Nuturing My Students' Creative Learning

Reprinted from Traditions, Winter 2017-2018 - by Katie Kreitzer, Theater Department
April 5, 2018

Faculty Focus: Katie Krietzer

I love the scene from John Hughes’ 1985 movie, The Breakfast Club where the small group of high school students finally talks about why they ended up in Saturday detention. The Artist, the Intellect, The Athlete, The Rebel, The Outcast, and The Princess break down walls and get to the heart of the matter.

I was in high school when this movie was released and the storyline of The Intellect connected with me in 1985 as a high school student and continues to resonate with me today as a high school teacher. The Intellect tearfully admits that he took a shop class because he assumed it would be an easy A based on the students who enrolled in the class. He later discovers that he doesn’t have the brainpower to complete an assignment, which results in him getting his first B. His entire life he was able to fit into the educational system’s definition of “smart” until he was challenged with an alternative way of measuring his intellect.

In high school, I was on the top debate team, second chair in band, honors choir, a national speech competitor, and, as you might expect, the star of the theater. I was known as ‘creative.’ But, never ever was I labeled smart. It wasn’t until much later in life when I was introduced to Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences and Salovey and Mayer’s concept of Emotional Intelligence that I began to understand the benefits of my own brain.

Connecting with Students

My brain has the ability to dream up concepts in theater that have never been done before. My intelligence allows me to connect with the lives of my students and connect their everyday experiences into the works that they are reading and performing. I have the emotional intelligence to know what will make an audience laugh and cry. I have spent over twenty years creating an environment where students celebrate who they are, have fun, work hard, and take creative risks. I also have the ability to balance my creativity with organizational skills requiring me to regulate calendar conflicts, meetings, rehearsals, deadlines, and manage time and people. I can make something pretty magical out of absolutely nothing. I am smart.

After directing my third or fourth play, a lawyer approached me to say that she was really proud of my work. I thanked her and she said, “I once had to direct a play. I want you to know that taking the bar exam was much easier than directing that play.” I will never forget that compliment (obviously). This female lawyer was holding my intelligence up to a standard that the rest of the world seemed to admire. My father was a lawyer and I, of course, immediately called him to tell him that I basically “just passed the bar exam!”

Creative Learning Expands Understanding

What I have learned about myself is so very critical to my teaching. I feel extremely grateful to teach at a school that values the multiple ways in which students learn. Particularly, Fine Arts teachers get to ignite students that don’t always connect in other areas of our curriculum. It’s a gift to watch a student finally see a direct connection to the way they learn.

My graduate degree in Education (M.Ed.) focused on integrating arts, literacy, and technology into the classroom to meet needs of diverse learners. I soon realized the misconceptions pertaining to MI integration particularly in measuring knowledge. For example, MI does not mean that students can opt out of writing and paint a picture or perform a skit. Students still need to learn to write papers and calculate math problems, but the way in which they learn to complete those practices can be enhanced through the use of their strongest intelligence(s). And for many students, creative learning, such as in the traditional Fine Arts and other parts of the curriculum, often expands their understanding of their own strengths and certainly gives them a chance to nurture this part of their intellect.

I often tell my students that the brain is just like any other muscle. Both hemispheres need to be worked in order for it to stay healthy. The right brain (creative side) is just as important as the left brain (logical side). You would never go to a gym to work just one side of your body, so don’t live your life only working one side of your brain.

A profound moment in The Breakfast Club occurs when The Intellect character says,‘ I am an idiot because I can’t make a lamp.’ The Outcast character quickly responds, ‘No, you’re a genius because you can’t make a lamp.’

In the same way that The Intellect hadn’t been challenged to learn through another intelligence, we are challenged to encourage our students to know their own ‘smarts’ and how to respect another way of thinking and learning, especially when working toward the same goal.

This matters for our students, now in high school and also as they forge a path in their own education and professions.

Why does it matter? Fine arts and all other learning that encourages creativity means that self esteem grows, collaboration grows, and creative problem-solving grows, giving our students a chance to be more effective learners and contributors to the common good throughout life.

This article and more are featured in the Winter 2017-2018 issue of the CDH magazine, Traditions.