Easy Ideas to Boost Creativity Across the Curriculum
One of the simplest ways to boost creativity in the classroom is by integrating the arts into every subject. Arts education can serve as a vehicle for hands-on and experiential learning, reflection and self-expression, and a way to look at subject specific concepts in new ways. Every art form can also be used to transition from one subject to the next or to take a brain break when students need to refocus their attention.
Transitions | Brain Breaks (1-5 minutes)
Put on a high energy song and invite students to get out of their seats to move.
Sing a couple of fun and interactive “camp” songs that have full body actions.
Play a drama game that is quick, fun, and is likely to create laughter in the class.
Invite students to doodle to a calming piece of music for a few minutes.
Share jokes, riddles or tongue twisters. Have a new one for every day of the week.
Take students through a visualization exercise where they can use their imagination to see themselves somewhere other than the classroom (e.g., in a forest)
Language Arts
Teach poetry by having students analyze music lyrics. Choose from any genre of music that you feel would be culturally appropriate and appealing to your students. They will learn about poetic devices and elements such as rhyme scheme, meter, repetition, and imagery.
Students can interpret text such as poetry, music lyrics, or pages of a book through dance by putting movement to the words. They can also explore the emotions of a character through gestures and physical expression. Teach students how to choreograph a simple dance by using the same structure of a story. Create a commercial or public announcement using non-verbal communication to make a point.
Include visual arts as a form of journaling. Students can demonstrate what they have learned about a concept or express how they feel about their progress as a learner. Visual arts can also be used to “write” a story such as a graphic novel or to create a storyboard for a language arts or media literacy assignment.
Use drama strategies and conventions to help students learn more about characters in stories, understand conflict, develop perspective, improve creative problem-solving skills, and so forth. Students can role-play a character in a story to learn more about their inner and outer life or write a letter as if they are the character. Students can also create short skits to rewrite the ending of a story based on how they think a conflict could be solved.
Mathematics
Teach math concepts by listening to music or singing songs. Help students to discover patterns and repetition, count beats, identity time signatures, and learn about fractions through quarter, half, and whole notes. They can also learn about greater than and less than through sound (crescendo and decrescendo), speed (fast and slow), and shapes (melodic shapes in music arrangements).
Use dance techniques such as mirroring (one leader and one follower) or flocking (four individuals moving together in a diamond shape with one leader) to explore mathematical concepts such as symmetry and geometrical shapes. You can also invite students to watch selections of dance choreography to see how many math concepts they can identify such as direction, patterns, shapes, speed, repetition, and distance.
Students can solve complex math problems by acting them out. They can develop financial literacy by going “shopping” where they role-play being a customer and store owner with goods to be bought and sold. Students can also pretend to take a cross-country journey where they have to calculate how much food and fuel they will need, the time it will take to get to their destination, and the exact route they will take by mapping it out.
Have students create a collage by cutting out a number of geometric shapes or use the shapes to create an image of a person, animal, or scenery in nature. They can learn about angles, lines, and shapes by looking at cake paintings by Wayne Thiebaud.
Social Studies
Use drama strategies and conventions to help students learn more about historical figures, events, and time periods. Create mock trials or parliamentary debates. Have students learn about the inner world of a historical figure through “hot seating” or “a day in the life.” Invite students to create a docudrama (a fictionalized drama based on real people and events).
Have students create posters related to the environment (or another social justice theme of your choosing) to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of the issue. Students can also study works of art from various times in history or on different issues to gain new perspectives, develop critical thinking, and make connections to current world events.
Listen to music lyrics from over the ages to help students develop a deeper understanding of different time periods, places, events, and cultures. Have students listen to songs that were written for protests and social justice movements. Invite them to interpret the lyrics and make connections to the history in which the song was written for. Students can also learn about history through musicals.
Students can learn about different cultures by studying and performing their dances. Invite guests to teach students about the history of their cultural dances, the importance of the music and costumes, and how the dances are used for ceremony or celebration.
Want more great content? Follow us on Instagram!
__________________________
Traci L. Scheepstra, Ph.D., is the CEO/Founder of Embodied Learnings. Read here to learn more about her work in education.