Here you find information about the content and structure of our training course.
We are grateful for our project partners from Romania, Hungary, Italy and the Netherlands for their suggestions and feedback on earlier versions of the course content.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or requests. Enjoy exploring creativity!

Thematic modules of the course:

Module 1. Promoting co-operation among teachers
○       finding cooperation partners in your school
○       implementing shared projects across subject boundaries
○       initiating change, starting innovation

Module 2. Creative ways of teaching and learning
○       possibilities of innovation
○       ways to adapt novel methods and approaches to your own teaching.

Module 3. A pedagogically conscious creation and use of resources and materials
○       adapting materials to the needs of diverse learning groups
○       understanding the background and purposes of pedagogical action

Module 4. Developing learner-centered indoor and outdoor environments
○       involving learners into designing their learning environment
○       understanding what learners really need and adjust teaching to that
○       being playful and relaxed during the development process

Module 5. Engagement and motivation of learners, teachers and parents for innovation
○       involving parents and other members of the learners' family into the learning community
○       enhancing interaction between learners, teachers and family members

Time allocation:

The course includes approximately 50 hours of work, allocated as follows:
o   Online work group on the project Creativity in our school: 15 hours per person.
o   Self-study and individual assignments in Modules 1–5: 3 hours per person per module, altogether 15 hours per person
o   20 hours per person is allocated to the individual follow-up project Developing creativity in our school.

Content structure and implementation:

Widening theoretical and practical knowledge as well as reflection on own practices with the help of:
●       popularizing articles;
●       videos;
●       “tricks and hints” website materials;
●       recommendations;
●       inventories of good practices.

 
Proceed with the INTRODUCTORY ASSIGNMENT -- CREATIVITY IN OUR SCHOOL task (below).

Once you completed the intruductory task, start to work with MODULE 1, but then you can work with the modules in any order of your preference.

Creativity in our school – a team project

Goal: In this project you should work together with your teacher colleagues. The goal of this project is to detect good practices in your school communities, and prepare a project report. You can use this report as a background material for prospective school development projects, and later on, for your professional development.

If you wish to publish parts of your report, remember to ask for consent from the school management and people who appear in videos or photos or whose voice is recorded; further, ask permission from authors of texts or visuals (check if any material you wish to use is copyrighted). 

Time allocated for this task: is 15 hours.

Task: Carry out a project in your school to map creative practices in the school you work in. Start from your personal teaching philosophy and your own definition of creative teaching (see assignment in Module 1). Together with your colleagues, collect examples that demonstrate how creativity appears in your school. Answer the following questions:

• What is good in our practices and what can be inspiring for other schools? What inspiring examples would we present to other schools/teachers?

• What should be developed further and how? What do we expect to learn during this course?

Methods and materials:
When answering the above questions, try to include:

• your own personal views,
• your students' views,
• parents' views and
• your colleagues' views as widely as possible.

Collect photos, written documents (students' work, tasks, excerpts of curriculum or study plan, etc.) and/or videos, and reflect on them. You can record mini interviews with your colleagues, students and their parents, for example. Further, you can ask people (students, teachers, parents...) to draw / take photos / record videos on what they find interesting or important in the school, and discuss with them why they chose certain setups for their images or videos. Feel free to be flexible in using different methods and media formats.

Reporting:
Prepare a report including:

• a joint definition of creativity ("This is the teaching philosophy of our team, and that’s how we understand creative teaching!"), length: 150–200 words;
• answers to the two questions above (1. good practices and 2. directions for further development), length: 700–900 words;
• visual / multimedia illustration of good practices, preferably 4–6 examples with short descriptions (length: 50–100 words per example);
• your declaration that you obtained all necessary permissions and consents for making the submitted materials (e.g. videos, photos) public in the project's communication channels.

The format of the report should be an illustrated text document. Additional content can be added (e.g. a slide show, video files, html documents, etc.). 

Present your report on a teacher seminar or on a board meeting at your school.

If you would like to share your report (or parts of it) beyond your school, fee free to submit it to the Everyday Creativity project website by sending it to: sec@sec.ro.