How Creativity in the Classroom Can Make Your Student Happier

As a teacher of both math and social studies I always made sure that my students got the whole picture. We never only learned just what I call fact-math. That is 2 + 2 = 4 etc. I always made sure that we did something creative at least once a week. Actually, Friday was Art-Day in my classroom. We would make drawings relevant to the topic we were studying. Art-Day would be the highlight of the week. From Monday morning my students were asking me about Art-Day. While my students drew I tricked them into learning math.

Kids need to be creative in all the subject areas. Being creative in class is one way you as a teacher can break the monotony of your traditional teaching assignment  and keep your students engaged in what you're teaching them. It may seem like it is not possible to be creative in math or other subject areas, but if you sit down and plan out activities you will find that you will not only get plenty of bulletin board material each week but also that your students will be happier in your class.

One project in particular that I did was drawing rulers. We were doing a unit on measurement and I wanted my students to understand that each unit of a ruler is divided into sixteenths. As my students drew a ruler, they secretly learned that each unit  (one inch) of a ruler is divided into sixteen parts. While the students were laughing and drawing and talking they were reviewing part of the unit on measurement without being aware of it.

Projects can be on a small scale such as a one period activity or if you are doing a very involved unit it can be a multi-week project. In the end it is up to you the teacher to see if your students can handle it. Likewise it is important that the activity has a focus and goal.  

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