MODULE 1:CREATIVITY and CREATIVE WRITING

CMU Digital Academics

Learning Objectives: At the end of the module the learner will be able to study:

❑ Recognize creativity as a 21st century skill to be developed

through writing;

a. What is Creativity?
b. Creativity as a 21st Century Skill
c. Why Creativity?
d. What is Creative Writing?
e. Purposes and Benefits of Creative Writing

Local Flavor. Global Future

 COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course focuses on the pre-service teachers’ acquisition

and application of the theories, concepts, and skills in creative
writing to include biographical sketches, fiction, creative non-
fiction, and poetry. The course also integrates the relationship of
language and writing as a macro skill in the teaching-learning
process and asks them to prepare original compositions in
expository and creative writing. With this, they will be able to
demonstrate creative writing content knowledge and skills as an
avenue to embody personal and professional reflection and
learning to improve one’s practice.
 COURSE OBJECTIVES

At the end of the course, the pre-service teachers should be

able to:
1. demonstrate content knowledge and application of the
competencies (principles, techniques, and styles) and skills in
collecting original paragraphs following different orders of
organization and in writing an expository text of a topic of interest;
and
2. perform and produce creative texts (biographical sketches,
fiction, non-fiction, and poetry).
 WHAT IS CREATIVITY?

•From Human Motivation, 3rd ed., by Robert E. Franken:

Creativity is defined as the tendency to generate or recognize ideas, alternatives, or possibilities that may be useful
in solving problems, communicating with others, and entertaining ourselves and others.

•Three reasons why people are motivated to be creative:

• need for novel, varied, and complex stimulation

• need to communicate ideas and values
• need to solve problems

•In order to be creative, you need to be able to view things in new ways or from a different perspective. Among other things,
you need to be able to generate new possibilities or new alternatives. Tests of creativity measure not only the number of
alternatives that people can generate but the uniqueness of those alternatives. the ability to generate alternatives or to see
things uniquely does not occur by change; it is linked to other, more fundamental qualities of thinking, such as flexibility,
tolerance of ambiguity or unpredictability, and the enjoyment of things heretofore unknown.
 WHAT IS CREATIVITY?

•From Creativity - Beyond the Myth of Genius, by Robert W. Weisberg.

..."creative" refers to novel products of value, as in "The airplane was a creative

invention." "Creative" also refers to the person who produces the work, as in, ?Picasso
was creative." "Creativity," then refers both to the capacity to produce such works, as in
"How can we foster our employees' creativity?" and to the activity of generating such
products, as in "Creativity requires hard work."

•All who study creativity agree that for something to be creative, it is not enough for it to
be novel: it must have value, or be appropriate to the cognitive demands of the situation."
 WHAT IS CREATIVITY?

•From Creativity - Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention by Mihaly
Csikszentmihalyi.

Ways that "creativity" is commonly used:

• Persons who express unusual thoughts, who are interesting and stimulating -
in short, people who appear too unusually bright.
• People who experience the world in novel and original ways. These are
(personally creative) individuals whose perceptions are fresh, whose
judgements are insightful, who may make important discoveries that only
they know about.
• Individuals who have changes our culture in some important way. Because
their achievement are by definition public, it is easier to write about them.
(e.g., Leonardo, Edison, Picasso, Einstein, etc.) (pages 25-26)
 WHAT IS CREATIVITY?

•The Systems Model of Creativity: (pages 27-28)

• the creative domain, which is nested in culture - the symbolic knowledge
shred by a particular society or by humanity as a whole (e.g., visual arts)
• the field, which includes all the gatekeepers of the domain (e.g., art critics,
art teachers, curators of museums, etc.)
• the individual person, who using the symbols of the given domain (such
as music, engineering, business, mathematics) has a new idea or sees a
new pattern, and when this novelty is selected by the appropriate field for
inclusion into the relevant domain
WHAT IS CREATIVITY?

•Creativity is any act, idea, or product that changes an existing

domain, or that transforms an existing domain into a new one...What
counts is whether the novelty he or she produces is accepted for
inclusion in the domain." (page 28)
WHAT IS CREATIVITY?

Characteristics of the creative personality: (pages 58-73)

1. Creative individuals have a great deal of energy, but they are also
often quiet and at rest.
2. Creative individuals tend to be smart, yet also naive at the same
time.
3. Creative individuals have a combination of playfulness and
discipline, or responsibility and irresponsibility.
4. Creative individuals alternate between imagination and fantasy ant
one end, and rooted sense of reality at the other.
 WHAT IS CREATIVITY?

•Creative people seem to harbor opposite tendencies on the continuum between

extroversion and introversion.
•Creative individuals are also remarkable humble and proud at the same time.
•Creative individuals to a certain extent escape rigid gender role stereotyping and
have a tendency toward androgyny.
•Generally, creative people are thought to be rebellious and independent.
•Most creative persons are very passionate about their work, yet they can be
extremely objective about it as well.
•The openness and sensitivity of creative individuals often exposes them to
suffering pain yet also a great deal of enjoyment.
CREATIVITY AS 21ST CENTURY SKILL ?
CREATIVITY AS 21ST CENTURY SKILL ?

Reasons to cultivate creativity

1.Creativity drives innovation.
2.Creativity drives prosperity.
3. Creativity tips the scales toward success.
4. Creativity increases employee engagement
5. Creativity makes you “future-proof”
6. Creativity makes you “future-proof”
 WHAT IS CREATIVE WRITING?

Traditionally referred to as literature, creative writing is an art of sorts - the art of

making things up. It's writing done in a way that is not academic or technical but
still attracts an audience. Though the definition is rather loose, creative writing can
for the most part be considered any writing that is original and self-expressive.
TYPES OF CREATIVE WRITING?

Types of creative writing include:

•Poetry
•Plays
•Movie and television scripts
•Fiction (novels, novellas, and short stories)
•Songs
•Speeches
•Memoirs
•Personal essays
TYPES OF CREATIVE WRITING?
Techniques used in creative writing include:
•Character development
•Plot development
•Vivid setting
•Underlying theme
•Point of view
•Dialogue
•Anecdotes
•Metaphors and similes
•Figures of speech
•Imaginative language
•Emotional appeal
•Heavy description
PURPOSE OF CREATIVE WRITING?

The purpose of creative writing is to both entertain and

share human experience, like love or loss.

Writers attempt to get at a truth about humanity through

poetics and storytelling. If you'd like to try your hand at
creative writing, just keep in mind that whether you are
trying to express a feeling or a thought, the first step is to use
your IMAGINATION.
BENEFITS OF CREATIVE WRITING?

Improved Self-Expression
Job Success
Improved Thinking Skills
Empathy
It’s Fun!
CREATIVE WRITING vs OTHER WRITINGS

CREATIVE WRITING VS. TECHNICAL WRITING

CREATIVE WRITING vs OTHER WRITINGS

CREATIVE WRITING VS. ACADEMIC WRITING

 TEDTALK EXPERIENCE
How creative writing can help you through life's hardest moments | Sakinah Hofler - YouTube
 REFERENCES/TEXTBOOK/LINKS

https://www.csun.edu/~vcpsy00h/creativity/define.htm

https://bangkok.unesco.org/sites/default/files/assets/themes/education/quality_educati
on/neqmap/NEQMAP%20Annual%20Meetings/2nd%20Annual%20Meeting%202014/ITA
-Pakistan.pdf

https://www.developintelligence.com/blog/2017/09/creativity-skill-cultivate-21st-
century/

https://writers.com/why-learn-creative-writing

https://terveen-gill.medium.com/the-higher-purpose-of-creative-writing-a2fb81368427

Local Flavor. Global Future

Any Questions