Everyone knows that creativity is a process of activity during which new spiritual or material values are created. It is also often called special thinking, due to which a person can go beyond the limits of traditional existence. And in general, creativity is also the process of investing by a person in what he does, his own capabilities and considerations. In general, this term can be interpreted in different ways. But we want to pay attention to such a concept as pedagogical creativity.
General provisions
What is the task of modern education? In mastering by teachers the methodology of creative transformation of the world. Why is it so important? Because creativity in this context implies the discovery of new knowledge, objects, problems, as well as ways to solve them. However, this is not all that can be said on this topic.
Professional teaching activity is a process of constant creativity. But there is a specificity here. Creationthe teacher does not have the goal of creating something original, fundamentally new, valuable on a large scale. It is aimed at something more important and serious - the development of the individual. Of course, a good teacher (especially if he is an innovator) develops his own pedagogical system. However, it is not the goal of his creativity, but only a way to achieve the best results in this activity.
Specifics
Pedagogical creativity is impossible if a person does not have social and teaching experience (and education), as well as a predisposition to this activity. However, about everything - in order.
Special training required. Because only an erudite teacher with non-standard thinking and extended boundaries can find original, “fresh” ways to solve a problem that is most often associated with student learning.
What is the difficulty? The fact that the teacher in the course of his work constantly solves a huge number of tasks - both typical and non-standard. And not always under the same circumstances. And while solving them, the teacher (like any other researcher) builds his activities in accordance with the provisions of the heuristic search. That is, it analyzes the situation, builds assumptions about the result, taking into account the initial data, assesses the potential of the means available to achieve the goal, and formulates tasks. This is hard work that requires a creative approach and certain skills and abilities.
What formsusefulness?
Teaching activity has both quantitative and qualitative characteristics. Pedagogical creativity, pedagogical experience and skills are impressive only if the specialist himself treats his activity in an appropriate way - with interest, responsibility, inspiration and enthusiasm. These are the most important conditions!
Pedagogical innovation, productive learning, achieving some success in all activities in general - all this and much more is possible if there are 5 generally accepted aspects.
The first is the presence of a creative task that interests the teacher himself. The second is the social significance that affects the development of the individual. The third is the presence of social and material prerequisites (in other words, the conditions) necessary for creativity. The fourth is the novelty and originality of the process or the expected result. And the fifth is the presence of subjective prerequisites for the implementation of creativity. This refers to the teacher's skills, his knowledge, motivation, enthusiasm, desire to work with the audience.
Main difficulty
Professional pedagogical activity is not within the power of every person. Why? Because it involves constant interaction with other people. With those who are an order of magnitude younger (as a rule) and require knowledge. With people who need to be trained, to share their skills and mental resources. With people who don't always want it. This requires a special, individual approach to each student. Everyone needs to be interested. Or at leastmajority.
This is where pedagogical creativity is fully manifested. The teacher puts himself in the place of the students, asks himself countless questions. What might they be interested in? How and with what to attract them? What methodology should be used to encourage students to master the material? How do you convey the importance of the subject to them? And so - before each lesson.
First, the teacher forms his own idea, arising from the answers to all the listed and unmentioned questions (of which there are even more). Then he works it out, transforms it into an idea. Then he "looks" for methods by which the embodiment of the plan will be real. By the way, it is in the course of these processes that a person acquires the experience of creativity. Of course, from the outside it may seem like making a lesson plan. But all teachers (or at least most) write it. It’s just that some go to classes with pleasure, experiencing interest in the subject and knowledge, while others don’t.
Interaction with the audience
His pedagogical creativity means first of all. The success and recognition as a specialist, as well as the quality of the knowledge gained by schoolchildren / students, depends on what kind of contact a teacher establishes with students.
Which teacher's classes are more interesting to go to? Someone who interacts with the audience, looks everyone in the eye, and tries to make the lesson as similar as possible to a productive colloquium? Or to the classes of the "lecturer" who sits at the table and just reads the material from the notebook? Of course everyone will choosefirst option. And this case is a vivid manifestation of creativity. Because connecting with an audience is an art.
But you can't do without creativity. The formation of which is often facilitated by certain organization of the educational process. It is mandatory, since the purpose of the classes is still to transfer knowledge and skills to schoolchildren / students. And this is what this organization includes:
- Problem-Based Learning.
- Building interdisciplinary links.
- Instilling a positive and creative attitude in students towards learning the subject.
- The ability to determine the main thing and comprehend the past.
- Developing students' abilities and skills regarding synthesis, analysis, classification and generalization.
- The ability to evaluate practical situations.
And these are just the main provisions that pedagogical work implies. Some of them deserve special attention.
Problem-Based Learning
This is a very interesting methodology, which implies active interaction between the teacher and students on the basis of the problem-represented content of education. What is its essence?
So, the teacher poses an educational problem task for schoolchildren / students (naturally, after a collective study of the material). So he creates a problem situation for them. Students need to analyze it, understand and accept the essence, and then proceed to solve the problem. During this process, theytime and apply the skills and information learned during the training. Such practical classes teach schoolchildren and students to think, and to acquire knowledge creatively.
By the way, an alternative to this methodology is heuristic learning. It arose back in the days of Ancient Greece - it was practiced by Socrates himself! For a long time, the methodology was based on the trial and error method. However, by doing them, it was possible to come to the truth.
And in this case, the foundations of pedagogical creativity are also manifested. What should the students do? Just getting involved in the process and applying the knowledge given by the teacher is not so difficult. And the teacher needs to design that very educational problem situation, formulate it clearly, and even give it a special character in order to interest the audience.
Torrance provisions
They cannot be ignored when talking about creativity in teaching. Alice Paul Torrance was a famous American psychologist who developed the basic principles concerning it. And these provisions on pedagogical creativity are very indicative. Here's what they include:
- Recognizing and exploiting opportunities that were previously not recognized or exploited.
- Respect and acceptance of the student's desire to work independently.
- The ability not to interfere with the creative process of schoolchildren/students.
- The ability to give students freedom of choice in achieving goals and applying their skills and strengths.
- Appropriate useindividual learning program for students with special abilities.
- Creating the conditions necessary to achieve certain goals.
- Moderate encouragement and praise.
- No pressure on students.
- Respect for everyone.
- Showing and greeting enthusiasm.
- Creating conditions for the interaction of "strong" students with less successful ones.
- Providing all possible authoritative assistance to students - especially students / schoolchildren with an opinion and point of view that is different from others.
All of the above is of great importance. Because the concept of pedagogical creativity includes not only a special approach to teaching, but also the education of students and their development. Not only all together - also separately. After all, in fact, creativity in pedagogy is manifested through the development of the unique abilities of students.
Conditions for teaching excellence
Well, as mentioned earlier, the activities of educators are complex, as is their work. Although it undoubtedly bears fruit - if the teacher approaches his tasks as described above.
But just to ensure that productivity does not fall, and the specialist also pleases with the results, special conditions are needed for the development of pedagogical creativity. This includes many aspects - both moral and material. The latter, of course, include incentives, bonuses, wages worthy of the effort, time and work. In a word, expressiongratitude and respect. It matters these days.
But other conditions are also important. These include conciseness, the so-called compressedness of creativity. Also, the conjugation of the activities of one teacher with others. It is also important to have the time needed for preparation. This also includes the delay of the result. This is all aimed at stimulating the teacher to carry out creative activities.
By the way, public speaking and the constant correlation of generally accepted pedagogical techniques with non-standard situations often contribute to its development. But it is necessary for those teachers who are not used to being creative.
Levels
They should also be noted with attention. There are levels of pedagogical creativity, and it is customary to single out five main ones.
The first one is called information-reproducing. It implies the use in solving professional problems of the experience received and adopted from others by the teacher in the course of his activities.
The second level is called adaptive-predictive. It consists in the ability of the teacher to transform the data and information known to him, to choose methods, ways, methods of interaction with schoolchildren / students, and taking into account their specific personal characteristics.
The third level is known as rationalization. A teacher corresponding to him shows his unique experience, the ability to solve non-standard problems, to look for optimal solutions. And in his work, there is clearly a certain originality and individuality.
The fourth level is called research. It lies in the ability of the teacher to designate the conceptual basis of personal search and develop a system of activity based on research on its results.
And finally, the fifth level. Known as creative and predictive. Teachers corresponding to it are able to put forward super-tasks and solve them in reasonable, often self-developed ways. These are teachers of the highest category who can really change and transform the education system.
Competitions for teachers
I would also like to say a few words about them in the end. Because many competitions for teachers that exist today are of a creative nature. Take, for example, "New Ideas" and "Methodological system of an effective teacher." These competitions are aimed at introducing new, personally developing educational technologies, as well as presenting and popularizing the experience of educators. There is also the motivation of teachers to use innovations in the learning process.
And there is a competition, which is called “Pedagogy of creativity”. Its purpose is, in addition to all of the above, also to stimulate innovation. And it is aimed, among other things, at overcoming the stereotypes fixed regarding this professional activity.
By the way, such competitions also contribute to creative development and professional growth. And the participation of teachers in them only once again emphasizestheir dedication and commitment.
