Creative Learning Is Critical Thinking: "Skits, Cartoons & Interviews? What's with all this creative stuff?"

"Ugh! Mrs. Jill, Why do I have to write a paragraph like I'm one of the characters from this book? Why can't I just answer some questions about what happened?"

"Akk! Why does Mrs. Heather make us draw political cartoons for geography and history homework? I already answered the questions from the reading, why do I have to do this?"

"Blech! Mom, "History in Action" mini projects and writing trivia questions?!  Why can't we just do worksheets instead?"

Students have a natural inclination to be creative already but when you make it 'homework' they may resist it.
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Imaginative writing, artistic expression and hands on projects usually thrill most of my students (especially elementary students and most homeschoolers) so it may be hard for you to believe but there are some students (usually high schoolers ) who don't like doing the 'fun' stuff built into the homework and class time at Jill Dixon's Eclectic Academy of Learning (EAL).

In fact, I've even had a rare parent question why we have so much fun in class and they occasionally wonder if we're learning anything when their teenagers come home saying they pretended to be living works of art or acted in a reality TV show about the settlers of Jamestown at class that day.  When having to make a choice about which assignments to complete these students or parents will skip the 'easy, fun stuff' in favor of the 'more serious learning' and traditional critical thinking questions.  (Please see notes at end of this article about what is recommended at EAL to complete for homework when pestilence or wanderlust descend upon your household.)

When my own family has to choose between assignments (usually because someone gets sick or we go out of town) I  will invariably choose the creative tasks every time because it benefits my students more in the long term than some of the other traditional learning expressions because  creativity requires higher thinking functions to complete them.

Wait, Mrs. Heather, did you just say the fun stuff is 'harder' than answering the questions?

Uncaging the Jabbering Parrot

Does Rodney's parrot understand what he is saying?
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Yes, I did say that! Some may argue with me and please don't get me wrong.* Reading comprehension questions serve an important purpose but by themselves they are like a parrot in a cage repeating what is said around them. Does the parrot truly understand what it says?

Many times homework  questions are regurgitating facts* (not unlike a parrot) from the reading but the real critical thinking occurs when creativity happens.

When students have to "Make it Real" (an activity from Jill Dixon's Read With the Best literature curriculum) or complete another type of creative activity they are required to understand the material they have just read and be able to communicate what they have learned instead of parrot facts from a cage.

Creativity  is abstract thinking and forces the student to think beyond the facts of the story, such as in the "Make it Real" assignment from The Narrative of the Captivity of Mary Rowlandson, and imagine what else could have happened and what they might have done differently. In order to accurately write a paragraph about what would have happened if Mary Rowlandson had decided to approach her suffering in the complete opposite way of her world view the student must not just know how Mary Rowland  responded to suffering but understand why she made the choices she did. This type of activity requires both understanding and empathy which is critical thinking in action!

It's letting the parrot out of the cage so it can fly!

A student's cartoon depicting the boundary conflict
between New York & New Jersey over Ellis Island
shows they truly understand what happened.

This is HARDER than saying what happened (concrete thinking).  It requires truly thinking about what has been read and examining the narrative or the chronicle of history. The creative activities require students to conceptualize the facts and put them into a three dimensional world off of the page.  When this happens true comprehension and application takes place. 

It requires thoughtfulness and time which is usually why students (and sometimes parents) question the importance of these types of activities. Students have many tasks they must accomplish in their studies and it's easy to be short sighted when our 'to do' list feels very long. We want to check things off as fast as we can and get it done.

That's fine when checking off chores or a items from a shopping list but is that the only thing we want to teach our children? 

If our end goal is to enable our children to engage the world rather than be passive observers and be able to evaluate the very real problems they will face as adults then we need to teach them how to think critically and to understand the people they will live life with.  

Those are abilities and skills that can't be checked off a list but require time and effort as we challenge them to go beyond parrot jabber.

At the end of the day I want to make sure my students will be able to fly when the cage door opens.

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*When I say reading comprehension questions are regurgitating facts I am not referring to the application questions or short answer essay questions that require analysis. Rather, I am referring to questions that repeat facts from the reading such as the Who, What, When questions instead of the Why questions that analyze reasons why people or characters made the choices they made or How their choices impacted people around them. Those types of Why and How questions are incredibly important as I discuss in my blog "I Hate Poetry: The Importance of Humanities."

Important Note to EAL Parents about skipping homework assignments:

Some weeks we can't get all of the assignments done and must make a choice. Usually this is because little Hezekiah has the plague or your family has the opportunity to visit Aunt Ethel and Uncle Shamus in Glasgow. This is when I'm asked, 'What homework should we get done?" This is discussed at length in the information packet you received at orientation but the short version is:

• Get the literature and history reading done  
• Complete the writing assignments (if at all possible)
• Do the creative assignments for history and literature 
• Be sure to have your student go back and cover any material that will be tested.
• Alternatively, do some of all homework sections (i.e.- odd numbered "?'s" instead of every "?")
• Always communicate and excuse incomplete homework on the weekly assignment sheet
• If students are going to have a lengthy absence because of severe illness or extended travel then please speak with the director to come up with a specific plan for your family and situation.

Why do these specific assignments:

~If they get the reading done then they have the content and can participate in class discussions.

~If they get the creative assignments done they will also be able to participate in class activities.
 ~Writing skills are often one of the primary reasons people enroll in EAL so don't get too far behind in that if at all possible but if a student has been keeping up with most writing assignments and has strong writing skills they will be okay if they miss one assignment. ***However, if they are working on their research paper in high school or their annual writing project in the younger class then they will have to make up writing assignments to avoid being behind.***

~Doing part of each type of homework assignment still reduces the work load but enables the student to participate in class and maintain or establish a routine (in the case of students with special needs).

When doing this be sure to complete all of the work that is tested on and reduce the load else where.



I Hate Poetry! (Or why do I need to study this stuff?): The Importance of Humanities

Question: Why should we read poetry or study literature, history or religion?

The short answer: To help us understand the world & the people who live in it.

Studying the humanities helps us to understand people and their experience. We encounter people we might never meet in other circumstances when we read literature, study history or examine religion.  We witness things we have not or might never live ourselves. Reading literature and studying humanities  helps expose students to the human experience and prepares them for the many different people and situations they will encounter when they head out into the world outside of their comfortable bubble.

 "When you read all of a sudden the world is bigger
 and nothing makes sense." ~Nathan Flood
(Something my son said and this is my first meme.)

Students  tend to live life with people they already understand or who have similar or identical world views as they do. While this can be a comfort and a source of strength it can also be a disadvantage.  When we live life in our comfortable bubble we assume everyone thinks like we do or makes decisions based on the same beliefs we have. This can lead to conflict and misunderstanding.



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How many conflicts both locally and globally have had tragic results because people didn't try to understand what other people believed, why they acted in a certain way or lacked the ability to cross communication boundaries? Whether it's a personal conflict with a friend or boss or a broader conflict  within communities or between nations the understanding, or lack there of, regarding values and beliefs can result in life altering consequences.

By examining the people we encounter in humanities and trying to understand their perspective (why they do what they do) we are preparing ourselves for the people we will encounter and the decisions we will need to make on an individual, business, community and global level. By exposing students to literature, history and religion in a way that causes them to examine these subjects with the goal of understanding people we are helping them to see beyond themselves, engage in empathy and hopefully help them become more compassionate and thoughtful of the people and circumstances around them.

Kid President reads poetry.

I can thank my humanities teachers in all of my literature, history and religious studies who helped equip me for the strange new world that awaited me outside the doors of my home and school and prepared me for the many people I would encounter.

When I was in high school I had not yet met as self centered a person as Oscar Wilde's Dorian Gray but I gained insight into how selfishness can lead to destruction of self and others. In college I encountered men who viewed women as Hemingway's heroes did but I wasn't completely surprised by their actions and knew to look for a different type of hero in my life. Observing the dysfunction of  the families in Tennessee William's plays prompted me to examine my own family's story. 

As I witnessed religious and moral hypocrisy I was reminded of Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Scarlet Letter" and then examined my own heart as I related to others. As I faced my own crossroads and needed courage I was reminded of Frost's diverging roads and Christ's reference to the narrow gate.

When community or world leaders made decisions about limiting free speech,  free press or the exercise of religion I remembered how leaders from the past used that to their advantage to control the populace.  I took my lessons from ordinary citizens I had read about in history who stood up to injustice in the past which impacted my decisions in the voting booth as a young adult and to take action as a citizen.

When I encountered broken or angry people I was more compassionate and able to interact with them in a positive way because I had 'met' people like them in my studies of literature, history and religion and could empathize with their situation instead of turning my back on them.

The world is getting smaller in this technological age. Our students will be working with and living alongside people from diverse walks of life, cultures and world views. They will need to be able to understand, empathize and communicate with people from all over the world. A strong foundation in the humanities can help equip them for just that task.

Authentic advancement and achievement mean understanding what it is to be a true citizen and not a repeater of unexamined platitudes, a compassionate and self-reliant human being, a good parent, a caring member of the community, and somebody who can be trusted to teach the next generation something other than greed, territoriality, anger, outrage, bitterness and a blinkered vision of the unmapped parts of the world — and the mind.~ Gina Barreca

Further perspectives on the importance of humanities:
Op-Ed: "Humanities at the Heart of Real Education" by Gina Barreca
YouTube Video: "How & Why We Read: Crash Course English Literature #1"

Heather Flood is the developer of the history curriculum at Jill Dixon's Eclectic Academy of Learning. For the last 10 years she has been teaching humanities courses to homeschoolers whom she hopes have gone on to become empathetic, compassionate future world changers who have learned how to learn, yearn to understand, and continue to ask the question "Why?" wherever they find themselves.