I've been thinking about posting this for quite some time... Creativity has always been a challenge to me, in terms of being innovative everyday and not repeating the activities with my students even if their levels are the same (this is a little bit challenging!). We are not inspired everyday and there are not so many books available with a reliable proposal of creativity for you to develop some ideas and have your students do it. Recently, I read an article at Cecília Coelho's blog that she had read a book called Cem Aulas Sem Tédio (A hundred classes with no boredom) by Vanessa Menezes Amorim and Vivian Magalhães. I must say I had already done some of the activities from this book and I totally recommend it. But that's not the point, the question I keep asking is Can we, as teachers be creative 24/7? Is there a formula? Is the act of teaching suffice to make you creative? How does it happen?
There are, for sure, those people who were born with some kind of talent, (I know a few), who do not need to struggle looking for some light coming from the sky to find creativity. As I am not one of them, I have to do it my way and try to reach "perfection", if it is possible. In my opinion, one way of having some Ideas is simply reading. There are lots of books about ELT and some of them help you build a solid base for your profession. Definitely, my bedside book is The Practice of English Language Teaching by Jeremy Harmer. I used to take this book at the University Library for quite some time but I had the opportunity of buying it at XII Braz-Tesol National Conference and I also had it autographed (Yeah!). In this new edition there's a DVD with interviews and some real class observations which is fantastic! Talking about class observation, which is another way of improving your ideas, observing a class is not always boring, it is actually an opportunity for you to review your methodology and see if you can apply some of the other's techniques in your teaching practice. It is, for sure, a valuable moment in which you are inside the classroom not to teach, but to be part of it and learn from your colleagues. In my opinion, It gets hard to be creative if you stick only to one method or technique. I think diversity, as Cecília Coelho said in her blog, is the first thing one should look for, to find new paths and start a new teaching approach. Free your mind.
What about you? Are you creative? How do you do it? What do you think? I would like to know from you some ideas about how to be creative or how to develop creativity. Is it a natural skill? Can anyone develop it?
What about you? Are you creative? How do you do it? What do you think? I would like to know from you some ideas about how to be creative or how to develop creativity. Is it a natural skill? Can anyone develop it?
Have your say! =D
