The Role of Creativity in my Classroom
Eline Gijsen, Belgium
Eline Gijsen is a teacher trainee that studies at the UCLL, at Diepenbeek, Belgium. She is interested in literature, history, music and writing. She started writing her own stories in Dutch at the age of 9 and at the age of 15, in her second year of English, she started writing in English. Her current professional interests are several teacher trainee periods in secondary schools. E-mail: eline.gijsen@student.ucll.be
Menu
Introduction
Background
Examples
Conclusion
References
In this article, I’m going to write about what I think is important to design creative exercises to use in your classroom. As a teacher, it is important that you are unique in your own way, you shouldn’t fake character traits you don’t have. Your pupils should be interested in the lesson because of the person you are. The main aim should be to catch your pupil’s attention and give them a reason to learn a new language. By using creative exercises pupils will be motivated to participate. If they are motivated they will learn quicker and remember the grammar, vocabulary or culture better.
To me, it is important that the pupils feel free to make mistakes and that it’s not a bad thing, because they will learn from their mistakes. This is the reason why I think it’s important to spend time creating a good classroom environment. When you have achieved a nice and safe environment for your pupils, they will be eager to participate in your lesson, even when their English isn’t perfect. The most important thing is that they are willing to learn something new and that they stay fascinated with the new language.
Another way to reach their full attention is to come up with creative exercises. Creative exercises trigger your pupils’ attention, because they are curious about what is going to be different about them. They will be trigger by the fact that it’s not just a boring exercise from the workbook they use. They are more likely to remember things that stand out and are special. This way they will learn quicker and they will be motivated to participate. Using creative exercises also has the advantage that pupils have to think about solving the exercise or problem. This stimulates their brain. You can also create group activities, which will stimulate their sense of cooperation.
It is also valuable for your pupils if your exercises and lessons are adjusted for them. They want to learn more about the world and life beyond the classroom. Pupils want to know why they have to learn a new language and when they need to use certain aspects of the new language. By just following your workbook, the pupil won’t be able to tell when they have to use the new language because they’re not ‘real-life’ situations. You need to make sure they understand why it’s important.
When the pupils have to speak, you should tell them it doesn’t mind if they don’t know a word in English or how to pronounce it and that you will help them out if necessary. When you are teaching you can incorporate games to discuss the new topic they learnt. For example impersonating an animal when talking about animals.
You can also let them describe an animal and the others have to draw it. Than afterwards you can let them compare the drawings and ask which animal they think the person described. If you want to make your lesson valuable you can let them do a dialogue. For example, when you are discussing the topic about food. Let them order food in a restaurant, two pupils are the customers and one is the waiter.
In conclusion, it’s valuable to incorporate creativity in your classroom because it will make your lessons memorable to the pupils. It’s also important that they know mistakes aren’t a bad thing and that nobody’s perfect. Finally, it is important that your lesson should relate to ‘real-life’ situations.
Hicks, K. (2015). Why Creativity in the Classroom Matters More Than Ever. Retrieved from http://www.edudemic.com/creativity-in-the-classroom/
Please check the Creative Methodology for the Classroom course at Pilgrims website.
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