Module 3: Defining Creativity

 

 

 

I interviewed Luis Fernando Pulido the performing arts teacher at my school about his creative processes and his beliefs about creativity.  Luis uses creative processes in personal and professional capacities.  He uses creative processes in his personal life in order to develop ways to continue all types of personal growth on a daily basis.  In his professional life as a teacher he uses creative processes to develop materials and support for students to help them grow in their own personal creative strengths.  He also must create new ways to communicate what he has learned about the performing arts to his students in ways that each student finds accessible.

 

Luis’ definition of creativity is translating the tools and knowledge one has previously learned into new physical or intellectual material in order to transmit ones learned ideas in a new, more current form rather than the normal structure.  In Luis’ professional work with students in dance, theater, and singing he uses creative processes to try to help students identify their own strengths and to help them understand their limitations are only within their own minds.  When he can get his students to trust in their abilities and experiment he sees interesting and creative results. I asked Luis how he evaluates creativity in his class since creativity is such a subjective idea.  In Luis’ opinion, if his students are willing to try to transmit their ideas in ways that are new to them (whether it be a traditional or innovative form with respect to the manner in which they present their idea) then the student is already being successful.

 

Through the reading and the interview with Luis I have discovered that evaluating creativity is a delicate process.  While it is important to have a tool such as the NEW (novel-effective-whole) rubric as a tool to judge creativity, it is also important not to stifle a student’s creativity.  Luis, for example, just wants his students to be trying new things and thus he deems them successful creatively speaking, but in a more professional scenario, it is important to have criteria with which to judge.  Being that I am a student of creativity right now, I appreciate having clear criteria being used to evaluate my creative processes.

 

I have always felt that I struggle with creativity but one part of this was not knowing how to deem something as creative or not.  The NEW rubric helps me to start to be able to judge if what I am doing is novel, effective, and whole.  I also take from my interview with Luis the idea that I need to trust in my abilities and be willing to experiment and take chances with my work.  I may not always be as effective as I would like to be, but part of growing creatively is being willing to try.