KEYNOTE:

Teaching Creativity in a Standards-Based World: Exciting Possibilities and Practical Applications

Creativity? We'll get to that as soon as the standardized tests are over.
Creativity? That's what the art and drama teachers are for - we've got curriculum to cover.
Creativity? My children don't need to be "outside the box." They need to get back inside the box so that they can get to Harvard.

Despite all of the elegies to creativity as a 21st Century skill, international research conducted by Dr. Reeves and his team at Creative Leadership Solutions reveals that the vast majority of classroom assessments not only lack creativity, but actively undermine creative processes.

The good news is that creativity can be taught and learned, and that creativity reinforces and supports academic success. This is an essential message not only for teachers, but for parents, students, leaders, and governing board members.

Fostering Creativity in Every Classroom

Participants will leave this workshop with a creativity activity that they can apply immediately in their classrooms. They will learn and apply the eight dimensions of creativity in classroom assessment.

During this workshop, participants will:

1. Apply the International Creativity Rubric to three classroom activities.
2. Develop at least one new creativity assessment that can be used immediately in the classrooms, grade-levels, and subjects that are most relevant to the workshop participants.
3. Provide and receive feedback on the new creativity assessments.
4. Complete a second draft of the assessments based on feedback from colleagues.

Target Audience: PreK-12 educators, instructional coaches, and administrators.

NOTE: It will be helpful, but not necessary, if participants have laptops.

Continuum Levels: 2, 3 = Deepening Understanding; Initiating Implementation

NESA's Learning Continuum:

Learn more about how NESA plans Professional Learning

Creativity Where You Least Expect It: Exploring Interdisciplinary Creativity

During this workshop, you will collaborate with colleagues from different academic disciplines to a develop new creativity activities and assessments that have a distinctive inter-disciplinary flair.

Math teachers will collaborate with their colleagues in social studies, art, or music. English teachers will find common ground with their colleagues in science and world languages.

Guided by the international research on effective creativity, participants will have ample time to explore, collaborate, and complete an activity they can use immediately in the classroom.

Target Audience: PreK-12 educators, instructional coaches, administrators.

NOTE: It will be helpful, but not necessary, if participants have laptops.

Continuum Levels: 2, 3 = Deepening Understanding; Initiating Implementation

NESA's Learning Continuum:

Learn more about how NESA plans Professional Learning