segregation, students used the content in creative the author?" Then, the students rewrote nuclear weapons, and terrorism.

220/Roeper Review, Vol. 26, No. 4 Classroom Environment Discussion and Conclusion makes insightful work. The creatively Martha promoted students' creativi- gifted child is very curious about things ty through modifications in process and In the results section, I described with which they have little or no experi- classroom environment in addition to the Martha's comments about creativity and ence. By the same token, Piechowski changes in content. She used the con- giftedness and what occurred in her (1991) describes primary intensities in cepts "freedom, discovery, indepen- classroom. In this part of the article, I Dabrowki's Overexcitability Theory, in dence, and higher levels of thinking" will discuss Martha's beliefs about cre- which intellectual overexcitability, imag- while describing an ideal classroom ativity, giftedness, and her classroom inational overexcitability, and emotional environment. During my final visit to practices; therefore, a subjective inter- overexcitability play important roles in her classroom, the class was discussing pretation of her beliefs and practices will the formation of the creative self. an independent research project. The come into view in the rest of the article. students were supposed to work inde- artha considers creativity a Teaching for Creativity pendently on a project of their choice. Mhuman behavior such as per- In practice, Martha's students dis- Although they had predetermined choic- ceiving, doing, and acting that brings cuss world problems like freedom, peace es of topics, they were free to find their about "change" in human life. The key and civil rights, and imagine things that own topics as well. Some topics were to the final product is the concept enrich their fantasy worlds, while mas- the judicial system, religions, sound, "change." This is an original and unusu- tering the content. Martha tries to imple- brain, heredity, stock market, and al change, and must make an "impres- ment activities that spur higher cognitive dreams. Students were free to use vari- sion" on people. She also stressed the skills through learning to write poetry, ous modes of investigation such as inter- creative process while distinguishing personal narratives and essays decorated views with adults, research at a library between an academically gifted and a with similes, metaphors and imaginative or visit to local public institutions. They creatively gifted child. Metaphorically, expressions. Although Martha uses a could use any kind of materials that she said, "academically gifted students variety of activities and modifies these could help them in their projects and to see things in black and white, but I see activities to foster students' creativity, use a variety of formats for their final other kinds." What Martha said about her classroom does not reflect the same products such as an essay, a biography, a the creative process resembles Med- use of teaching models such as Creative research report, or a piece of art that nick's (1962) Free Associative Theory, Problem Solving, Hilda Taba Teaching symbolized their ideas. in which creative ideas are the result of Strategies Program, and The "Time for independence is very bringing together remote and seemingly Autonomous Learner Model (Maker & important," said Martha. During the last unrelated ideas. Nielson, 1995b). minutes of each class, students worked Martha did not stress peer evalua- independently on their individual pro- Creatively Gifted tions, although they constituted another jects by searching through books in the In distinguishing between the cre- kind of activity provoking critical-evalu- classroom library and using computers ative and the gifted, Martha pointed out ative thinking. The students evaluated to search the Internet or to type their several factors such as imagination, their own products through proofread- reports. Martha usually circulated in the curiosity, emotional intensity, insight, ing, revision, and panel discussions. classroom to monitor students' involve- and personality, which are considered in These evaluations usually occurred in a ment in tasks. She directed the students the field of creativity as resources whole-class discussion, while the stu- dents made comments on each paper. to help each other instead of seeking (Gardner, 1993; Sternberg & Lubart, help only from her. Martha said, "Stu- 1991; Piechowski, 1991; Piirto, 1998). dents evaluate their own ideas as well as The terms that she used to elucidate the Creative Products others when they work together or help distinction between gifted children and While Martha was describing cre- each other in their projects." creative children actually seem to distin- ative products, she emphasized the quali- rom Martha's perspective, an guish between creatively gifted and aca- ty of ideas or work that one produces. Downloaded By: [Canadian Research Knowledge Network] At: 16:56 12 April 2011 ideal classroom was one with no demically gifted children. She believed What makes an idea or a product creative F is the extent to which ideas are original, time limits, more independent study, that creative children are those who are novel, unusual, and have the potential for fewer prescribed tasks, and was less "free thinkers" and have "imaginative intelligence" whereas academically gift- "impact" or "impression." Her under- structured. "Students who have certain ed children lack this type of thinking. standing of creative work seems similar imaginative intelligence find basic tasks They, on the other hand, have the capac- to those of theorists of creativity in some very redundant, and they do not go over ity to manage information and are out- ways (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997; Gardner, these tasks. That time would be better standing academic achievers, but may 1993; Guilford, 1968; Simonton, 1997). spent by themselves creating a new not be productive. In a sense, the con- Both Martha and creativity theorists task," said Martha. According to her, in cept "imaginative intelligence" is similar emphasize originality and usefulness an ideal classroom a teacher must be a to the concept "creative intelligence" aspects of creative work; however, facilitator. (Lubart, 2003), if not the same. Martha also sees "the potential for Personality is an essential factor impact" and "impression" as important contributing to creativity from Martha's facets of creative work. Her definition of perspective. She expressed her beliefs creativity differs from some definitions In an ideal classroom about the importance of personality by mentioned in creativity literature. a teacher must be saying, "creativity comes from insight." Runco (1990) states that such a facilitator. The creative child is emotionally very expressions as "think of things that no intense. Accordingly, this intensity one thinks; come up with your own

Summer, 2004, Roeper Review/221 ideas" that Martha uses are provocative REFERENCES Mayfield, B. (1979). Teacher perceptions of creativity, intelligence and achievement. Gifted Child Quar- for children's creativity. These explicit Alencar, E. (1993). Thinking in the future: The need to terly, 23, 812-817. instructions to ignite students' creative promote creativity in the educational context. Gift- Mednick, S. A. (1962). The associative basis of the responses based not only on quality but ed Education International, 9, 93-95. creative process. Psychological Review, 69, 220- Amabile, T. M. (1996). The social psychology of cre- 232. also on quantity of ideas are good prac- ativity. New York: Springer-Verlag. Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative Bain, S. K., Bourgeois, S. J., & Pappas, D. N. (2003). nd tices to implement. Although Martha data analysis (2 ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. 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Teacher and student perceptions in 303-326. time limit on thinking and strictly struc- the classroom environment. Roeper Review, 22, Rossman, G. B., & Rallis, S. F. (1998). Learning in tured classrooms that provide no indepen- 148-52. the field. Thousands Oaks, CA: Sage. Gardner, H. (1993). Creating minds. New York: Runco, M. A. (1990). Divergent thinking of children: dence are major barriers to students' BasicBooks. Implications of the research, Gifted Child Today, creativity. Gentry, M., Rizza, M. G., & Owen, S. V. (2002). 13(4), 36-39. Examining challenge and choice in classrooms: Runco, M. A., & Albert, R. S. (1990). Theories of cre- The relationships between teachers and their stu- ativity. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Seidman, I. (1998). Interviewing as qualitative dents and comparisons between gifted students nd Conclusion and others. Gifted Child Quarterly, 46, 145-155. research (2 ed.). New York: Teachers Collage Guilford, J. P. (1968). Intelligence, creativity, and Press. Teachers' implicit theories of cre- their educational implications. San Diego, CA: Simonton, D. K. (1997). Genius and creativity: Select- Knapp. ed papers. Greenwich, CT: Ablex. ativity and their classroom practices to Kerr, B. A., & Cohn, S. J. (2001). Smart boys: Talent, Simonton, D. (2003). Creativity as variation and selec- foster it should be investigated in more manhood, and the search for meaning. Scottsdale, tion: Some critical constraints. In M.A. Runco detail by researchers through in-depth AZ: Great Potential Press. (Ed.), Critical Creative Processes (pp. 3-18). interviews and observations with a large Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, G. S. (1985). Naturalistic Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press. Inquiry. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Starko, A. J. (1995). Creativity in the classroom: sample of teachers. In this study I found Lynch, M. D., & Harris, C. R. (2001). Fostering cre- Schools of curious delight. 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J., & Nielson, A. B. (1995a). Curriculum development and teaching strategies for gifted Westby, E. L., & Dawson, V. L. (1995). Creativity: tices. As I observed how differentiated learners. 2nd ed. Austin, TX: Pro-Ed. Asset or burden in the classroom. Creativity curriculum interests and stretches gifted Maker, C. J., & Nielson, A. B. (1995b). Teaching Research Journal, 8, 1-10. and creative students in Martha's class- models in education of the gifted. Austin, TX: Pro-Ed. room, I concluded that future research Mathers, S. K., & Murdock, M. C. (1999). Research This research was supported partially by the Downloaded By: [Canadian Research Knowledge Network] At: 16:56 12 April 2011 should focus on the classroom reality to support for conceptual organization of creativity. Milken Family Foundation, The author would like In A. S. Fishkin; B. Cramond., & P. Olszewski- uncover teacher practices that better to thank Dr. John Schacterfor his advice. serve this population. Kubilius (Eds.), Investigating creativity in youth (pp. 49-71). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.

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