creativity #2, mike abrahams

 remember when i wrote about creativity here?

tina, at colour living, has introduced two other creative people since then.  

both have interesting ideas.  i'll share one today, and another soon.

mike abrahams compares creativity to the disciplined way athletes approach sports.  

in fact, he's a runner, and hired a coach.  he went to the masters world championships and ran for great britain.  (he'd never see the photo above, we're WAY too slow)  

his three things for running and creativity are:

1.  talent - what you have.  it's fixed.

2.  nutrition - what you put in to get your body working efficiently.

3.  training - your program and how you avoid or correct injuries.

in creativity, this looks like:

1.  talent - accepting himself and not comparing.

2.  nutrition - he's "incurably curious".

3.  training - this is what mike does to improve the output.  he creates artist books and has lots of ways to feed his creativity.

for teachers and children this looks like:

1.  talent - each child has different gifts.  a teacher's calling is to find those gifts and shine a light on them.  also help the child recognize what he or she is good at and

  see each other's strengths.

2.  nutrition - this is what school is all about - feeding the social, emotional, spiritual (catholic school), and intellectual development of each child.  

montessori is the method where i teach, and it encourages children's choices and creativity.

3.  training - this is the day-in-day-out work.  

our students know that you have to actually DO something to learn.  making mistakes is a big part of this, because if a child (or adult) is unwilling to make mistakes, he or she is not attempting anything challenging.  challenging work brings learning.  it's not easy.  teachers know how it feels - uncomfortable - but really wonderful when you finally "get it".  

joy to you!