Allen Davenport

KEYNOTE

The Box of Which We Think Outside

Benjamin Bloom first unleashed the now-famous taxonomy in the 1950s, and ever since it has served as the foundation of many teaching philosophies, including many in the profession of English language teaching. The problem still may be, as Burkill & Eaton (2011) write, that "teachers feel comfortable with instruction, analysis, synthesis but mention 'creativity' and many are suffused by a grey mist of uncertainty."

This talk aims to shine through the mist by exploring attitudes and theories surrounding the abstract ideas of creativity and creative thinking and to explore how these concepts might be incorporated more successfully into the practitioner's classroom. Current and not-so-current theoretical frameworks will be presented, with particular emphasis on Williams' cognitive-affective interaction model, in order to find practical ways teachers can encourage critical and creative thinking in learners of all ages. Finally, we will look at how the impact of creative thinking being promoted as a 21st century skill may also affect current teaching methodology. All of this with the aim of cultivating student creativity.

WORKSHOP

Creativity in the Classroom: A Practical Use of a Good Theory

"Come on, use your imagination!"

Teachers frequently request this of their students while longing for a new thought or idea to burst forth from the mind of their learner. Indeed, creativity is something many teachers desire for themselves and desire their learners to possess. The issue tends to be, though, that some view creativity as successful based solely on the product or the output with perhaps not enough attention focused on the process of creating.

This workshop will look at the relationship between creativity from both the cognitive and affective perspectives. Targeted to the practitioner, the activities will include understanding some of the barriers to creativity our learners face and exploring a practical framework to adapt or produce materials to encourage an environment with the goal of developing more creative students. Teachers will experience both the cognitive and affective dimensions of creativity and use that experience to modify reading, writing, listening, and speaking tasks typically used in language classroom today.