What is Your Form of Creativity?

 “Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun. ” ~~Mary Lou Cook

 

Who are the famous thinkers and artists you know? How about Albert Einstein, Pablo Picasso, Diego Rivera, Stephen Hawking, Alvin Ailey, Emily Dickinson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Maya Angelou? These people probably all have a Thinking/Creating Disposition…

 

The Thinking Creating/Disposition:
Need alone time to wonder & create!

Thinking/Creating people usually have little interest in strict schedules or in spending time just relaxing or “shooting the breeze.” They may forget appointments if they are involved in a creative project. They can get lost in daydreaming or become so focused on their work that they ignore the people around them. Relationships suffer when their actions are interpreted as moody or inconsiderate of others’ plans and feelings. To get along best with Thinking/Creating people, it is important to acknowledge their need to contribute new ideas.

The Thinking/Creating child is often quiet in the classroom. Absorbed in thought, she may be jolted back to classroom activity when the teacher calls on her to answer a question. She might doodle or look out the window with a glazed-over stare while the teacher is talking. The customary accusation is, “You aren’t paying attention.” These children usually don’t make waves in the classroom. They are able to entertain themselves for long periods of time and give the impression that they are appropriately busy often enough to be left alone. Some are seen as withdrawn or shy. Others enjoy the stimulation of trying out their ideas on the teacher and arguing their point.

Parents sometimes worry about Thinking/Creating children. The question I hear most is, “Is it normal for a child to spend so much time playing alone?” Some of these children have an intricately developed fantasy life that seems excessive to a parent. “Is it good for a child to spend so much time disconnected from reality?” is another question that comes up frequently. Deep interests, long attention span for thinking and wondering, and a rich fantasy life are normal characteristics of Thinking/Creating children. Because of this they are often labeled ADD.

The Thinking/Creating Disposition is best described by the word CREATE. The underlying objective of this style is to contribute new ideas.

How do Thinking/Creating people learn best?

Thinking/Creating people prefer subjects and activities that are creative by nature, have artistic or philosophical aspects, offer beauty and aesthetics, provide artistic expression, and give plenty of opportunity to wonder, think, and dream. They learn best when the teaching materials and techniques used interact with nature and the arts, allow for time alone, and involve the artistic, creative, and dramatic.

Thinking/Creating people need spaces that allow them to “escape”— to design, create, or think. They thrive in atmospheres that encourage openness and wonderment, and allow for unscheduled time to doodle or dream. They appreciate opportunities to enjoy art, listen to music, or read poetry.

What are the contributions of Thinking/Creating people?

Thinking/Creating people bring creativity and a sense of beauty and openness to a situation. They can be imaginative, observant, and philosophical. They contribute an appreciation for dreaming, designing, aesthetics, and the arts.

What motivates Thinking/Creating people?

Thinking/Creating people are motivated when they are acknowledged for being creative artistic, open, and observant. They are also highly motivated by the chance to work on creative projects, the opportunity to have alone time, and having their work displayed or recognized in some way.

Helpful strategies for the classroom or homework time:

• Encourage drawing and doodling during study times.
• Experiment with different types of music in the background when studying for tests — Baroque is especially good for the brain!
• Provide time and space for quiet, alone time.
• Encourage the student to draw pictures or write a poem to understand a concept or summarize a lesson or book; suggest writing a song or setting the information to a familiar melody.
• Encourage information mapping with pictures (see resource list) when studying for tests or to make information more understandable and manageable, when reading chapters on any subject.
• Ask the teacher to allow posters, collages, poems or other artistic presentations in place of written reports.

People with the Thinking/Creating Disposition are often discounted for their desire to be imaginative or philosophical. They believe that their intentions to contribute new ideas are misunderstood. When this Disposition is not acknowledged, these children often get depressed and become loners. They can create their own world and shun interactions with people because they feel that they don’t fit in and that their gifts are not valuable or useful to the world. As adults, these people often keep to themselves. Because they can be extremely sensitive they avoid risking rejection. It is important that these children learn interaction skills that they perceive as useful so that they are able to integrate their Thinking/Creating Disposition into their daily lives.

 

Copyright 2013 by Mariaemma Pelullo-Willis, M.S., Victoria Kindle-Hodson, M.A. /
Reflective Educational Perspectives LLC
805-648-1739