Take a few minutes and think about YOUR most creative educational experience. Perhaps it was a high school photography class where your final project encapsulated the skills you were learning with whatever you could dream up in your mind. Or maybe it was a middle school English class where the teacher challenged you to be a better writer through her humor, playfulness, and ability to model mistakes. What were some of the key characteristics of YOUR experience?
We asked seventy-five people to tell us about their most creative educational experience, and when we turned this into a word cloud, this is what we found:
“”The most creative educational experience I had was in 5th grade in 1990. My teacher, Mr. Sanders, was the most influential teacher I ever had because he challenged us all the time. I remember drawing and writing hilarious stories. I wrote a term paper about sponges and starfish and learned the word “vigorously.” We learned the flow of blood through the heart, made paper airplanes to learn aerodynamics, and received extra credit for writing stories, drawing pictures, and making geometric shapes. His breath smelled like formaldehyde because we used to dissect all different kinds of animals, and I always thought he had eaten them. He was hilarious and could tell amazing stories. His energy was contagious. He had a boisterous laugh. I felt free to be weird. It felt normal. It was my first real experiential learning experience, and I really think it helped with the creative confidence I have today”.