Module 3: (Weeks 7): Creative Environments – Assignment

Please cited and put a cover page.

Learning Resources

Required Resources

Note: While the following specified resources are highly recommended, you may find other articles and/or Web sites to broaden and deepen your thinking and help you complete the assignment for this module.

* Podcast: Encouraging Creativity in Children
http://www.jackstreet.com/jackStreet/WMBKnaeyc.chenfeld.cfm

* Web Video: Ken Robinson Says Schools Kill Creativity
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

* Web Video: Creatively Speaking, Part 2: Sir Ken Robinson on the Power of the Imaginative Mind
http://www.edutopia.org/sir-ken-robinson-creativity-part-two-video

* Web Article: The Other IQ: Imagination Quotient
http://www.crayola.com/theartofchildhood/docs/educators_otherIQ.pdf

* Web Article: Why Childrens Dispositions Should Matter to All Teachers
http://www.naeyc.org/files/yc/file/200709/DaRos-Voseles.pdf

* Web Article: Can Movement Promote Creativity?
http://www.naeyc.org/files/yc/file/200907/LeapsandBoundsWeb709.pdf

* Web Article: 10 Lessons the Arts Teach
http://alumniconnections.com/olc/filelib/NAEA/cpages/9006/Library/10Lessons_handout.pdf

Supplemental Resources

* Web Article: Learning, Arts, and the Brain: The Dana Consortium Report on Arts and Cognition
http://www.dana.org/news/publications/publication.aspx?id=10760

* Web Article: Exploration and Discovery! Creating an Enthusiastic, Exciting Classroom
http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_home.aspx?ArticleID=150

Assignment: Fostering Creativity

The creative is the place where no one else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you’ll discover will be wonderful. What you’ll discover is yourself.

Alan Alda, Actor

Before you begin your assignment for this module, take a few minutes and think about your personal definition of creativity. Then respond to the following questions:

* What does it mean to be a creative person?
* Do you consider yourself to be creative? Why or why not?
* Who in your life and what experiences in your life fostered or impeded your growth as a creative person?
* What would the world be like without creativity?

After you have had a chance to respond to and reflect on the questions above, complete your assignment by summarizing your thinking about the following:

* What is creativity?
* How would you describe an environment that fosters creativity in young children?
* How can adults who work with young children support and promote their creativity?
* Why is fostering creativity integral to effective early childhood practice?

Note: Use examples from the readings to support your thinking and illustrate the ways your understanding has expanded and/or deepened. Be sure to cite your sources.

(Assignment length: 2 pages)