3 creative routines to help foster a safe learning environment

Laura Vazquez
Group of Young Children sat on the floor, laughing with a teacher

¡°The world is undergoing revolutionary changes, we need a revolution in education too.¡± -?Creative Schools, Ken Robinson?

In February 2006, the late Sir Ken Robinson delivered a talk at TED titled: . This was some years ago and time seems to have stood still in education since then.?

Creativity is a key 21st century skill. Our young students need to harness it in order to be successful in further education and the workplace, especially now that technology is advancing at such a rapid rate.?

So what can we do to encourage creativity and create a safe learning environment? I¡¯ll take you through three activities that I use with my own students to help them flourish.?

Clear and structured objectives?

To nurture and encourage creativity in the classroom, it is important to have clear, well-structured objectives and routines that give students a safe learning environment. Here¡¯s a breakdown of a few you can try in your classroom.?

1. Monday activity?

As part of your routine, do something different every Monday and have your students guess what it is. For example, you could change your earrings or only wear one. You could shave your mustache, wear a hat, or do something less obvious.?

Students should participate too, so have them do something different every week. Select a student in the class and everyone must guess what has changed that Monday.?

This activity is designed to encourage students to pay attention to each student in the class and notice things about them during the week. At the same time, it will encourage them to be creative and think about how to do things differently and mix up their own routines.?

2. Friday team building challenge?

Every Friday, my class play a team building challenge activity which helps them set and follow rules, be respectful to one another, and work and play with students from different circles.?

Here¡¯s a simple, energetic team building activity you could try:?

  • Have students call out all the new vocabulary words they learned during the week. Write them on the board as they do so.
  • Split the class into teams of four or five students.
  • Tell them they have to use their bodies to spell each word (if there are lots of words, pick the top three). Wipe the word off the board and explain that they can stand up, lie down, and use their arms and legs ¨C but they should work together to form the shapes of the letters. The first team that correctly spells the word you dictate wins a point!

3. "Hurray, I failed¡± activity?

The final activity is all about celebrating failure. Start by putting students in a circle or a line, and have them each name a color out loud. If someone repeats a color or takes longer than five seconds to answer, they must stand up, dance, and shout ¡°hurray, I failed!¡± as loudly as possible.?

You can select any topic ¨C such as nouns, countries, or, even better, your students¡¯ interests. The intention is to create a safe learning environment for your class, where students feel supported and being wrong is fun and okay. This will enable students to participate in class without fear of judgment or criticism.?

Try it out until your students become comfortable with dancing and 'hurraying' in front of everyone in the group.?

This activity has yielded fantastic results with groups of people I¡¯ve worked with, regardless of their age group (young, old, junior high). Participants may feel silly or shy, until one participant starts doing it for fun, and then the rest of the group will start feeling comfortable with being wrong. They will realize it¡¯s okay, and the exercise will start to flow with greater ease.?

If your group is shyer or your students are more introverted, you can ask the person who makes a mistake to wear a silly hat ¨C until the next person fails.

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    Exploring the four Cs: Using future skills to unlock young learners¡¯ potential

    By Annie Altamirano
    Reading time: 5 minutes

    What do we mean by future skills??

    The skills students will need in their future studies and careers are dramatically different from those required previously. Times are changing rapidly and educational institutions and teachers have a critical role to play in developing those skills in our young learners so that they are able to fulfill their potential and have bright futures ahead of them.?

    These skills are referred to as future skills. There is no common consensus on how to define these skills but, broadly speaking, they can be grouped into four categories:?

    1. Ways of thinking

    Skills in this category include critical thinking, creativity, innovation, problem solving, metacognition and learning skills.

    2. Ways of working

    Here, we¡¯re talking about the skills of communication and collaboration.

    3. Tools for working

    Information literacy is an important 21st-century skill, as well as ICT literacy and citizenship, both global and local.?

    4. Life skills

    The final category covers life and career skills, and is all about personal and social responsibility.?

    One way you can encourage young learners to build these skills is through STEAM subjects (that¡¯s science, technology, engineering, arts and math), which will equip them with functional skills such as organizing, planning, cognitive flexibility and self-regulation.?

    The four Cs?

    The four Cs refer to four important skills for young learners to master: communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity. These are essential, not just in an educational context, but in everyday life.?

    Falling into the first two categories of future skills (ways of thinking and ways of working), these can help children build confidence and self-esteem. They also encourage healthy emotional development.??

    So let¡¯s take a closer look at the theory behind them.

    1. Communication

    We usually think of communication as speaking and listening, but it¡¯s actually much broader than that. Communication encapsulates telling stories, reading, sharing ideas and experiences, body language, facial expression, eye contact and tone. Children learn to decipher the world around them by learning and practicing these skills.

    Strong communication skills, developed early, are directly related to their literacy success. These skills allow children to articulate their thoughts and ideas effectively, and listen to decode meaning. Students then begin to use communication for a range of purposes, and communicate effectively in diverse environments. Furthermore, developing strong patterns of verbal and non-verbal communication also fosters self-esteem and social skills.?

    2. Collaboration

    Collaboration is how young children begin to build friendships with others. At first, young children will watch what others do and say, before moving on to playing together. As they get older, they become aware of other children¡¯s feelings and ideas. Friendships become motivating and they learn how to make compromises and respect each other¡¯s perspectives and skills.?

    Collaboration is enhanced through group work and project-based activities, sharing time with peers. Children thrive when they feel valued by the people around them, not just adults but their peers too.?