Teaching for Creativity

Tolerate Ambiguity.

It’s the first rule for developing creativity.

It’s also great for working in third world countries. And of course complex situations…which is just about everything.

Unclear situations are the norm. That'‘s why tolerating ambiguity is a 21st century skill.

Maybe there is too much information, maybe there’s not enough. Either way, tackling the unclear situation can be done. This is when creative processes come in.

Real world problem solving as an experiencial lesson gets to the heart of what tolerating ambiguity feels like, both as an individual and as a group.

Here’s what we learned from a g. When participants don’t understand, they stall. There is a tendency to do the same (wrong) task over an over. After all, they figured something out to move the challenge forward.

As a facilitator for the group, nudges matter. A tiny bit of help unlocked the exercise.

We laughed. We learned. Process matters.

The cutting of the Gordian Knot is an Ancient Greek legend associated with Alexander the Great. Rather than struggle untying an impossibly complicated knot, the challenge was resolved by simply slicing through it. What a novel and and useful solution. And a perfect example of creativity.

Gordion Knot

Tanya teaches for Creativity to develop a more honed 21st century skillset. Tanya is teaching both in person and remotely in Nosy Be, Madagascar to students at Wings of Change, a vocational hospitality school and hotel with the twin purpose of lifting young adults out of poverty and impacting the community.

#cleanupNB is an initiative to remove and transform garbage into something useable, beginning with the village of Ambatozavavy in Nosy Be.

Creativity Through English deliberately combines Creative Thinking Skills with English as a foreign language.

Tanya has been teaching for Wings of Change since 2021.