The topic of creativity is in the air.  Last night’s #ntchat was about one of my favorite topics: “Creativity in the Classroom.”  There was a lot of great discussion among teachers!  You should visit the #ntchat wiki and read through the archive of the chat.

Then just this morning, my friend Melissa Edwards, over at Figuring out how the Pieces Fit, published a guest post I wrote for her entitled, “Making Time for Creativity in the Classroom.”  Here’s how it begins:

It’s so easy to get sucked into the pressures of teaching: testing, curriculum writing, meetings, assessments, keeping up with lessons, tracking data, the list goes on.

I started my school year with a feeling of hope.  We were to work with our new Common Core.  It was a fresh start and although it meant a lot of work, it was the type I was looking forward to.  But then the realities of school life (with lots of change) set in.  There were many meetings and interruptions, numerous assessments and data charting, and then the pressures of time kicked in.  I needed to get this, this and this done NOW to make sure it was all going to fall into place.

And amidst all of that, I decided to ahead and put the brakes on the track my class was taking and have a Studio Day: a day where my students create something original, reflect on it thoughtfully and discover things about themselves as learners…”

Please head over to her site to read the rest of the story about how I took a leap of faith in creativity and came out smiling on the other side.  Making Time for Creativity in the Classroom

Enjoy your day!

~EMP