Notes on Creativity Through English
Defer Judgment
How we think matters.
The piece is silly, weird, ambiguous
and yet somehow recognizable.
The piece is also correct.
This drawing is an experience in what it is like to defer judgment.
Thinking matters
A new season brings a new cohort to Wings of Change. New faces, new opportunities and new perspectives to see things differently, are always available to us.
Knowing how to see things differently is exactly the right approach in sharing with students how they might approach their own learning. In becoming more creative, students develop a capacity for original thought and can become better problem solvers.
for Problem Solving.
A lot of problem solving is sequential. That is to say, a lot of problems follow a pattern, a structure, a sequence of tasks in order to achieve the final goal. Cooking, addition and running a hotel are examples of challenges that require a capacity for sequential thinking and doing.
Sequencial problem solving is important!
A lot of problem solving is also resolving something complex and unclear. Unclear, because a lot of solutions are possible and ucovering what solution is best is the real problem. A sudden (think COVID) or particularly complex (think COVID again) situation can throw us for a loop and then thinking clearly for any solution can be a challenge. Pausing and having a toolkit for processing information is key in crafting a desired outcome. This is where creative capacity matters.
Complex problems are everywhere!
The Creative Process
More optimistically, exploring what possiblities are out there before possibly considering what decision could or should be made is central to what the creative process is all about.
How to cook is different from deciding what to put on the menu. How to cook is creative certainly, and is also highly sequential. What might all the dishes to put on the menu… well, now that just opens the door to infinite possiblity right there. Of course contraints and requirements such as budget and resources play a significant part in that decision making, but I digress…
Defers Judgment
We kick off each new cohort at Wings of Change in deferring judgment. That’s what the drawing is about. Deferring judgment means to delay any decision making, to put off deciding just about anything, until a decision would need to be made.
Take towels for example. Room towels can be folded in any number of ways.
There’s the standard square towel fold. And then there’s crazy fun towel folds such as flowers, lizards, elephants and the like. Like napkin folding, there seems to be endless possiblites of towel folding.
Exploring what might be possible is a great way, perhaps the best way to then determine what idea stands out and could be developed into a solution.
Allowing Something Novel and Useful to Emerge.
When shown some options, the lizard towel fold always gets the most laughs among students. I wonder how towel folding might serve as a good example in creative thinking and problem solving. I can imagine there will be some practice needed, failures for sure and eventually, something novel and useful will emerge as a cool towel fold…who knows, we may end up something even more interesting than a towel lizard.
Of course, to get to the right towel fold decor, deferring jugdment will have to happen. Some folds may be too complicated, too time consuming, too crazy etc… Let’s explore and see what happens!
Class Notes on Creative Thinking Skills
Visualizing Richly and Colorfully
Think creativity is just for arts? Think again.
Drawing what you have in mind is perhaps the most powerful way to bring something into being. Sure, visioning boards work. And drawing a vision for yourself, that’s a double dose visioning exercise right there.
If seeing is believing then it is worth asking,
What do you see?
What do you want to see?
Rich, vivid imagery is powerful in conveying ideas. And what if we draw what we are thinking or what we are after?
Yeah, then we have a better chance of it coming into being.
Visual Literacy for Better Learning
Drawing for learning proves itself over again for better recall, enhancing memory, confidence and performance. When we draw for learning we have to slow down, to think, to focus and become intentional. Drawing for learning is a fun individualized and concurrent collective opportunity for thinking and processing what might be. Drawing for learning during Covid became an excellent way to have all students participate from home, privately as they could, free from judgment. We sure had fun with it too.
Visualize for a More Powerful Reality
And what if you draw pictures of goals, a holiday, a party? The image has the opportunity plant deep into your mind, where it will become a subconscious anchoring point. Decisions, how you get to the goal, become more natural and more aligned toward the vision.
The next time you are thinking about something, or have an idea, try drawing it. Noodle with it on paper. What comes to you? What if you add some color? Try creating a story board for some sequencing.
Try drawing what you are learning.
Try drawing your day unfold as you wish it to be.
Visualizing works.
If we do get to choose the quality of our experience, and we do, how might drawing our visions help? Try it for yourself.
Visioning is a game changer.
Artists get this, what about you?
Wings of Change visualize what it means to be successful.
Language for Visualizing Richly
”Describe the details.”
”What colors do you see?”
”What does it feel like?”
”What does it smell like?”
”Show me what you are thinking.”
”What can you imagine?”
A student draws their vision.
Tanya Knudsen is a creativity consultat and instructor for Wings of Change, a vocational hospitality school and hotel social enterprise in Madagascar.
Check out Weaving Creativty into Every Strand of your Classroom for more information on creativity and education.
Class Notes on Creative Thinking Skills
‘Ask and you shall receive’, so they say.
What if how you ask matters?
Creative, Information and Judgment Questions
#creativityandeducation, #socialenterprise, #sustainability
If necessity is the mother of invention, curiosity is the wonder of her child.
Creativity is the language of possibility. It’s the new lingua franca you haven’t heard of. You can become more creative in many ways. Creative Thinking Skills, organized thinking and creative questions bring about curiosity and a creative mindset. Want to know how to speak this language of creativity?
Read on.
Creative questions = a creative mindset
Creative questions deliberately stimulate curiosity around what might be. They are exploratory by design. It is only in having lots of possiblity that the best, most outsanding idea can emerge.
Creative questions bring about infinite possibility. And why do options matter? Because the only way to have a great idea is to have lots of ideas.
But what if you just want a piece of information ?
What if you have to make a decision?
There are three types of questions and the problem you are trying to solve determines the type of question you will want to ask. It’s not so much what you ask, but how you ask it that determines the quality and type of answer.
Information questions = fact finding
Information questions provide factual information, data that we need in order to know something. The information will be finite, there is a sense of completion to the question. Most often there is really only one answer. You ask a question, you get the answer and that’s it.
“What time is room check in at the hotel?” “3:00 p.m.” End.
Nothing more to say.
Information questions are perfect for gathering data and details. Information provides knowledge, context, orientation and basic capacity to function in life. After all, to do just about anything in life, knowedge is key. If you want to cook a meal, a recipe, knife skills and some type of cookware is required. To cook, you need some know-how.
Information may or may not be enough though. It might not be what you are after. “What’s for dinner?” “Pizza,” (infomational answer) is a different kind of a question than, “Do you want pizza or chicken for dinner?” “I like chicken more than pizza.” (decision) In this latter question, a decision is there for the taking, required actually to move forward and get the meal.
Judgment questions = yes or no
These ‘yes or no’ judgment questions depend on criteria, likes, needs etc. And decision questions have their place in the world too.
Here’s another example: “Is it worth staying in school or better to go to work?” This is an important, maybe even hard decision to make. Decision questions depend on some kind of value. Staying in school may be more important for a better future state. On the other hand, if money or the oportunity to work presents itself, the decision to put off school could make more sense. Decision questions are about determing what is more important, this or that.
Note: sometimes we make decisions without realizing it. Indecision is a form of decision making!
Creative questions redux = solid gold
Creative questions are not as much questions as they are statement starters. And statement starters are like gold nuggets: they invite us to wonder, explore how to crack them open and discover something we didn’t even know was there.
Let’s revisit the cooking analogy with creative questions. “What if I planned a meal?” “I wonder who might like to grab a bite with me?” “Where might be all the places I could eat?” “What are all the options for meals that are spicy, fast, inexpensive etc…?”
Next time you ask a question, pause and think about what type of answer you are after.
Is it information? Is it for descion making?
And what if there is an opportunity to wander, explore and think up something you never thought of?
That’s solid gold right there.
Wings of Change students make a rainbow with school books to represent creative questions.
Creative Question Examples…
”What if…?”
”How might…?”
”In what ways might…””
”What might be all the ways…?”
”What else, how else, who else…?
”What do you wonder?”
WoC students demonstrate an information question.
Information questions for fact finding
”What time is it?”
”Where is the restaurant?”
”Who is this?”
WoC students demonstrate decision questions
(this or that).
Judgment questions for decision making
”Should I study or go out?”
”Do I want to be the best that I can be?”
”Do you prefer/want this or that?”
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To ask the right question is already half the solution to the problem. -C.G. Jung
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Wings of Change is a vocational hospitality school and hotel social enterprise in Nose By, Madagascar. All blog post images are taken from Creativity Through English class where students physically represent abstract, critical thinking for learning.
Wings of Change students explore Creative Thinking Skills though living pictures, tableaux vivants, in order to resonate, collaborate and have fun while learning to deliberately develop the capacity to problem solve.
Tanya Knudsen is a doctoral candidate for creative leadership and teaches remotely for Wings of Change.
For more information on Creative Thinking Skills, Teaching for Creativity or Creative Problem Solving, email Tanya
For a deeper dive on creative questions and solid gold, check out an interview with Dr. Roger Firestien on The Idea Gym
Credits for this blog go to Dr. Firestien and the late Dr. Parnes.
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Class Notes on Creative Thinking Skills
Wings of Change students highlight hotel operations
Highlight the Essence
It goes without saying that the world is complex. It is easy to get lost in the mess of it all. Here’s some good news: often what we feel is complicated can be boiled down to something very simple. The purspose of highlighting the essence is to affirm what is important. What is the vision? What do you value? When you can do this, you can better work toward that goal, wish or desire.
Why vision matters
Companies that stand the test of time do so because they are visionary. They have a driving purpose. At Wings of Change, the vision is transformation through vocational hospitality training among young adults. Because of the vision, every decision is made toward that end. We are resolute in working toward change through the social enterprise model of vocational hospitality training and small hotels in emerging markets. It is in starting with a vision, the essence of what we do, that we are able move forward with unwaverying clarity and confidence.
Highlighting the essence of the kitchen
Get clear on criteria
Knowing what we want to achieve helps with decision making. When I as a teacher ask the students what are the essentials of what you do in your area of hospitality, it’s easy for them to abstract what is important to them, to their work, to who they are becoming as professionals.
Work in the direction of intention for results that matter
By affiming the goal, wish or challenge, how we get there will emerge through continued focus, trial and experience. The path becomes more clear the more we stay focused on the vision. Of course, another great way to learn is to actually practice and yes, by visioning yourself doing the work, and by being the professional that you see yourself becoming. And, it always helps when the learning is fun. Always.
The essence of tour guiding
Getting there is the journey of a purposeful life.
Wings of Change is a purposeful business. Doing good is what we are about. With this essential guiding vision, the work, though hard, has a certain ease to it. Students are committed, teachers from around the world are committed and the leadership is driven by an unstoppable vision. More than passion, which is self-directed, purposeful busineses have an external attribute that truly is essential for the best of humanity to co-exist and thrive.
Tanya Knudsen is a creative consultant, educator, polyglot and PhD candidate for creative leadership. Her quest is to ignite creative thinking, our super power and highest order thinking skill to maximize creative potential for everyone. This blogpost series is from Creativity Through English, a course Tanya teaches at Wings of Change in Nosy Be, Madagascar.
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Tanya Knudsen
Class Notes on Creative Thinking Skills
Being Flexible
Can you touch your toes? Does it matter? Maybe.
It depends on whether you want to move in any direction.
Being mentally flexible is about a capacity to consider variety in content. How easy is it to change your mental mind set?
Being flexible, as a Creative Thinking Skill, means an ability, an openness to be able to do things differently.
The world is weird
If the pandemic taught us anything, it is that life can radically change. Sure, change happens. But what if everything suddenly and irrevocably changes? The ability to switch approach opens us up to develop more insights, more possibilities and more ideas that are likely to produce more original thoughts and solutions.
The problem with ruts
To be “stuck in a rut” means to be so fixed in a pattern that it is hard to change. Wagon wheel ruts from the 1800s can still be seen in the United States from pioneer migration westward. What a great physical example, not only of history, but also of just how permanent ruts can be!
Why flexibility matters
Because we live in times of rapid change, ruts, both physical and mental, can block our doing and thinking. Think about it. If you only practice one type of exercise for example, how easy is it to start up a completely different exercise? Not so easy. Why? Because even muscles have memory and know patterns. Changing patterns takes time. The more flexible you are, both physically and mentally, the more able you are to move in any direction. And since the world clearly can pull us in unforeseen directions, being flexible matters as a 21st century skill.
Why practice matters more
Back to touching your toes. If you can do it today, can you do it tomorrow? What if you try a week later, can you still touch your toes? It’s probably going to be a bit harder. Practice makes permanent. In order to be flexible, (strong, fluent in foreign language, etc.) a daily or at least regular practice is key.
To become your best self
To have a creative mindset also requires a practice of thinking in different ways. Creative Thinking Skills were designed precisely as tools to enable a capacity for evaluating, filtering and developing thinking. Creativity is the highest order thinking skill we humans have. The more we practice at becoming creative in our thinking, the more creative we actually become!
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Wings of Change students show off their flexiblity
An exercise in how flexible thinking adds value.
“The most important factor in survival is neither intelligence nor strength but adaptability.”
– Charles Darwin
Sentence starters to practice being flexible
Tanya Knudsen teaches for Creativity at Wings of Change
Tanya Knudsen is a creative consultant, educator, polyglot and PhD candidate for creative leadership. Her quest is to ignite creative thinking, our super power and highest order thinking skill to maximize creative potential for everyone. This blogpost series is from Creativity Through English, a course Tanya teaches at Wings of Change in Nosy Be, Madagascar.
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Class Notes on Creative Thinking Skills
Embrace the Challenge
Taking on problems with a problem-solving attitude is probably the most satisfying way to perceive problems as opportunities. Open mindedness turns challenges into growth spurts. In what ways can you develop a problem-solving mindset? Students suggest building confidence through practice. Indeed practice makes permanent.
Open mindedness opens possibility
Having an open mind is central to creative thinking. It is the very ability to defer judgment and stay open to possibility that one is able to explore numerous options and come up with a solution that is novel and useful.
What makes creative thinking important
The capacity to embrace challenges can only be a good thing. Life and the world we live in is complicated. To live is to have problems. And to solve problems creatively is to use the highest order thinking skill we humans have: creativity. Through the development of Creative Thinking Skills, we become more able to engage challenges with success in finding solutions that add value, even if for a short while. Life is ever changing, and so the capacity to bring a skill set of embracing a challenge into problem solving builds the confidence needed to thrive in this messy world of ours.
Language matters
Notice, for example, that we use the term “challenge” instead of “problem.” At the neural level, humans are built to do two things: seek and play. “Seeking” translates to solving problems, is this food safe, where it is warm enough to sleep, how can I help my family and so on. “Play” refers to a childlike nature when imagination reigns most. The deliberate development of the ability to seek and play with intention is what will strengthen creativity.
As with all thinking skills, numerous sentence starters focus the mind on engaging in a way that is inviting. Knowing that we humans innately seek answers, the right language frames up challenges in a way that not only acknowledges the sticky situation, but also triggers the mind to go to work by stimulating curiosity. By simply saying, for example, “I’m frustrated,” is far more constructive than holding frustration in or lashing out. And by deliberately using open ended sentences, the mind can begin to look for possible solutions.
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WoC students demonstrate how to build confidence by creating a sense of stairs
Students express how they embrace the challenge of full time school away from home.
“If I had an hour to solve a problem I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.”
―Albert Einstein
Example sentence starters to practice embracing the challenge
“You look frustrated.”
“This is a fun challenge.”
“What ideas do you have?”
“How could we..?”
“How to..?”
“What might be all the ways we could…?”
“In what ways could we…?”
Tanya teaches Creative Thinking Skills creatively.
Playfulness matters!
Tanya Knudsen is a creative consultant, educator, polyglot and PhD candidate for creative leadership. Her quest is to ignite creative thinking, our super power and highest order thinking skill to maximize creative potential for everyone. This blogpost series is from Creativity Through English, a course Tanya teaches at
Wings of Change in Nosy Be, Madagascar that combines Creative Thinking Skills with English as a Second Language.
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Class Notes on Creative Thinking Skills
Producing and Considering Many Alternatives
How to Have a Good Idea
An ability to generate many and varied ideas and possiblities moves our thinking beyond the first idea. In fact, it’s a great idea to get well beyond the first idea when looking for a new idea. The best way to get a great idea is to have a lot of ideas. It is in having multiple alternatives from which to draw on that we are best able to get to the best solution.
To simplify, having a lot of options expands opportunities and possibility. In order to generate a lot of ideas, its it imperative to defer judgment and evaluation. Perhaps the most popular idea generating tool is brainstorming, especially because the last third of ideas is where the really great ideas emerge.
Another powerful tool for idea generation is the additive exercise, “yes, and.” I am always amazed at where a group ideation exercise ends up because what starts as one thought, for example, “a bouquet,” could quickly and easily transform and become something special for mom. A random bouquet is completely different than a bouquet that I (albeit imaginarily) craft in collaboration with my colleagues for mothers. Wow. This points to the absolute beauty of thinking creatively: that we come to a place that could not have been otherwise considered. The imagination is a cool thing. Yep, creativity IS human superpower.
Natural Stimulants for Thinking
When it comes to inspiration for ideas, nature is, well duh, a natural resource. No pun intended. Seriously, though, nature solves a lot of problems and is an expansive resource for thinking, not only to stimulate new random ideas, but also to help us apply its problem solving processes to manmade problems. Biomimicry is the use of nature in problem solving. In class, students used a variey of random objects from their surroundings to recreate un homme naturel. Quite adorable, right?!
What else emerged from this lesson? That through calm and playful collaboration, things go smoothly and someting completely new can be discovered. That teamwork, listening, failing, trying and trying again is the process for crafting something novel and useful. In this instance, the novel part is obvious. Who makes human forms out of nature’s debris after all?
Less obvious perhaps, though equally relevant especially when the thinking becomes deliberate, l’homme naturel emerges as a medium for learning, thinking, reflecting and becoming a critical thinker, the skill we all need in the 21st century.
Organized thinking is key for complex problem solving. Just like it is impossible to drive and hit the break at the same time, but both actions are required to drive a car, organized thinking separates when to go for a lot of ideas and when to focus on what stands out and evaluate before moving forward, as an example.
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WoC Students use a variety of resources to make l’homme naturel
Getting to the best ideas through brainstorming
Sentence starters for idea generation and divergent thinking.
Tanya Knudsen teaching creatively for Creativity.
Tanya Knudsen is a creative consultant,
educator, polyglot and PhD candidate for creative leadership. Her quest is to ignite creative thinking, our super power and highest order thinking skill to maximize creative potential for everyone. This blogpost series is from Creativity Through English, a course Tanya teaches at Wings of Change in Nosy Be, Madagascar.
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Class Notes on Creative Thinking Skills
Embrace the Challenge
How do you do something that you have never done before? What if you don’t really understand what is going on and you still have to deliver?
So here’s an example, students were given the challenge to make an elephant. That’s right, create a 3D shape of an elephant. What? Well, to clarify, in the famed parable of the Elephant and the Six Blind men, it is very easy to make a wall, a snake, a rope, a fan etc.
What might be all the ways to make an elephant though? Yeah, that’s a tough one. It’s a pretty hard challenge.
What’s the answer? I don’t know.
What’s an answer? The solution that works for the group, given the constraints is a viable answer.
I don’t exactly see an elephant either, but I know it works for the group and that’s what matters.
Unblock the Path With the Right Attitude
Life is full of problems. That’s for sure. To embrace the challenge means to take on problems with a problem-solving attitude. When we do this, we feel able and capable, not of having the answer but able to navigate toward an outcome that works. To embrace a challenge is not to run away, though we’d probably like to because it the situation is stressful.
Unblock the Path with the Right Attitude
Some stress is good. Too much stress can block us and things break down. Having the attitude that, “I am challenged by this and need to think about it or take a minute to catch my breath,” is exacly what is needed in complex situations. In pausing, we can calm down the central nervous system and revisit with a clearer head.
Creative Thinking Skills provide the powerful competentcy to think things through, filter, evaulate and develop original thought.
Embracing the Challenge is central to being able to think creatively. By keeping an open mind in the face of a challenge you are better able to uncover novel solutions that are useful.
Learn Through Fun
When we work through hard, and yes, for practice silly problems, we learn the following:
Fun is important in learning. When we laugh we are more open to trying, failing, learning.
Practicing the lesson outside of a real life example has value particularly for reflection.
Building confidence to solve problems develops an inner strength, critical for 21st century life.
Building a Mental Toolbox
Just like we have particular tools for working around the house, the garden, on cars, bicycles etc, so too do we need tools for thinking. Especially when it comes to problem solving (which is just about all of life), the right mindset and set of thinking tools provide the confidence and capacity to be more creative, meaning more productive and more happy.
WoC students embracing the challenge of making an elephant
Way too easy to replicate as a living picture.
Add the right words to a problem-solving attitude
Creative teaching for Creative thinking at Wings of Change
Tanya Knudsen is a creative consultant, educator, polyglot and PhD candidate for creative leadership. Her quest is to ignite creative thinking, our super power and highest order thinking skill to maximize creative potential for everyone.
This blogpost series is from Creativity Through English, a course Tanya teaches at Wings of Change in Nosy Be, Madagascar.
Class Notes on Creative Thinking Skills
Risk-taking
When you realize that failure and setbacks are part of the process, everything is just that much better. Risk-taking is knowing that challenges will occur and not being shaken or unnerved by them.
Keep going.
“Motion is lotion,” as the physical therapists like to say.
Feel the Risk and Go For It.
Risk-taking is scary. Because risk-taking is growth-inducing, we must take them. Risk-taking is not about randomly doing stuff though. That’s being reckless, and maybe even dangerous. Mapping or at least contemplating what could or could not work out from taking a risk adds context to mitigate negative outcomes.
Fear of failure to the point of feeling seized up and not trying means it’s time to check in - what kind of risk is it? Is it emotional, financial, situational, professional? Take some time to think it through, make it safe and then go for it. As an example, a trust fall must be set up properly for it to work and do what it is supposed to do: engage risk-taking for trust-building.
Risk vs Failure
What’s the difference between risk-taking and failure? In taking a risk, there is an opportunity for failure and success. Either way, growth happens. Failure is more about giving up, not trying at all. In a world of grow or die, risks have infinite value.
Think of risks as thought experiments, pilot programs and trials. This is a great way to buy yourself some margin and the protective padding of knowing failures will happen as a part of the process.
Many companies prototype new products right away exactly for this reason; getting a product right is an iterative process of trial, testing, feedback etc. before going to into production. Consider risk-taking as prototyping your thinking in an experiment and now your process is, well now you’re applying creative thinking into your doing.
Ta Dah!
Failure Risk-taking is the path to success
Still Skeptical? Consider these epic failures:
Dr. Seuss was rejected 27 times before he published his first book in 1937.
Van Gogh sold only one painting before he died.
Steve Jobs was fired by Apple, his own company.
Albert Einstein was rejected by the Zurich Polytechnic - he later won the Physics Noble prize in 1921.
Rovio developed 51 video games that failed before their hit Angry Birds.
WoC students learn risk-taking through trust falls
WoC student teams think through risk-taking
Use this language to practice risk-taking
“Give it a go.”
“Take a risk.”
“It’s ok to fail.”
“Go for it.”
“Not yet.”
“What is the worst that can happen?’
“What is the best that can happen?”
Tanya, creatively teaching for creativity
Wings of Change, WoC, is a vocational hospitality school and hotel social enterprise in Nosy Be Madagascar. This blogpost series is from Creativity Through English, a course Tanya teaches via zoom.
Class Notes on Creative Thinking Skills
Rule #1 for developing one’s creativity:
Keep Open
Creative Thinking Skill
This phrasal verb changes everything.
Everything. EVERYTHING.
English is an ambiguous language
More people in the world speak English as a second language than as a first and getting phrasal verbs right is the key. Get your word pictures right and you can communicate in English.
In a nutshell, phrasal verbs are a combination of a verb and one or more adverbial or prepositional particles that turn the verb into a figurative phrase.
Take the word ‘keep,’ for example. “Keep off,” “keep out,” “keep on keeping on.” There are at least 28 phrasal verbs that use the word “keep.” While these endless turns of phrase roll off the tongue among us native English speakers, they practically choke foreign language learners. Listening to radio, watching TV and immersive experiences are direct channels to framing reference for learning the endlessness of idiomatic expressive English. That’s because phrasal verbs are contextual idiomatic chunks of parlance. English is literally packed with phrasal verbs. “Packed,” get it? “Get it.” Yep, phrasal verbs literally pop up all the time.
A phrasal verb is a gateway to developing creative potential.
To “keep open” is to defer judgment and delay decision making. In doing so, you are better able to discover what might be. Keep open and you enter the world of possibility, the language of creativity. Ponder possibility and the opportunity to shape outcome emerges.
Mapping language for learning
As native English speakers, phrasal verbs are automated for us. To understand them, it helps to literally draw out phrasal verbs as mind maps to make connections and delineate nuance.
Practice keeping open regularly in order to shift toward creative thinking. And what if you practice keeping open so much that you consciously become unconscious in the language of creativity? Well then you would have a creative thinking skill that truly can change everything. For creativity is the language of possibilities.
WoC students in Gordian knot exercise stay open to problem solve
Language to practice keeping open
“Tell me more about that.”
“Let’s give it some time, stay open to possibilities, talk about what else might work etc.”
“Let’s not make a decision yet.”
WoC students make a web to conceptualize mind mapping
Mindmapping phrasal verbs
Class Notes on Creative Thinking Skills
Looking At Things Another Way
Creative Thinking Skill
Perspective matters. Seeing things from multiple points of view stimulates thinking in terms of possiblity, bringing new insights, depth, and with all that pooled, options from which solutions can be developed.
Perspective taking also helps with building empathy. When we can step into others’ shoes, we sense what else could be happing in a situation beyond our own exprience.
Simple tricks like rearranging a classroom, sitting under the class table or making living pictures bring a resonance in concept learning that easily builds visual literacy and deeper understanding.
Pizza perspective is a great tool for developing different points of view along with developing empathy. In working with students, I learned an imaginary grandma convention would require fluffy pillows and bingo. Who knew? Well, the team that developed thinking for that group, of course!
Unless its 1+1 or sequential, most problmes in life are complex and multiple answers are possible. Taking perspective means considering what might be all the questions, what might be all the answers or both.
At their conventions, business leaders probably don’t want the same things as grandmas…and that’s important to know! Knowing the wants and needs of clients is key in delivering customized services.
Each Creative Thinking Skill has a distinct purpose. Specific tools and language for each skill are important for guiding thinking in a particular way.
WoC students experiment with different ways to make a circle
Pizza perspective for ieational fluency.
To practice looking at things another way,
try these sentence starters:
“Let’s take another perspective.”
“Let’s change perspective for a minute.”
”Let’s look at it another way.”
”How might (insert person) see that?”
Tanya teaches Creativity Through English at Wings of Change, a vocational hospitality school and hotel via Zoom in Nosy Be, Madagascar. These pictures are taken directly from class and display how Creative Thinking Skills are easily taught along side the subject, English, for developing two 21st century skillsets, English, and a competency for critical thinking.
Class Notes on Creative Thinking Skills
Curiosity
Creative Thinking Skill
Wanting to know or learn is hands down the best way to learn anything, everything.
Why’s that? Simple. Because curiosity cultivates intrinsic motivation. When a student (from preschool to professional) is curious, they are hungry to learn, to find out, to understand deeply and to get it.
Little kids are best at blatant curiosity. “Why did the fire alarm go off at school?” “Because someone hit the alarm by mistake.” “Why did they hit it by mistake?” “Because it was an accident.” “Why did they touch it by accident?” “I guess because they were curious.” “What does curious mean?” “Wanting to know.” “What do they want to know?”
Working though this maddening conversation with a child is, well, maddening. And, in staying open to it, adults have an opportunity to learn from kids who truly are creative until about age ten. That’s when it’s time to get “serious” at learning. As result, kids start to lose their creativity.
Being curious develops an inner drive to learn. Another word for inner drive? Joy, interest, motivation, incentive, wish, desire, compelled, impetus.
Adults, lean in and take a queue from the little ones, especially with open-ended questions.
In becoming more curious, we are more likely to learn more, remember more details, and be more joyful. Anything for a bit more happy these days, right?
Not sure if it will work at work? Try with kids first and see what happens. Remember, kids are probably more creative than you and they’re great at this curiousity stuff.
WoC students make a tree with roots to resonate with root cause
Root Cause Analysis Tool
Use open ended questions and to be more curious
“I wonder…” (personal favorite)
“That’s interesting, tell me more...”
“What do you notice, wonder…”
“I’m curious about...”
Building a Virtuous Cycle Through Creativity in English
“Today, you are going to make a bicycle.”
This was the only direction the 53 students received on their tropical island out in the Indian Ocean.
I like kicking off classes with a challenge. Infact, starting with a problem has become a thing in Creativity Through English, a leadership course that teaches English alongside problem solving.
To be clear, the students were not tasked with making a bike as we know it. Instead, students go out into their school courtyard and have to figure out how they could collaborate to make a bike in human form.
Tableaux vivants, living pictures, are silent and motionless groups of people arranged to represent a scene or an incident. They were popular in the 1800’s and are often a component of improv classes today. The making of human scenes that replicate famous paintings, movie scenes or events freeze a physical depiction of a moment in time.
Throw creative license into a creativity class and this group of students decided their living picture should move. Makes sense. After all, one of main features of a bicycle is that it moves. Open the video link to see it.
So, what might be all the ways to make a bicycle in human form? That is what the students had to figure out. The purpose of the question is to develop problem solving and leadership skills.
First, making a human bike is a very ambiguous challenge. Tolerance for ambiguity is key in becoming a creative thinker. There are two kinds of problems, linear and open-ended. Certainly there are many sequential processes in life and in work. In developing leadership skills, processes for resolving challenges that are both unclear and have many possible solutions is a key 21st century skill.
Here’s the creativity ground rules for generating lots of possibilities when problem solving.
First, defer judgment. The task could be crazy, unclear and questionable. Unless it’s two plus two and clearly sequential, a lot of life both professionally and personally is ambiguous. Deferring judgment enables a growth mindset and an openness to what might be. Make decisions only well after a lot of options have been uncovered.
Second, strive for quantity. In quantity, there is quality. Coming up with great ideas is formulaic and called the rule of thirds. The first third ideas are obvious. The second third are a bit of a stretch, but still pretty familiar. It is in the last third that something novel emerges. In quantity there is quality. Lots of trial and error happened to get that human bike into a living picture.
Third, seek wild and unusual ideas. The task may be crazy; the solution may be unclear. For creative thinking to work its magic, it's important to go for it when brainstorming or ideating. Osborn, who coined the term Brainstorming, said it’s easier to tame a wild idea than to invigorate a weak one. Stretch thinking for wild ideas when looking for something new. The answer is likely in that last third.
Fourth and last, build on others’ ideas. It is in combining, improving and building up possible options that a rich pool of thoughts become a critical resource from which crafting the end goal becomes easier.
And they did it! The students completed the task with not only one, but five versions of a human bike. A virtuous cycle for good is happening in real time at Wings of Change.
A+ students for tolerating ambiguity, for going for it, and for completing the task with novel solutions that add value to your ability in becoming leaders through Creative Problem Solving.
Wings of Change is a social enterprise with a virtuous vision to impact impoverished communities through education and empowerment with employment opportunities in responsible tourism that align with all 17 of the UN Sustainability Goals. Nosy Be, the Wings of Change flagship property, is a vocational hospitality school and boutique hotel. www.wingsofchange.co
Tanya Knudsen is a Creativity Consultant and PhD Student for Creative Leadership. She teaches problem solving at Wings of Change and the International Friends School in Bellevue, WA.
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Being Original: How The World Moves in Mysterious Ways
Being original these days is a tall order. Still, it’s an important skill to develop. How to let the obvious go in search of something novel is what this problem solving skill of being original is all about. And in being original, we are better able to become more creative.
In light of the UN International Day of Yoga today, June 21st, 2022, how a propos to try a unique approach to class.
Zooming together The Solstice in Times Square in New York City, the classroom of 53 students at Wings of Change in Nosy-Be, Madagascar and my TV room in Seattle worked! Together we attended Douglass Stewart’s yoga class. That’s a more than a 10,000 mile stretch for yoga!
The students did not have mats and did not have much experience, if any with yoga. Me with my headphones on and a delay from the East Coast to the West Coast to an island in the Indian Ocean had some technical challenges. Along with Om, one of my other favorite mantras especially in the field of creativity rang true today: Tolerance for Ambiguity. My addition to this term is that it works every time.
Tolerance for ambiguity really does work every time.
So off we went, breathing, stretching, laughing mostly in sync across the globe. For sure this is the most novel yoga class I’ve ever attended.
For original ideas to emerge, students need to feel comfortable in putting their thoughts forward. Being a minority of one must be ok. New solutions need new thinking and for that we facilitators are the ones who frame the rules of engagement for respectfully encouraging students to toy with new ideas.
It was hard to tell if the students enjoyed the yoga class. For sure they got to try something new and get a birds eye view of Times Square.
Being original is one of 20 Creative Thinking Skills that help with problem solving. How we process information is at least as important as the subject itself. What we learn and how we think about it are two sides of the same coin when it comes to education and becoming a professional.
Today’s lesson was about taking a timeout for awareness of our wider world and adding positive energy to it.
Happy International Day of Yoga.
Thanks to you students for trying something new and for being open to yet another dimension of Zoom class.
Wings of Change is a social enterprise with a virtuous vision to impact impoverished communities through education and empowerment with employment opportunities in responsible tourism that align with all 17 of the UN Sustainability Goals. Nosy Be, the Wings of Change flagship property, is a vocational hospitality school and boutique hotel. www.wingsofchange.co
Tanya Knudsen is a Creativity Consultant and PhD Student for Creative Leadership. She teaches problem solving for leadership along with English via Zoom in Nosy Be.
#wingsofchange, #creativityandeducation, #timesquarenyc
Douglass Stewart, International Day of Yoga 2022
Tolerance for Ambiguity, Works Every Time
Tolerance for ambiguity is one of the basic rules for a creative mindset. It’s right up there with deferring judgment and being open to novelty.
I’ve got to shout out my addendum to the mantra because it’s true. Tolerance for ambiguity truly does work each and every time.
Take this zoom chat box, for example. Tech issues on my end interfered with the audio during a recent class. After trouble shooting, comes tolerating. Fortunately, I know this now. A former me would not have taking such a glitch so well during a live class.
Flipping the classroom is an opportunity for the students to take over and did they ever in spite of tech problems. A beautiful series of storytelling emerged, (hello raising student talk time) and corrections were delivered in the chat box. Guess what? Teaching via chat box works! The ability to speak at will is what fluency is all about. What may have been a setback turned out to be a new insight into teaching remotely.
High student talk time. Check plus. Facilitator teacher. Check yeah!
Visioning on a Tropic Bird
A compelling “why” centers purpose and puts internal processes into motion. Because the journey to self-reliance is the most secure path to self-actualization and contentment, a compelling why is critical for becoming.
Because we care is powerful compelling why.
Because love is the ultimate power is perhaps the most compelling why.
The tropic bird lives out at sea, nesting on a cliff only for its young. Otherwise, this bird is at home over the Indian Ocean for months at a time sleeping in flight. Yep, that is true!
The journey to self-reliance starts with a vision.
Lofty visions. Crazy visions. Ambiguous visions.
All visions are valid when answering to your “why am I doing this?” Caring enough to set a vision is what puts intentional subconscious action into motion.
With vision on the horizon, movement in the direction of intention takes flight and comes naturally.
Mind fields for Minefields
When it comes to teaching English, phrasal verbs are a minefield. Phrasal verbs feature so much in our lexicon that they pop out subconsciously. It’s only in teaching them that we slow down enough to notice how frequently they pop up.
Like right there.
A pop up could be a store or a kiosk for an event or period of time. Of course, that is not what is meant here, and native-level English speakers know that. When something “pops up,” it suddenly happens.
These days more people speak English as a foreign language than there are native English speakers in the world. That’s something. For sure English is the lingua franca of our era. How to clarify the contextual meanings of phrasal verbs is a minefield…better we think in terms of creating a mind field for learning all those colorful idiomatic expressions.
Visual tools help students to develop better recall, comprehension and critical thinking skills. Similar to mind mapping for brainstorming ideas, concept mapping also strengthens and organizes information. Decoding phrasal verbs for meaning unweave the mess of multiple expressions that shoot off from one verb by putting them into an order pleasing to the eye. Visual Literacy is not only about seeing or taking information in, though certainly visual communication dominates. For sure, we do take most information through our eyes. There are two additional aspects to Visual Literacy that complete the trifecta. Visual Thinking refers to the ability to internally process information through imagery. Visual Learning pertains to graphing, mapping, cartooning or drawing for depiction and understanding. Since we see with our brains and NOT really with our eyes, visual literacy applied across the field of our mind is key in learning, especially for ambiguous topics. It’s a minefield out there. Make sense through mind fields.
Smiling Human
We don’t often talk about simple things these days like smiling humans, so when I helped to instigate this one I have to give a shout out for something positive.
Nature provides us with infinite resources, for nourishment, for wellness, for beauty. Papaya is a delicious fruit, it also aids in calming an upset stomach. The essential oil of ylang ylang is found in high-end perfumes and are known as an insect repellent in their local environment. These gifts and more from nature came together for something new, A Smiling Human. Perspective matters.
This Smiling Human represents a collaborative perspective in creativity. Deferring judgement, tolerance for ambiguity, building on others’ ideas and going for something wild and crazy are four elements that mark the rules when embarking on creative thinking. This creative process stimulates creative product, in this case a smiling human.
And the Smiling Human reflects so much more. A smile is a happy feeling that triggers endorphin production and neuronal signals to the facial muscles for a Duchenne smile and the start of a positive feedback loop of happiness. This genuine smile involves two sets of muscles, mouth corners and eye sockets. Mouth corner smile only is that fake smile and my kids pull me up on it every time to the point where I have decided it go. Eye-wrinkled genuine smiles are even more important these days since mouths are hidden behind masks…
Can’t get to that real smile? Practice by holding a pencil in your mouth to strengthen the zygomaticus major and orbicularis oculi muscles. Still have trouble smiling? Vision someone you love or a fond memory to change your brain pre-encounter to send an endorphin-releasing message to your brain to literally change your brain. Kids smile some 400 times a day. Happy adults smile some 40-50 times a day, not so happy adults 20 times or less. So yeah, coax that inner smile if you have to. Fake it until you become it.
When an encounter happens or even pre-encounter, we have a choice in our reply: smile or not. What can be appreciated ? How might a smile instigate possibility and with that hope for an outcome that reaches a new height?
Yes to more smiling. The other contagion.
Image from Creativity Through English Class, 9/10/21
www.tanyaknudsen.com
Keep Open - How this phrasal verb changes everything.
This phrasal verb changes everything. Everything. EVERYTHING.
From Brazil to Columbia to China to Madagascar, English language learners experience the same frustration when it comes to mastering phrasal verbs.
In a nutshell, phrasal verbs are a combination of a verb and one or more adverbial or prepositional particles that turn the verb into a figurative phrase.
Take the word ‘keep,’ for example. “Keep off,” “keep out,” “keep on keeping on.” There are at least 28 phrasal verbs that use the word “keep.” While these endless turns of phrase roll off the tongue among us native English speakers, they practically choke foreign language learners. Listening to radio, watching TV and immersive experiences are direct channels to framing reference for learning the endlessness of idiomatic expressive English. That’s because phrasal verbs are contextual idiomatic chunks of parlance. English is literally packed with phrasal verbs. “Packed,” get it? “Get it.” Yep, phrasal verbs pop up all the time.
“Keep open” stands out as rule number one for developing one’s creativity.
The purpose of keeping open is to defer judgement and to delay any decision making. In doing so, you are better able to discover what might be. Keep open and you enter the world of possibility, the language of creativity. Ponder possibility and the opportunity to shape outcome emerges.
Deferring judgement is powerful. Even a short pause lets something incubate. Pause briefly to absorb what just occurred. Pausing means this: I am not letting my gut reaction takeover. I will take this in. I might even breathe on this for four seconds. Remember box breathing? I could respond, maybe with a question, maybe with some curiosity, maybe with more listening.
As native English speakers, phrasal verbs are automated for us. Equally, so many of us gut react to just about everything. That mess in the bathroom. Again? How might you reply to that? React with a volume of discontent and chances are it will get ugly with the guilty party. Choose to reply with a response instead. Responses reflect curiosity, and an openness to what might be. Maybe it was a craft experiment in the bathroom. Or maybe somebody simply forgot to clean up after themselves. Yes, perhaps again. Keeping open can keep you calm enough to shape an amenable outcome for all parties involved. Learn to defer judgement and everything can change if not for the better, then for the calmer and variety of possible end results.
Three quick strategies will help you to get your creativity on. First, replace a gut reaction with a pause. Absorb what just happened. Be quiet. 2. Take it in with a breath, two even to let automatic emotions pass through. 3. Choose to respond, perhaps with a follow up question or a ‘’tell me more.” Keeping open is the difference between intentionally suspending judgement and an autopilot unconscious knee jerk reactive reply.
Practice keeping open regularly in order to shift toward creative thinking. And what if you practice keeping open so much that you consciously become unconscious in the language of creativity? Well then you would have a creative thinking skill that truly can change everything. For creativity is the language of possibilities.
Practice keeping open for expanding into the dimension for what might be.
When Do I Get To Start My Novel?
This was a recurring question from one of my fourth graders this year.
Let me back up. I took it upon myself to try something different during Covid-19. As we started school fully remote, I was determined to find a way to make learning fun, personal and engaging.
What if students captured their learning in book form? It could keep papers together. It could save time and energy to on printing out the traditional worksheets. It could become a safe experimental place for engagement and dare I say pride. Drawing can strengthen intuition.
Creativity Through Arts captures learning in hand written format. Just as with any new language, creativity takes practice too. Learning creative thinking skills through the experience of drawing, sketching, making graphic organizers, writing and reflection can get messy. A portfolio of learning is beyond a keepsake. I may become a student reference book of creative thinking skills and a testament to engagement with the self and coursework.
Seriously, how many people want to write a book? How many people do write a book?
“I wrote a book.”
Imagine that sense of empowerment for a child, for any of us to say that.
I was unsure how exactly I could get kids to write a book. I learned along the way, we all did. I will do things differently next time. Yet here we are, feeling proud at the end of the school year, each student with a newly-minted book in hand.
New ways of learning and new types of classrooms clearly are happening around us. Before the internet, there were books. I what ways might the low tech cognition required for book writing blend with what is available online? Think paper bound sand box and have some fun with it.