Notes from Creativity Class
Drawing for learning matters
I do not know my community of students. They are new to me. I am new to them. We come from opposite sides of the world. In what ways might I provide content that is visually interesting and stimulating for students?
Put another way, what is the value of me sharing my visual world for their meaning making?
toward a collaborative approach
“Draw whatever you want,” was the instruction. One thing I do know about the student community, maybe even the communities in this part of the African world, is that people really love arts. That was enough to go on and take a risk.
With chalkboard, good quality chalk (my choice) and imagination, the students got right to work. I had no idea what would come.
As if the students knew exactly what to do, out came an explosion of imagery into another world.
The results: a stunningly bold, colorful, playful, collection of folk art. What little did I know...
-What might be the student’s world?
-In what ways could I learn from students?
-How could art making deepen learning?
and develop creativity
Also,
Not one person asked, “Is this good?”
Not one person said, “I’m not a very good artist.”
Not one person said, “I’m not very creative.”
Wow.
Wow because comments like these come up all the time among stateside students. Ten year old kids made exactly these comments to me, that’s how I know.
Drawings made by 18-25 year olds, an age group that might feel more intimated in the West did not flinch when given an open cavas. They were ready, hungry even.
Great art, great lesson on all sides -
First, a window though which to gain insight from my audience? That’s useful.
Second, a rich slide pack to use as content for learning? Novel indeed.
Third, student artwork used for classroom learning? How inclusive.
We all do our best work when the environment is open and encourages the community, whether student, employees or family members are encouraged to do what they can and want to do well.
These picture are bold, beautiful, visually interesting and absolutely something to stimulate English language learning.
Let’s face it, there’s enough white washed content used for learning. What if we invite local color, literally, from the community we want to engage and go for a rich, dynamic lesson and yes, collaborative education.
Learning is a multidirectional street.
Im chalking this one up to teaching creatively.
Fun while learning. Yep. Thanks students.
This blog documents an educational pilot in Madagascar at Wings of Change on teaching for Creativity.
Wings of Change is a vocational hospitality school and hotel social enterprise with the twin mission of lifting youth out of poverty through education and impacting the wider community.
More at Wings of Change
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Cocoa by Nousca
Vanilla by Niola
A chameleon by Romeo
Coconut tree by Helena
Big bananas by Ismael
Open to Novelty
We must have light.
Day light, moonlight, phone light, candle lights, spotlights and the like. The lights that naturally occur and that we need change over the course of the day, and night. During a 24 hour period different light-types hand off to each other in a simple, seemlessly quiet collaboration making life possible.
And then there’s guiding lights. At different times for different purposes people come into our lives to teach, to guide and to collaborate to make it true: We must have light.
There’s a we-ness to life. Day becomes night, proving that a certain harmony of elements make it possible to live. When in balance, nature works wonders.
Collaboration is a 21st century skill. Really though, it’s an appeal for us humans to do what nature does, and that is find a way to work in harmony.
If we do not work together, we simply cannot work through all this complexity in the world.
Example: It will take all of us working together, if we are to live sustainably on planet Earth. Climate is clearly out of balance.
Not understanding, lack of clarity and ambiguity are a 21st century norm. Trust-building exercises teach that it’s ok if we are blinded. That’s why together is better, especially now. We need each other, as professionals, as humans.
Blind trust either works in our favor or it does not. It depends on the quality of the team. Will others help, step up, provide some guidance?
If we defer judgment, tolerate the ambiguities and lean into each other, there’s a much better chance of working together and having a better quality of life experience.
Blind trust - it’s not so much the blind leading the blind, where either no one takes action, or someone randomly takes an action. Actually, that might be part of the problem today. Rather, a blind trust, the kind that highlights confidence in each other, is what creates the opportunity for collaboration to occur.
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Just like every person, every light has a special purpose.
Tanya facilitates creative process for problem solving. She’s currently at Wings of Change, a vocational hospitality school and hotel the remote tropical island of Nosy Be, Madagascar.
Wings has the dual mission of lifting students out of poverty through education and impacting the community.
Since opening in 2021, two hundred students have graduated from the program with an 84% success rate of professional employment.
Clean up Nosy Be is a community project in problem and solution finding to plastics and waste in the environment. #sauvonslasplanete, #cleanupnb
www.wingsofchange.co
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