Creativity and the writing process : straying with a purpose
| dc.contributor.author | Robertson, Ross G D | |
| dc.contributor.author | University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Education | |
| dc.contributor.supervisor | Pollard, Michael | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2010-03-23T19:49:53Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2010-03-23T19:49:53Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2000 | |
| dc.description | vii, 108 leaves ; 29 cm. -- | en |
| dc.description.abstract | The project Creativity and the Writing Process: Straying With a Purpose examined different creative thinking techniques that can be used to improve the writing process. Too many students at the high school level have lost the ability to wonder, to risk, to dream in their writing. The intent of this project was to provide students with creative thinking strategies. For this project, I adopted an open definition of creativity, "A creative act is usually defined as one that has a valuable or interesting product that is in some way original or surprising" (Carey & Flower, 1989, p. 283). The major measurement used for this project was a pre-intervention essay and a post-intervention essay. The students were given a one-word prompt and they had the freedom to attack the writing assignment in a narrative, persuasive, expository, or descriptive style. This project focussed upon utilizing five different creative thinking techniques: Gardner's Multiple Intelligence theory (Gardner, 1983), de Bono's Six Hats Theory of Creativity (de Bono, 1985), metaphors in prose, free-writing, and mind-mapping. After all the theories had been introduced, the students were given the post- intervention prompt essay. This writing was compared to the first prompt essay to see if any changes were evident in the degree of creativity. Other factors were also considered when determining the impact of the study. First, all students were given a pre and post intervention Likert scale to determine whether their attitudes toward creativity had changed. In addition, students were asked to fill out a short-answer questionnaire about creativity at the end of the process. Finally, the teacher made fieldnotes about the progress of the project. The results indicate that teaching creative thinking strategies did have an impact on the class. A majority of the class began to use some sort of pre-writing activity; moreover, the level of creativity improved in 36% of my students. After the study, many students revealed that they felt more confident about their creative thinking skills. It was a remarkable, wonderful voyage. | en |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/10133/1003 | |
| dc.language.iso | en_US | en |
| dc.publisher | Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Faculty of Education, 2000 | en |
| dc.publisher.faculty | Education | en |
| dc.relation.ispartofseries | Project (University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Education) | en |
| dc.subject | Creative thinking -- Study and teaching | en |
| dc.subject | English language -- Writing -- Study and teaching | en |
| dc.subject | Children -- Writing -- Study and teaching | en |
| dc.title | Creativity and the writing process : straying with a purpose | en |
| dc.type | Thesis | en |