Creativity, focus, engagement .. all there for everyone to see

 I have previously written on the idea that you get what you constantly think about. Similarly you see what you constantly look for. Today I wandered through our tech and arts spaces, simply wandering as I love to do. It keeps me connected, chatting with students and staff, and looking at the awesome mahi they are doing. These photos were typical of what I saw. Now you can argue that this is what you'd expect to see in these spaces, and I hope that's true.  It was reassuring to see it, the absolute evidence of creative endeavour, but also to see the level of engagement of the students. The students in the photos below were absolutely typical of what I saw everywhere I walked, as is almost always the case.

Product of a 'wearable arts' unit

Similarly 'wearable arts'

Senior students focussed on their visual arts portfolios

Virtual reality and world creation, with our awesome 'Creatives in Schools' teacher Dr Claire Hughes

I've also written before that technical knowledge and skill are an essential precursor to creativity. You have to 'know' stuff before you can engage in higher order thinking, before you can be creative .. here some trigonometry in the engineering workshop. In the 'real world' knowledge isn't silo'd. Bodies of knowledge 'integrate'.

Senior 'Design and Visual Communication' students are required to build architectural models of their designs. Here those models can be seen in development, where the technology of laser cutting has been integrated to give 3D rendering to the design work.

A technology project developed in conjunction with Josh and the ChCh City Libraries team, in which students are designing and building a 60's arcade game and machine (with some funding from GCSN - Greater Christchurch Schools Network .. many thanks GCSN)

The outputs and outcomes for these students are of a very high quality. That's what you get when you focus on creativity. That's what the research evidence says. When students are required to 'create', they are giving form to their learning, they are reinforcing their learning, and by sharing their end products they create the classic design thinking feedback loop that accelerates learning and achievement. This is the very stuff of our Manaiakalani kaupapa, or our 'Learn Create Share' pedagogy. It's also a core tenet of the UDL (Universal design for Learning) framework.

It's not that this stuff doesn't happen elsewhere. It's not that it can't happen elsewhere. It's just that when you make the creativity explicit, when you more deliberate and intentional about using creativity as a 'lever' that you can pull to support learning, you are much more likely to get these outcomes, you are much more likely to get agentic learners, learners who are engaged, learners who are learning!!! 

It's what you get when you have a simple vision grounded in the research on the impact of creativity in education, and it's what you get when you have a dedicated committed staff who understand and share the vision. 'He puna auaha a centre of creative excellence' has power and impact in education.

Creativity, focus and engagement .. all there for everyone to see.