Creativity
Through facilitating a challenging curriculum and offering rich, varied learning opportunities, we aim to develop our learners into creative and innovative problem solvers, preparing them well for their future in the wider world.
Research plays a fundamental role in improving teaching at Halterworth Primary School. Informed by our research on creativity, alongside the University of Winchester, alongside Barak Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction, we have developed a shared understanding of the characteristics of effective teaching which puts creativity at the heart of all we do.
This involves a cycle of exploration (thinking about a task from many perspectives and gathering relevant information), ideation (generating ideas for how to address the task) and evaluation (reflecting back on task outcomes and what to do next)
Teachers therefore teach following the cycle of the Creativity Wheel below:
Explore
Review - Begin a lesson with a short review of previous learning. A flashback, quiz or discussion to recap learning from the previous day, week or topic helps to embed learning into the long-term memory and prepares the students to link new learning to existing schemas, building their cognitive load gradually.
Present new material in small steps with student practice after each new step. Gradually add to the students’ cognitive load, allowing time to embed their understanding in a practical way after each new load. Through exposure to new and differing experiences, our children are able to make connections, consider perspectives, investigate ideas and build the foundations required for rich learning. Check information on Dual Coding and extraneous load here to ensure that students aren’t overloaded.
Ask a large number of questions and check the responses of all students Cold calling, show me boards, voting systems, written examples which are shared in real time with the teacher are a necessary to check understanding. See Dylan William and Doug Lemov for ideas on quick formative assessment and Hinge Questioning.
Ideate
Provide models/ scaffolds See the section on modelling for advice on using this teaching method.
Guide Student Practice. Using interactive models as your next step or allowing students to try something in a limited way will ensure they can master the skill.
Encourage children to be innovative. You should offer them time to generate, fuse and test ideas so that they develop knowledge and draw conclusions through their learning experiences. This will support them in independently applying their learning to new contexts. Through offering a clear audience and purpose to their work, children will be further motivated to draw on relevant learning to produce an appropriate final outcome.
Check for student understanding Again, look to students to ensure that they are all able to move on to the next step using formative assessment strategies.
Obtain a high success rate: If the work is of the correct level, then all students should have a sense that they have understood and achieved. This will prepare them to increase their cognitive load and build their sense of achievement.
Require and monitor independent practice Both in the classroom and at home, students need time to embed skills and practice. Deliberate practice is an important aspect of mastery. Monitor independent work closely to ensure imperfect practise (misconception) is not becoming embedded.
Evaluate
Offer opportunities for children to consider how successful their learning process has been. Using shared criteria to reflect on what it is that constitutes success, children are given opportunity to develop their own reflections, identifying successes and areas for development.
Engage students in weekly and monthly review This should bring us back to the start of the lesson and is a great opportunity for flashback tasks or CRAFT feedback (Correction, Reflection and Acting on Feedback Time) to ensure that students are aware of how their learning relates to earlier lessons and builds a schema around this.