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INTRODUCTION
Early in my career as a teacher of senior art, when I had large classes, I talked myself out of using one-on-one formative assessment and feedback strategies, such as conferencing, to advance creative thinking, because I figured I simply did not have the time. Furthermore, I wondered what the other students would do when I was speaking with individuals about their work. How could I make sure all students completed my assignments and cared for my art materials when I was working with a single student? So, in the beginning, I skipped conferences, simply assigned student artwork a summative grade, and called it a day. However, I began to change my mind as the years progressed.
The turning point happened in a senior art class. I sensed that some of my quieter and more reluctant students were connecting with a painting unit I was teaching on watercolor painting. As they built confidence and technique, I had the urge to speak to some of them about what they were experiencing. So, I began to conference with my students. I structured an activity that invited independent exploration, and I let the learners know that I wanted to speak with them individually about their ongoing efforts. I made sure every student was able to work on his or her own and then I began calling students, one at a time, out into the hallway, where I had hung their work.
I began by asking them which aspect of their work gave them the most pride, based on the skills we had been practicing. I followed with a question about which part of their work most surprised them. I then asked them what they might do differently if they could have another try at the painting on the wall. The conversations were organic, productive, and criterion referenced. I learned so much about my students and their thinking. I also found the space and time to honor their learning. This was so powerful.
I especially remember a session I had with a particular student. He was definitely one of the quietest in my class, and he was a year older than the other students in the room. School was not a place where he experienced tremendous success, and I had the sense that he was just trying to graduate so he could get on with “real life.” I believe he enrolled in my elective course because he thought it would get him one credit closer to graduation (and it did). He was always unfailingly polite but very reserved. I am not sure I could have told you much about him as a person, even after having him in my class for a month.
When he joined me in the hallway for his conference, he looked a little terrified, unsure of what was going to happen. I began by expressing how grateful I was for his efforts in trying a new kind of painting. He honestly looked as if hearing a positive comment like this was a completely foreign experience—he immediately smiled and began to talk about how interested he was in the quality of watercolor paint. Our conversation flowed from that point on, and he easily reflected on his processes and set goals for his next piece. What struck me the most was the power of a formative assessment and feedback session when in the hands of this learner. He shared more in those ten minutes than I heard from him in the preceding month, and our conversation ignited his creativity as he began to plan his next art piece. It completely confirmed my suspicion that assessment’s role is to motivate and inspire. Most of all, it reminded me of the importance of student voice in the learning and assessment process. It is a lesson that has never left me.
Too many classrooms stifle, push down, or lock up creativity. Students receive assignments with little or no room to express themselves or explore their options; this lack of options locks them into stagnant routines. The implications of this stagnation in a classroom setting are immense. Without creativity and assessment processes that truly nurture inquiry and growth, we end up with systems filled with compliance and “right” answers. We run the risk of eliminating multiple viewpoints, critical thinking, and deep connections by rewarding the systematic movement of learners through prescriptive content. Teachers want more for students—we want students to feel the grit of learning; the struggle and challenge; the recursive nature of rich, authentic learning. We want them to feel the power of making their own decisions, the challenges when those decisions do not yet yield the hoped-for results, and the pride when they give students exactly what they wanted. We want students to recognize the power of revision, of returning to ideas more than once in order to deepen and extend thinking.
When we introduce creativity into all classroom settings, we unlock the potential for profound learning and development of valuable life skills. We can use creativity to teach resilience, to foster imagination, and to nurture stamina. We can invite students into processes that encourage them to see problems and topics from multiple perspectives. We can use creativity to reinforce critical thinking alongside curiosity and wonder. Creativity, and the assessment that supports it, encourages students to broaden their idea generation and revisit assumptions. Pete Hall and Alisa Simeral (2015) remind us, “The most successful individuals today are those who have the ability to reflect—those who are aware of what they know, recognize that what they know is always subject to change, and have the ability to undo and relearn knowledge. Therefore, they are able to revise their belief systems” (p. 47). Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe (2005) go on to clarify the importance of the kinds of assessment that unlock creativity: “Self-understanding is arguably the most important facet of understanding for lifelong learning. Central to self-understanding is an honest self-assessment, based on increasing clarity about what we do understand and what we don’t; what we have accomplished and what remains to be done” (pp. 215–216). The development of our learners into thinking human beings depends on the presence of creativity in our classrooms.
About This Book
The purpose of this book is to offer very tangible ways we can use assessment processes to unlock creativity in any classroom at any grade level. The kind of assessment I will describe in each chapter purposefully invites learners right into the middle of creative decisions by simultaneously inviting them right into the middle of assessment.
Assessment is the key that unlocks the creative potential so many students have learned to suppress in school, are unaware they possess, or over time have convinced themselves never existed at all. When we embed assessment within the creative process, it invites students to consider decisions they are making in relation to personally meaningful goals. It invites us, as their teachers, to observe their progress and the actions they are taking so we can respond carefully.
When we decide to develop creativity within our classrooms, we may feel the pull between the messiness of exploration and the desire to protect both our own and our students’ sense of self-worth and need for control. We face the challenge of deciding what kind of feedback to offer every time a student shares a product with us; of determining to what degree we are going to ask him or her to re-enter the creative process, and to what degree we are going to let students make those decisions on their own. This process is complex and recursive, and we might not be familiar with this kind of complexity, this degree of revision, and this shift in the conversations we have about learning in our school system. Students, in turn, are used to a particular way of doing business when at school and often work on the premise of needing to get things done and complete tasks quickly. For this reason, if we are going to develop creativity in our classrooms, we need embedded assessment processes that help both teachers and students navigate the messiness of creativity. In making creativity flourish in our classrooms, we may first have to reconsider our assessment decisions and methods and examine how best to invite the kinds of assessment that actually support creativity in our learners.
Creativity and Assessment
Part of the challenge of this work rests in how we understand creativity—what it is, how it works, and how it is reflected in all areas of life. We can say the same for assessment. We may have two misunderstandings compounded exponentially and, as a result, both are sold incredibly short in our education system. Misunderstanding breeds misuse or omission. This is not only unfortunate but also outright dangerous.