Listening to the audio of Robin sharma's new book, The Wealth Money Can't Buy, I heard this genius insight born of years of leadership exploration: "Think like an artist". This immediately struck a connection with How to Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci, in which Gelb offers creativity principles we can all master. Gelb suggests curiosity and learning by experience, which resemble Explore and Experience in Michelangelo in the 21st Century, Strategy, practical tools, and inspiration to raise ingenious creative thinking students.
So, we started with artist, traveled through child’s learning and ended up in genius. How did we do that? By 5 creativity aspects:
1) Reflection – This may be the first artists' thinking that has been integrated into education. May this lead to many more artistry in learning. There are 4 more principles to teaching artistry beyond reflection. And this is just the beginning.
2) Perception – In InGenius, Tina Seelig suggests that artists are keen to notice things in their environment. In How to Think like Leonardo Da Vinci this is referred to as using the senses more sensibly. What lesson could educators draw from that? As they enter the classroom, be present and mindful: The eyes of a child at the rear are glowing, maybe we should invite her to share an insight? A youth near the wall is sprawled over the desk. How might we leverage his interests to spark up intrinsic motivation?
3) Transmission – This sounds bad, I know. We have grown zero tolerance to teaching that is only transmission of the learning material. Yet James Clear’s Atomic Habits taught me that behaviorism has its pluses. So, Explore can be done by a short lecture from easy to difficult, and Experience can be an experience planned by the teacher in advance. Yet this must be complemented by Express, which we will get to soon. In InGenius, Seelig suggests that artists transmit through their artwork what they have perceived of the world, so people can see things with new eyes. Isn't that a great metaphor for teaching? It is OK to just transmit information, if we add kindness and morality in the form of social-emotional tips, to render growth. We invite children to learn about the world with curiosity that invites reflection that ignites expression.
4) Expression – Teaching like this is an art, isn't it? A simple one, as you will soon see. Yet we must remember that expression must only be positive. We sometimes see artwork that might offend someone. This is unthinkable. As teachers, even if something we say or do might offend one child in the classroom – we will not say or do that. A great challenge, I know. But a good one.
5) Impact – So this is the way to make an impact. Simple, right? How do we begin? By enriching ourselves. In my CPSI workshops I solemnly told the participants to enrich themselves: Before sleep, read National Geographic and Popular Science. And some of these humble participants had doctorate degrees.
Returning to this article's title: Teach like an artist – Learn like a child. How can we learn like a child? When was it that we were children? How did we think then? I cannot give you the answer. But I can take you on a journey to remind you: Take a look at this article's painting. Do you see how the tender colors merge to bring illumination? I believe children’s thinking is like that. It is the same awe that we feel when we read about the amazing ingenuity of man and the living world.
Until I read Irving Stone’s The Agony and the Ecstasy: A Novel of Michelangelo, I thought I could make a painting in one hour (which is how I painted this article's image: The White Peacock). But the book taught me that to push for virtue, to teach for growth, we need to pursue perfection. And no, I'm not sure Michelangelo was ever really content with his work. But he explored its creation thoroughly, then the exquisite expression came as if by the way. My White Peacock may have been created in an hour, but it was after months of research and trials.
In Big Magic Elizabeth Gilbert claims that perfectionism is a trap. 'I am not going to get there, so why even try?' 'I'm not at the top yet, so I'll stay in the shadow meanwhile.' The creativity expert suggests that many people do not finish their tasks. So, even if you have finished a creative task, you are a winner. What's important is to complete a task, that is all. This is a great message for students, isn't it? Well, we want them to elevate their learning products as much as they can. But really, it's just great that they have completed them.
How to Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci offers the principle of balancing art and science, logic and imagination. For Leonardo learning science was artistry. Michelangelo also thoroughly explored toward and while creating a masterpiece. What I suggest is that little bits of completed learning tasks, with lots of curiosity and tolerance for ambiguity, lead to glorious moments of genius.
By broadening our horizons, we‘d astound our students with insights, spicing up learning. This is becoming educational role-models. By reading an enriching magazine everyday before sleep.
Here is a gem insight, for example. My new book, Michelangelo in the 21st Century, seeks to help educators teach virtue virtuously. I was thinking that Virtue sounds like Fortune and Fortunate. Is there a positive connection? I'd like to think so. What if economic growth derived from fostering students’ creative potentials – the gifts they were lucky to be born with? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Recommendations for bedtime enriching magazines are welcome, too. The smartphone will have to go to sleep in another room, waiting patiently to wake you up in the morning.
Before we part, I would like to recommend: Nehal Sardana Arora's post inspiring educators toward empathetic creative resilience. Phillip Alcock's post helps us cope with AI integration into education. This post is inspired by educator Stacie Marvin's article in Education Week -I’m a Math Teacher. Graphing Calculators Taught Me a Thing or Two About AI. Careful mindfulness together with reflection and expression are the principles of artists' thinking. They can help us find the path to students' creative gifts in unpredictable times. Efraim Lerner lights up AI times in his post about students' curiosity, exploration and growth.
Danna Thomas, I love your new book about the Happy Teacher Revolution! Mick Walsh, many thanks for your posts inspiring with gratitude and well-being on my Raising Creative Thinkers Network. Educators are welcome to join, to enrich and be enriched with ideas for creativity in the classroom.
Dr Kathryn Murray, I loved you Teachers Matter article about adding magic to learning! I've remembered I wrote a creativity education inspiring article for this magazine time ago!
Thank you for reading, kind regards and good luck,
Creatively yours,
Michelle Korenfeld
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