I thought this was a really valuable point. A common misconception about creativity, it seems to me, is that it is free-flowing, open-ended, a river without banks or a dam. But when we are encouraging others, especially children, to write creatively and with good intentions say, "write about whatever you'd like," we can be counterproductive to the creative process. We are fostering a paralysis of information -- "write about whatever" is simply too much to process on many occasions.
Creativity is in essence problem-solving. It is most satisfying when it overcomes an obstacle and serves a purpose. Think about all the years we spent banging that one spot on a glass bottle of ketchup, only to have either nothing or a far-too-generous blob flop out. Someone finally conceived the squeeze bottle. Then we spent another several years trying to balance that ridiculously proportioned bottle on its tiny head to drain the last bit out. Someone finally had the idea to widen the spout so the bottle could always be stored upside down, eliminating the balance problem and the issue of that nasty ketchup-water that gathers as well. Each step represents a creative process undertaken by creative people. If we were to gather the creative people and tell them to do something, they might or they might not. But if we say: apply your creativity to this problem, something purposeful happens and the creative fruit is most satisfying.
The same is true for writing. A writing assignment that is left entirely open-ended has one of two tendencies: to dry up or to sprawl. When we can give some limitations to the assignment, however -- some problem to be solved -- students can turn their creative efforts to overcoming the obstacle. For example, in a personal piece, suggesting to a student struggling for ideas that they think of a personal narrative from the second grade gives them a focus -- a boundary -- which has the dual purpose of both reining in and unleashing their creative energy. In a fiction piece, suggesting they think of a type of character (say, a sailor) who wants something (to ride on an airplane, maybe) gives them some walls off which to bounce. There are a million ways that story can turn out, and the creative energy of the student is turned from developing an idea to solving a problem.
I wish someone had helped me clear up this misconception about creativity at a younger age. Creativity was nearly always presented to me as: "do whatever you want." More often than not, this was a dead end. Did any of you have a teacher that was especially good at fostering creative writing?
Matt, I tend to agree with you that for children focused creativity is the way to go. Not necessarily a list of writing prompts, although if properly made up, these have a place in the classroom. I think for most children being imaginative is not a problem, but to have to try to focus their imagination without any sort of boundary can cause the freezing or rambling that you speak about. I don't remember having any particular fostering of creative writing as an elementary student, but I do remember a great 10th grade teacher I had who really knew how to give kids focus and options for both creative and non-fiction writing. He did so by allowing us a choice of projects through which we could explore the genre and expression of literacy of our choice. We could either take on a folklore field investigation, research an author, read a classic and analyze the literature, write a screenplay and make a mini-movie, or do an oral history investigation of some sort. By giving us options and focus, this teacher really improved our writing and allowed our creativity to flow. I'm sure this style could be adapted for upper level (3-6) elementary and middle school (7-8) students.
ReplyDeleteI always hated to be told I could write about whatever I wanted. I have a very difficult time making decisions! This is something I strongly dislike about my personality but anyways.....When I was given to opportunity to write about whatever I wanted, I was stumped. I felt as though I was able to really relate to the children Hale discussed who would have back up topics, such as birthdays and vacations. I am almost positive that most of my open topic writing covered these two topics!
ReplyDeleteWow! I loved your vision of the ketchup bottle problem and how you applied it to writing. I am a visual person and I found that example to also describe the writing process. You want the reverse of the ketchup bottle dilemma. You want any writing which would be the big opening and then as they get older you prefer the concise, clean, and sophisticated glass bottle. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteMatt, its funny to read this again after today. I just used some of Hale's stuff on this topic in my paper - which is essentially about helping kids create "topic banks" from their own family stories - so independence of choice within a focused format that is intrinsically motivating because its centered on the student and their experiences. Upshot it, I now agree with you even more!
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