We all need the resources to make life easier! Whether an assessment tool, website or book, the materials recommended have been tested, reflected upon and are highly relevant to teaching creativity.

Tools + Downloads:

Middle School Creativity Assessment Tool

This assessment tool was designed by Erin Quinn for use in her middle school classroom. It focuses on the strands of creativity and breaks it down into statements easier for a middle school student to understand. This tool is great for self-assessment and a guide for reflection. Download here:

Creativity Assessment Tool (black and white)
Creativity Assessment Tool (colour)

Elementary School Assessment Tool

This group of assessment tools was created by Stephanie Bartlett. One student model is intended for Kindergarten with visuals only, and another is for grades 1-6 with guiding questions for each of the strands of creative development. There is a set of visuals to cut out for students to manipulate and place either on a group chart or take with them to a centre as they decide what strand they are working on during that particular work period. The last is a teacher model, with the same guiding questions, as well as space to comment below. These tools all serve to teach students the skills of self-reflection and goal setting. Download here:

Student Visual
Student Visual (no text)
Student Visual Teacher Version

Learning Experience Design Model

Designed by Robert Kelly, this planning tool effectively balances skill acquisition and creative development. Download here:

Learning Experience Design Template

Seven Strands of Creative Development: Conversation Prompts

These can be printed and used as visual reminders in your classroom for both teacher and students. We recommend using them on your walls to highlight examples of different stages of development and/or to use them to guide yourself and your colleagues as you familiarize yourself with the vocabulary. Download here:

Seven Strands Talking Points

Books:

Educating for Creativity: A Global Conversation, by Robert Kelly. This is not nepotism! Yes, this was written by our professor, but it's also just a really good book! The book's introduction briefly describes the seven strands, then shows an overview of the graduate program we took. The rest and majority of the book is made up of case studies of schools and educational experiences that emphasize the creative development of children and youth. Highly recommended.
Make Space: How to Set the Stage for Creative Collaboration by Scott Doorley and Scott Wittoft. Stanford's d.school shows you how you can design your space (classroom, learning commons, school, etc?) to encourage collaboration and creativity. Some really great DIY solutions in here, like showerboard as cheap whiteboards!
Invent to Learn by Gary Stager & Sylvia Libow Martinez. A theoretical and practical guide to making, engineering, and tinkering in the classroom.

Websites:

Genius Hour/20% Time/Passion Projects

Joy Kirr is one very smart lady, and has curated a collection of resources to help get you started with 20% Time in your classroom. Check out her livebinder here.

Design Thinking

Teachers can actually use the design thinking process to design education-related experiences for themselves and their students. Check out IDEO's Design Thinking for Educators.
d.school's K12 Lab offers lots of great, ready-to-use design thinking activities for kids.

Presentations

On November 4, 2013, Stephanie presented Creativity in the Kindergarten Classroom to the Calgary Board of Education's Kindergarten Network. The presentation addresses how to create a culture of creativity while balancing skill competency and creative development.
In May 2014, Stephanie and Erin facilitated a session at the Innovate West Conference in Calgary, Alberta called Pinning down the "Unpindownable": Assessing Creativity.
In October 2014, Stephanie and Erin facilitated a session called Messy Learning at the Innovate West Conference in Calgary, Alberta.
In November 2015, Stephanie and Erin presented a talk called Children As Young Designers and Makers at the Early Childhood Education Conference in Kananaskis, Alberta.