Creativity Challenge!

During our final lab session together, we had an exercise in tapping into our creative side when developing lessons for our classroom. Each of us came prepared with a unit plan that we would be teaching in the spring and went on an adventure to the local dollar store where we were to find five items that we could use to help us deliver at least one of our lessons in our unit this spring. I chose my Intro to Ag Careers unit for my 8th graders, where I'll teach my students about some of many different careers available in the agriculture industry, so I chose five items that tie back to various careers. My plan is that during my first few lessons and throughout the unit, I would present my students with different items or pictures and my students would have to discern how they tie back to an agricultural career or sector of the industry; items including a bar of soap (dairy), dog treats (beef/veterinary), a feather boa (feathers/poultry), an artificial flower (horticulture), and a set of small plastic containers (research).

This was a fun lab that allowed us to think outside the box when planning lessons, which I know will be necessary for two main reasons. First, because utilizing creativity in our classrooms can only increase the engagement of our students, allowing us to bring more variability into our lessons. Second, because budgets will always be tight for schools and teachers, and knowing how to think outside the box to find materials for lessons and classes, can only help us stretch our budgets longer. Agriculture teachers are known to be masters of acquiring materials and equipment through donations, partnerships, and grants, but even being able to stretch it in simple ways, like knowing what materials can be found and/or made from the dollar store can help teachers, especially new teachers like myself.

Creativity, both from ourselves and allowing room for our students to be creative, can only make our classrooms, and our teaching, better. While I may not consider myself a naturally creative person, with use of social media sites such as Pinterest to help me find creative ideas, and the local discount stores to find materials, I think even I can some creativity into my classroom, and I look forward to seeing what I come up with.

"Creativity is intelligence having fun." - Albert Einstein