What are your interests outside of teaching? I think becoming well read and involved in a wide variety of interests provides us with the raw resources that we need for what I call Creative Alchemy. Too often, people believe that creativity is some esoteric skill that involves coming up with completely original ideas from out of the blue. That is rarely the way it works. I liken it more to these definitions of alchemy.
Alchemy: 1. The magical process of transmuting a common substance, usually of little value, into a substance of great value.
2. A process by which paradoxical results are achieved by the combination of incompatible elements.
Spend more time on your passions, hobbies, and outside areas of interest and then seek ways to incorporate them into your classroom. Cultivate new hobbies and watch new areas of your brain explode in creative output. Rekindle the feelings that you used to have for the passions of your younger days and watch your life light up with a new energy. Grow! Try new things and do those bucket list items that you never get around to. Notice the world around you and treat it like the bountiful supply of creative ideas that it is. It’s not just good for your life…it’s great for your teaching. It allows you to bring a new perspective and energy into the classroom. It allows you to become a powerful role model for your students. We always say we want them to be life long learners, so we have to show them what that looks like.
I think that creative stagnation is often a result of being unwilling to venture into areas outside of our expertise and in an inability to see how seemingly unrelated ideas can be combined into something new and powerful. I am always trying to convince teachers that the best books to read about teaching are rarely in the education section. I always have 3 or 4 books on my nightstand, a book in my car, one in my school bag, and several more on my phone. I consider it one of the most important parts of my job to constantly expose myself to the high quality thinking of other people. It challenges me, it keeps me current, and it provides me the raw resources that I need for creative alchemy.
My outside interests are wide, varied, and growing. Here are some examples: magic, origami, chess, coaching basketball, fitness, entrepreneurship, direct marketing, social media, rap music, success literature, public speaking, civil rights and, most recently, the Rubik’s Cube. When I only focus on my teaching, I am not nearly as creative as when I find time to humor my strange obsessions.
Examples of creative alchemy are everywhere. Jazz was made through creative alchemy. Rock n’ roll…creative alchemy. Rap music…creative alchemy right down to the samples of other songs combined into something unique. Forgive me for dating myself, but I still remember when Run DMC added a rock guitar to many of their rap songs. A new sound was created. There is a long tradition amongst DJ’s of using creative alchemy by mixing songs from different genres to create a sound that is “new.” Artists have increased creativity by experimenting with different mediums. Musicians have had watershed moments of creativity after becoming influenced by other bands, artists, and styles. Marketers have designed brilliant campaigns after exposing themselves to methods of other industries and then seeking to apply the ideas to their own.
Here is alchemy at work:
- For years I have incorporated origami (one of my outside interests) into my history class, but I was always frustrated that I had no particular use for the narrow strip of paper left over after cutting 200 8 ½ x 11 ½ pieces of paper into a square.
- I have also been frustrated for the past few years with my 1920’s Henry Ford assembly line simulation. I didn’t like the final product of the activity and had, in fact, stopped doing it for a couple of years.
- A couple of years ago, I saw a student create a “helicopter” out of a narrow piece of paper that was originally a receipt, I believe. I asked him to teach it to me and put it in my file of ideas to use at some point in the future.
After two years…I repeat, TWO years…the creative alchemy finally worked its magic. (How long should you wait for a good idea? As long as it takes!)
Now, I use the strips of paper for the raw materials that I need to turn each class into several competing teams of helicopter-making assembly lines during my Henry Ford lesson. I solved the answer to my wasted strips of paper problem, my assembly line problem, and the problem of how to use the cool principle taught to me by a student. This semester was my first attempt at it and I think it is going to be a keeper. Alchemy!
Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that time spent developing yourself into a well-rounded person, above and beyond your role as an educator, is time wasted or something to feel guilty about. It is essential and will pay dividends in not only your life, but also in your classroom.
Dave Burgess