WE TEACH WHO WE ARE: CREATIVITY AND TRANS-DISCIPLINARY
THINKING IN THE PRACTICES OF ACCOMPLISHED TEACHERS
By
Danah Henriksen

A DISSERTATION
Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
Educational Psychology and Educational Technology
2011

ABSTRACT
We Teach Who We Are: Creativity and Trans-disciplinary Thinking
In the Practices of Accomplished Teachers
By
Danah Henriksen
Creativity is an essential factor in thinking and learning which cuts across all
disciplines. There is a general conviction that creativity should be supported and
developed educational settings (Williams, 2002). However there remains little
understanding of effective applications of creative teaching in classroom teachers. This
may be due to the complex nature of creativity, and the lack of a consistent definition of
“what creativity is” or “what it means” in teaching or educational research (Marksberry,
1963; Sternberg, 1999; Baker et al., 2001; Friedel & Rudd, 2005).
Research has also demonstrated that the most successful and creative people in
any discipline often have avocations or artistic pursuits which enhance their thinking
within their professional discipline (Root-Bernstein, 1996, 1999, 2003). It has also been
suggested that talented or innovative thinkers in a variety of disciplines employ similar
kinds of creative thinking skills (Freedman, 2003). These broad minded creative skills are
known as trans-disciplinary thinking skills. They are used by both artists and scientists,
and tend to fall into a few specific cognitive categories.
This qualitative study is an investigation of these issues among highly
accomplished teachers. Specifically, in-depth interviews were conducted with individuals
who have either received, or been a national finalist for the National Teacher of the Year
award. These teachers have been noted as successful in the classroom, and the purpose of
this study was to examine how these teachers define creativity, and how they function

creatively in the classroom. This research also considers how artistic interests and
avocations inspire creative ideas, and the ways that this connects to creative thinking
skills (trans-disciplinary thinking skills).
Findings of this study noted that while creativity has some generalizable elements,
these are instantiated and evaluated according to context. In terms of how this creativity
plays out in successful teaching practice, key themes included real-world teaching and
learning, cross-curricular connections, and taking intellectual risks. It was also noted
that accomplished teachers engage in a variety of avocations and creative pursuits in their
personal lives which creatively influences their teaching practices. Teachers frequently
noted that “we teach who we are,” and it seems that those who engage creatively outside
of teaching are able to usefully draw on this in their teaching practice. Finally, this study
found that trans-disciplinary skills are highly valuable and frequently used in the
practices of successful and accomplished teachers. All of the teachers in the study
provided specific examples and discussion of how played out in different ways in their
classrooms and teaching practice.

Copyright by
DANAH HENRIKSEN
2011

DEDICATION
This dissertation is dedicated to the outstanding creative teachers that make education a
worthwhile and exciting endeavor for their students. This includes the remarkable
teachers in this study, and all of the educators throughout the field of education who meet
the sizable challenges of teaching, using their own creativity to inspire it in their students.
Einstein famously noted that, “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For
knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces
the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.” Creative and
successful teachers walk in both realms – building knowledge, and cultivating
imagination. In doing so, each creative teacher is in some small way a catalyst for all that
we will ever know and understand. The struggles of the profession, particularly in this
current day and age, do not make creativity in teaching an easy endeavor. Yet many still
find ways to succeed, and are owed a debt of gratitude for keeping alive the spirit of
discovery, playfulness and enjoyment in learning. This dissertation is dedicated to
creative teachers, in the hopes that we may learn from and engage their practices.

v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank my graduate advisor and dissertation director Dr. Punya
Mishra, for his limitless reserve of patience, support, mentoring and thoughtful advice
throughout my doctoral program. Punya’s course in Learning through Design was one of
the first that I took in my Master’s program at MSU, and his ever-creative approach to
learning has been an inspiration. I feel very lucky that Dr. Mishra has served as my
advisor, as well as being a model of a dedicated and creative educator since day one of
my graduate career.
I would also like to thank my dissertation committee including, Dr. Janine Certo,
Dr. Rand Spiro and Dr. Amita Chudgar. Their willingness to share their time, along with
their deep and varied knowledge of educational research, has been invaluable through my
dissertation process. Their open-minded thinking and commitment to creativity, has
helped to see this research through from inception to conclusion. I am also grateful to
many other outstanding faculty members that I have been fortunate to learn from and
work with in my doctoral career, including Dr. Jack Smith, Dr. David Wong, Dr. Patrick
Dickson, and Dr. Matthew Koehler.
I owe a debt of thanks also to the eight award-winning teachers who participated
in this study. Throughout our discussions I was amazed and impressed with their
remarkable creativity, expertise and devotion to extraordinary teaching. Their students,
parents, schools and communities are very fortunate for their presence.
Finally I would like to thank two people who have been instrumental in shaping
my work, by shaping the person that I am today - my parents Gary and Sharon Henriksen.

vi

Their love and support through the years means more than I can say. As individuals they
are each creative in their own ways. As parents they have instilled a curiosity about
learning, ideas, and knowledge which I will always be thankful for. In this way, and in
others, they will always be a part of all I do.

vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES………………………………………………………………………..xi
LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………………...xii
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION…………………………………………….…………………….…….1
Statement of the Problem……………….……………….………………………...2
Significance of the Study……………….………..………………………….…….4
Purpose Statement....……………………………………………………………....7
CHAPTER 2
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE…………………………………….…………………9
The Importance of Creativity…………………………………………………......9
Definitions of Creativity………………………………………………………....10
Origins of Creativity……………………………………………………………..12
Theories of Creativity……………………………………………………………13
Creativity in Education and Teaching……………………………………………17
“Effective Teaching” is “Creative Teaching”……………………………………20
Trans-disciplinary Creativity…………………………………………………….21
Trans-disciplinary Thinking Skills……………………………………………....24
Observing………………………………………………………………...25
Patterning………………………………………………………………...26
Abstracting……………………………………………………………….26
Embodied Thinking……………………………………………………...27
Modeling…………………………………………………………………27
Play………………………………………………………………………28
Synthesizing……………………………………………………………..28
Research Questions……………………………………………………………...29
CHAPTER 3
METHODOLOGY………………………………………………………………………32
Purpose of the Study……………………………………………………………..32
Research Design………………………………………………………………….32
Characteristics of Qualitative Research………………………………………….33
Instrumentation…………………………………………………………………..34
Sampling and Participants………………………………………………………..36
Rationale for “Teacher of the Year” as Research Group………………………...37
Recruitment………………………………………………………………………39
Data Collection…………………………………………………………………..41
Data Analysis…………………………………………………………………….43
Developing Codes………………………………………………………..44
Sample Excerpt from Coding…………………………………………….46
Final Code Listing………………………………………………………..47
Reliability and Validity…………………………………………………………..49

viii

Summary…………………………………………………………………………52
CHAPTER 4
RESULTS………………………………………………………………………………..54
Description of Participants……………………………………………………....55
Mark…………………………………………………………………......55
Sandra……………………………………………………………………56
Carrie…………………………………………………………………….58
Jack………………………………………………………………………59
Julia………………………………………………………………………60
Adam……………………………………………………………………..61
Mia……………………………………………………………………….62
Marie……………………………………………………………………..64
Research Question 1 Analysis: Creativity in Teaching Practices………………..65
Defining Creativity………………………………………………………66
Creativity as a Mindset…………………………………………………..70
Real-world Learning……………………………………………………..76
Cross-curricular Connections…………………………………………….82
Risk-taking……………………………………………………………….88
Research Question 2 Analysis: Avocations, Creativity & Success in Teaching...90
What Kinds of Creative Interests and Avocations…………………….... 91
We Teach Who We Are……………………………………………….....93
Music and the Arts: Translating Avocations into Teaching Practice……96
Athletic/Kinesthetic Pursuits: Mind/Body Connections………………..104
Research Question 3 Analysis: Trans-disciplinary Thinking Skills….………...108
Observation…..........................................................................................109
Patterning……………………………………………………………….115
Abstracting…...………………………………………………………....119
Embodied Thinking.................................................................................125
Modeling..................................................................................................132
Play..........................................................................................................136
Synthesizing……………………………………………………...……..141
Summary…………………………………………………………...…...143
CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSIONS…………………………………………………………………...…..146
Discussion of Findings…………………………………………………………147
Defining Creativity and What it Means………………………………...148
Avocations and Creative Interests……………………………………...151
Trans-disciplinary Skills in Teaching Practices………………………...155
Conclusions……………………………………………………………………..159
Implications for Policy and Practice……………………………………………160
Creativity in Context……………………………………………………160
Educational Policy……………………………………………………...164
Higher Education……………………………………………………….167
Recommendations for Future Research...............................................................169

ix

Limitations and Delimitations..............................................................................170
Summary……………………..............................................................................171
APPENDICES………………………………………………………………………….173
Appendix A: Semi-Structured Interview Protocol……………………………..174
Appendix B: Instrumentation Cross-Reference………………………...............177
Appendix C: Creativity Notes/Evidence from Finalist Applications……….….178
Appendix D: Recruitment Letter……………………………………………….187
REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………………188
References………………………………………………………………...……189

x

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1

List of Participant Avocations………………………………...................92

Table 2

Instrumentation Cross-Reference……………………………………….176

xi

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1

Sample Excerpt of Coding in HyperResearch©.………………..…….…47

Figure 2

Final Listing of All Codes Used in the Research………………………...48

xii

CHAPTER 1
Introduction
“Mere critical thinking without creative and intuitive insights,
without the search for new patterns, is sterile and doomed.”
- Carl Sagan
Creativity is an essential factor in thinking and learning which cuts across all disciplines.
It is a central factor in driving the birth of new knowledge and innovation, and as such is a vital
construct for the field of education. Over the past several decades creativity has become a trait of
increasing interest in fields such as education and psychology (Plucker, Beghetto, and Dow,
2004). It is considered to be one of the most highly coveted qualities of thinking (Lewis, 2008),
and is associated with social, emotional, cognitive and professional advantages and benefits
(Sternberg & Lubart, 1996; Sternberg, 2006). There is a generally agreed upon conviction that
creativity should be nurtured and supported in educational environments (Williams, 2002).
Despite this, there remains little understanding of effective applications of creative teaching in
classroom teachers. In part this may be due to the abstract and complex nature of creativity, and
the fact that there is not one consistent definition of “what creativity is” or “what it means” in
teaching or educational research (Marksberry, 1963; Sternberg, 1999; Baker et al., 2001; Friedel
& Rudd, 2005).
Additionally research has shown that the most accomplished or creative people in any
discipline often have creative avocations or artistic pursuits outside of their profession, which
contribute to and enrich their thinking within their professional discipline (Root-Bernstein, 1996,
1999; 2001). Root-Bernstein (1996) showed that individuals who are successful in the sciences
tend to have creative passions and interests in outside disciplines, and that they frequently

1

connect these creative interests and avocations with influencing their professional
accomplishment. It has also been suggested that talented or innovative thinkers in a variety of
disciplines employ similar kinds of creative thinking skills (Freedman, 2003). These broad
minded creative skills are known as trans-disciplinary thinking skills, and they tend to fall into a
few specific cognitive categories.
While this focus on personal life creativity and trans-disciplinary thinking has provided a
useful framework for considering creative thinking and innovation in the sciences, similar
research or creative thinking tendencies have not yet been studied in teachers. Given the need for
the development of a creativity paradigm among successful teachers, creativity and transdisciplinary thinking may provide a useful framework for studying effective teachers.
This qualitative study is an investigation of these issues – focusing on the creative
pursuits and creative thinking modes of successful teachers and highly accomplished teachers.
Specifically, in-depth interviews were conducted with individuals who have either received, or
been one of the national finalists for the National Teacher of the Year award. As teachers who
have been noted as creative and successful in the classroom, the purpose of this study was to
examine what they think about creativity and how they function in the classroom, how their
avocations inspire creative ideas, and how this connects to their creative thinking skills (transdisciplinary thinking skills).
Statement of the Problem
The abstract, variable and complex nature of creativity makes it what Spiro, Feltovich,
Jacobson, & Coulson (1995) define as an “ill-structured domain”. These qualities of creativity
also make it somewhat vulnerable to being marginalized at the level of educational policy, most
notably in the current environment of high-stakes testing, standardization and accountability in

2

teaching. At the same time, creative thought processes are considered to be increasingly
necessary as criteria for accomplishment in an increasingly complex and interdependent society.
Globalization has meant that there has been an exponential increase in both knowledge and
technology, as well as demographic and social changes in our world, which has implications for
education at all levels. Our society is increasingly more competitive and global in nature, leading
to diverse knowledge bases and multifaceted issues that demand creative thinkers and innovative
problem solvers. Pink (2005) describes the significance of creative abilities in modern society:
Today, the defining skills of the previous era—the ‘left brain’ capabilities that powered
the Information Age—are necessary but no longer sufficient. And the capabilities we
once disdained or thought frivolous—the “right brain” qualities of inventiveness,
empathy, joyfulness, and meaning—increasingly will determine who flourishes and who
flounders. (p. 3)
In trying to respond to these creative demands, organizations such as the Partnership for
21st Century Skills have aimed themselves at infusing creativity and critical thinking and
problem solving skills, among others, into the field of education for the 21st century. Cropley
(2003) asserted that,
(Education) cannot limit itself to the transmission of set contents, techniques and values,
since these will soon be useless to living a full life, but must also promote flexibility,
openness for the new, the ability to adapt or see new ways of doing things, and courage in
the face of the unexpected, in other words, creativity. (p. 136)
Unfortunately the field of education, particularly the U.S. system of education, has been
slow to respond to these issues. In many ways in fact, over the past decade, the pendulum of
educational policy in the United States has swung in the opposite direction of creativity. Instead

3

the ultimate focus has been increasingly on standardization and accountability – quantifiably
measured through basic standardized tests. This educational climate has also compelled the work
of teaching into a more rigid position, with standardized approaches sometimes referred to as
“teaching to the test”, “drill and kill”, or “no child left untested” (Fusarelli, 2004). These
approaches have been noted to have the effect of killing curiosity, creativity and enjoyment in
learning and teaching (Giroux and Schmidt, 2004). They may diminish many of the things that
stimulate intrinsic interest in learning in school and throughout life (Robinson, 2003; Jones et al,
2003)
However, the need to emphasize and better understand the dynamics of creativity in
teaching is not lost on many the field of education. Creative teachers have a marked impact on
the development of students own creative thinking skills, as well as their enjoyment and success
in learning (Amabile, 1996). There is a definitive need to fill in the gap in our understanding of
effective uses of creativity in the domain of educational research (Plucker, Beghetto and Dow,
2004). This mounting interest in creativity in education and teaching along with the current
knowledge gap on this topic means that more work in educational research is needed to consider
and understand examples of how creativity plays out in successful teaching paradigms.
Significance of the Study
The field of education needs research directed at understanding the nature of creative
teachers. Sternberg (2006) stated, “To the extent that creativity is in the interaction of person
with context, we need to concentrate as well on the attributes of the individual and the
individuals’ work relative to the context” (p. 95). Esquivel (1995) asked, “Do teachers need to
be creative themselves, in order to be creative as teachers” (p. 190)? Unfortunately, there is a
lack of substantial research-driven answers to such issues and questions.

4

Creativity is a vital avenue of study in educational research. It is one of the most highly
regarded cognitive traits within the fields of psychology and education, and for good reason. The
ability to think creatively has a long list of benefits, including social, intellectual, educational,
emotional and talent-based achievement in school and in life (Guilford, 1950; Renzulli, 1994;
Torrance, 1970; Blicbau & Steiner, 1998). In schools, promoting creative thinking helps students
to discover and pursue their intellectual interests, as it tends to increase student engagement with
ideas and learning, therefore maximizing success in learning (Amabile, 1989). Torrance (1981)
found that improved concentration, curiosity, motivation, and achievement were seen in
instances where creative learning occurred. And “thus, creative teaching can enhance learning”
(Fasko, 2000-2001). Teachers who inspire creativity in their students have been found to model
creative or divergent thinking themselves (Karnes et al., 1961). Educational researchers have
noted that creative teachers advance student learning experiences, and heighten their potential
and engagement (Renzulli, 1992; Hickey, 2001; Cropley, 2003; Fasko, 2001; Lilly & BramwellRejskind, 2004).
Creativity is clearly a valuable trait that requires more understanding overall, but
particularly with regard to the field of teaching. As a diffuse and abstract area of study, creativity
has been plagued by a lack of solid agreement on what it is and how it should be defined. Most
common definitions agree on some elements or version of “newness” or “value and/or
effectiveness”, but from this point on definitions and meanings of creativity tend to scatter
toward varied theories and different practices. But in order to really understand what creativity
means and how it functions within a discipline such as teaching, we must investigate its
definition and meanings among successful practitioners of that discipline. This begs the question

5

of: What does “creativity” mean to successful teachers? In essence, how do they define
creativity and how is it illustrated in examples from their classrooms?
Since the ability to adapt, improve and grow throughout life relies on innovation and new
construction, creative thinkers are often effective thinkers across professions. Most educational
research on creativity tends for emphasize possibilities for increasing student creativity, or
learning to enhance creative thinking. But given the central role that creative teachers have in
influencing student thinking and learning, more research is needed to understand teacher
creativity (Mack, 1987). In essence, where do creative teachers get their ideas from, what
inspires them and how do they practice their creativity, in general and specifically in teaching?
Sternberg (2006) established some current views on creative thinking as he noted,
“Creativity is as much a decision about and an attitude toward life as it is a matter of ability” (p.
93). In addition, Sternberg suggested creativity can be seen in all people. Along these lines,
Root-Bernstein (1996; 1999; 2003) showed a strong correlation between personal creative
tendencies, and professional accomplishment. Root-Bernstein’s (1996) study also demonstrated
that the most successful and innovative scientists often engaged in a wide variety of avocations
(artistic, subject matter, athletic, etc), which they felt had enhanced their professional
accomplishment. This reveals the connection in thinking between subject matters as seemingly
different as art or poetry and mathematics or science. Disciplinary boundaries are often more
fluid than traditional views of subject matter would have us believe. Successful individuals in the
sciences have been found to draw upon creative inspiration and enhanced thinking skills from
their outside interests and avocations. This is not to say that the most skilled scientists are
necessary the most creative musicians or exemplary poets. But rather that they are thoughtfully
influenced by drawing on ideas and modes of thinking between different areas of interest. So, in

6

considering how accomplished teachers generate effective or creative ideas, this leads to the
question: Do successful, accomplished teachers engage in creative interests and avocations, and
how do these avocations impact their thinking and teaching practices?
Finally, in developing a detailed understanding of creative thinking among effective
teachers, we must consider the effective thought processes and skills that they use. It has been
asserted that disciplinary boundaries can be fluid, and successful creative people are able to
transfer useful ideas between different domains. Therefore, a set of common cognitive skills
must be important for effective thinking across different domains. Root-Bernstein (1999; 2001;
2003) and Mishra, Koehler and Henriksen (2011) have suggested that such trans-disciplinary
skills are broad-spectrum creative thinking skills that are used by successful people across
disciplines. These skills include: observation, patterning, abstracting, embodied thinking,
modeling, play, and synthesizing. Since they have not yet been studied among teachers, it is
essential to understand if and how these cognitive skills apply in excellent teaching practices, in
essence: Are trans-disciplinary thinking skills used by accomplished, successful teachers and if
so, how are these skills important to teaching?
Purpose Statement
The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine creativity among highly
accomplished and successful teachers. The research focused on the connection between personal
creative tendencies and avocations, and creativity in the classroom, as well as the overall creative
practices of successful teachers and their trans-disciplinary thinking skills. Using in-depth
interviews and qualitative methods, the creative pursuits, interests, and avocations of a group of
“highly accomplished” (successful and creative) teachers was investigated in terms of the
influence these interests and avocations have upon their professional success and creativity as

7

teachers. Additionally, the purpose of this study was to explore the meaning and instantiation of
creativity in the teaching practices of these successful and accomplished teachers. Finally, the
study addressed if and how “trans-disciplinary” creative thinking skills are utilized among
successful and creative teachers.
Overall, the study affords a look at how creativity plays a role in the teaching
philosophies and classroom practices of successful and creative teachers, and some ways that this
is influenced by their creative interest and avocations, and modes of thinking. These inquiries
shed light on how creativity and trans-disciplinary thinking is utilized by successful teachers, to
create exceptional classroom practices and meaningful learning experiences for their students.

8

CHAPTER 2
Review of the Literature
The Importance of Creativity
Creativity is an essential construct in any conception of education and psychology
(Starko, 2005). There are numerous advantages and benefits associated with creativity at the
individual and group level (Sternberg & Lubart, 1996; Sternberg, 2006).
Creative thinking ability is highly regarded as a valued trait in contemporary societies
(Lewis, 2008). For most people, it is among the most coveted of psychological qualities
(Sternberg & Lubart, 1999). It is considered to be so important, that there is undeniable
conviction in education that it should be nurtured both inside and outside of classroom contexts
(Williams, 2002)
In recent years, researchers, psychologists, and educators have begun to take a deeper
look into creativity in human thinking (Plucker, Beghetto, and Dow, 2004). Many have marked
intellectual, educational, and talent-development benefits associated with creative thinkers in
individuals of all ages (Guilford, 1950; Renzulli, 1994; Torrance, 1962; Blicbau & Steiner,
1998). The possibilities and advantages connected with creativity are almost immeasurable
(Sternberg, 2006). Milgram and Hong (1993) demonstrated that creativity may be a better
predictor of outstanding life accomplishment than conventional measures of intelligence or
school grades. Educational practitioners and psychologists have observed the contributions of
creativity in many areas including: life success (Torrance, 1970, 1981), leadership in the
workplace (Williams, 2002), psychological functioning, and intellectual/emotional growth
(Runco, 1997). Maslow (1968), Rogers (1962) and Gowan (1972) all noted that creativity was
essential to beneficial human development, mental health and self-actualization. The most

9

creative individuals are often the best problem-solvers and innovators when it comes to
everything from interpersonal issues to intellectual or artistic endeavor (Plucker et al., 2004).
Human creativity has been, and will increasingly continue to be, a key factor in shaping
our society (Freedman, 2007). In the workplace and in our outside lives creativity is a force that
is valued and encouraged more strongly than ever (Florida, 2002). It appears to be inextricably
linked to innovation and accomplishment across a variety of different disciplines in both the arts
and the sciences (Catterall, 2002). This attention to creativity would lead one to assume that
there exists a clear and shared definition of creativity. It is to this challenge that we turn next.
Definitions of Creativity
The construct of creativity is an ancient one, with origins traceable to antiquity and the
early Greeks (Starko, 2005). Formal research on the concept in fields such as education and
psychology has been occurring for decades through the better part of the 20th century. Despite its
historical basis as a concept, and extensive research in recent years, theorists and researchers
alike have found it difficult to concretely define creativity (Baker et al., 2001; Friedel & Rudd,
2005; Marksberry, 1963; Sternberg, 1999). In an investigation of more than 90 articles from top
peer-reviewed journals on the topic of creativity, Plucker et al. (2004) determined that only 38%
of these articles offered a clear definition of the term creativity.
At a general level, creativity can be described as the production of useful solutions to
problems, or novel and interesting ideas across domains, which create products and/or artifacts
and impact thinking (Amabile, 1988, 1996; Oldham & Cummings, 1996; Zhou & George, 2001,
2003). A novel idea with no potential value to others cannot be taken as “creative” (Fox, J., &
Fox, R., 2000; Cropley, 2001). The goal of creative performance is to solve problems, to create
innovative ways of thinking or doing things, or to add to knowledge in an area (Guilford, 1950).

10

Cropley (2001) asserted that novelty and effectiveness were indeed essential criteria for
determining creativity, and added ethicality to the mix for a three part definition:
1. Novelty (a product/artifact or idea that is in some way(s) unique from others, or that
diverges from the familiar);
2. Effectiveness (creative things “work well”, they have some use or purpose that may be
aesthetic, artistic or spiritual, or even practically valuable);
3. Ethicality (“creative” is not generally a word that describes cruel or destructive
behavior, crimes, warmongering, etc). (p. 6)
While novelty and effectiveness or value play a role in many versions of “creativity”
definitions, Mishra & Koehler (2008) also note the necessity of the concept of “wholeness”.
They cite an example from Dirkin et al (2005), in which creative use of knowledge is also
“whole”, or used in an ordered and aesthetic manner in a specific context. As they put it,
“Creative solutions often go beyond mere novelty and functionality to include a strong aesthetic
quality. Creative products and solutions are deeply bound to the context within which they occur;
they are integrated, organic and whole. Thus creative solutions are “novel, effective and whole”
spawning the definitional acronym for creativity, NEW (Koehler & Mishra, 2008, pg. 11). In
this way, creative ideas are not just novel and effective, but they have a certain aesthetic
sensibility which is connected to and evaluated within a specific context or paradigm.
Koehler and Mishra (2008), among other educational researchers, have emphasized the
problem of a lack of a common definition for creativity, and the difficulty of constructing one.
At the same time though, they acknowledge that if we are to focus on creativity in the field of
education, there needs to be a “more rigorous articulation of it” (p. 11).

11

This problem of defining creativity in the field of education, along with the requisite need
to examine ways in which it is successfully exemplified in teaching, signals a need to understand
what creativity means to accomplished teachers, i.e. how they define it, and how it is practiced in
the work of teaching.
Origins of Creativity
As noted, research models of creativity began to develop prominence during the 20th
century. In its earliest inception however, creativity was conceived of as a somewhat mystical or
divine trait. This notion of creative ability as inspiration, or even madness, imparted by the gods
was a part of the philosophy of the ancient Greeks and Romans. This is embodied in Plato’s
conception of the Muse. There is some persistence in this type of belief, as Sternberg and Lubart
(1999) note that many people today continue to presume that creativity is spiritual in nature and
cannot be studied scientifically. They also note that scientific studies and approaches have had
difficulty in changing this view.
Ancient views diverged significantly from Renaissance or Enlightenment views, which
put the focus of creativity back upon the individual and saw creative ability as a “highly
developed form of intuition” (Kneller, 1965, p. 21). In this perspective, creative individuals were
no longer seen as objects of luck, fate or the fancies of the Gods nor were they seen as mentally
unstable, but rather as special, exceptional or singular people. With this, creative acts occur when
such people intuitively see and understand what other people could not. It was at this time that
the word “genius” developed as a descriptor for such extraordinary creators as Michelangelo or
Leonardo da Vinci.
The commonality in all of these viewpoints lies in the fact that early views of creativity
tended to emphasize it as a trait that was a given rather than something that could be developed –

12

in effect, nature was always the source. However, modern views of the topic have substantially
evolved to consider different aspects of mind, and factors that influence creative thinking, along
with creative process itself.
Theories of Creativity
As the field of psychoanalytic behavioral psychology began to consider creative thinking,
creativity began to be perceived as a natural human behavior (Roweton, 1970). Freud, among
others, pioneered such approaches to the subject by examining it in the context of case studies of
renowned creators. At the time, many critics noted the limitations of case study approaches, such
as issues of measurement and applicability, rather than allowing for the insights that could be
collected from them. Piirto (2004) noted that psychoanalysis tended to view creativity as
somewhat akin to madness or unstable thinking. With this, research on creativity languished on
the margins of psychology for some time.
Guilford’s 1950 address to the American Psychological Association is frequently credited
as the first notable call to investigate the concept of creativity more deeply in education and
psychology. Guilford (1950) suggested that creativity should be studied among “everyday”
people and contexts using scientific measures such as psychometrics. However, Sternberg and
Lubart (1999) noted that while this appropriately broadened the scope of creativity to a wider
audience and framework, psychometric approaches often fail to capture the complexity of the
topic, and are sometimes thought to trivialize creative thinking.
In addition to highlighting creativity as an object of psychological and educational study,
Guildford’s address helped distinguish the difference between the terms “divergent” and
“convergent” thinking, particularly in terms of creative thinking (Cropley, 2001). Cropley (2001)
stated that convergent thinking supports classical definitions of intelligence, while divergent

13

thinking suggests novel and variable means of thinking. While convergent thinking searches for
a singular and best answer to a problem or question and uses established techniques and
knowledge for getting to the “correct” answer, divergent thinking entails considering different
perspectives and multiple or unique solutions (Cropley, 2001).
Humanists, such as Rogers and Maslow, viewed creativity as an interaction between the
self and the environment. Rogers (1976) asserted that creativity involved components such as 1.)
flexible thinking and tolerance for ambiguity, 2.) internal locus of evaluation – or acceptance of
others’ views without allowing those views to intrude, and 3.) ability to “toy” or “play” with
ideas (Roweton, 1970). Maslow (1962) suggested that there were two types of creativity, 1.)
“special talent” creativity, which is innate and independent of character or mental health, and 2.)
“self-actualizing” creativity, which is developed by the individual. Maslow asserted that selfactualizing creativity was a part of good mental health, and that it occurred in the process of
acquiring self-actualization. He noted that “a first-rate soup is more creative than a second-rate
painting…cooking or parenthood or making a home could be creative, while poetry need not be;
it could be uncreative” (Maslow, p. 136).
Vygotsky (1960) and Renzulli (1992) asserted developmental theories of creativity.
Vygotsky believed that creativity developed in three stages which occur during childhood,
adolescence and adulthood. In childhood creative imagination begins, this proceeds into
adolescence, where imagination comes together with thought, and finally moves into adulthood,
where experienced creativity is directed and used with purpose. Along the way, the development
of adult creativity is influenced via formal education, internal dialogue/speech, and conceptual
thinking. Vygotsky’theory is notable for the suggestion that children’s figurative play is a
catalyst for creative imagination. In addition, Vygotsky supposed that creativity was a

14

intentionally acquired mental ability. Creative thinking people learned to modify and combine
ideas within context in order to come up with unique, beautiful and useful discoveries
(Vygotsky, 1960; 1978).
Cognitive theories of creativity have further attempted to explain different aspects of
thought and processes behind creative acts, as researchers have sought after the cognitive style
that accounts for creative thinking. Cropley (2003) stated that “There is no single cognitive
processing strategy that is uniquely favorable for creativity. The relationship has come to be seen
not as a matter of which strategies lead to it and which do not, but rather of how various styles
and strategies are connected to creativity” (p. 43). Within a cognitive paradigm, the dynamics
that influence creativity are generally seen to be an interaction of cognitive, affective, and
social/personal factors. Cropley (1992) described this interaction as follows:
Exposure to a rich variety of information lead not to anxiety and avoidance, but to
increased interest and desire for more information; information is not blindly accepted
(assimilated) and later regurgitated, but causes a reevaluation of the situation in question
and the formation of expanded or enriched configuration (i.e., accommodation).
Fascination, openness, and a ‘nose’ for the incongruous lead to ways of coming to grips
with the situation that are marked by attention to peripheral aspects of the information in
question, willingness to try the unexpected, search for the novel and so on. (p.101)
Davis & Gardner (1992) linked creativity with a theory of multiple intelligences,
emphasizing the importance of creativity to the domain of education. He proposed that creative
individual have “inborn sensitivities” to specific kinds of information or ways of learning and
operating (p. 434) Gardner (1993) suggested that within each of his different types or categories
of intelligence (including linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic,

15

interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences), creativity was an essential aspect of skillful
thinking – a mental function in a specific area (Starko, 2005). Along with Gardner (1999),
Csikszentmihalyi (1996) centered their creative research focus on the notion of “sublime”
creativity, as opposed to “everyday” creativity. Both researchers viewed the impact of a creative
product or idea upon a domain as “the acid test of creativity” (Gardner, 1999, p. 116)
Csikszentmihalyi (1996) differentiated between sublime vs. everyday creativity by denoting
them respectively as “Big C” creativity vs. “little c” creativity. Gardner and Csikszentmihalyi
maintained that understanding and studying Big C creativity was essential for contributing to the
field of creativity research as a whole (including an understanding little c creativity), but that this
was not necessarily the case for studies of little c creativity.
At the same time, process or person-focused approaches to creativity research stated that
an exclusive focus on sublime creativity was problematic. Cropley (2003) remarked on such
problems of variable standards and judgments about creative products, and missed opportunities
for studying “undiscovered” creative products or solutions. Process or person-centered
approaches acknowledge the importance of creative products, but also focus on “everyday”
creativity in terms of abilities, personality or thinking traits, and ways of interacting with
environments that spawn creativity.
A further issue in creativity theories is the debate over whether it is domain specific or
more meta-level in nature (Marksberry, 1963). Researchers and theorists who focus expressly on
the products/ artifacts of creative activity and their effect on a domain, tend towards a domainspecific view in which creativity is found specifically in certain subject matters, such as art or
science (Davis and Gardner 1992, Gardner, 1993; Starko, 2005). Those who support a more
meta-level or generalized theory of creativity note that while there are specifics in creative work

16

in terms of special knowledge or skills, those specific differences occur within a unified model of
thought processes or creative thinking (Cropley, 2003). Root-Bernstein (1999, 2003) and Mishra,
et al. (2011) suggest a trans-disciplinary model of creative thinking, one that upholds the
importance of context in subject matter, yet also looks across the domains for commonalities in
creative thought processes. This trans-disciplinary model is a part of the framework of this
dissertation study, and this will be discussed in more detail in later sections of this chapter.
Creativity in Education and Teaching
The necessity of creativity in the field of education is a concept with far-reaching roots,
as it was championed by early educators and philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle (Starko,
2005). In the more modern era of educational philosophy, John Dewey (1934) contributed
immensely to the idea that the arts and creativity are deeply connected to all domains of human
knowledge, such as teaching and learning (Dewey, 1900; 1916; 1934).
Sternberg (1999) claimed that creativity is found in everyone, but that it is most
commonly obvious in young children. He remarked that creativity “may be harder to find in
older children and adults because their creative potential has been suppressed by a society that
encourages intellectual conformity” (p. 93). Robinson (2003) has also observed the tendency of
conventional education to “crush” students’ natural propensity for creative and divergent
thinking. He has noted that our current system of education continues to reward conventional
wisdom and convergent thought processes, and punish certain legitimate modes of creative
thinking. Sternberg (2006) similarly stated, “When student are taught in a way that fits how they
think, they do better in school. Children with creative or practical abilities, who are almost never
taught or assessed in a way that matches their pattern of abilities, may be at a disadvantage in
course after course, year after year” (p. 94).

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Fasko (2000-2001) believed that the influence of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivators
upon creativity could be useful to any classroom and any grade level, and that students would be
most motivated toward successful learning when given some flexibility in creating their own
tasks. Intrinsic motivation supports creativity and people complete a task in thoughtful, creative
ways because of that intrinsic motivation (Fasko 2001; Runco & Chand 1995; Ruscio, Whitney
& Amabile, 1998).
Amabile (1983; 1996) noted that when all aspects that influence the development of a
person’s creativity are considered, many factors can be found in the classroom, with teacher
characteristics and behavior being incredibly relevant. Creative teachers are energetic and
knowledgeable, with a supportive, flexible, distinctive manner (Lilly & Bramwell-Rejskind,
2004). In their classrooms, students tend to be cooperative, enthusiastic, and engaged (Baer,
1993; Goodson, 1992; Hickey, 1999; Kiely, 1998; Rejskind, 2000; Starko, 1995). Creative
teachers help students to reconstruct their knowledge and understandings through discovery and
rediscovery (Lilly & Bramwell-Rejskind, 2004). Such teachers give way to innovative learners,
encouraging students to produce and create, rather than to summarize and repeat (Piaget, 1973).
Bateson (1999) maintains that everyday creativity is a critical component in education, because
the ability to learn and grow throughout life relies on innovation and new construction.
Fasko (2001) suggested that creative teaching enhances students’ learning experiences.
Other research has shown that teachers are among the most principal constituents in developing
student creativity, in their capacities as mentors and role models (Renzulli, 1992). Karnes et al.
(1961) suggested that creativity is significantly related to educational achievement, and that the
teachers who are best at motivating creativity in their students also modeled creative or divergent
thinking themselves. Cropley (2001) maintained that, “creativity offers classroom approaches

18

that are interesting and thus seems to be a more efficient way of fostering learning and personal
growth” (p. 28). Conventional teaching practices such as transmission-models, punishment,
reward, competition, and evaluation, have been found to stifle students’ innate creativity (Ramey
& Piper, 1974). On the flip side, classrooms which promote self-directed learning and autonomy
seem to cultivate innovative or novel thinking tendencies (Amabile, 1996, 2001). Creative
teachers support students’ creative abilities and promote comfortable environments in which
students can experiment with ideas, explore possibilities and push boundaries (BramwellRejskind, 2000; Hickey, 1999). Lilly & Bramwell-Rejskind, (2004) indicate that these teachers
foster a positive learning climate, encourage curiosity, and model flexibility. They “view
fostering their own creativity as a precursor to fostering it in their students.” (Lilly & BramwellRejskind, 2004, p. 3).
The ability to enhance creativity in teachers has also been extensively promoted
(Milgram, 1979; Davidovitch & Milgram, 2006). This is somewhat troubled by the fact that
research measures to assess and analyze creative teachers are infrequent in the literature. It has
been suggested that there is an increasing need for the teaching of creativity in schools,
particularly in teacher education (Mack, 1987). Sternberg and Lubart (1991) note that it would be
beneficial to empower teachers to give more long-term assignments to promote and improve
students’ tolerance for ambiguity. They additionally support the concept of intellectual risktaking and suggest that teachers encourage students to take more risks with their new skills.
Goodson, (1992), suggested that studying creative teachers lives via research measures,
interviews, etc. can provide awareness of the process of creative teaching. Hocevar (1981)
noted, “A useful way to measure creativity is to simply ask the subject” (p. 459).

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“Effective” Teaching is “Creative” Teaching
The educational impact of creativity has been championed by many researchers
(Anderson, 2002; Bleedron, 2003, 2005; Crockenberg, 1972; Cropley, 1967, 2001; Esquivel,
1995; Fasko, 2000-01; Gowan et al., 1967; Hocevar, 1981; MacKinnon, 1962; Plunker et al.,
2004; Renzulli, 1992; Starko, 2005; Sternberg, 2006; Tan & Law, 2004; Torrance, 1995). The
complexity of the domain of teaching makes it difficult to define “creative” teaching, and
educational research has often designated “creative teaching” as “effective teaching” (Anderson,
2002; Bain, 2004; Davidovitch & Milgram, 2006; Esquivel, 1995)
Further highlighting the efficacy of creative teachers, some researchers have suggested
that the study of creative teaching is essentially the same as the study of “teacher effectiveness”
(Esquivel, 1995). In fact, there is a strong body of thinking in educational research, which either
equates or tightly links effective teaching with creative teaching (Anderson, 2002; Bain, 2004;
Bleedron, 2003, 2005; Chambers, 1973; Cropley, 1967, 2001; Davidovitch & Milgram, 2006;
Esquivel, 1995; Fasko, 2000-01; Milgram, 1979; Newcomb, McKracken and Warmbrod, 1993;
Renzulli, 1992; Torrance, 1981, 1995). Along these lines, Milgram remarked that, “although
few studies of the relationship exist, creative teacher behavior probably makes for more effective
teaching” (p. 125). Anderson (2002) stated, “…the most fundamental risk these teachers accept
is found in their willingness to confront both success and failure in the interest of teaching better.
They risk themselves in being responsible for their work. In this way, they are not so different
from creative artists in other arenas.” (p. 35).
Torrance (1995) proposed that creative teachers are effective teachers, because they are
willing to try new approaches and ideas varying from some traditional educational beliefs.
Newcomb et al. (1993) suggested “effective teaching involves more than what the teacher does

20

in the classroom. Teaching that is creative, interesting, and challenging…begins with a course of
study that make sense to students” (p. 26). Anderson (2002) suggested that creative work
necessitates passion, as does effective teaching. Bleedron (2005) stated “teachers of excellence
and insight who go beyond the established curricula are likely to recognize similar creativethinking talents in students” (p. 26). Such assertions highlight the fact that teachers who are
noted as successful and effective are also creative teachers.
The domain of teaching overall is considered to be a highly complex, ill-structured and
multifaceted discipline (Spiro et al., 1995). It has been compared to the messy and “creative”
field of design, in that teaching lies at the crossroads of many other disciplines (Mishra, Zhao &
Tan, 1999). It may be argued that the very nature of teaching is “trans-disciplinary”. To be
effective in teaching, one must have a strong current of creative thinking across disciplines,
making it an area in which questions about creative, trans-disciplinary thinking are open for
investigation.
Trans-disciplinary Creativity
The idea that creativity spans domains across the arts and sciences has been touched upon
by important thinkers in education and psychology. Dewey (1934), Vygotsky (1978), Eisner
(2004), and Bruner (1990), among others, have suggested ways that creative, artistic, or
imaginative thinking are critical to learning and thinking across a variety of subject matters and
domains. Root-Bernstein (1996; 1999; 2003) suggests a framework for understanding how the
most successful people in the sciences are knowledgeable and creative across disciplines. This
framework emphasizes a specific set of creative thinking skills.
While trans-disciplinary creativity is a relatively new framework for creativity (RootBernstein, 2003; Mishra, et al. 2011), it is an idea that relates to the historical notion of

21

“polymathy”. This term has been used to describe individuals who are outstanding performers
across various subject-matter disciplines (for example, people such as Galileo, Michaelangelo,
DaVinci, and Newton are historically outstanding polymaths…although successful polymaths
need not be such landmark figures). “Polymathy” may be thought of as an informed enthusiasm
for more than one field of knowledge or expertise, or excellence in several realms that might
seem distant from each other. It has been suggested that what makes polymaths so successful
and fluidly creative is an ability to cross-pollinate ideas and information. People who open their
minds to, and who learn from, multiple knowledge areas can apply new information and unique
ways of thinking from one discipline into another. The more everyday conception of this is
“trans-disciplinary creativity”.
The ability to think effectively and creatively in any subject area is deeply connected to
thinking in other, seemingly unrelated, subject areas. Hudson (1967) noted that there is a
tendency to classify scientists as “convergent thinkers” and artists as “divergent thinkers”; this is
a strict and standard definition of domain-specific creativity shared by others (Snow, 1959;
Gardner, 1999; Larson, Thomas and Leviness, 1999). However, this conception has not shed
much light on how innovative thinking and creativity manages to span domains. Weisberg
(2006) noted that what brings these two groups together is a creative problem-solving kind of
thinking. Creative ability may have common threads which connect talented thinkers across
disciplines (Freedman, 2003). It has been noted (Root-Bernstein, 1996, 1999, 2003) that creative
artists think in similar ways to creative scientists; and conversely, that scientists often indulge
artistic avocations which affect their thought processes and insights. Although disciplines have
obvious differences, critical similarities between successful thinkers exist. As Caper (1996)

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noted, “Artistic creation and scientific investigation become hard to distinguish in their essence”
(p.867).
To connect creative pursuits with accomplishment in the disciplines, Root-Bernstein
(1996) conducted a study of forty scientists (including four Nobel Prize winners). This group of
scientists, specializing in various areas of scientific endeavor, were initially surveyed and
interviewed with regard to their modes of thinking or thinking skills, attitudes toward creativity,
and creative pursuits, hobbies, avocations, etc. On a longitudinal basis, they were interviewed at
several different points in time (between the years of 1958 and 1978) on these same issues. The
study investigated their modes of thinking (e.g., verbal, visual, kinesthetic), trans-disciplinary
thinking tendencies, creative pursuits/avocations. It explored how these factors connected to
their success and scientific accomplishment over time. The degree to which the individual
scientists in this group had met with different levels of professional creativity and
accomplishment was compared to the data regarding their creative inclinations and transdisciplinary creativity overall. The qualitative and quantitative data were analyzed to determine
if correlations existed between success/accomplishment in scientific fields, in relation to creative
avocations and preferred modes of thinking (verbal, visual, etc).
Significant correlations were established between scientific accomplishment/innovation
and certain creative thinking skills (in particular “visual” thinking, or thinking in images), and
creative pursuits and avocations (particularly music and the visual arts). An important part of the
study’s conclusion was the notion that accomplished people, within their respective scientific
domains, have varied creative interests and avocations, which they specifically value for
contributing to their professional creativity. In fact, participants frequently gave credit to
creative pursuits for motivating and improving their scientific thinking, innovation, and insights.

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This underscores a link between successful endeavor in the sciences and creative pursuits in
other “unrelated” disciplines (Root-Bernstein, 1996).
While this connection between avocations and professional creativity has been
investigated among successful scientists, the concept has not yet been applied to teachers. One of
the key issues of how creativity functions in the field of teaching is grasping where and how
creative teachers get their ideas. Root-Bernstein (2003) notes limitless examples of exceptional
professionals in art or science who succeed by transferring ideas between domains. Physicist
Max Planck noted, “…the scientist needs an artistically creative imagination”. And composer
Stravinsky believed, “The way composers think – the way I think is…not very different from
mathematical thinking”. “We are poets” said Pythagoras, in the sense that mathematicians are
creators.
A good many scientists and artists have noted the universality of creativity…What the
scientist perceives as common problem solving, the artist understands as shared
inspiration – but the “answer” springs from the same creative act (Root-Bernstein, 1999,
p. 11)
In considering this framework, along with Root-Bernstein’s notable correlations between
creative avocations and professional accomplishment, it suggests that similar inspirations exist
for exceptional teachers. This connection between professional and personal creativity supports
the need to investigate this phenomenon among successful teachers. To examine what kinds of
interests and avocations they pursue, and if and how these things impact their teaching?
Trans-disciplinary Thinking Skills
This multi-modal notion of creativity includes the concept of “trans-disciplinary thinking
tools”. These are cognitive tools found to emerge and recur through the research on

24

extraordinary thinkers (Root-Bernstein, 1999), and will be discussed in more detail. Despite the
emotional, intuitional, pre-verbal nature of creative thinking, it can be analyzed in terms of its
components. “Concrete” skills such as language, logic/mathematics, can be developed, so can
the specific types of thought processes or cognitive tools that make up creative thinking.
The data noted by Root-Bernstein (1996, 1999), show that creative people generally use a
subset of thirteen pre-logical, pre-verbal skills. A compressed, but representative, skill set has
been suggested by Mishra, et al. (2011), which includes the following seven tools: 1) observing;
2) patterning; 3) abstracting; 4) embodied thinking; 5) modeling; 6) play; 7) synthesis. Along
with an overall tendency towards creativity in avocations, pursuits, and interests, it is the first of
these trans-disciplinary thinking skills (observing, patterning, abstracting, embodied thinking,
modeling, and play) that this dissertation study deals with, with respect to effective and creative
teachers. These tools are described in more detail as follows:
(1) Observing. Observing requires both observing and imaging. It is the first step to
understanding anything. Observing involves paying close attention to information gathered
through the five senses, with intent focus and curiosity. For example, bacteriologists use their
sense of smell to observe bacteria, or an ornithologist might identify bird species by sound.
Inventors and mechanics cultivate hands-on experience with tools and machines – relying on a
sense of “feel” to understand their craft. Taking observation to the next level calls for imaging,
which is the recall component of observation (“mental re-observation” if you will). Imaging is
our ability to evoke or bring to mind the impressions/sensations we observe, without the
presence of external stimuli. Individuals can image using a variety of senses: visual, aural,
smell, taste, and tactile/kinesthetic. If you can close your eyes and visualize something you’ve

25

seen, or imagine something you’ve tasted, touched, smelled, or heard after the experience or the
stimulus is gone, then you can image. Both observation and imaging can be honed with practice.
(2) Patterning. The Patterning tool works in two parts, including the act of recognizing
patterns and forming them. Recognizing patterns is a fairly familiar mental act to most of us. It
involves identifying a repeating form or a plan in a seemingly arbitrary arrangement of things or
processes. It is certainly a skill that can be learned, as it is one that is clearly influenced by
environment, e.g. “Western” thinkers are prone to seek out information in linear means (straight
back and forth or up and down). Recognizing is the analytical part of Patterning, while forming
is basically a creative act of innovation. Pattern forming starts when one combines components
or processes in a regular way to create a pattern. For example, when an engineer designs a
complex machine, they are utilizing pattern formation skills; because there is a finite number of
“basic machines” (such as wheels, screws, levers, etc) – an inventor must rely on their
understanding of existing patterns to form new ones. Creative writers or poets rely on their
knowledge of linguistic patterns and structures in order to dream up a new story, poem, etc
(Root-Bernstein, 2003; Gardner, 1983).
(3) Abstracting. Abstracting involves capturing the essential nature of a thing.
Abstracting means concentrating on one feature of a thing or process, in order to boil it down to
basics and grasp its essence. Scientists use abstractions quite frequently. For example they may
eliminate all superfluous traits from a physical situation (i.e. shape, size, color, texture, etc.) to
key in on features of interest such as boiling point or mass. One key aspect of this is analogizing
or comprehending a practical similarity between the fundamentals of seemingly disparate things
(i.e. extending abstraction into two different domains). For instance, Isaac Newton compared
our own Moon to a ball thrown so hard that its descent misses the earth and passes into orbit –

26

this analogy diverged from the Aristotelian notion that a body could have just one kind of
motion, and spawned the idea of a forward/falling composite motion of objects in orbit.
(4) Embodied thinking. The cognitive tool of embodied thinking involves two skills
which feed into each other – kinesthetic thinking and empathizing. Kinesthetic thinking is
thinking with the body. The sensations of muscle, skin and sinew, and the feelings in the body
of movement, balance, tensions and so forth, are a few examples of this. For instance, Einstein
described the thought processes behind his own creative breakthroughs as being partly “visual”
and partly “muscular” (rather than purely logico-mathematical). In his thought experiments, he
imagined himself as a photon, and described not only what he saw, but what he felt in his body
(Root-Bernstein, 1999). Another element of embodied thinking is empathizing. This requires
imagining oneself in someone else’s position, walking in their shoes, feeling what they might
feel. Actors, poets or novelists empathize with others, to portray them in interesting and
authentic ways. Even scientists must also sometimes apply empathetic thinking to understand
other organisms, even non-living things and processes. Fox-Keller (1983) notes in her book “A
Feeling for the Organism”, that this practice of empathetic feeling was integral to the work of
famed geneticist Barbara McClintock; this exemplifies the notion of understanding concepts,
even in science, via a feeling “in the body”
(5) Modeling. A tool that builds on information gathered through the use of previous
cognitive tools is modeling. To create a model is to represent something in real or theoretical
terms in order to study its nature, composition or purpose. Artists create and draw on models by
preparing smaller views of a piece of art in advance of creating it. Scientists employ basic
models of things or processes. Modeling requires the use of abstractions or analogies, and the
facility of dimensional thinking, that is, our thinking with respect to space and time. Creative

27

people do this when they take two-dimensional information (blueprints, maps etc) and construct
them in three dimensions; or vice-versa, when they plot things that occur in three dimensions
into two dimensions. This can be either (or both) a scientific or an artistic aspect of thinking. In
the arts, it is the very crux of drawing in perspective; similarly, engineers must constantly think
dimensionally in order to toggle between blueprints/plans and actual structures. Dimensional
thinking, paired with abstractions and analogies, help create models of things or processes that
explain the real world.
(6) Play. Playing is something that we do just “for the fun of it”. It may involve creating
new rules or breaking the existing ones of established procedures. Simply put, “play” is using
knowledge, body, mind and abilities for the pure enjoyment of using them. When imaginative or
innovative people play with things or concepts or processes, they may open doors to new ways
of thinking via unexpected breakthroughs. Creative people in different disciplines all speak to
the value of play. They play with distinctions, boundaries, unassailable truths and the limits of
utility. Through this play they transform ideas into creative acts or new knowledge.
(7) Synthesizing. The final cognitive tool ties together all of the previous ones.
Synthesizing entails putting different ways-of-knowing together, into synthesized knowledge.
When we fully understand something our feelings, senses, knowledge and experiences come
together in a multi-faceted and cohesive kind of knowing. A person feels what they know and
knows what they feel. For example, Einstein noted that when he sailed, he felt and experienced
mathematical equations which occurred via the boat interacting with the wind and the water. The
creative process is often described by artists, writers and scientists as the joining of the five
senses and the emotions, into an aesthetic and intellectual experience. When feeling and thinking

28

work together, creative and intellectual processes are far more powerful and are described as
“synesthetic.”
These trans-disciplinary skills or thinking tools are derived from the work of RootBerstein (1999; 2003); they are described by Mishra, et al. (2011) as essential component of
teaching and learning. Theories of trans-disciplinary creativity deal with these specific thinking
skills as universal modalities across different domains. Originality or creativity in the sciences is
often depicted as if it were markedly separate from the arts. The hard sciences must be
objective, analytical and replicable, to clarify the process of problem solving. The arts, literature,
and music, however, are typically perceived as softer, more subjective, empathic, and inimitable.
Despite this, many scientists and engineers frequently use the arts as scientific tools, and insights
of the artistic kind have paved the way for successive scientific discoveries and their practical
applications. If learning to think creatively in one discipline opens the door to creativity in other
disciplines, there may be a unique structure of thought processes or habits of thinking that are
generally shared by creative people and innovators. To develop a more detailed picture of
successful and creative teaching, trans-disciplinary skills must be considered. Understanding if
and how trans-disciplinary thinking applies to teaching offers a new and exciting paradigm for
creative teaching. This leads us to ask are trans-disciplinary thinking skills used by
accomplished, successful teachers, and in what ways?
Research Questions
Our educational policy has a strong focus on topics such as science, technology,
engineering and mathematics. But by ignoring creativity and the arts, and how they are fluidly
connected to other disciplines, we may be missing a key component. A central issue in creativity
research is “where do new ideas come from?” The noted research and existing theory on

29

creativity, avocations, and trans-disciplinary thinking offers some possible insights. It suggests
that creative ideas may come from that which makes us unique – our interests, and modes of
thinking about ideas and concepts. That creative uniqueness is being considered among
successful people in various disciplines. Scientists and artists alike both think in this way. Yet
conventional educational practices are not teaching in this way. The charge then for educational
research is to understand if and how these issues apply to teachers. Therefore, the guiding
research questions of the study can be summarized as such:
Research Question 1:
Q1) Does creativity play a significant role in the teaching practices of accomplished teachers,
and if so in what ways?
‐

Question 1a: What does “creativity” mean to these accomplished teachers? How do they
define creativity? Is it an important part of effective teaching practice?

‐

Question 1b: What are some examples or elements of “creative” teaching in the
classrooms of these successful teachers?

Research Question 2:
Q2) Do successful, accomplished teachers engage in creative practices and avocations, and do
these avocations impact their thinking and teaching?
‐

Question 2a: What kinds of interests and/or creative pursuits do these accomplished
teachers engage in?

‐

Question 2b: Do these successful teachers feel that their avocations and interests
influence their teaching practice, and in what ways?

Research Question 3:
Q3) Are trans-disciplinary thinking skills used by accomplished, successful teachers?

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‐

Question 3a: How do these accomplished teachers use trans-disciplinary thinking skills in
their teaching practice and what are some classroom examples?

‐

Question 3b: Do these thinking skills help them to be more effective, creative teachers?
In what ways are these thinking skills important to teaching?

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CHAPTER 3
Methodology
This chapter presents the research rationale and design for this study. The description of
the methods for data collection and analysis in this study is given after an initial overview of the
research approach.
Purpose of the study
This study is focused on the concept of trans-disciplinary creativity within the field of
teaching, and is an examination of the connection between successful teaching and creative
thinking. The creative pursuits, interests, and avocations of a group of “accomplished”
(successful and creative) teachers were investigated in terms of the influence these interests and
avocations have upon their professional success and creativity as teachers. I explore if and how
“trans-disciplinary” creative thinking skills are utilized among successful and creative teachers.
Overall, creativity is considered in terms of how it plays a role in the teaching philosophies and
classroom practices of successful and creative teachers. These inquiries shed light on teaching
practices and outcomes that are both highly effective and creative.
Research Design
A qualitative research design was used for this study, centering on in-depth interviews
(supplemented incidentally by data collected on participants from additional sources and
documents). These semi-structured in-depth interviews with accomplished, successful teachers
sought to explore the construct of creativity in teaching, in terms of creative
avocations/behaviors, trans-disciplinary creativity, and creative thinking modes. Broadly
speaking, this research was qualitative in nature and design, and more specifically, it can be
characterized within the qualitative umbrella as “grounded theory” research.

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Characteristics of Qualitative Research
Qualitative research is an inquiry method which seeks a detailed understanding of ideas
and human behavior. Its methods focus on exploration and understanding reasons behind certain
phenomena or behaviors, rather than trying to prove or test a hypothesis. Because social
phenomena don’t have uncomplicated existences, they must be interpreted and ascribed
meaning. Given this, the role of the researcher is often critical in qualitative work. Creswell
(1998) noted that qualitative frameworks highlight multiple realities and social construction of
knowledge, and thereby require the researcher to acknowledge personal beliefs or biases. Anfara
et al (2002) note the importance of making the methods of research public, and assert that
clarifying the details of procedure and the researcher’s role serve to strengthen the quality,
trustworthiness, and rigor of a qualitative study. While quantitative research focuses on
objective, positivist approaches to data, qualitative work utilizes a more subjective lens to
explore and describe distinct themes and emergent ideas. This is done through the collection of
verbal or narrative information from subjects or cases, which are interpreted through the
framework of the study and the lens of the researcher.
Qualitative research provides a broad umbrella for numerous and varied types of
descriptive and interpretive inquiry. The research design of this study falls within the qualitative
branch of Grounded Theory. This is simply an approach to qualitative research which focuses on
a phenomenon, attempting to describe and analyze a certain “subjective reality”, or reality as it is
perceived by the study population (Creswell, 1998). Moustakas (1994) observed that
phenomenology provides a description of the experiences of individuals, and also investigates
the meanings of those experiences. The interpretation of a phenomenon (such as creative
thinking) is considered with regard to the experiences of the individuals in the study, as well as

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to other concepts or phenomena. The initial assumption is that the essence of a particular
phenomenon does exist, and that it can be explored in the experiences and thoughts of
individuals. The researcher goes beyond distilling the data to analyze and interpret it, in a quest
to produce new knowledge.
Instrumentation
Due to its divergent nature, creativity is frequently noted in research and literature as a
complex subject matter to investigate both quantitatively and qualitatively (Klein, 1982; Plucker
et al, 2004). Hocevar (1981) suggested, “A useful way to measure creativity is to simply ask the
subject. This is not a profound position, but yet the procedure is rarely used” (p.459). The
interview process and instrumentation used in this study did this by collecting data from the
subjects regarding their own ideas on and experience of creativity issues. A semi-structured
interview protocol (Appendix A) was created specifically for this study to guide the framework
of the interview, and cover issues of creative avocations/inclinations, teaching beliefs and ideas
on creativity, and examples of trans-disciplinary thinking among successful teachers. The
protocol was flexible and unique to this study. I developed this instrument to ensure that at least
one or more interview questions directly address each of the essential research questions of this
study, and to provide a sense of consistency among all of the interviews. The design of the
protocol was shaped to begin with more open-ended or “warm-up” questions, to encourage
conversation and familiarity and provide an emergent and open tone at the outset. The protocol
questions narrowed in progression, ultimately focusing more on the specific creative and transdisciplinary issues, so as to ensure that the key topic of the study were covered during the
discussion. Despite these pre-determined questions, the protocol was intended and used as an
open and adaptive guide to permit exploration of any emergent, pertinent areas of interest.

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One key aspect of qualitative research suggests that the researcher try to identify and
clarify personal biases. Creswell’s (1998) suggestion is that the interviewer should consider and
answer the questions themselves, and/or consider them from multiple viewpoints. To this end,
the interview guide went through several iterations, in order to ensure that it not only addressed
the research questions clearly, but also provided an open and unbiased opportunity for
participants to speak to these issues from their own experience. The protocol was first
considered and reviewed by two faculty/committee members with experience in the topics of
creativity and teaching. As the researcher and interviewer, I also did a trial of answering the
questions and considering them from an interviewee’s standpoint. These iterations allow for
revisions that ensured that the questions were specific to the subject matter yet still open to
participant’s ideas and experiences. With this the pilot-study draft of the protocol was ready.
Before actual data collection, three separate in-depth pilot interviews were conducted to
test the interview protocol/guide, as well as the process itself. The pilot study interviewees were
selected as teachers noted by Michigan State faculty (in two instances), or by my discretion as
researcher (in one case), as effective and creative classroom teachers who could speak to the
topics and questions at hand. These three pilot interviews, of approximately 90 minutes each,
helped to establish the interview guide/protocol as a valid means of exploring the overall
research questions. A few minor edits were made to the questions based on the pilot interviews.
Additionally, the pilot interviews revealed the need for me as the interviewer to give each
participant a clearer description of each trans-disciplinary skill in real-world terminology. Based
on this I created note-cards for each trans-disciplinary skill to help me provide a basic and
consistent definition with examples of each skill. At this point the protocol and process were
established for the purpose of data collection.

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Additionally, to provide an instance of internal validity and qualitative reliability, Anfara
et al (2002) suggest a cross-referencing of the research questions with the instrumentation.
Mapping the research questions of the study onto specific questions from the interview guide
ensured that the interview questions investigated the issues that they were supposed to. This
cross-referencing was done and is provided in Appendix B.
Sampling and Participants
This study used a purposeful sampling approach in order to use participants who could
best speak to the larger questions of this research about creativity among accomplished teachers.
A specific sample of selected individuals allowed for participants who could provide detailed
information and enough data in interviews to paint a rich picture of creativity among skilled
teachers. Both Patton (2002), and Creswell (1998), advocate such as approach as this ensures
that all participants actually have experienced the phenomena or concepts of interest.
In order to address its research questions, this study required participants who were
describable as “effective”, “accomplished” and “creative” teachers. Given this, the participants
selected for this study were teachers who have received the Teacher of the Year award for their
state and been selected as a Teacher of the Year finalist or winner nationally (more description of
this group will follow).
In selecting a participant sample, I needed to designate teachers deemed to be uniquely
“successful”, “accomplished” or creative in the field of teaching. Defining this underscored the
question of “how do we identify a creative teacher?” There was no formal, established or
consistent guideline or set of rules to answer this question. This study utilizes a measure for
success or teaching accomplishment as being individuals who have both received the “Teacher
of the Year” award at the state level, and been finalists for the award at the national level.

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“Teacher of the Year” awards are generally given to classroom teachers who have been
noted on multiple levels for excellent and innovative teaching. Teachers who receive this award
have been singled out of thousands of their peers based on a record of teaching accomplishment.
But what does this mean and is that relevant to this study?
Rationale for “Teachers of the Year” as Research Group
Defining “accomplished” and “creative” teachers was difficult, given the complex and illstructured nature of the domain of teaching. However, it was determined that state and/or
national “Teacher of the Year” award winners ably fit into this grouping as both “accomplished”
and “creative” in their field. The very nature of the award is for excellence and thereby
“effectiveness” in teaching. One teacher per state, every year, is selected based on criteria that
invariably reflect “effective” teaching. For example, the State of Michigan website notes their
criteria, among others, as, “exceptionally dedicated, knowledgeable and skilled”, “inspires
students” and “acts as a role model for innovation” (Michigan Department of Education
Website, Teacher of the Year Program Guidelines). While these generic criteria vary slightly by
state, they are generally quite similar, and are kept somewhat open to allow for a scope of
different types of teachers. The selection processes for all states however, are rigorous and
consistent. Applicants must show: 1) a clear record of substantial positive classroom outcomes
and student learning (i.e. a verifiable track record of teaching results), 2) examples of original,
effective teaching, 3) high recommendations (in written form) from peers, principals,
students/parents. Winners have been vetted and selected by a state education panel, as the best in
the field in the noted areas of qualification and teaching accomplishment. These criteria indicate
that “Teacher of the Year” award winners can be considered “effective” teachers.

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Furthering the rationale for this group, and as noted previously (in a subheading of the
Literature Review), there is a body of educational research which considers “effective teaching”
to essentially be the same as “creative teaching” (Anderson, 2002; Bain, 2004; Bleedron, 2003,
2005; Chambers, 1973; Cropley, 1967, 2001; Davidovitch & Milgram, 2006; Esquivel, 1995;
Fasko, 2000-01; Milgram, 1979; Newcomb, McKracken and Warmbrod, 1993; Renzulli, 1992;
Torrance, 1981, 1995). In fact, it has been suggested that “creative teaching” can be subsumed
under the heading of “effective teaching” (Esquivel, 1995). Within these parameters, the state or
national “Teacher of the Year” award winners who are classified as “effective” may also be
deemed “creative” teachers.
Taking this a further step to ensure the efficacy of this group selection for this
dissertation study, I additionally conducted a brief review of a subset of individual applications,
portfolios, or other available online data for 15 of the recent Teacher of the Year finalists at the
national level. From among the 50 state-level Teacher of the Year award winners in the US
every year, four are selected (based on accomplishments, recommendations, etc) to be finalists
for the National Teacher of the Year award. From these four, one is selected to receive the
award for the entire U.S. Application data for these four individuals is available on the National
Teacher of the Year website, for all of the finalists of recent years. This includes information
such as teaching philosophy statements, lesson examples, etc, for these award winning teachers.
After reviewing information from fifteen of the recent National Teacher of the Year award
finalists, there was clear evidence of “creativity”, both implicitly (examples of creative teaching)
and explicitly (specific mentions of “creativity” in teaching philosophy, etc). Appendix C
includes a general overview, in bulleted selections, of some of the teaching philosophy
statements, comments, lessons, and other evidence of creative teaching, from a sampling of this

38

group. (This is a rough sampling of available information, but it provides a sense of some
overall creative teaching ideals of the group.) All but one of the 15 teachers made specific
references to, and mentions of, “creativity”, in their stated comments about their own teaching.
All fifteen provided examples of classroom teaching or lessons which can be construed as
“creative”, in that they were original and innovative as well as valuable in the classroom (i.e.
unique but effective examples of teaching). With 14 of the 15 teachers in the sample explicitly
referencing creativity or creative teaching, and all 15 of them providing implicit examples of
creative teaching, it was reasonable to assume that the National Teacher of the Year
finalists/winners could be considered research sample that was representative of teachers who are
not only effective, but creative.
An initial sample size of approximately 5-10 interviewees was deemed appropriate for indepth interviews. This is supported by standards of qualitative research design, as Creswell
(1998, p.65) suggests that “long interviews, with up to 10 people” are beneficial for this type of
descriptive study. This allows for information-rich data sources, targeted to specific participants
who can speak to the topic in question.
Recruitment
Since ten or fewer participants would be interviewed, I determined that recruiting from
the relatively small, elite, group of National Teacher of the Year finalists and winners would
allow for a selective and ideal sample. While contacting all statewide winners would undeniably
provide a pool of excellent teachers, it could potentially provide too great a response. Also, the
availability of data in the online applications for the national finalists provided extra, preinterview information on participants and allowed for a more detailed focus. For instance, I
purposely targeted the award winning teachers who were not in disciplines such as music or the

39

arts, since creativity is already a given in these teaching professions. My sample of teachers was
drawn specifically from those in the sciences, mathematics, language arts or English, and
elementary education.
In order to recruit from this group of teachers, the e-mail contacts for award winners and
finalists from the past four years were gathered from the National Teacher of the Year program
website. A recruitment e-mail was drafted by the researcher to give potential participants some
details of the study, and request an interview with them via telephone. As a thank you and
compensation for their time, a $50 gift card to amazon.com was noted for participation in an indepth interview. The recruitment letter was revised in two drafts per suggestions from faculty
committee members, and a copy of the final e-mail/letter that was actually sent out is provided in
Appendix D.
Prior to any actual contact with participants, this research study was sent through
Michigan State University’s Institutional Research Board for review. Due to the nature of the
study’s design, its selection of participants based on excellence and accomplishment and
issues/questions which posed minimal or no risk, it was determined to be of Exempt status and
able to commence recruitment.
A first round of recruitment e-mails were sent on my behalf as the researcher, by my
dissertation director Dr. Punya Mishra, who had overseen this project as academic advisor, and
who as a faculty member was the initial representative from MSU to participants. Participants
were directed to contact me, as the interviewer, if they opted to participate, to schedule an
interview. In a first round of e-mails that were sent, several affirmative replies were received
from National Teacher of the Year finalists agreeing to an interview. Dates and times that were
convenient to their schedules were scheduled for in-depth interviews, and the collection of

40

interview data commenced. Four interviews were set and conducted based on this first round of
recruitment e-mails. Because several more interviews were required to meet a sample size target
of 5-10 participants, there were two more rounds of e-mails, drafted by me and sent by Dr.
Mishra on my behalf. In the second round, reminder e-mails were sent out to potential
participants who had not yet replied to the first e-mail, and initial recruitment e-mails were also
sent to National Teacher of the Year finalists from earlier years prior that had not yet been
contacted in the first round of e-mails. In the third round, reminders went out to the initial
contacts from the second round of recruitment, and to yet a few more initial finalist contacts
from prior years. By cycling this process of e-mail recruitment in several rounds, the research
simultaneously conducted new interviews and collected data, while also seeking out new data
sources. A total of nine in-depth interviews were conducted by phone, lasting approximately 90
minutes to 2 hours each. Ultimately eight of these nine interviews were actually used in the data
for this study. One interview was eliminated when it was determined that the
teacher/interviewee’s position almost exclusively involved directing a community service
program at his high school, and that his experience or background with regard to the issues of
this study, and as a classroom teacher, were somewhat narrow.
Data Collection
On the arranged dates and times, in-depth interviews with the noted National Teacher of
the Year finalist participants were conducted. Long interviews (approximately 90 minutes each)
provided rich and descriptive data on the subject matter of creativity and trans-disciplinary
thinking among accomplished teachers.
As recommended by Creswell (1998), the interviews were audio-taped with the expressed
informed consent of each interviewee, and were transcribed prior to analysis. Recording was

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done via a digital audio recorder device linked to a telephone handset control, which provided
optimal recording quality for transcription. To ensure quality and accuracy of transcripts, the
audio files were sent out for professional transcription. Each transcript was further read and
reread by me upon completion, not only to check for quality or minor editing/proofing issues, but
to again familiarize myself with the text.
In the course of data collection, a relatively consistent pattern or structure for interviews
allowed me to cover the subject matter at hand and explore related comments as well. After
beginning with greetings and pleasantries, some very open-ended initial questions from the guide
helped to establish rapport, as well as a background/perspective for each participant. While the
use of a flexible protocol meant that the order of the questions necessarily shifted slightly in
some cases to allow for a meaningful flow of discussion, all of the questions in the guide were
ultimately covered. Upon commencement of the interview, and after verbal thank you and
goodbyes, I e-mailed each participant to again extend appreciation of their time and comments
and send a $50 gift card as a small gesture of appreciation. In order to collect my thoughts, I also
took some separate post-interview notes on each person, to ultimately separate some of my
personal impressions from the actual interview data itself.
In the interests of reciprocity (Patton, 2002), and to ultimately increase the reliability of
this study via the use of “member checks” (Anfara et al, 2002), I further contacted each
participant to provide them with a copy of their transcript, and ascertain that it accurately
reflected their comments and thoughts. This provided an outlet to allow them an opportunity for
any additional comments or clarifications of existing ones. No one responded with any changes,
requests or problems, and the few received comments were positive, or simply offered pleasant
greetings or exchanges. One teacher referred me to a book she had written as a possible source

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for more info if I needed it, and another sent me a CD collection of some of his teaching
materials.
Data Analysis
It has been noted that interview analysis of this type can reveal the “phenomenological
aspect” of an experience that can not be found in the form of a quantitative instrument, i.e. a
deeper understanding of certain experiences or phenomena (Creswell, 2003). In order to make
sense of the complex and diffuse textual data produced, it was necessary to “horizontalize” the
data (or thoroughly review all text/statements and consider them equally), and group it into
“meaning units” by reflecting on the most significant types of statements (Moustakas, 1994).
It is essential for a researcher to become familiar with the totality of the data in order to
approach it objectively and create “meaning units”, or coding schemas (Cresswell, 1998). To
further these ends, the interviews were listened to in audio format, and read and re-read in text
format multiple times, by me as the interviewer and researcher.
The coding of data is intended to organize patterns and themes that emerge from the data,
and ultimately help to explain it. According to Anfara et al (2002), such analysis brings
“meaning, structure, and order to data; approaching the process of coding through several
iterations is generally considered a viable way to categorize it in meaningful ways. Data that are
not useful, or that are repetitive or immaterial can be eliminated. Throughout the process of
coding, the perceptions of the researcher are critical, in searching for the underlying themes of
significance to derive “meaning units” or codes to organize and make sense of the data
(Moustakas, 1994).
I used HyperResearch© a qualitative data coding software, which facilitated the process
and management of textual data, and coding schemas. Using this software, I conducted three

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separate iterations of coding, with increasingly narrowed code lists, scaling down to a final set of
codes, or themes, with the most significant themes discussed in the final analysis/conclusions of
this study.
A first iteration of data brought the set of data into manageable chunks, gathered around
over 40 codes, or ideas. This first set of codes was a mixture of pre-determined codes (which
were driven by the research questions of this study – e.g. the trans-disciplinary skills, etc), and
emergent themes of creativity and teaching that appeared interesting at the outset. The second
iteration of coding reduced the code list by eliminating superfluous codes and condensing others
into broader critical themes (Anfara et al, 2002) that make sense of and unify some key themes
of creative teaching and trans-disciplinary thinking. At the level of the third iteration, the code
list was further tightened to themes most salient to the study. These broader significant themes
provided theoretical points for discussion and theory in the analysis and conclusions of the study.
Developing Codes. I approached the task of developing codes by coming up with some
initial codes which were determined by my research questions. Since my questions consider
whether and how certain issues of creativity exist in excellent teachers, it was important to have
a way to categorize these themes from the data. So I began by looking at my research questions
and my interview guide (since this was designed based upon these), and asking what themes I
wanted to identify in the data. Since the trans-disciplinary skills are paramount to this study, it
was clear that those skills should each become a code. That way, whenever an interviewee
talked about the importance of “observation” or “analogies/abstract thinking”, I had a way to
classify it (as the code “observation” or “abstracting”). Because of the research question aimed
at the creative interests/avocations of excellent teachers, it was important to have codes to
designate any specific mentions of hobbies, interests, etc. Therefore, under the master-code

44

heading of “avocations”, separate codes were created to classify these interests in art, music, etc.
Also a code for “creative avocations influence teaching” was created because of the fact that I
am interested not only in what their avocations are, but in why and how they influence creative
teaching practices. That way, any comments or discussion of how a teacher’s interests in the
arts, or music, or reading/writing, etc, affect their views and practices as a teacher could be coded
under this theme. By going through the research questions of this study and the interview guide
in this way, I was initially able to identify several themes that I wanted to investigate within the
data to be able to answer my research questions, and thereby create some initial codes for them.
Beyond having these initial codes (such as the trans-disciplinary themes, avocations,
philosophy of creativity, etc), it was also important to allow important ideas to emerge from the
data and create codes to help classify these. These “emergent themes” were arrived at both
through the several initial readings that I did of the interview texts (to familiarize myself with the
data), and the first two iterations of coding. The aspect of qualitative research that is
interpretative is important here (Anfara et al, 2002). Part of becoming familiar with the textual
data means recognizing themes that seem to recur and persist between the different data sources,
and distinguishing which of these might be important to the research questions.
Being quite familiar with my topic and my data, I would notice and make note of
interesting similarities in certain comments or types of statements between the interviewees. For
example, in talking about examples of creative teaching in their classrooms many of the teachers
would mention how their lessons and practices always tried to make connections to the realworld, perhaps relating to the students own experiences or giving them a realistic or “real-world”
scenario for learning about a new topic. Many similar ideas or examples from their classrooms
seemed to fall under this same category, so I created the “real-world connections” code to

45

demarcate any examples or statements about how these teachers tried to connect real-world
learning to their teaching in creative ways. Similarly, many of the teachers noted the importance
of “calculated risks” in the classroom, or the willingness to go out on a limb and try new things
in their classrooms. The “risk-taking” code was created for these types of statements or
discussion. These are just a few examples that show how emergent codes come to light in the
process of reviewing the data, and doing the first round or rounds of coding. During these first
and second iterations, some codes appear and disappear, if it seems that they are not being coded
frequently enough to make them noteworthy, if they are quite similar in essence to another code
(and can be condensed), or if they ultimately are interesting but not applicable enough to
answering the study’s research questions. By the third iteration, I was able to look at each code
as a useful and distinctive theme in the data.
Sample Excerpt from Coding. The example that follows is a brief text excerpt (in a
screen capture from HyperResearch with codes from one of the interviews, to provide a sample
of how some of the codes can be applied in the data.
In this following example, the teacher (“Adam” as described in the Results section),
discusses several examples of creative teaching from his classroom. Each different teaching
example he mentions is coded separately for “Examples of Creative Teaching”, two are also
double coded for “Real World Teaching/Learning”, because they are examples that connect
learning to real-world examples for students (i.e. realistic or authentic scenarios that they can
understand in real-world terms, such as a socio-economic example that relates to their lives –
90% of his students are Hispanic/Latino – or an example of popular culture like Justin Bieber on
youtube); towards the end of the section we begin to talk about cross-curricular connections,
adding another code. Most of the coded sections through all the transcripts have at least several

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codes layered within them, to account for multiple related themes being discussed at any given
time.

Figure 1: HyperResearch© Example of Coding

Final Code Listing. Figure 2 below shows the final code list for this study with the
following codes/themes of the study (and code-groups or sub-codes):
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Listing of Codes used in the Research
‐

‐
‐
‐
‐
‐
‐
‐
‐
‐
‐
‐
‐
‐
‐
‐

‐
‐

Avocations
o Arts
o Misc
o Music
o Physical activity
o Reading
o Subject matter interests
Creative avocations influence teaching
Creative thought processes
Creativity as a mindset
Cross-curricular subject matter teaching
Curiosity/Lifelong Learning
Definition or philosophy of creativity
Diverse and varied background
Diverse subject matter interests
Empathy
Examples of creative teaching or creative lessons
General trans-disciplinary thinking statements/tendencies
Real world connections
Risk-taking
Teaching with the arts
Trans-disciplinary Skills
o Abstracting
o Embodied Thinking
o Modeling
o Observation
o Patterning
o Play
Where and How Creative Ideas Arise
We teach who we are
Figure 2: Final Listing of Codes

Each of the codes in this list represents a theme viewed in this study, and was either driven
by the research questions and determined up-front, or decided upon as they emerged through
reading and analysis of the data. This is the final code list from which the themes discussed in
the analysis/conclusions were organized and discussed. Ultimately this organizes ideas and text

48

from the interviews into themes/categories, which are referenced and discussed as pertinent in
the Analysis and Results of this study.
Reliability and Validity
The terms reliability and validity, sometimes referred to as “standards” and “verification”
in qualitative work, speak to how trustworthy and credible a study is. Howe & Eisenhardt (1990)
note that ultimately the methods of a study must be evaluated based on how effectively they
enlighten the research goals, rather than how well they conform to a set of conventions. They
propose a fundamental set of standards that should be met, including: Does the methodology
provide data which can answer the question(s) of a study? Are the background assumptions
reasonable? Does the application of methods provide results that are credible? (Howe and
Eisenhardt, 1990)
In meeting the first issue of whether the methodology/data can appropriately answer the
research question, I followed the suggestion of Anfara et al (2002), and from the outset of the
study design, created a cross-referencing table of the research questions and the instrumentation,
mapping the questions of the study onto a specific question or questions from the
instrument/interview guide. This cross-referencing lends internal validity, ensuring that the
research questions drove the data collection (rather than the reverse) – this table is provided for
reference in the appendices.
To provide a check of the other standards for reliability and validity (the noted issues of
background assumptions and application of methods), Cresswell (1998) describes eight different
verification techniques for qualitative research and suggests that any researcher should engage at
least two of these techniques: 1) prolonged engagement or persistent observation 2) triangulation
3) peer-review or debriefing 4) negative case analysis 5) clarification of researcher bias 6)

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member checks 7) rich thick description 8) external audits. I engaged not only two, but four of
these techniques: clarification of researcher bias, peer-review or debriefing, member checks, and
rich thick description.
“Clarification of researcher bias” occurs during the earliest stages of phenomenological
research, in which the researcher identifies and clarifies personal biases. I did this partially
through answering the interview questions myself, as well as by piloting the study with several
other, non-participant teachers, to identify any built-in conclusions, problems or biases in the
interview methods. As a result, the interview guide went through several iterations to ensure that
questions were phrased clearly and directed toward the research goals – several were also rephrased to become more open and not “leading” in nature. Further clarification of bias required
reflecting on any past experiences or personal orientations that might otherwise bias my
interpretations (Cresswell, 1998). I have no previous experience as a K-12 classroom teacher,
and therefore no direct/personal experience or bias with regard to creative thinking as a K-12
teacher. However past and present experiences are always significant, as I designed and
conducted this study with a given knowledge of, and educational experiences, with issues and
topics involving creativity as a university instructor and graduate student. Moustakas (1994)
suggests that it is important to acknowledge this point, because qualitative research frequently
links reliability and validity to the researcher’s interpretations.
“Peer-review or de-briefing” is part of a credible qualitative research process, in which
the researcher arranges a colleague or another appropriate individual to act as a critic or auditor
for the study. This person can help detect a point has been over-emphasized, or if another
critical point has been missed, and in general acts as a reviewer and editor of the research
process. I had several people serve has reviewers and de-briefers throughout the research

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process of this study. My graduate advisor, Dr. Punya Mishra, served as a thorough reviewer
and research critic, from the inception of the research questions to the final conclusions. Another
education faculty member, Dr. Janine Certo, also provided consistent and valuable critique on
methodological design and research processes. I met or spoke with both of these individuals to
provide details and updates on, and received advice and feedback on aspects of design, data
collection and analysis. Additionally, the teachers who served as participants in the pilot version
of this study were peer-reviewers to the data collection process. I did a debriefing session after
each pilot interview to ask about their reactions/responses to the questions, and whether they
accurately captured their experiences of teaching and creativity.
“Member checks” also serve as a useful way to add reliability to the process of research
(Lincoln and Guba, 1985; Anfara et al, 2002). As noted in the section on data collection, each
participant was given a copy of their transcript, to confirm that it accurately reflected their
comments and ideas. I had e-mail responses with greetings or positive comments from half of the
interviewees, or no responses from the others. Since there were no issues or problems raised by
anyone, the process ensured the accuracy and authenticity of the data and participants’
experiences of the phenomenon.
“Rich, thick description” is considered one of the most valuable techniques for allowing
the reader of the study to judge the phenomenon and make an assessment of how well the
researcher has interpreted the findings (Cresswell, 1998; Patton, 2002). A thorough and detailed
description, “takes the reader into the setting or phenomena being described” (Patton, 2002, pg.
437), and thereby allows them to evaluate the analysis and conclusions. This is achieved through
extensive use of direct quoting woven throughout the analysis and descriptions of participants.
Direct quoting in particular is necessary for reliability/validity in qualitative work, because the

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research audience is provided a candid look at actual data alongside the interpretations and
findings (Patton, 2002). This offers transparency in the process, and an understanding of how
the data connects to the results.
As an additional measure to the techniques noted, inter-coder reliability was also
determined to provide additional verification for these methods. Another graduate student from
the MSU College of Education, who had similar research interests in themes of creativity and
trans-disciplinary thinking, served as a secondary coder. I met multiple times with this doctoral
student to train her on the meaning of the codes and the overall system/approach of coding. After
she was trained in the meanings, definitions and applications of these codes, she did several
practice sessions to ensure that she understood and felt comfortable applying the codes applied to
the data. This process of training and practice coding helped to ascertain that the coding process
was understood and logical in advance of ultimately reaching inter-coder reliability standards. At
this point, she did a final, thorough coding of 2 of the 8 transcripts, so that approximately 25% of
the data would have an inter-coder reliability measure. Anything above 70% is generally
considered acceptable reliability for qualitative coding, and our approximate agreement in
matching up coded sections (allowing for a sentence or two of variation in how we chose and
selected text and passages to code) was 76%.
Summary
A qualitative research design, within a grounded theory framework, made the use of indepth interviews the most appropriate means of studying creativity and trans-disciplinary
thinking among successful teachers. The highly effective and accomplished teachers in this
study were drawn from a sample of National Teacher of the Year award winners and finalists.
They were interviewed in-depth with regard to the research questions outlined previously in this

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chapter. Textual data from these interviews was collected and analyzed through coding and
interpretative, descriptive research processes. The final chapters of this study discuss the data
analysis results and discussion of this research, and report on creativity and trans-disciplinary
thinking in the experiences and classrooms of excellent teachers.

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CHAPTER 4
Results
The results of this study were generated using qualitative research methods; specifically
through the analysis of data gathered through in-depth interviews with successful and
accomplished teachers. This research focused on the creative tendencies and creative thinking
modes of exceptional teachers. Eight nationally award-winning teachers were interviewed with
regard to creativity in their teaching practices, as well as their overall creative avocations and
interests, with an emphasis on how these things connect. Along these lines trans-disciplinary
thinking skills are considered, as well as their role in the creative thinking of successful teachers.
This results are divided into three sections, the first being the Description of Participants,
followed by the more length and detailed analysis of the research questions (subdivided for the
three overall questions). The description of participants supports the qualitative research
principle of “rich, thick description”, in which a detailed description of the participants “takes the
reader into the setting or phenomena being described” (Patton, 2002, pg. 437). In a qualitative
research paradigm, elements of “rich, thick description” contribute to the reliability and validity
of the study.
Some pertinent teaching and background information is given for each interviewee along
with a brief description of how the person related to the themes of this study. Following the
description of participants is the discussion of the research questions. Throughout these sections
of my analysis, I engage the technique of direct quoting. Direct quoting furthers the goal of rich,
thick description, thereby promoting reliability and validity, in giving readers a candid look at
data alongside the findings, and allowing another means of judging the interpretations (Patton,
2002; Anfara et al, 2004).

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Descriptions of Participants
The eight teachers interviewed for this study were: Mark, Sandra, Carrie, Jack, Julia,
Adam, Mia, and Marie (all pseudonyms). The following are brief initial profiles to provide a
perfunctory introduction to each participant. This is to give a sense of each teacher, before
entering into their comments during the analysis of the research questions.
Mark. Mark is a middle school science teacher. He teacher in a relatively rural, small
town community, where poverty rates are high and in recent years, unemployment has usually
been above 20%. His school has approximately 700 students, and he teaches mostly 7th grade
science. It’s a fairly traditional setup in terms of regular class periods and the structure of the
school day. He is one of two 7th grade science teachers at this school, and though they do
collaborate to some extent, recent budget cuts have reduced available collaborative time; so he is
often on his own in planning and teaching science lessons.
Professionally, Mark started out as a forester, receiving his undergraduate degree in
Forestry Management, where he worked for several years before becoming a teacher. Mark’s
philosophy of teaching is inherently creative and in fact a passion for creativity and the arts was
a key motivation for him in entering the field of education. He noted,
I guess that I felt that it (teaching) was not only a way to have an influence on real people
and on the future, but, that also I get the chance to use a lot of the skills that I didn’t feel
like I was using very much as a forester. A lot of the things that I love to do include
things like music and art… My classroom and my students are really what I work with as
an artist, I guess. I consider myself, even though I teach science, I obviously try and do it
in a very creative and interesting way, and I guess I kind of see that almost as living
performance art in a sense.

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His definition of creativity is of a broad-minded thinking skill which applies across a
wide array of disciplines spanning from math or science to art, or as he stated,
Creativity to me, I think, is the ability to really produce something new that has value.
Most people tend to just simply equate it with a particular art form. If you can draw,
you’re creative. Or if you’re musical, then you’re creative. But I think it’s much more
broad than that. It can, of course, occur in any field, in any discipline. The best scientists
are highly creative. The best mathematicians are extremely creative. It really comes down
to being innovative, taking risks, and actually coming up with something that has some
value.
This is a philosophy that he has actively tried to instill into his practice and his student’s
learning through a variety of creative lessons that bring the arts into his lesson designs for middle
school science.
Mark’s creative personal interests and avocations play a major role in his thought
processes, both within and outside of the classroom. He is a musician who plays guitar and
piano, a serious photographer who has worked both in his own darkroom and with digital
photography, and is also a visual artist (before forestry and then teaching, he was originally
interested in studying graphic design).
Sandra. Sandra is a high school English teacher, teaching a range of students from 9-12
graders and a broad range of courses with different kinds of emphases and ability levels. She
teaches everything from honors or advanced placement courses to at-risk courses, and from
required to elective courses. Sandra has had an extensive array of teaching assignments within
her discipline and a variety of leadership roles across the school, district, and the state levels.
Her high school is in a fairly large suburban community with a mixture of socio-economic

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backgrounds and is headquarters to a large international company, which has recently given rise
to a growing population from Bosnia, Serbia, and Eastern Europe and thereby more ESL students
at her school.
Her wide range of subject matter interests originally led her to academically pursue
careers in at first broadcasting and journalism, then philosophy, then psychology, until she
realized that teaching was a profession that could satisfy her extensive topical curiosities and
interests, as she described it,
I realized one day that all of those skills, all of those things that I loved about each of
those choices are in a classroom. And if I’m going to be an effective teacher, I am a
philosopher everyday and I’m a psychologist – I don’t analyze my students but I do need
to be empathetic, I have to be observant about them as whole people. And most certainly
some of my broadcast journalism skills have been important in introducing some critical
thinking in current affairs to my curriculum. So I think everything that I loved manifested
itself in the work of the classroom.
Sandra’s philosophy of creativity and teaching focuses on cognitive skills across
disciplines. She commented on the importance of seeing creativity as an inter-disciplinary
boundary-breaking construct, saying, “What creativity really means to me is that you know how
to think.” She frequently incorporates the teaching of cognitive skills such as observation or
pattern-recognition into her curriculum, and provides lessons or problems with enough
“constraints” or guidelines to scaffold and prompt student learning toward creative problem
solving.
Sandra is an avid reader on an eclectic range of topics, which is something that she
credits with improving her teaching practice. But she also notes that her other hobbies are

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continually influential on the way that she thinks and teaches. Her interests include games, film,
writing and wordplay, and technology, as well as physical activities such as running and
kickboxing.
Carrie. Carrie is a middle school language arts teacher, who has taught both reading and
language arts for grades 6-8, as well as for high school. At the time of our interview, she was in
the position of serving as “teacher on loan” – still a teacher, but one who is loaned as a result of
her Teacher of the Year award to her state’s Department of Publication Instruction. She also
works with teacher recruitment and retention initiatives and professional development, training
and assisting new teachers for example, on our Teacher Evaluation Instrument, as well as
mentoring training and serving on local and state educational committees and commissions.
Though Carrie is temporarily involved with educational commitments outside of her
classroom, she observed that teaching was her lifelong passion, both based on a love of the
subject matter and her own empathetic ways of viewing the world. These issues were also
expressed as her most important reason for entering the profession of teaching, as she
commented,
Without a doubt, the fact that I’m able to have relationships with people that wouldn’t
take place to this amount in any other setting. For example, the obvious relationships with
students, and knowing that I make a difference in a life, it may sound cliché, but it’s so
true. You just caught me (just prior to the interview) on the phone with a kid I haven’t
taught in many years. And I’m trying to change his life right now – keep him functional,
moving forward and on-track. And those are the kinds of opportunities that I have that
other people in other professions don’t always get to have.

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In terms of her avocations and creative interests, Carrie noted that she had several,
including reading (on a variety of different topic and among many genres), creative and nonfiction writing (she has published a book, and frequently writes for pleasure – short stories or
fiction to share with students, friends and family), writing poetry, and any kinds of verbal games,
word puzzles, etc; all of these are strong influences on her cognitive skills and teaching practices.
Jack. Jack is a currently working as a teacher recruiter and mentor since receiving the
Teacher of the Year Award, where his focus as primarily been on retention and advancement
initiatives and providing quality support for beginning teachers in his state. He also works with
his state’s District Teachers of the Year to mentor and assist them. For most of his educational
career however, he has been a third-grade teacher in a Title One public school working with
many at-risk students in a very rural district.
Jack described a strong passion for teaching with the arts as a core aspect of his teaching
philosophy stating,
I think we have to, as teachers, fight the urge to say, “They’re taking away my
creativity.” No. They’re giving us a standard and it’s up to us to use our creativity to
make that happen. So it’s so important that you try to look for those opportunities to
exercise your teaching creativity on a daily basis.
Jack cited various examples from his own classroom practice in which he regularly used
music, dance or drama to teach a variety of different subject matters. He brings this crosscurricular inclination to the work that he does with new teachers and teacher development
initiatives.
He is involved with several creative interests or avocations that connect deeply to his
teaching practice. Music has been a longtime interest as he is an avid singer/vocalist (in his

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church and around his community); he also enjoys any kind of travel, and is quite committed to a
variety of community service activities. These things have become melded to his teaching
practice as he regularly incorporates music and movement to class activities, and seeks out
opportunities for his students with community service work or opportunities for local travel
(museum field trips or chances to see more of their community).
Julia. Julia is a middle school science teacher with a current focus on 7th grade (she has
taught both 7th and 8th and some high school in the past). She teaches in a micro-district just
adjacent to a large urban school district, and encompasses a range of different topics into her
teaching of science, including: botany, astronomy, geology, taxonomy, microbiology,
interactions of living things, and reproductive health. She frequently also teaches an exploratory
class in Multicultural Literature Circles, leading students through books and reflective activities
that explore themes of justice, friendship, conflict and prejudice.
Julia noted that a passion for learning across various topics and subjects inspired her
decision to become a teacher. Having entered college to pursue medicine or vet medicine, she
focused on the sciences but also elected to take a range of different classes to suit her natural
curiosities,
Because I was on scholarship at Wayne State, I took a very eclectic background. I have a
minor in English...I’m also certified for social studies and pushed to have as much math
just because of interest in math. I pursued a lot of different, interesting things and did a
lot with the Detroit Institute of Arts. I see value in value in the arts. I see value in dance
and music, so I took dance and music courses. I took fashion, sewing, a lot of history, a
lot of literature, pubic speaking, economics. All things that did not at all relate to my
biology degree, my degree in biological sciences because I found them interesting and

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they were free. So that when I decided I wanted to teach, I think that background has
always informed my teaching, that kind of an outlook of bringing in all of the subject
matters.
As might be expected from expansive view of learning, Julia has a wide variety of
creative interests and passions. She loves nature walks and hiking, is an avid reader and loves to
engage in artistic crafts including sewing, drawing and sketching. She noted that all of these
things have not just informed her view of the natural world as a science teacher, but also
contributed to how she physically designs her classroom and how she structures (or sometimes
purposefully un-structures) her lessons and teaching practice.
Adam. Adam is a middle school math teacher, who has taught mainly eighth grade (and
recently seventh grade) at a large urban middle school. It’s a traditional middle school located in
an urban neighborhood with one of its state’s fastest growing rates of poverty. In the middle of
that neighborhood is his school, sandwiched between two apartment complexes. The student
population is approximately 90% Latino-Hispanic, with Caucasians, African-Americans, Asians
and other minorities comprising another 10%. A majority of students there receive or qualify for
free and reduced price lunches, and two thirds of the parents have not themselves finished high
school. So, as he describes it “it can be a pretty tough place to work”.
Adam’s passion for teaching is fueled by a deep interest in a variety of other subject
matters such as sociology, socio-economics, world affairs, advertising and media and culture.
His undergraduate background is in sociology, and he spent time – before entering the profession
of teaching – traveling around the world and studying cultures. After which he worked in
restaurant and hospitality management for some time, before deciding he wanted to act on a
lifelong interest in the profession of teaching.

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Adam brings all of these life experiences creatively into his math teaching, he
commented that he tends to “think sociologically, and so it’s a challenge for me to observe, and
to try out and then test out different sociological theories, or read something about it and see it
unfolding in front of me.” When his students are applying math concepts to a problem, he uses
problems and examples that directly linked to the lives of his students and their circumstances of
socio-economics and education.
Adam also actively brings arts and culture into his math classroom. Because many of his
students have an interest in rap music (which he has interest in also), he began creating rap songs
and rapping about mathematical concepts, such as decimal placements and exponents, for his
students. With these techniques he has had enormous success in improving their academic
performance and test scores. He now also creates rap/math CDs, and does workshops for other
teachers about how to bring this kind of creativity to their classrooms.
Adam has a wide variety of subject matter interests, as well as a love of music and
rhythm and rap. Additionally he is an avid competitive swimmer and surfer, and he credits the
calm and focus he receives from these physical activities with helping him to relax and mentally
focus or as he noted, to “process an idea”, which can later translate into his teaching work.
Mia. Mia is an elementary teacher with eight years of teaching experience, at an urban
elementary school, in a large metropolitan area. It’s a Title I school with approximately 97% of
kids receiving free and reduced lunch. Her teaching experience is primarily with fourth grade,
though she has also had some experiences with teaching in grades 1-3.
Her original professional background did not involve teaching, and she actually worked
for several years in the field of law before deciding that she wanted to become a teacher. Mia
initially studied engineering, and has a degree in Language and International Trade as well as her

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law degree. Her interest in teaching was inspired by a desire to do something more creative with
her life and be an influence on kids “who someday had the potential to become engineers,
scientists, teachers, doctors”.
Fun and innovative applications of the arts to the teaching of varied subjects are a key
feature of Mia’s approach as a teacher. She noted that teaching any topic in a creative and crossdisciplinary way – from her teaching of geometry with music and rhythm to teaching reading
with podcasting and internet research – was an opportunity to draw students more deeply into the
subject matter, or as she stated,
I think anytime you can spark creativity in a child, it gets them motivated and excited to
learn. A lot of times in education, we’re talking about higher order thinking. When you’re
using different creative aspects of subject in your teaching, it is the purest form of higher
order thinking. It gets the kids so excited and engaged. It gets them to really enjoy the
learning process and to drive learning themselves, which is essential so they can continue
learning once they leave our classrooms.
Not only is teaching with creativity and the arts something that she views as improving
student excitement and motivation, but it allows her to bring different modes of learning to an
active and diverse group of young children, as she noted,
Our students all learn in different ways and taking that to a challenge at the beginning of
the year and throughout the year and using that to drive your instruction really helps ideas
stick with your students and really helps them understand the concepts better.
Mia is a creatively driven individual in her hobbies and avocations as well. She is a
musician who plays both the piano and the violin. She loves to cook, and is an avid gardener
with a passion for landscape architecture. She also counts running as a critical part of her

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everyday life (she trains for long distance races), as something that she says is an “excellent
motivator for the brain”, and a place where “you come up with a 1000 good creative ideas for
school or home projects”.
Marie. Marie is an elementary teacher, who has primarily taught fourth grade in a
suburban setting, but at various times in her career has taught any of grades 1-5 in several
different school districts around the country. She currently runs a multi-district educational
lesson program, which provides inter-disciplinary immersion learning experiences for teachers
and students.
Marie has a teaching philosophy which focuses on creative teaching and learning in a
very real-world context. She described how she sees it as an imperative for students to explore
learning experiences in quite in-depth and interdisciplinary ways. Giving them real world or
realistic scenarios for learning any topic is a cornerstone of her teaching style, and she noted that
this inspiration stemmed from her earliest undergraduate learning experiences, she said
I had some outstanding experiences as an under-grad in which the instructors had us out
into the community, out into the real world, out into doing different things rather than the
four walls of the classroom kind of experience. That made me realize even before I ever
really had a classroom about how critically important it is that the learning that we do
with our students has to be connected to the real world. Here I am all these years later and
I remember that those instructors brought us to a planetarium in order to understand the
nature of learning about the stars and the planets, or we visited a mushroom farm one day
just to see how it could be exciting to learn about how mushrooms grow. One day just to
learn about Economics, we went to where the farmers bring in all of their goods in order
to be able to sell them. That kind of real world learning, I think it really charged me up

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early on to want to be able to be a teacher that could do that sort of experiential learning
with my students.
Through many years of teaching experience Marie has built an extensive repertoire of
creative and cross-curricular real-world lessons. So much so that it has become an intrinsic part
of her thinking about teaching itself. Notably, Marie has extended this to a wider audience of
teachers and students. She currently runs a real-world lesson program/model for
classrooms/schools which encompasses several districts and growing. In her lesson model,
students, teachers, and parents use community resources as their classroom for a week. The
program focuses on changing the concept of a traditional field trip into a week-long
interdisciplinary study trip. Teachers receive lesson training and resources, in an experience for
students that includes: investigations, behind-the-scenes tours, presentations by community
experts, and groups of students working cooperatively on research. Culminations of the week are
service learning projects, research projects, and community action plans.
In terms of hobbies and avocations, Marie loves music and reading; she also enjoys the
creative aspects of cooking, and is a devoted practitioner of yoga.
These general descriptions of each teacher provide a very basic sense of who they are as a
teacher, as well as their school and teaching setting. The next section following this cursory
introduction leads us into the analysis of the research questions, beginning with an examination
of their definitions of creativity and examples in teaching practice.
Research Question 1 Analysis: Creativity in Teaching Practices
Q1) Does creativity play a significant role in the teaching practices of accomplished teachers,
and if so in what ways?

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‐

Question 1a: What does “creativity” mean to these accomplished teachers? How do they
define creativity? Is it an important part of effective teaching practice?

‐

Question 1b: What are some examples or elements of “creative” teaching in the
classrooms of these successful teachers?
The major findings of this study with respect to this research question showed that these

successful teachers defined creativity both broadly and contextually. The teachers all
incorporated some universal definitions of what creativity is. Additionally though, they also
defined it in context-driven ways specific to teachers and classrooms. This included a studentcentered focus on creative teaching, the fact that creative thinking is accessible to everyone (not
just people deemed “special” or “creative”), and an ongoing mindset cultivated toward creativity
in their classrooms. In terms of how this creativity plays out in their classrooms, the teachers
discussed creative lessons and examples from their own practice that clustered around several
themes: 1) Real-world or “authentic” learning; 2) Cross-curricular connections; 3) Taking
intellectual/educational risks. All of these findings are discussed as follows.
Defining Creativity. Since the notion of how creativity is defined by successful teachers
was the focus of one of the research questions of this study, “Definitions of Creativity” was one
of the pre-determined codes in the HyperResearch software. In examining all of the textual data
coded as “Definitions of Creativity”, there were some commonalities and interesting features in
the way the teachers talked about this.
In discussing how he defines creativity in teaching, Adam noted some core components
of the classic creativity definition, but he situated these in a classroom focused context:
Well, I think being creative has to be taken into consideration from the students’
perspective. So, if it’s something that the students have never seen before or if it’s

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something they latch onto or really like, that’s the first cornerstone of creativity. Whoever
you’re trying it out on has to like it. Usually it’s something where they’re like, “Whoa!
I’ve never seen that before”...That’s the first part of being creative. Then the other thing
part of that is that it’s got to be a little bit entertaining, to where it makes somebody laugh
or cry or at least experience an emotion that they don’t normally experience. Then, it’s
got to be effective for learning...Otherwise it’s just entertainment.
The relevant factors of “novel” or “interesting” are present in this definition, but Adam
specifically ties it to the idea of his audience or students. The notion of designing specifically for
your audience is also a construct of effective design processes, in which attention is given to
what works for the audience or “users” (Mishra et al, 1999). The fact that Adam mentions the
importance of emotional connection from the experience, relates to the notion that educative
experiences have an aesthetic or emotional quality that makes them powerful (Dewey, 1934;
Wong & Henriksen, 2008).
Carrie also suggested the importance of trying out new things to come up with original
solutions. She mentioned the importance of novel teaching approaches that related to the
students’ lives and are relevant,
Creativity is when you step out of the textbook definition of anything. If in a classroom, a
teacher can take a concept that is written in a sentence in a textbook or on a curriculum
standard and make it relate to a student’s life, something that’s a connection and
something that is usable for them, then that’s being creative.
While she again noted standard creativity components of making something “new” and
“usable”, she also situated it specifically in a teaching context, in highlighting the relevancy of
lessons and topics to students.

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Mark noted the importance of a willingness to deal with multiple possibilities and
problem solutions within a creative paradigm. Within his definition of creativity, there are
several key concepts for creativity in a learning setting. Having an ability to recognize and deal
with complexity has been noted as an integral part of effective thinking, as an aspect of cognitive
flexibility theory (Spiro et al, 1992). Mark also reflected on the fact that even disciplines that we
consider more rigid and scientific actually are open with possibilities for creativity and flexible
thinking, stating
A lot of times what I really strive to do is allow my students to exercise their creativity
and stress that there isn’t necessarily one right answer…even in something that’s
considered a hard discipline, like science, where there are certain facts that need to be
understood…Yet how you interact with that information, how you present that
information and what you do with it is really what creativity is all about.
Mia highlighted the importance of innovation that springs from background knowledge
and the ability to take something that exists and alter it into something new and useful, as she
stated,
Creativity means to use your background knowledge… when you are creative you are
creating something new with something that you already have. Taking something that
already exists and putting your own spin on it, your own way of thinking about it..
Mishra and Koehler (2003) similarly talk about creative design as being the ability to
“twists the knobs slightly” to on something that already exists to transform it into something
new. In “Metamagical Themas”, Hofstadter (1985) speaks of “variations on a theme” as being
the crux of creativity. Mia’s description of creativity was somewhat akin to this in that she
described it as being “your own spin” on something that exists. In essence what she spoke about

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was a propensity to refine, to add to or subtract from, or to change something so that the end
product is new, different and better. This is an important point, because it helps to illustrate that
everyday forms of creativity are accessible to those that are willing to “twist the knobs”, and to
those that are observant about which ones to twist and how. As Hofstadter (1985) reflects,
“knobs, knobs everywhere, just vary a knob to think”; yet he also cautions that “the crux of
creativity is not just in twisting knobs, but in spotting them.” (p. 251)
Going back to the “little c” vs. “Big C” issues of creativity set forth by researchers such
as Csikszentmihalyi (1996) and Gardner (1993) helps us to distinguish “little c” or everyday,
subtler, smaller acts of creativity from “Big C” or more grandiose, “sublime” creativity. Big C
creativity may involve “extreme forms of originality” that dramatically change thinking within a
discipline, but the subtler kinds of “little c” creativity may be just as crucial to improvement or
innovation within a discipline. Particularly within the local context of a classroom or a school,
everyday creative acts are critical to effective teaching and can involve trying something new
based on an existing idea, or trying something that is just a bit different that the current norm.
Corresponding to some of the more problem-solving kinds of research definitions of
creativity (Cropley, 2003), Sandra considers it to be a complex cognitive skill that can be
learned, as she stated,
I don’t believe that people either are, or they aren’t creative. I really believe that it’s
something that we can learn if we want to. I think that there is this myth about
creativity…I know a lot of my students believe that they either are creative or they aren’t.
What it really means to me that you know how to think…You have to be able to move
from the concrete to the abstract, and back again. You have to be able to synthesize.

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The notion of creativity as a thinking skill, with the ability to think abstractly and to
synthesize, is directly associated with the cognitive skills of the trans-disciplinary thinking
framework. Both abstraction and synthesis are key parts of this cognitive tool kit (RootBernstein, 1999). One interesting aspect of Sandra’s comment above is that she brought up these
issues of “abstraction” and “synthesis” early in our conversation, even before I as the interviewer
ever mentioned trans-disciplinary thinking skills or described/asked her about them. The fact that
she initiated this mention of abstract thinking or synthesis on her own terms and without a
prompt, speaks to the power of trans-disciplinary thinking. It indicates that these thinking skills
have an important place both in the repertoire of an effective teacher’s practices, and in her view
of creativity.
Overall, in examining the definitions that these teachers gave about creativity, several
factors are present. While the features of “novelty” and “effectiveness” were consistently
mentioned, there were also some very contextual aspects specific to the field of teaching. These
include, considering the relevancy to and opinions of the audience/students, and belief in the
creative potential of all students – which are characteristics also referred to in some teacher
effectiveness literature as qualities of effective teachers (Smith et al, 2005). The features of
“newness” and “effectiveness” in their definitions, paired with the contextual or “whole”
elements they discussed, suggest that Mishra and Koehler’s (2008) NEW (novel, effective and
whole) framework is a useful way to think about creativity in teaching.
Creativity as a Mindset. This was not one of the initial codes selected for organizing
themes and ideas in HyperResearch. Rather it emerged in the data, as it became apparent in
successive coding rounds that many of the teachers’ comments on their beliefs about creativity
indicated that it was a way of thinking or an ongoing mindset.

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Most of the creative teachers in this study described creativity not as a process or skill
that is discrete or separated from other thought processes, but as an integrated aspect of their
thinking. Julia described it as a habit of mind and an openness of thinking:
It’s crucial in the success of an educator to be creative… It’s a mindset more than
anything and it’s a priority…I don’t exactly do interpretive dance in my classes because
I’m not that much of a smooth mover. But, if a kid wanted to dance in my class and they
felt they were going to do the dance of the cytoplasm, I’d say “Go for it buddy!”
Similarly, Adam talked about his own creative processes as something that are ongoing.
In many ways, creative lessons are not something that he necessarily sits down to work on, but
rather that he is constantly thinking about and open to:
I’ll often just be places doing something else. I’ll see something happen, and I’m always
thinking, ‘Well, how can I relate that to teaching?’ What I do is basically, I just go
through life and always – I’m always on the lookout for, ‘How can I apply that to
teaching?’ I’ve trained my mind to look at something and think about how it applies to
teaching. And then, I don’t know, it just makes sense. It pops into my head.
By actively cultivating a creative mindset, Adam has found ways to continually be open
to creative inspiration. He noted how he would sometimes get ideas for teaching, while reading a
book on a totally different subject matter (such as classroom management ideas, while reading
Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Tipping Point”). In this way, creative inspiration can arise when a
person is actively engaged in a completely different subject or activity. This openness of mind
was described by the teachers in this study as a means of promoting creativity and keeping open
to new ideas wherever they may come from. On another level it connects to trans-disciplinary
thinking in that good ideas are drawn upon from a variety of different subject matters and a

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certain amount of “cross-pollinating” of knowledge can take place. If one keeps an open and
alert mind and as Alex put it, “trains the mind” to always be on the lookout for new ideas and
inspiration, the propensity for creativity and trans-disciplinary thinking necessarily increases.
For Jack, creativity arises from an openness of mind and a willingness to gather
inspiration from others. He described the importance of keeping alert to creative opportunities,
and of collaboration in the classroom:
Creativity is something that…you are just always open to it, always looking for new
ways of thinking in the classroom. Just always keeping that open ear and that open eye to
look for new ways. I don’t think we can expect to just stand and deliver and close our
classroom doors. I’ve found really reaching out and learning from and sharing with my
colleagues helps my creativity.
The significance of opportunities to collaborate, and gather and bounce ideas off of other
educators was something that Mia also highlighted,
Another important thing with being creative is collaboration amongst teachers and other
staff members. Anytime you have brains focusing in on one idea or one goal, the
potential is exponential. You can start brainstorming ideas and bouncing them off one
another. There’s a lot of creativity to be found in collaborating with one another. The
difficult part with that is making sure that you have time for collaboration with educators.
Jack and Mia both noted the value of collaboration for inciting their creative thinking.
This is something that several of the other teachers also referred to at one point or another as
well, and while it is an important point, it also denotes how “creativity” in teaching can become
tangled with “effectiveness” in teaching. As Smith (2004) notes, collaboration and openness to
the ideas of others is frequently found among “expert” teachers. A willingness to share ideas and

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learn from others is a behavior of effective teachers overall. Open-minded thinking and ongoing
learning has a place in both creativity research and effective teaching research, suggesting as
noted in prior educational research, that creative teaching often equates to effective teaching.
Mia discussed the manner in which creativity is often something that comes very innately
and naturally to students and young people. Robinson (2003) has also described the fact that
creative thinking is often quite proficient and profound among children and young people. He
has suggested that some of the more rote “drill and kill” strategies of learning from traditional
schooling tend to damage this instinctual creativity. Mia views her role as a teacher as requiring
a willingness to ask about students’ ideas for learning a topic and to indulge and recognize their
creativity:
I think something that also helps with creativity is letting loose the reins in your
classrooms and opening it up to the students. As a 32 year old, my brain has been taught
to think a specific way with different things. Their eight or 10 year old brains are a lot
more open. Sometimes having a discussion with your class, asking, “Hey…what are
some ways that you can think of that we can learn the steps to multiplication or long
division?” Getting the kids to take some ownership for that creativity leads to a lot more
creativity on the teacher’s part.
Mark also described the importance of a student-focused lesson design. He puts himself
in the position of his students to consider what might make a topic interesting to learn about.
This notion of “putting oneself in someone else’s position” to imagine what they might think or
feel, is directly connected to the trans-disciplinary skill of “empathy”, or proverbially “walking
in someone else’s shoes”, which falls under the trans-disciplinary skill of abstraction. He
describes this technique:

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I usually come at it from a perspective of, if I was a student, and realizing that all students
are all very different from each other, how would I want to learn this? How would I want
to approach this topic? Realizing that not all students enjoy science, not all students have
had good experiences with science.
These student-centered approaches to lesson plans have many overall qualities of
creativity associated with them – such as purpose-centered design processes, a focus on the
“audience” response, and the use of trans-disciplinary thinking (through abstraction and
empathy). At the same time however, it must be noted that some of these qualities also exist
expressly in teacher education literature, as components of effective teaching. For example,
Smith et al (2005) note a variety of cornerstone pieces in teacher education literature that define
excellent teaching as having a focus on the learner; or that note how effective teachers key in on
what would be interesting or relevant to students and their lives. The interests and feelings of the
students (or in design thinking, the “audience”) play an integral role in how the lessons and
teaching activities are structured.
Marie also has a student-centered view of lesson design, and she discussed the
importance of background knowledge and comprehension on any subject that one wants to teach
creatively. She blends this subject matter knowledge with her pedagogical knowledge about her
students to come up with effective lesson design. This relates to Schulman’s (1986) notion of
Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK), as well as Mishra & Koehler’s (2006) conception of
TPACK (which introduces technology to the interaction). She stated:
If it is a lesson that I want to teach with my students, I will saturate myself with as much
information as I can…I have my mind open and waiting for the ideas to come through
from gathering of information and content. So just keep learning all you can about it and

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keep open to that moment of inspiration that says, “This is the way that my students
could learn this effectively.” It changes with every design based on not just the content
that my students need, but also what do my students need on a personal level
Her student-centered view of creative lesson design takes into account what her specific
group of students need, and reflects a somewhat constructivist way of teaching (Posner, 2004),
which has also been linked to environments that foster creativity (Plucker et al., 2004). This
reveals again that untangling the differences between “what is creative?” vs “what is merely
effective?” in teaching is more complicated that one might imagine. In certain places, as noted,
there is significant cross-over between aspects of creative thinking and aspects of effective
teaching.
Sandra’s notion of how creativity arises can be considered quite similar to Mishra et al’s
(1999) depiction of how constraint influences creativity in the design process:
I think that, for me, a lot of creativity emerges because of constraint. If somebody says to
me “create something” or “write”…it’s a little bit too open, and sometimes we think that
this fuels creativity. But I think what really fuels creativity is when we impose a series of
constraints that forces us to go beyond what we already know and rely on and beyond
sameness. When we do that, I think that’s when we dive into innovative, creative
thoughts and experiences.
This somewhat design-based view of creativity in education is significant in that design
as a subject matter, has often been viewed as a “crossroads” for many other subject matters. This
web of disciplinary connectedness again seems to highlight the importance of a trans-disciplinary
framework for teaching and learning.

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Real-world Learning. The theme of “Real World Learning” was also not one of the predetermined codes, since there was nothing in the research questions to indicate this idea.
However, it emerged throughout the process of coding in HyperResearch, and all of the teachers
mentioned the importance of teaching with a focus on real or authentic learning. Essentially,
these creative teachers all had a tendency to design or create lessons that had a focus on real
world applications, examples or scenarios for their students. In asking them about lessons or
classroom examples that they felt were especially creative, all of the teachers cited examples that
they had taught using a real world framework or application (i.e. authentic as opposed to
theoretical). .
As a middle school science teacher, Mark taught the topic of alternative energy sources
and utilized the real world implications of the subject, to situate it in a real context for students:
One such lesson would be around the topic of energy sources, or alternative energies. I
have students conduct a town-hall style meeting where small groups of students represent
energy industries, like solar, wind and fossil fuels. Then having candidates for office that
represent various political parties choose a mix of energies that are going to work. The
students are basically responsible to do what I think really happens in the real world….
And they’re not only understanding the material, but really understanding how the real
world works. That’s an exciting moment when that kind of thing happens.
Jack also stressed the need for realistic modes of teaching and learning which connect to
students’ lives. He described an example of how, in teaching his third graders about letter
writing, he sought a more realistic and meaningful way for the students’ to learn and practice the
skill,

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We started a pen pal program with the college students and my third graders, so they
could see that yes, they too could go to college. We visited the campus, and the college
students came out and visited us – so my students got to meet their pen pal. I look for
opportunities to really show my kids that you can do these things… these successes.
The “real world” component of the lessons that many of these successful teachers engage
in is quite often found as an integral component of excellent or “effective” teaching practices.
Purcell-Gates et al. (2007) has noted the importance of “authenticity” in teaching. The authors
note how in the realm of literacy, it is critical for students to have opportunities to engage in
reading and writing of real-life texts for real-life purposes. “Real” here means real in the lives of
children, so that the work students do in the classroom is relevant and connected to their own
lives. So, some of the “real-world” classroom activities that these teachers practice fit into the
framework of authentic teaching suggested by Purcell-Gates et al. (2007).
As an elementary teacher, Marie noted that she always tried to ensure a real-world
opportunity for her students to learn a topic. She described how she often started the school day
for her kids, with an approach that brought them out of the classroom and started them thinking
about science in an authentic way:
One of the things that I’ve always done with my fourth graders was a sky watch….My
students had their very first lesson before they even came in the building. When the first
bell would ring, they would spread out on the school courtyard. We’d talk about the
clouds and the humidity and the weather and the wind direction. We did this every single
day unless it was really storming outside, and we’d collect this scientific data. As soon
they got into the class, the kids would go online and send the data to the scientists at
NASA. It was a project that was going on all over the world, where kids were sending

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sky watch information to scientists. So in their very first 10 minutes of every school day,
my kids had a sense they were doing something for the greater good…and they centered
themselves on a day of learning before they even walked into the building.
Like some of the other teachers discussed here, Marie seems to naturally draw on the
notion of “authenticity” in teaching and learning, by giving a learning activity with precedence in
the real world (the work of NASA), a place and a context in her classroom and a relevancy in her
students lives.
In a similar way, Sandra gave an example in which she brought a lesson on writing and
research out into a more authentic and realistic context for her students as well:
I teach a literature course, so we read a lot of different texts, a lot of different
genres…But we also go beyond that to a lot of different genres, to a variety of types of
writing and real research. My students do a grant project where they create nonprofit
organizations that have to meet the needs of a demographic group that can not meet their
“American dream”. The students do interviews with people from nonprofit organizations
in the community. They compete with the other groups in the classroom to fund their
grants for their nonprofit. The grant panel is comprised of actual community
members…these adults have actually read through all of their materials ahead of time and
then they ask students unpredictable questions on their topic. Students have to support
their ideas and be persuasive. It’s a wonderful experience – very intense and rewarding.
Sandra’s real-world learning activities are perhaps even more deeply connected to the
“authentic” learning discussed by Purcell-Gates et al, (2007). In making her students responsible
for creating realistic texts in a realistic context, they engage in much of the work that anyone
writing an actual grant would do, interviews, research, outside review, etc. Having community

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members’ review their grant writing and research provides a relevancy for her students. This
raises the stakes and makes the learning experience more powerful and significant.
Mia described how when she was able to find ways to connect to students with lessons
that they enjoyed and found to be relevant in their own lives, even her struggling students
became engaged and excited:
I had a really difficult summer school class a couple of summers ago. They were fifth
graders – struggling readers about two or three levels below, about 12 or 13 years old.
They realized that they were reading below their grade level and they were frustrated. I
did everything that I knew to get them to start to reading and failed miserably. So I
opened it up to the class with a meeting, and they came up with a podcast idea… They
got to pick their own topic and research it. So they are reading all different topics, and
doing different research inquiry skills. They had to write a written retelling…and timed
their words per minute every week and used their fluency graph. Then we filmed the pod
cast series and did reflections, where they set new goals for themselves. They were just
so open to create their own show from what they read, and it was such a cool thing.
Julia noted an example of teaching a science unit, in which she was able to create a real
world application for her students within the environment of the school building. The real-world
nature of a lesson is something that she felt created a more vibrant and exciting experience for
her students:
With a food safety unit that I did, I gave everybody a Petri dish and we talked about how
to take a sample, and then the students have to go around and do that. I ask them what are
they interested in the building that might have germs on it. They swab it and they grow it,
and then they analyze it and count the colonies. Basically they analyze the microbes in

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the world around them. So, they’re doing the work of a real microbiologist…I had them
do a tour in our school kitchen. The food services person spoke about what they have to
do for food safety and why it’s important.
With the statement, “they’re doing the work of a real microbiologist”, Sandra illustrates
an important aspect of the philosophy that these teachers generally seemed to have. That it is
important to give their students a real-life context for learning and ideas. Taking knowledge out
of a vacuum and infusing it into a more relevant experience is a critical aspect of authenticity and
of effective teaching overall. This component of teaching is not necessarily one that falls directly
into a “creativity” paradigm so much as it does an “effective” teaching paradigm. However, these
types of real-world learning experiences were often voiced by the teachers in this study, when
they were asked about some of their creative lessons and examples. The fact that they often
viewed “real-world” learning as “creative” indicates that perhaps it is something that often feels
fresh and unique in any learning activity. These types of activities are also sometimes lacking in
some of the more standards-based or “teach to the test” approaches which prevail in U.S.
education policy today. If these kinds of activities are somewhat different from the norm in
practice (if not in the research/literature), then they may be considered a form of “little c”
teaching creativity.
Adam offered an example of a real-world relevancy in a lesson that he did with his
students, where he used math concepts to explain a basic situation that his students could all
relate to:
I try to relate the math that I’m teaching to my students and to the wider world. I was at a
Chinese food buffet last month, trying to figure out what to start with. As I’m staring at
all these different combinations…I was standing there and I realized, “This is a great

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math lesson on combinations and possibilities and data and statistics.” The next day I had
my students grab a paper and a pencil and we went to the cafeteria line. We calculated the
possibilities if they grabbed a different drink, a different main dish, and a different bag of
chips every day. We calculated it out and realized that they could go through the entire
school year never eating the exact same meal twice. It blew their minds and of course, it
all started with me trying to decide on chow mein or sesame chicken in a buffet line.
Other lessons that Adam designs tie in his students’ own ethnicity with their lessons (he
teaches middle school math in a lower income 90% Hispanic population). When his students are
learning graphs he has them graph lifetime earnings of different ethnicities, and college versus
non-college graduates, as well as college attendance rate and how they break down by ethnicity.
He noted that this usually gets their attention because as he says
“Latinos have really low rates of college entrance and high rates of poverty and teenage
pregnancy and high school dropouts. I’ll further separate it by gender and show them
why Latina females have the highest dropout rates in the country. These are the ones that
really tie in their ethnicity, tie in their gender, and tie in their own socioeconomics and
demographics.”
Adam’s lessons are interesting examples of “authentic” learning in that he finds things
that are naturally and easily relatable to the lives of his students. They are relevant not just in a
real world sense, but to the students as individuals. He noted that finding things that his students
can connect to in popular culture is fair game for a real world lesson – such as using the example
of how Justin Bieber started to teach exponents (i.e. how somebody puts it on YouTube, …with
three people who showed three people who showed three people who showed three people), to
reveal the concept of exponential growth. He noted how the lessons with real world significance

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are really the most fun and memorable for students. This student-centered approach is found not
only in authentic approaches to literacy (Purcell-Gates, 2007), but has certain critical foundations
in aesthetic, creative approaches to education laid down by Dewey (1934).
The idea of “authentic” learning is nothing new in the field of education, and it has long
been touted as a significant way to help students’ get motivated about learning. Yet it was
noteworthy to discover it as such a persistent and important theme in the teaching practices of
successful and creative teachers. The theme of real world learning was not one of the questions
directly covered in the interview protocol, yet it recurred through the discussions and in most of
the creative teaching examples that the participants provided. The notion of bringing creativity
into the “real world” thereby was one of the crucial means by which these teachers helped make
learning relevant for their students.
Cross-curricular connections. This theme of “cross-curricular connections” in
teaching, emerged early in the coding with HyperResearch. While it was not an initial code,
since it is not overtly signaled by the research questions, one of the interview questions does ask
about connections between subject matter. This notion of subject matter connectedness has a
strong association with trans-disciplinary thinking, because in this framework subject matters are
not discrete or disconnected, but fluidly related to each other. This was a significant theme in that
each teacher spoke or gave examples of teaching subject matters with the arts or music, or of
simply using one subject matter in order to teach another.
Mark gave numerous examples in which he used various other subject matters, such as
the arts, to teach science concepts to his students:
We do a lot of theater and kinesthetic movement, where students might represent
different creatures in an ecosystem or they might represent different elementary particles

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in an atom…Ultimately that’s my real goal is to show them some of these creative ideas
that I might come up with, and let them create their own. I’ve created a natural selection
simulation, and we’ll do that. But then they’ll have a chance then to create their own
simulation, their own game about natural selection, organisms, species, their own
environmental changes and traits that are going to change. So they’re doing the creation
based on what something new they’ve learned. And that’s ultimately my goal is…to
inspire them to then get creative and demonstrate and process what they’ve learned.
For Mark, these cross-curricular connections are not just a part of many of his creative
lessons, but are how he inspires his students to tap into their own creativity. This is an important
thing to note, because an argument could be made that cross-curricular connections are valuable
in teaching overall, irrespective of “creative” teaching. Yet as Mark noted, practicing these
different and divergent modes teaching subject matter helps students to tap into their own
creativity.
As a middle school science teacher, Julia is a major proponent of the connections of
other subject matter to the teaching of science. She described how she even created a special
course at her school, meant to give science into a more social dynamic:
For those who want to be involved in a few more field trips or real-life connectedness
things, I created a special class, called a “Future Think Class”. We do science related
community service, like the Adopt-a-Beach activity, or we talk about life or conditions
for people in other cultures. Being involved in a lot of public service, that’s something
that I’ve always felt was important. It’s my desire to reach out from a position of, “We
are so blessed, we have so much and there are so many who do not. Let’s move and
mobilize and empower.” It helps students’ develop gratitude about their own lives when

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they see that, ‘Wow, we have a classroom here. Some people have dirt floors and they
carve the letters in the dirt floor.” I try to connect kids to larger causes outside of their
lives; to bring a whole other social dimension into the sciences.
Adam gave several examples of how he brings different subject matters into the teaching
of math. For example, he often teaches his students a little about advertising and psychology in
order to make a math concept more vivid, as he related,
I think one of my favorite lessons is where we talk about advertising. We talked about
company slogans and advertising and how there are different types of advertising. And
one type of course, is with math and with numbers, such as “save fifty percent”,
percentages off and things like that. So the students get really engaged in advertising and
how advertisers try to target them as young adults. Then we go into percentages and
decimals and things like that. They get into it and that’s really a fun one.
Adam even has created special classroom characters who help him relate to the students
some of the different ways in which math connects to other subject matters:
I’ve got a lot of special guests that visit my classroom. It’s really just me, but I’ve got a
bunch of different outfits. And one of the special guests that comes from time to time, I
call him, “the Math Professor.” His tagline is “there is nothing that does not have
something to do with math.” If you can stump the Math Professor, you can win a prize.
The kids bring up language arts or science. They bring up things from different subjects,
and the Math Professor takes the opportunity to explain and somehow relate it to math.
The importance of math in relation to other disciplines and topics is something that Adam
feels strongly about, and he talked about this with regard to his own classroom as well as the US
system of education:

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I’m always trying to relate other things to math. I’ll bring up number lines and the
timelines that students use in history, or...we work a lot with variables, which are really
just letters and things learned in Language Arts. And of course, science has all sorts of
connections to math that can be made.
The criss-crossing of topics and subject matters is not necessarily always easy to do, as
some of the teachers noted, in the more rigid schedules and standardized curriculums of current
education policy. Yet these exceptional teachers find ways to do this, and work cross-curricular
learning into their practice. The fact that it may be seen as something different and more
effective than the norm is another argument for considering it to be a “creative” aspect of
teaching practice. While this willingness to blend disciplines may not be a reinventing of the
wheel in teaching and learning theory, it is still something rather different and unique in the
recent practices of U.S. education curriculum.
Like the other teachers in this study, Carrie has actively practiced cross-disciplinary
modes of teaching for her Language Arts courses, by collaborating with teachers of other subject
matters in order to draw links between topics for her students:
I often worked with the other core teachers, math, language arts, science, and social
studies, and we came up with some creative stuff interdisciplinary-wise. As a language
arts teacher I worked with the social studies teacher to see what continent she was on at
that time, and that helped me to choose which novels we read. Or when the 7th grade
social studies curriculum centered on Africa, we’d integrate our lessons around a given
topic. In science, they did a lesson on the cheetah and the adaptations that the cheetah has
for living in the jungle, like the tear lines down the front of the face to hide them in jungle
grasses. The math teacher had math problems that she wrote herself on cheetahs. In my

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classroom, we wrote all kinds of poetry about cheetahs, and stories. In social studies they
looked at maps and talked about the places where the cheetah lived. She’d pinpoint on the
map the places in Africa where they could find cheetahs and the habitats and so forth.
Carrie described her reason for doing this type of curriculum crossing activities, noting
that they promoted an engagement and interest that her students seemed to exhibit for the
subjects that they were covering. She described how students seemed to make more connections
between different ideas and pay attention to how what occurred in one subject related to another.
Sandra described an example in which she used musical concepts to teach a complex
Language Arts text. This teaching example was derived when she recognized the connection
between movements in music and movements in text:
One time, I was watching an interview on The Actors’ Studio, with Billy Joel. He was
talking about his music and the craft of making music, and these different genres that he’s
explored over his career. I remember thinking about the movement he was describing,
and some of the songs that he had written. It sounded very much like movements that
writers use when they are oftentimes writing a short novella. So I was thinking about the
book that we teach “The Metamorphosis” by Kafka and how there are these very
definitive movements in the text and how it resembles the movements in Billy Joel’s
music. And then I started to consult some music teachers that I know, and I asked them to
tell me more about this aspect of music and how it impacts the song. The next time I
talked about the book, we had a day where I had my students who were musical speak
about these movements in music before we discussed Kafka. This helped everyone to see
this connection between the movements in music, and in the text and to understand both.

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Sandra’s example above is particularly interesting because it takes the notion of crosscurricular teaching to the next level of creativity. What she describes is more than just creative in
the local context of the classroom (i.e. something relatively new and effective). Her example
actually uses the content from one subject, music, to examine and illuminate a totally different
topic in another genre of literature. This recognizes the way that seemingly different subject
matters are often more deeply connected than we realize. Her example is not only crosscurricular but is truly trans-disciplinary, in that she upholds the content of both subjects, using
one to enlighten the other, so that both are more deeply understood. This has helped her to
connect her English course subject matter to different subjects that her students may be interested
in, as she relates,
I definitely emphasize cross-curricular connections, and I look for them. One thing that I
have learned…is that at very high levels of any discipline there’s just this incredible
connectedness to ideas. So I would have students who’d be very talented in math or
science; and by the end of my English course we would be able to have a conversation
about how math is similar to English. In seeing the disciplines at high enough levels they
can notice the comparisons and synthesize them. We might typically think of math as
more structured than English. But I have discussions with students who can talk about
how math is more ambiguous than we give it credit for at higher levels, and language is
more formulaic than we give it credit for at some levels. I learned early on…that we
could definitely synthesize all disciplines. It doesn’t really make sense to separate them.
Without a doubt, one of the most integral themes of this study and these interviews was
in the subject of cross-curricular teaching and learning. Fundamentally this is really the essence
of what trans-disciplinary thinking and learning is all about. It involves recognizing the ways in

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which different subjects relate to each other, and emphasizing those connections in a teaching
and learning paradigm. All eight of the award winning teachers in the study commented on the
importance of cross-curricular connections in subject matter, and more significantly, all eight
provided examples of how this plays out in their classrooms. In this way, it seems that
successful and effective teaching is not only creative in its nature, but it is inherently transdisciplinary as well.
Risk Taking. Another key theme that emerged in the process of successive rounds of
data coding with HyperResearch, was the notion of intellectual “risk taking”. Again, risk taking
was not a theme necessarily indicated by the research questions, but most of the teachers spoke
of a willingness to take risks a key element of creativity for them. This is not framed in the sense
of haphazard or risky teaching, but in the sense of a willingness to try out new ideas and
approaches in their classrooms. An openness to trying things differently often appeared to allow
them to come up with new and interesting approaches to teaching.
Marie included this notion in her definition of creativity, highlighting the fact that
something good always comes out of this, in that this is how powerful teaching practices develop
and teachers find approaches that work well (or they come to understand what doesn’t work):
It is the whole thing of considering possibilities and then taking a risk to try to do
something that might enhance or deepen that experience… it is that little voice inside me
that will say, “Hey, give it a try and, you know, what is the worst that is going to
happen.” Sometimes, if it is a cool thing in the classroom or in whatever work that I am
doing, if it is successful, it feels like, “Wow! That really worked.” Or if it doesn’t, you
think, “What did I learn from this?” So it’s about risk taking, but it is also forgiving
yourself when things don’t go as you might have hoped.

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Over the course of our interview, Adam described a multitude of creative teaching
lessons and approaches that he has developed (many of which are described in previous
sections). When asked about how he initiated his creative ideas, he noted that they always came
about from an enthusiasm for trying new things:
I just absolutely love solving problems, any kinds of problems and coming up with
solutions – especially solutions that are common sense things, but creative at the same
time. I like trying out new things. For me, teaching has always been an opportunity to
really try out new things – to see how they go, and see what effect it has on other people.
Adam further stressed the fact that he considered this divergent manner of thinking to be
an integral component of quality teaching:
I would be willing to bet that many of the really good teachers are not rule followers. I
consider myself not a... I follow the guidelines, but I’ve never been stressed out or fearful
of bending or breaking the rules for the sake of the bigger picture of learning.
Sandra also likened creativity to the idea of intellectual risk taking, and noted how she
actively tried to cultivate this factor in her classroom environment:
As a teacher in a classroom, I need to create the kind of environment where students feel
able to make mistakes and know that making mistakes is part of our work and our
process. I would call it intellectual risk taking, absolutely, that willingness. It’s also a
willingness to think in a new way or to try out different ideas or be able to manage
ambiguity. That’s really important if you want to be creative, because if you can’t hold
two thoughts at once without judgment, it’s really hard to get past either of them. So
often as people in society and in the classroom we rely too often on dichotomy and
spectrum.

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This kind of willingness to think complexly and without fear of trying out new things or
breaking from convention is a key component of creativity, as Sandra summed it up, saying
“Most certainly, I think you have to be willing to make mistakes if you want to be creative. You
just have to...you can’t be afraid of that.”
For Mark, the notion of intellectual risk taking and trying out new things in his teaching
practice was the most critical aspect of his teaching philosophy; and was a subject that he
returned to throughout the interview. Creativity is a process that he actively cultivates not just in
himself, but for his students as well, as Mark noted,
It needs to be about the ability to try new things, to make mistakes, to learn from them, to
collaborate about what happened, not only with your colleagues, but also with your
students. For them to see that kind of risk taking and iterative process – I think it helps
them to understand how to do things well. Ultimately what students will gain from your
class is not necessarily all content knowledge. Often times its how you approach it, that’s
how students’ will pull away those bigger lessons that they’ll take into the real world,
which I think is pretty essential in this day and age.
Mark, like many of the teachers in this study, ultimately likened these creative risks,
successes and mistakes to one of the core constructs not just of teaching, but of learning.
Research Question 2 Analysis: Avocations, Creativity and Success in Teaching
Q2) Do successful, accomplished teachers engage in creative practices and avocations, and do
these avocations impact their thinking and teaching?
‐

Question 2a: What kinds of interests and/or creative pursuits do these accomplished
teachers engage in?

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‐

Question 2b: Do these successful teachers feel that their avocations and interests
influence their teaching practice, and in what ways?
One of the major findings of this second research question is that people who are

accomplished and recognized as successful classroom teachers also have a variety of avocations
and pursuits in different creative, kinesthetic and subject matter realms. More importantly, they
observed the influence that these activities had in impacting their creativity overall and as a
teacher. The majority of the teachers had interests which tended to fall into categories of 1)
music or the arts, and/or 2) physical or kinesthetic realms. They noted that their avocations and
interests impact their professional work because creative teachers “teach who they are”. Creative
hobbies in music or art worked their way into the teaching of subject matter or classroom
activities. And physical or kinesthetic hobbies were noted as significant for clearing the mind
and stimulating mental processes among creative people. All of these themes of this research
question are discussed as follows.
What Kinds of Creative Interests and Avocations. All eight accomplished teachers in
this study described the importance of multiple creative interests or varied avocations in their
lives, which they explicitly credited with improving and informing their practices inside the
classroom. Any of their comments on avocations or creative interests were coded in
HyperResearch under Avocations, and subcode groups as: Arts, Miscellaneous (hobbies such as
travel or cooking), Music, Physical activity, Reading and Subject Matter Interests. A more
specific list of avocations by individual is listed below.
Interest in the arts and music were among the most popular, with six of the eight teachers
noting that they personally engaged in musical or artistic hobbies, which they actively integrate
into their teaching practice in a variety of different subject matters. In addition to music or art,

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physical/athletic pursuits were equally popular, with six of the eight teachers also engaging in
these types of kinesthetic avocations. These teachers noted having multiple avocations which
featured prominently in their lives, ranging widely from interests in cooking, photography,
writing/poetry, gardening, travel, and particular subject matter interests, among others. Each of
the teachers’ personal interests and avocations are briefly mentioned in the section on participant
descriptions, and the following listing summarizes many of the activities or creative avocations
that they each discussed during our interviews:
Table 1
Participant Teacher Avocations

Mark

Music (guitar, piano, composing); Visual Arts (drawing, sketch, graphic
arts); Photography (digital and darkroom); Physical/Athletic (rock
climbing)

Sandra

Reading (varied subjects); Games, Film, Writing, Technology;
Physical/Athletic (running, kickboxing)

Carrie

Writing (creative writing, non-fiction, poetry); Reading; Word
Games/Puzzles

Jack

Music (singing, composing); Travel; Community Service/Volunteer work

Julia

Visual Arts (drawing and sketching); Sewing; Reading (varied subjects);
Physical/Athletic (nature walks and hiking)

Adam

Music (composing rhymes, raps); Reading; Physical/Athletic (competitive
surfing, swimming); Travel

Mia

Marie

Music (piano and the violin); Cooking; Gardening (all aspects including
landscape architecture); Running (long distance, competitive)
Music; Reading; Cooking; Physical/Athletic (yoga, walking)

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Most importantly, not only did all of these highly accomplished teachers engage in
several diverse interests/avocations, but these teachers connected their personal creative
endeavors to their teaching work. Evidence throughout the interviews reveals that the interests
of excellent teachers outside of the classroom play directly into their creative teaching practices.
This is the focus of the next section.
We Teach Who We Are. Avocation is a word that defines itself, as something other
than a vocation, or activities that we do separate from work life, for the enjoyment or interest of
them. Human interests in creative pursuits or extracurricular activities are nothing new or
unusual, and in some sense is part of who we are and part of a balanced psychology (Miller,
1999).
All of the teachers involved in this study described having multiple avocations (as
described in the above section) that constituted an important part of their lives outside of
teaching, and more importantly, influenced their thinking within the profession and their
teaching practice itself. One of the teachers, Sandra, reflected on the importance of meaningful
or creative avocations in life, because in profession of teaching, “we teach who we are”. This
was an emergent theme during the reading of the text data and process of coding, because many
of the teachers comments seemed to echo this sentiment. As Sandra had stated it,
Outside pursuits always factor into your thinking about your classroom or your students –
all the time…I think that we teach who we are, and I know that I teach who I am. So, if I
am really into kickboxing, I see how facets of that experience connect to things that we’re
learning in class. If I am reading about Frank Lloyd Wright, which is what I’m doing
right now, then I see how something about Frank Lloyd Wright applies to something that

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we’re studying. I think that’s true all of the time, that whatever it is that interests
you…how that energy manifests itself in the fabric of the classroom.
As Sandra noted, an inclination toward creative or varied interests naturally reveals itself
in the work of a teacher, and adds dynamism and variety to their teaching practice. This kind of
idea was also expressed by Julia, a middle school science teacher who views teaching as a
diverse and multi-disciplinary domain; one that allows creativity to come through from the
personality into the classroom, or as she commented,
I have to be in a job where I can exercise some creativity. I knew when I got my degree
in biology that I didn’t want to be sitting under fluorescent lights, filling Petri dishes and
analyzing them. To me that felt like drone work. It’s important, and I’m glad people do it.
But I have to have the ability to grab multiple colors and multiple palettes and multiple
media and weave together what I see as a vital, vibrant day for my students, for myself.
Julia engages in a wide variety of interests and avocations herself, and considers these
outlets to be integral in her approach to teaching,
I’m always quilting at home, and have always been interested in art – I enjoy drawing
and things like that. That’s another outlet that I bring to my classroom because I do a lot
of posters, I do a lot of display cases. I’m always taking pictures of the students doing
their work and I have them displayed all the time. This way the kids can see themselves
engage. I think that that is important for them to see themselves as scientists.
Carrie, a high school English teacher, is extremely creative in verbal genres, and engages
in a great deal of creative writing and poetry in her spare time. She sees this creativity as part of
who she is as an individual and a teacher, and her avocations play directly into her teaching
practice, or in her own words,

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What I think is a little different from other people, is my enjoyment in my spare time of
reading, creative writing, and writing poetry. Robert Frost said that writing poetry – he
called it a homesickness. It’s like a homesickness and a lovesickness, when you get this
lump in your throat. There is something that if you don’t get it out of you and put it on a
piece of paper, it’s just going to eat you up. And that is how I feel and I feel that way
about words, too. That’s the way that I’m creative, and it comes out in my teaching…I’ve
written lots of poetry for my students and am able to use that experience to teach poetry,
which is very helpful, because then I can write the poem that I want to teach with, one
that has within in it what I need them to learn.
In this way, Carrie’s experience of personal creativity in her avocation is highly valuable
to her work as a teacher. It is less cross-curricular than some of the examples that other teachers
noted in this study, but is deeply connected to the notion of creativity as a critical aspect of the
lives and teaching practices of accomplished teachers. And again, the notion that “we teach who
we are” helps to demonstrate how personal creativity and avocations are highly beneficial to the
creative work of a teacher.
Marie also saw a connection between creative thinking in life and in teaching, she
described several of her own creative interests such as music and cooking, and noted that they
were an important part of a teaching too,
I think that’s essential for all of our kids and for us as educators too, to be able to draw on
and bring in an artistic side. The whole thing of art is it is such an integral part of all of
our lives…it is art that motivates us. It’s the visual and the music and dance. The
different ways of expression that kids learn with, and then they make sense of their world
through those. I think my whole approach to teaching is in an integrated way, so that even

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if I’m designing lesson or something for my students, I have all of my own inspirations
going.
Jack, a third grade teacher, noted how so many of his outside interests have found a way
into his teaching practice. He incorporates his love of travel by constantly seeking opportunities
for field trips or day-trips that connect to learning opportunities from their classrooms; and his
lifelong interest in community service activities is also brought out by seeking opportunities for
his students to also give back by getting involved in their community (Pennies for Patients,
Circle K, etc). His love of music is frequently expressed in teaching activities, where he has
students come up with songs about subject matter, as he described the practice in his classroom,
My students were struggling with rounding to the nearest 10. They could practice
rounding all day long, but they just weren’t quite getting it. What I began to do was take
commercial jingles and television songs, and rewrite them to teach concepts in my class.
And I would take what my kids brought to me. Because I knew that every afternoon
many of them were going home and they were sitting in front of the television. So I
began to use that to my advantage. I had one child come in and say, “Can we use
Subway, Eat Fresh?” I said, “Well, Tayshawn, go for it and do your best.” He loved it.
Jack noted that using these personal, creative approaches in his teaching practice had
helped all of his students to either meet or exceed state standards for the first time, in their math
proficiency. In describing the impact of his own avocations and pursuits on teaching, he
summarized it as such, “I guess it’s hard to separate the life of a teacher into compartments.
There’s so much that goes on that finds its way into the classroom.”
Music and the Arts: Translating Avocations into Teaching Practice. It was notable
to discover that the majority of the accomplished teachers, six of the eight interviewed in this

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study described having an interest in either musical or visual artistic avocations. While it is true
that many people, generally speaking, have hobbies and that many of these may involve music or
the arts, to find that the majority in such a small sample of people profess to have such
inclinations is a considerable effect.
Under the HyperResearch code or category of “Creative Avocations Influence Teaching”
many of the teachers had comment about using some of their artistic or musical knowledge in
teaching subject matter. Examining some of their statements on the topic helps us to understand
whether these accomplished teachers are simply creative people overall (in teaching and in life),
or whether they also find musical or artistic avocations to be a way of enhancing their creativity
in teaching.
For most of these exceptional teachers having an interest or inclination toward music or
art has become a teaching tool that has carried over from their lives into the classroom. For
example, Adam (a middle school math teacher) has had enormous success in teaching math
concepts using rap music. His success with this practice started in his own classroom, but has
spread with the success of his nationally recognized “Rappin’ Mathematician” CD. It actual
inception however, began with his own personal interest in rap music,
I’ve always been a fan of rap music, and was always good at it. I listen to a song a few
times and I sing it back, and I can think in rhythms fairly quickly, so I could make them
up. I don’t have any formal music background, so it’s very important for me to make a
distinction that I’m a teacher who raps, I’m not a rapper who teaches.
Adam described how he was a classic first year teacher having discipline problems, and
struggling to engage his students’ interest in math. He noticed however, that students could
easily memorize the lyrics to a new rap song within a day of its release. Deciding to make the

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most of his own rap interest, he wrote a song called “The Itty Bitty Dot”…(“just line up the dot
and give it all you got”) about adding and subtracting decimals. He found this to be one of the
first instances in his teaching career of real student engagement with the mathematical content,
as he stated,
I walked by the lunch tables on my way to the teacher’s lounge for lunch. And all the
kids were singing this song I’d done for the math lesson. One kid actually said, “Are you
going to quit teaching now and be on MTV full-time?” For the first time, by the end of
the week, they all understood how to add and subtract decimals, and their test scores were
good. From there, when I taught a concept I would make up a little rap to reinforce it.
The notion of coming up with original rap songs about school subject matter might seem
daunting to anyone unfamiliar with the rap genre. But as Adam states here the critical point is
not really the rap itself, but the fact that he co-opted his personal creativity and turned it into a
valuable teaching technique. He stressed the fact that the use of rap is incidental to the use of
something fun and creative, saying,
Other teachers come up to me and say, “Wow! My students want to know why I don’t rap
like you.” And I tell them it’s not about rapping it’s just about connecting in their
language, on a level that’s both fun and focused on the academics.
While the use of rap music may be contemporary, the larger notion of connecting with
students in a creative or artful way that is relevant to their own lives is really the key issue.
Jack (a third grade teacher) similarly noted that the arts were an important part of his life
and his teaching, and that every teacher could find ways to draw their own creative passions into
the classroom.

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The arts are a part of my life. I sing, and since I was young music has always been an
important part of my recreation…Working with new teachers is a way to really open up
people’s eyes to see that, ok, your particular talent may not be singing, but you can use
these concepts of creative teaching. You can take whatever gifts or interests or expertise
that you bring to the class, because each person has some unique or creative things about
them that they can potentially bring. Your chance is to hone in on that creativity and see
ways that you can make connections for your kids. I absolutely love that part of my work.
The notion that having an interest in music or the arts would bleed over into the
classroom practices of a creative teacher was also described by Mia, a highly creative third grade
teacher, who described it thusly,
Music is something I use; like having my students create a song about a topic we’re
learning or something like that. As a teacher, having a little bit of that background in an
area like that helps bring that out in your students, too. The kids are so naturally
musically inclined. They might not be able to memorize their multiplication table, but
they know the lyrics to any song on the radio. We need to embrace that and use that to
really engage our students in learning.
Mia is an amateur musician herself, playing both the piano and the violin, and as in the
cases of all of the teachers with an interest in the arts, it seems clear that these creative
avocations work their way into a creative teaching practice. She described her musical approach
to other subject matters, for example having her students come up with songs about a math topic,
When we were learning right, and obtuse and acute angels, my class and I came up with a
song and a dance to Beyonce’s “I’m a diva” but instead of “I’m a diva” we created a
whole dance to “I’m an angle”. Using all different learning styles, audio, auditory,

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visual, kinesthetic, tactile, the kids were creating a song of their own. That was kind of
cool because at test time you see them at their desk, they are bopping out the song and
singing it, so you know they remember it – they own it.
Such musical and artistic activities are prevalent in the personal avocations and in the
classrooms of these award-winning teachers, and interestingly enough the creativity manifests
not just in the teaching of traditionally “creative” subjects and topics, but it reveals itself across a
wide range of different subjects. Both Adam and Mia’s examples above illustrate the use of
music to teach math.
Mark, a middle school science teacher, is also interested in the arts and music, as he plays
both the guitar and piano,
Music’s definitely been an important part of my life, creatively…art has also been
important in my life and teaching (he started out as an art/graphic design major in
college, and has artistic hobbies). I try and draw as much as I can, especially in the
classroom. If I’m whipping something up on the board during a lesson, I’ll usually try
and draw or sketch something to make it more interesting or more memorable.
Mark frequently carries these interests over into the classroom to teach science concepts
in a more engaging way. This demonstrates again the manner in which creative interests and
avocations meld into excellent teaching practice. It also reveals the trans-disciplinary nature of
teaching, in the manner in which the arts are naturally blended into Mark’s teaching practice.
For example, he sometimes has his students create visual advertisements to describe a science
idea, as he explains it,
Cell parts, the difference between plant and animal cells. That’s one of the standards that
we have to teach. So I have students create an advertisement, trying to sell cell parts that

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plant cells have, that animal cells don’t have. Like chloroplasts, for photosynthesis.
Animals don’t have them, but what if you could sell those to an animal cell? How would
you try and convince an animal cell that it needs chloroplasts? Or a cell wall? Why would
it be beneficial? So we take a look at actual advertising techniques and ads, and we
critique them from a design perspective of: what does a good advertisement look like?
Mark talked about using his own artistic interests to teach science in a way that is more
authentic and exciting for his students, but also crosses the curriculum to blend a variety of
subjects such as biology, art and the psychology of design. In this way, he engages in an
inherently cross-disciplinary method of teaching. This not only makes the science teaching and
learning more effective, but also gives his students the benefit of learning multiple subjects in a
very real and cohesive way. As he describes it,
The activity is pretty simple. There’s a large graphic image and some text and design
elements. In some ways, I feel like I’m sort of using up science time to teach design, but
on the other hand…it gets the idea across and it also kind of teaches them another
discipline as well. It’s integrating a lot, and it does use up time…but I think it teaches it
in a more effective way. And we don’t have an art program anymore. It got cut two years
ago. I feel we’ve got to do that in our core classes or it doesn’t happen.
Mark’s description of teaching with the arts cuts to the core of how creative thinking
across the disciplines can translate into a more cross-curricular and impactful learning experience
for students. In his classroom this has demonstrated better science achievement scores for his
students, but more importantly his students are excited about science – more motivated and
curious about the discipline as they head to high school. He describes the impact that creative
approaches to learning science have had in a measurable light,

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One of the things that I feel really strongly about, is that our science scores have been
steadily going up and up over the last several years, but what I’m more excited about is
the fact that kids are actually coming out of our middle school excited about science, and
enjoying it and wanting to learn more. We met with our high school teachers last spring
and they said it’s a huge difference, that eight or 10 years ago kids would come to the
high school and walk into their science class and look at that science teacher and say, “I
hate you. I hate science.” But now they come in and not only do they have some skills
and some knowledge to go with it, but they’re excited about learning stuff because it’s
cool.
So what occurs as a common thread among many of these award-winning teachers is a
tendency to use there everyday “little c” creativity, to influence how they manifest “Big C”
creativity in the course of teaching activities (Gardner, 1992). In other words having creative
interests in activities that involve music or the arts, is something that naturally flows over into
one’s teaching practice.
It seems abundantly clear in the described experiences of these award winning teachers,
that interests and avocations do influence creative teaching practice, and one significant way this
occurs is through involvement in some creative “artistic” pursuit (the arts or musical), which
comes through in the course teaching activity. The manner in which these avocations manifest in
the teaching of subject matter implies that creative teaching is frequently a very transdisciplinary activity. Whether it is in the way that Mark uses art and design to teach science or
Adam uses music to teach math, the blending of different disciplines into teaching and learning
activities, for these particular teachers, is facilitated by their creative passions.

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This is an important point because it goes to the fact of what they do that is not merely
just “effective” teaching (since these teachers are clearly skilled teachers) but also “creative”
teaching. In the previous discussion of the first research question, it was noted that several of the
themes that arose in their classroom practices were also hallmarks of “effective” teaching, in the
literature. This is true in several themes, such as cross-curricular teaching or real-world
(authentic) learning, and it serves to complicate the question of “what is effective?” vs. “what is
creative?” in teaching. Ultimately, it is a complex relationship with areas of cross-over and
overlap. But on the issue of creative avocations and their place in the fabric of the classroom, or
music and the arts in the teaching of subject matter, we are in an area that is uniquely and
definitively creative in teaching.
The concept of creativity in avocations or outside life vs. creativity in professional
accomplishment is somewhat analogous to the “little c” (or “everyday” creativity) vs. “Big C”
(or “sublime” creativity) paradigm discussed by such researchers as Gardner (1999) and
Csikszentmihalyi (1996). Gardner and Csikszentmihalyi, among other creativity researchers,
assert that a focus on “Big C” or sublime creativity is most essential to really understanding the
topic. However, the lived experiences of these exceptional teachers indicates that “little c”, or
everyday creativity, expressed in avocations or interests like music and art has a profound impact
on the way people attain their sublime teaching creativity. Moreover, this connects deeply to the
Deweyan ideas of “Art as Experience”, in which there is an inextricable link between the
classical aesthetic experience of art and everyday activities and experiences. In Dewey’s
paradigm in order to understand true aesthetic or learning experiences, one must begin from the
events and scenes of daily life. This makes aesthetic and learning experiences both relatable and
powerful to the individual (Dewey, 1934). As Dewey frames it,

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So extensive and subtly pervasive are the ideas that set art on upon a remote pedestal, that
many a person would be repelled rather than pleased if told that he enjoyed his casual
recreations, at least in part, because of their aesthetic quality. The arts which today have
most vitality for the average person are the things he does not take to be arts; for instance,
the movie, jazzed music, the comic strip…The task is to restore confidence between the
refined and intensified forms of experience that are works of art and the everyday events,
doings, and sufferings that are universally recognized to constitute experience. (Dewey,
pp. 5, 1934)
From this perspective, we can begin to understand the prevalence of creative activities in
the lives of exceptional teachers. Just as Dewey suggests, there is a continuity in creative
experiences that extends into all areas of our lives. As Root-Bernstein (1996) discovered, this
same idea applies to successful scientists. Across domains, anyone who does his or her work
with engagement and care, such as artists, scientists, engineers or mechanics, and so on, are all
artistically inclined.
Athletics/Kinesthetic Pursuits: Mind/Body Connections. While I have noted the
varied artistic, musical or other creative pursuits of these accomplished teachers, it is important
to recognize that physical or athletic pursuits were also significant and influential avocations for
many of these creative teachers; and this kind of activity this has its place in the framework of
trans-disciplinary activity also. This fact is important because the trans-disciplinary skill of
“embodied thinking” or kinesthetic thinking deals with the connection between
creative/problem-solving thought processes and body movement or physical sensations.
The teachers comments on this topic were organized in HyperResearch under the code of
“Physical Activity”. Specifically six of the eight teachers talked about having physical/athletic

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hobbies. It is notable and interesting to see that physical activity is prevalent among these highly
successful teachers. Moreover their comments on the subject regularly credit it with improving
their teaching and thinking overall.
Mia discussed the impact of athletics and movement on her thought processes, and noted
that this was a key way of formulating ideas for her,
Running truly spurs my thinking most of the time. It gets my thought processes going if I
can move in some way. Exercise is the best little motivator for your brain to come up
with great ideas. After you go out on a run you come up with a 1000 good ideas, or even
during a shower after I keep a little jot pad nearby where I can jot things down.
Mia describes a notion of creativity springing from physical movement, which has also
been asserted by Root-Bernstein (1999, 2003) who suggest that people from a variety of different
disciplines find inspiration in the physical realm. The best musicians “feel” a piece of music,
just as painters and sculptures require tactile physical sensations in the execution of visual art.
Interestingly enough muscular feeling, physical sensations and manipulations play an important
role in scientific thinking as well. Scientists “play” laboratory experiments and develop a
physical feel for experimental work. Higher order mathematics is often done not by “numbers
and symbols, but by almost tactile feelings combined with reasoning” (Root-Bernstein, 1999).
Mia has found running to be useful as an avocation and a motivator for thinking skills,
and reflected on this fact further to consider to consider how this mind-body connection works
for her,
I think it is the therapeutic rhythm of it, and the getting away from it all, and the
de-stressing yourself. But I think it’s also just the way that the brain works. I just finished

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John Medina’s ‘Brain Rules’ which was a fascinating book. Looking at the brain research
and how exercise can affect how the brain performs, there is definitely a connection.
Adam noted that he had been a competitive swimmer the age of five and continues to
swim a lot. He’s also been a surfer his whole life and described the ways in which he’s
developed a lot of “good ideas while sitting on my surfboard”.
Then surfing sometimes, when the waves are really good it can be so intense that you
absolutely cannot think about anything… you have to just stay and focus. It’s a really
good brain activity for me to not let ideas pop into my head, or else I’ll lose focus and it’s
a wipe-out. While I’m actually in the physical act of surfing, I have to focus intently on
just that, which I know is building a different part of my brain. Other times the waves are
really small and I’m going out there to relax and have fun. I might chew over an idea in
my head. Without getting too philosophical on you – it makes you realize how small you
are when you’re getting on that surfboard in the huge ocean. I’ll always come in from
that refreshed and willing to try something another way or just drop something that’s not
working. Physical activity is a good outlet to think clearly and release stress.
This connection between kinesthetics and focused-thinking was one that was commented
on quite a bit by all of the teachers with physical avocations. Adam discussed the way that
swimming helps with this process for him,
When I’m swimming, although it seems like just sort of staring at this black line down on
the bottom of the pool, once in a while I’ll be swimming along and focused on this black
line and an interesting idea will pop into my head. Or I’ll get an idea as I’m diving and
then I’ll process it out while I’m swimming.

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The notion that physical movement and bodily sensations have an innate relation to
creative thought processes was also discussed by Sandra who felt, similarly to the other teachers,
that athletic pursuits provided clarity of mind that helped improve her thinking in general, as she
put it,
I always have some outside pursuits related to athletics since I was very young. I’ve
kick-boxed for about three years really intensely, and I run quite a bit…I think it offers
clarity. I guess I can only speak personally to that one, but I think it does offer clarity of
mind. A lot of times, I use those athletic endeavors to give me that focus. To wipe
everything clean, so I can concentrate on what’s most important, which is whatever I
need to focus on at that time, right? There’s no doubt that sometimes I do my best
thinking when I’m running. I think it’s because there is a rhythm and there aren’t other
distractions.
Marie also connected to the notion that physical or kinesthetic pursuits were useful for
improving her thought processes in the sense that, for her, yoga provides not just an avocation
but a means of finding time for reflective thinking,
I’m fairly physical. I love to do yoga. Yoga is a really awesome thing because it helps me
in the middle of a day that might feel very action-packed or even hectic, to be more
introspective. To slow down my brain enough to really be a whole lot more reflective. I
think that’s one very cool thing that any of us get to do with our lives is get that kind of
balance of the very high energy but also finding the time to slow down.
But as she further described it, physical movement or kinesthetics were useful not only
for clarity of thought processes and reflection, but also for idea generation,

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In fact, if I’m designing something that I need to get going, if I’m doing some writing or
designing some lessons, it is absolutely movement that I need to do. In fact, I often don’t
sit or sit still when I’m working. I have to put myself into some type of physical motion
in order for the ideas that I’m puzzling with to have a chance to settle down and make
sense…Yoga class, for instance, is perfect for that. It’s an organized way of allowing my
mind to really focus in on just these particular body movements, which actually opens
things up to some of the other big complex ideas. You can walk into a yoga class and just
be downright out of sorts…then in the middle of yoga class be so completely involved in
the movements that I actually feel I gain time and perspective by the time that I finish.
This notion of kinesthetic thinking or connection between mind and body movement is
something that Marie has observed in her own physical avocations, as well as in those of people
around her, as she puts it,
My husband is a scientist with the US Geological Survey. He’s a marathon runner…has
run 17 marathons and loves it. When he does a long run, there are times that he will come
home…and will say, “Oh, guess what I figured out?” And I can say to him, “Which mile
were you at when that idea came to your mind?”
The teachers in this study definitely connected with the notion that physical movement
and mental activity have an important link, and this can be noted in their propensity for physical
avocations, among their other interests.
Research Question 3 Analysis: Trans-disciplinary Thinking Skills
Q3) Are trans-disciplinary thinking skills used by accomplished, successful teachers?
‐

Question 3a: How do these accomplished teachers use trans-disciplinary thinking skills in
their teaching practice and what are some classroom examples?

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‐

Question 3b: Do these skills help them to be more effective, creative teachers? In what
ways are these thinking skills important to teaching?
In this research question the findings of this study are that trans-disciplinary thinking

skills are both important and highly valuable, in the experiences of these accomplished, creative
teachers. Each of the six skills of observation, patterning, abstraction, embodied thinking,
modeling and play, were each coded as a separate trans-disciplinary theme in HyperResearch.
Synthesizing was not specifically coded, because the meta-level and intangible nature of the skill
made it difficult to ask clear or applicable interview questions on. It is however included and
discussed in the analysis of the themes later on in this section. Each of the six skills that teachers
were asked about, were organized by codes. Generally speaking, each skill tended to be used in a
different but particular way, as revealed and interpreted in the nature of the teachers comments.
Observation was noted for developing an awareness of classroom dynamics, students, and
learning progress. Patterning was discussed as valuable for understanding trends in classroom
and school situations and events. Abstraction was considered important as a teaching approach
to clarify and explain complex ideas in a clearer or simpler form. Embodied thinking was
thought to be integral in making learning active and engaging. Modeling was noted as a useful
tool to make learning more real and tangible to students. Play was seen as crucial for making
learning fun and developing a sense of curiosity about ideas and learning. Synthesizing involves
the totality of who they are and how they use the previous skills. Essentially trans-disciplinary
(or creative-cognitive skills) were highly valuable and relevant within these teachers’ creative
classroom practices, each in its own way.
Observation. As the first of the trans-disciplinary skills observation is the first step to
understanding anything. Observing involves paying close attention to information gathered

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through the five senses, with intent focus and curiosity. The teachers in this study generally saw
observation as essential for developing an awareness of their students, their learning, and
classroom activities overall. All commented on the value of finely-tuned or well-honed
observational skills. This was seen as necessary for running an effective classroom, and creating
teaching and learning activities that are on-par with what their students need.
Julia discussed the importance of observational skills in multiple ways in teaching, and
noted that it is an important skill not just for having a good overall sense of your classroom, but
in identifying opportunities for “teachable moments”, as she stated,
One thing I would say is essential in teaching in general is always having your feelers out
and understanding what’s going on in all parts of the room with each student. It helps to
be finely tuned into looking for not only, behaviors and misbehaviors, but also looking
for those teachable moments, those times when you look out and see that the discussion is
taking a turn; or hearing a question that was asked that you can turn into a teachable
moment. Observing when there’s an opening, observing when there’s a chink in the
armor of boredom, or the chink in the armor of a kid who pretends they aren’t interested.
You can find a hook that can get in there and pull them towards this science stuff a bit
more.
In this way, observation may be a skill that helps take teaching to the next level, as highly
skilled teachers like Julia are able to catch on to those moments that are opportunities to truly
engage students. The ability to identify a “teachable moment”, or a moment when a unique and
interesting situation is occurring that lends itself to discussion or a learning opportunity, makes
observation a fundamental skill for successful teaching (Lozo, 2005). Julia noted that she felt that

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observational skills were an ability that she is highly focused on in general, and that this aids in
her creativity, as she commented,
I’m very attuned to a lot of detail in the world around me…the nuances that maybe other
people, their filter isn’t as fine on some of these things. Being attuned to that kind of
detail-oriented stuff helps my creativity because I’m always looking – I’m very focused
on attention to detail.
As a nationally acclaimed and highly creative teacher, Adam also remarked on the fact
that he felt that good observation is a skill he has a knack for, and that this has helped him deal
with a variety of teaching situations. He commented on the importance of objectivity in
observation, saying,
I think the key to observation is actually being able to separate yourself from the
situation, and look down…as if you’re hovering above it and seeing it clearly. That’s one
thing I either consciously or unconsciously, I think I have...something I’m good at is
observing it as is and not as it relates to me. So you hear about some new student who
transferred to this school who’s got 50,000 problems. And I hear other people say, “Oh
gosh. I don’t even want to know about this guy. I’m sure he’s going to end up in my
class.” And I’ll be thinking, “Oh, man. I’ve got to go meet this kid. I’ve got to go check
this kid out.” I just enjoy that process of observation without taking it personally.
This ability to make careful and objective observations has thereby been a benefit to
handling some of the stressful situations of teaching (e.g. troubled students), that might otherwise
cause added anxiety. The objectivity of observation can thereby lead to a more accurate or
constructive analysis of a situation. Sandra has found this to be the case. She has found

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observation to be so critical that she teaches it to her language arts students, as a pathway toward
critical and creative thinking, as she noted,
I teach my students critical thinking skills for my language arts courses, and the first step
is always observation. If we are not careful observers, we have no chance of doing any of
the other work that we need to do, so observation is the first step…I set out to be a careful
observer as a teacher. I have to know what each student needs and I have to be observant
about them all. I mentioned early on in the interview about how, when I was in the
psychology department for a while, that has had an impact on my teaching…Human
observation and the attention to that, has been essential as a teacher.
In this statement, Sandra has not only highlighted the importance of observation as a first
step toward creative thinking, she notes that it is important to her work as a teacher in being
observant about her students and their needs.
This notion of observation as a critical pedagogical skill for gauging students was echoed
by Mia, who noted that she needs to observe carefully to understand her own students, but also to
identify ideas that might be useful to incorporate in her teaching practice.
I would use observation in teaching a lesson, and then going out and gauging the
situation; making sure that if I’m conversing with one of my students, I’m hearing what
she’s saying and doing. I’m listening to what she’s got on her paper. I’m kind of sensing
if she gets it. So I use observation all the time to monitor what’s going on in the
classroom, as well as to see what’s going on in other classrooms that you can apply in my
own.

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Carrie further stressed the significance of observation in teaching as a skill that helps her
gather information on the goings-on of her classroom. She noted that these observation skills
have been honed through her work as a teacher, and extend into other areas of her life,
Well, I have been accused of not missing anything…Through trial and error I have been
trained to really see all kinds of things in a classroom. I’ve got to notice body language
and attitude right when they come in the door. If there is one coming in to class who has
gotten upset during the day, or is upset about something at home, and I’m trying to get
him to answer a question, there can be this huge outburst that is unrelated to me, that I
didn’t see coming. So I do probably have better observation skills than someone who
works in a cubicle all day, at picking out different things with body language, reactions
and communication styles...Teachers have to be keen observers on all of that.
Carrie’s comments emphasize the value of attention to fine detail in observational skills.
Highly skilled teachers must be able to notice a variety of things in their classrooms, right down
to body language and subtleties of communication with students. She noted that not only is
observation a critical pedagogical skill, it is one that can be learned and practiced. This falls very
much in line with Root-Bernstein’s (2003) framework of trans-disciplinary skills, and the fact
that they can be learned, taught and developed in practice.
Jack highlighted the significance of observational skills not just for classroom
management, but for managing student learning progress and developing a community of
learners. Additionally, observation aids in being able to learn and develop as a teacher, he stated,
Observation is definitely important and essential, because that’s how we learn, even as
teachers. We make meaning from experiences we see and certainly I really advocate for
opportunities for our beginning teachers to have observation…As a teacher, observing

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student growth over time is critical. We were talking before about establishing that
community of learners – seeing and watching the interactions between the students is
necessary for that. And a huge part of assessment is more than just the test at the end –
but watching and observing that they can do or understand the concept.
Marie also talked about observational skills as a way of thinking that impacts her own
learning and appreciation for knowledge. She noted that careful and curious observation about
the world and subject matter is a desirable skill for teachers, because you want teachers to also be
engaged learners. Prior research on creative, effective teaching has also found creative, effective
teachers to be lifelong learners and curious individuals (Amabile, 1998). Marie commented,
Observation translates into so many other, bigger things to learn about or to want to learn
about…Then as a teacher, being able to consider how that sense of observation translates
to my students. I mean, that’s the kind of thing that you also want teachers to be open to.
Mark’s remarks on observation noted the importance of the skill in dealing with
classroom dynamics and management issues, but like Marie, he also signaled the importance of
observation for curious and capable learners, saying,
In terms of the basics of classroom management, you better be holding your ground
otherwise you’re going to get run over. Observation is certainly part of that, and clearly
observation about the students themselves, and what works for them and what doesn’t
work. In the sciences, observation is a very key part of what I try and get my students to
focus on, instead of just blindly wandering around the world, they actually notice things.
It develops curiosity as well. So it’s a skill that I certainly try and develop in kids.

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Mark also broadened this discussion of observation out, to describe the fact that it is
essential in teaching because it’s a necessary thinking skill for self-awareness and creativity, as
he noted,
I think in some ways it’s sort of a survival skill. Evolutionarily, we have learned to
observe the world around us and, in some ways, modern society has dulled that sense and
in other ways it’s heightened or maybe even over-stimulated that sense, depending on the
context. More than survival, it ultimately becomes about the first step in terms of self
expression. You’ve got to be aware to be self-aware, to be creative. You’ve got to be
aware not only of the world around you, but also of yourself…and then to actually do
something with that knowledge.
Patterning. As the second of the trans-disciplinary skills covered by this study,
patterning works in two parts, including the act of recognizing patterns and forming them.
Recognizing patterns involves identifying a repeating form or a plan in a seemingly arbitrary
arrangement of things or processes, while forming is basically a creative act of innovation to
come up with a new pattern/solution. The teachers in this study recognized patterning as an
essential teaching skill in being able to understand and assess classroom and school situations,
and develop solutions as necessary.
Adam definitely identified with the concept of patterns in teaching, though he has
frequently thought about it as dealing with “systems” in his teaching career, as he described it,
You could say “patterns”, but I would say systems. I love creating systems…I also enjoy
really looking at system that’s not working and saying, “OK, where is it breaking down?”
And so you’ll often hear me saying things in class like, “Hey, come on, we all know the
system.” So, I’m always looking for sort of a better system in how I run my classroom or

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in how I teach a certain mathematical procedure. I guess that would be about
patterns...looking for different trends or different things that happen. If a student’s not
doing something, if a student’s off task I’ll say, “Hey, come on, that’s not the system that
we’ve all decided works best for us.” I enjoy creating useful systems.
In this way, Adam’s notion of systems corresponds to the element of patterning in that he
looks for trends and commonalities in teaching situations, and then problem solves by
establishing useful patterns for his students.
Carrie noted that as an effective teacher, she needs to be able to see patterns at multiple
levels of teaching, in dealing with individual students and parents, patterns in the school day, or
even patterns in the school or community, as she commented,
In the classroom, as far as patterns I can see patterns in student behavior, patterns in work
that they turn in...Or as far as the school day, there are patterns you’ll notice. There’s
definitely a difference after lunch than there is before…when they come back, they’re
going to act a certain way. Then there are patterns between different schools where I’ve
taught in different types of communities. I see behavior patterns that look different from
another school, and how those kids act when they get, let’s say, angry. The story I usually
tell is; the angry kids in the inner-city schools are quite verbal about being angry…But
the kids in the school I’m in now, which is very rural, the kinds can tend to be just as
mad, but they just shut down, because they live out in the country and they are used to
more distance and space. I think that seeing patterns in kids is useful to the work of a
teacher, because when behavior or work is out of the pattern, then that’s key to us to
know that something is going on…That gives us the opportunity to go and follow up and
check on those things. And help us to be more in-tune as a teacher.

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This ability to identify patterns in the world around her is useful in understanding
teaching situations and settings, and then coming up with valid solutions.
Mark commented on the necessity of dealing with patterns in identifying trends in all
kinds of teaching situations, from behavior to student performance. This act of pattern
recognition is again useful to him in solving problems or creating new and better patterns, as he
noted,
The way that I can think of how patterning comes into play is, as a teacher in general,
definitely seeing patterns in students themselves, and noticing patterns or trends in either
behavior or performance can be used to diagnose a range of problems or difficulties. I
think especially when things get pretty bad or hit the fan and you’re having a parent
conference, the ability to recognize a certain pattern or how things have been trending
behaviorally or performance-wise can definitely be valuable.
Mia remarked on the importance of patterns in dealing with subject matter, in that as a
teacher she needs to be able to emphasize the patterns in learning a topic or idea to her students,
she noted,
I think patterning is an important skill both personally and professionally. You have to
have an understanding of patterns to teach students to have that same understanding, like
when you’re looking at numbers on a chart in math. Or looking at patterns within
multiples, or looking at patterns that you might find in different literature pieces.
Jack also focused on the need for patterns in understanding his students and their learning
needs. He noted some questions that he asks himself in examining his students’ work for
patterns, and commented that looking for patterns in teaching is a learned and practiced skill, as
he stated,

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We need to look for patterns when we analyze our students’ work – we’re looking for
patterns in their learning and in our instruction. What’s the lesson as you analyze the
data? What areas were most challenging for your students? Understanding how to
analyze your own teaching or classroom information is a skill that comes with time and
practice. I remember my first year of teaching…you didn’t understand how to take a lot
of the information and apply it to what was going on in your class. I think if we can teach
our beginning teachers how to analyze and look for trends and patterns…it’s going to
make them better prepared to help their kids.
Julia also emphasized the fact that understanding patterns was a skill that she had become
increasingly fluent in as she developed as a teacher. Patterning, for her, is a skill that she has
fine-tuned with teaching experience. Like Jack, she identifies patterns via a series of questions
she asks herself. Interestingly enough, it has helped to understand how to pattern and structure
her teaching activities and the subject matter itself, as she commented,
As you become more expert in the age level at which you’re teaching, you see patterns.
When I approach a new topic, I immediately start to chunk it out into what would I see as
a flow from the viewpoint of an 11 and 12 year old mind. What is it that they know and
what’s the foundation? What can I find out what they know about it? Where do I go from
there? What are the sizable chunks? What’s the angle of the attack? What’s the way to
make it relevant to their lives? That is a pattern of teaching, and in the structure of the
day…I find I have to have a pattern to help accommodate attention spans. There is a
saying that mind cannot absorb what the seat cannot endure. That’s especially true for 11
year olds who are wired to move, so I segment my teaching…A lot of it involves giving
them some opportunities for movement.

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Marie sees patterns as being a vital part of subject matter, and she attempts to cultivate
and foster the skill of patterning in her students, as she noted,
The whole idea of pattern is all making sense of not only what it is they are doing and
seeing…but also then what they will then be able to predict beyond there. Let’s use that
sky watch example…The reason I did that day after day after day, I was hoping that the
students would see that kind of predictability of what was going on with the natural
world. I wanted them to see the patterns, to see the seasonal changes, and to be able to
experience that in such a way that by doing it day-by-day, that they would discover that
pattern of how things change on their own too.
Sandra highly identified with the concept of patterns, and similar to her focus on
observation in critical thinking, she includes the skill of identifying patterns into her teaching of
language arts. She considers patterning to be a critical part of a creative thinking paradigm as she
stated,
I pretty overtly ask my students to look for patterns. What critical thinking is, marginally
it’s the acquisition of patterns. So, there’s this incredible relationship between critical
thinking and how it sparks creative thinking. …One doesn’t exist without the other. It’s
pretty impossible to be creative if you haven’t also been critical. It’s pretty difficult to
look at patterns effectively if you’re not willing to make mistakes or see things out of
order in order to put them in order. There is just this incredible relationship between the
two functions.
Her comments on patterning signal the importance of patterning for critical thinkers and
creative people alike, she has woven this skill not only into her teaching practice, but directly
into her subject matter.

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Abstracting (abstract thinking & analogy). Abstracting is the third of the transdisciplinary skills discussed with the highly accomplished teachers in this study. Abstracting
involves capturing the essential nature of a thing or idea. This is often done by concentrating on
one or just a few features of an object, idea, or process, in order to boil it down to basics and
grasp its essence; the use of analogy may be used in abstracting as well, which involves drawing
a comparison or a practical similarity between the basic elements of seemingly disparate things.
The teachers in this study found abstracting to be an extremely useful cognitive skill in their
teaching, in that it helps them to clarify and explain complex ideas and topics to their students.
Adam noted the importance of using abstraction in his teaching, in that he at times needs
to simplify a topic in such a way that it is still accurate and complete, yet makes sense to
students.
I would say I use abstraction when I’m teaching a concept…I try to get rid of anything
that’s not useful…anything that’s going to distract. For example the other day we were
talking about how to change a decimal into a fraction. So, there are all these different
steps you can take and different ways you can do it. But I had to stop and think about
how I wanted to explain it in a way that really boiled it down to just three fundamental
steps that students can remember to do. For that, I would abstract the bigger idea of
decimals and fractions – getting rid of anything that could distract.
Similarly, Julia remarked that she found abstracting to be a crucial thinking skill for
creating lessons that are both clear and meaningful to students. To do this, she considers what are
the essentials that she needs them to comprehend and hold on to, stating,
When I’m structuring a lesson I ask, what are the bare bones that I want these kids to
walk away with? What’s the essential kernel of truth that’s going to best serve them

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when they leave here? Distilling a topic is very important to me to just cut away some of
the big confusing terminology…I think germination is important for them to know, but
I’m going to talk about it as sprouting. I might frame it as – a seed itself is like a baby,
and it’s got its lunch and the mother plant wrapped it up and sent it off...It’s going to
travel out into the world. It’s going to travel through the air, or on the water, or on
somebody’s fur. So they can see that as a picture in their head…Those kinds of
abstractions, they help you file away the rust and get down to the gold…With 11 year
olds, it’s not primary grade, but they still have a primary heart in a lot of ways. And
everybody loves to hear a story.
So in this way, abstracting not only makes the concept clear and sensible to students but
it is something that has relatable meaning and that they will respond to and remember.
Carrie also noted that as a teacher she must use abstraction in structuring her lessons, so
that complex topics are first given in small but illustrative pieces. In teaching the elements of
writing, she starts her students off with the simplest means of understanding them in short
stories, before working up to how they occur in novels,
I start off the year teaching students all the elements of a short story so that they’re ready
to understand the elements of a novel. We look at, in very small pieces, the things that
they are going to see in a bigger way which will be harder to pinpoint as quickly, like
plot. In a novel characters are going to be so much more developed than they are in a
short story. Setting – in a short story it may be one place, in a novel it’s going to change
and will be different places. Theme – there can be several themes in a novel whereas a
short story is probably going to focus on just one thing.

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Mia also uses this concept of simplified but representative concepts in teaching big or
complex ideas to her students, as she noted,
The thing that comes to mind when I think about abstraction is teaching something very
broad, such as reading; then about having to focus it down to the simple aspects or parts
of it in order to teach your students about the whole idea of reading. Instead of just
teaching reading, you’re teaching inferring or you’re teaching main idea or skimming and
scanning. You’re having to teaching a simple part of it in order to be the whole.
Thereby, moving between the simple and complex forms of an idea is akin to going from
the concrete to the abstract in teaching a lesson. Marie noted that she would often help students
to connect to complicated or abstract ideas with the use of simple objects or stories. She
described this aspect of abstraction in one of her teaching techniques,
When you can use an object that goes with a story to help make that abstract leap to a
much more complex concept, well, I’m absolutely fascinated by that technique. I had
done some teacher education work in South Africa, and I learned a lot while I was there. I
wanted to help my own students to understand about what had happened in Cape Town
during the time of apartheid. This all tied in with a much bigger concept. The thing that I
brought in to show them to kind of drive home this idea was a piece of sea glass. The
very smooth kind of glass you can pick up on a sea shore that has been tumbled around in
the sand all that time. That simple piece of sea glass was what I used in order to tell the
children the story about this neighborhood in Cape Town called District Nine and how
this neighborhood got displaced because of what occurred there. How one day the
bulldozers came in and literally bulldozed these informal houses right into the ocean.
That piece of sea glass, it became an abstract representation of what happened to that

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neighborhood of people. One little tiny object but then it made the leap to this very large
concept of the historical perspective of what was going on in South Africa at that
time…The object tells the story. Really effective teachers will use simple objects or
stories in order to drive home different kinds of concepts, to get the curiosity going.
This use of abstraction was a frequent teaching technique for Marie, and she described
how she was able to tackle complex concepts with her elementary students, by using abstraction
to clarify and explain things to them. She described another such example,
Something typical that I’ll use, is a ball of string. I will want my students, or even when
I’m working with teachers I’ll do the same thing…I want people to think about how ideas
and information connects. So, immediately after a lesson I’ll pull out that ball of string
and I’ll start it off by saying, “Well, let’s just remember what it is we just learned. Let’s
see, we just learned a lesson about the wetlands. One of the things we learned is that
wetlands help to filter water and my example of that is etc, etc…Who else has an idea
that they want to say?” And somebody will say, “Well I know there are migrations going
on with the Canadian geese.” The string will go to that child and somebody else will say,
“Oh what you said there reminds me of this.” The string will go then on…then what you
see is this circle of people, this web of string that goes every which way, and ideas are
connected. The web of knowledge goes and there’s this web of information. Even though
it’s an actual piece of string, it is an abstract way of showing this.
Jack also described how abstraction was helpful to him in explaining ideas in a way that
people could more easily relate to and understand them. He noted how he often does this through
the use of analogical thinking, stating,

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The use of analogies, metaphors, really allows people to quickly identify with a concept,
or more quickly identify with what you’re trying to convey. Analogies and metaphors are
even similar to storytelling, and it helps with making connections to relatable knowledge
and experiences. I think that really helps make meaning for people.
Sandra furthered this notion of abstraction in order to move from the intangible to the
tangible, as she stated that this helped her to get her students thinking in complex ways, “Without
a doubt, I use abstraction to make something concrete. And then once we have it in the concrete,
my goal is to help students to construct their own knowledge back into the abstract.”
Sandra commented that the use of analogy was also integral to her being able to do this
kind of abstraction in teaching, and she described how she had been inspired by this technique by
witnessing it in an excellent teacher she’d had. Not only does she use analogy herself in
communicating with her students, but she encourages her students to use analogical thinking,
remarking,
I use lots of analogy. I once had this brilliant teacher, and she always talked in analogies.
I was so moved by the power of my own learning through her use of analogy that I have
become very confident in using analogy. I think in analogy often, and I bring it into the
classroom a lot. I ask students to create their own analogy because it does boil down the
distractions. In fact, I use that term with my kids all the time. We’re going to boil this
down, and sometimes we do exercises that are constructed very deliberately for that
boiled down process… I may start with having students do writing that has some
constraints with it, and then we start to boil down the most important words so we
eliminate the distractions, and then start to look at how if we start to pare some of these
words that we boiled down together, can we start to create metaphors? Create analogies?

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Mark also underscored how critical abstract thinking is in the realm of teaching and
learning. Abstraction for him is again about distilling and explaining information in useful ways.
He noted that this is how he is naturally inclined to think about teaching, because this is how he
learns himself, stating,
My general approach to teaching, or in fact in general approach to knowledge in general,
is fairly abstract. I’ve never been good with remembering small details, in fact. I might
notice them…I might analyze them until they’re gone. So for me, the ability to abstract
specific instances or specific individual facts into something bigger, into concepts, into
big ideas, is a huge part of how I learn, and I think most people should learn.
Mark stressed the importance of abstraction in teaching and learning, because this helps
clarify and explain the biggest and most important parts of an idea or subject matter. In essence
this involves recalling concepts as opposed to facts. And like many of the other teachers in this
study, Mark found the use of analogy to be crucial to his paradigm of teaching, he noted,
Facts are fleeting. Facts are oftentimes fairly unimportant when taken on their own. But I
guess I sort of have this analogy. When I was younger, I used to be called Analogy Man,
and I think it that’s how I see the world. I love analogies, and I use analogies all the time
when I’m teaching or I’m speaking or when I’m thinking, a lot of times. I’ve had this
analogy in my head the last few days. It’s of a tree, and the individual leaves are just
facts. And they may come and go with the seasons, or with your state of mind or what
you can remember. But those facts, actually, are what provide the energy to build the
branches and the more permanent parts of the tree. Those more permanent parts of the
tree are the big ideas, the concepts, how it all fits together into a big picture.

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In Mark’s teaching practice, as with all of the teachers in this study, abstract thinking is
critical for clarifying and explaining the important aspects of an idea, and he noted the
importance here for creativity,
It also, I think, makes life much more interesting. That oftentimes the basis of most art is
abstraction, of deciding which details are important, or which details we’re going to focus
on. I guess that’s really art, abstracting ideas, in a sense.
Embodied Thinking (thinking with the body & empathy). The fourth transdisciplinary skill of embodied thinking involves two skills which feed into each other –
kinesthetic thinking and empathizing. Kinesthetic thinking is thinking with the body, or the
sensations of physical movement, balance, tensions, etc. Another aspect of embodied thinking is
empathizing, and this requires imagining oneself in someone else’s position, walking in their
shoes, feeling what they might feel. These elements both make up the concept of embodied
teaching. The teachers in this study found this skill to be highly beneficial for helping to make
learning active and engaging for students. They noted a variety of lessons and ways in which
they value embodied thinking.
Mark commented on the importance of physical movement in his classroom, and
described the way that he ties it directly in with science ideas that his 7th graders are learning
about. It may involve getting up and acting out the role of a molecule, or perhaps tracing out the
arc of the sun in the sky through the season, but embodied thinking helps his students use their
bodies for active learning, as he stated it,
I get kids up and moving and acting things out. Oftentimes they’re playing out the role of
molecules or something like that. When we’re learning about the seasons and what causes
the seasons – the path of the sun through the sky – we get up and actually trace the path

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of the sun through the sky with our arms. In the wintertime, it just comes up in the
southeast. It’ll be up south and down in the southwest, and it just does a quick arc. We
trace that arc out, then we might make it into a little dance move, like “Oh, yeah! It’s
wintertime!” Then in the summer it’s a much higher arc and starts way up in the
northeast…So we trace that out in the sky too. Whenever possible I’ll go through a lot of
different exercises where they’re actually using their bodies to understand a science idea.
Mark also incorporates the embodied thinking aspect of empathy, by having his students
feel what it feels like to be another object or organism in order to understand its role in science
better. He also encourages an active, hands-on approach to his students’ learning, so that they
can get a real physical sense of what things “feel” like, which gets them engaged in scientific
processes or ideas, with as he denoted,
I do things like, encouraging students to try and interact not only by taking on the persona
of an object or an organism, but also then in more traditional lab settings to actually get
their hands right in there. What does that substance feel like? If we’re doing erosion and
deposition, get in there and work with the sand and create some stuff. What does that feel
like? I want them to be engaged and using their physical senses as much as possible.
Jack also emphasizes a kinesthetic approach to the teaching of subject matter, and he
reiterated the trans-disciplinary notion of empathy as described by Root-Bernstein (2003) of
“some things that we know in our body”. This has helped him find ways to teach concepts to his
elementary students in active and moving ways, as he stated,
Definitely there are some things that we just know in our body, we know it. Incorporating
physical movement was a major teaching goal for me. For a math example, moving on
the number line – physically having the kids move up the line. When we were doing the

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order of the planets from the sun, I would have the kids get up and form a human solar
system. It was important to me to find ways to use the body to help teach concepts – that
movement is so important.
Jack has taken this concept of motion and the connection between the mind and the body
to heart. He described how it has become an important part of his overall teaching philosophy,
As far as movement or the body in learning settings – there are some statistics out there,
that just by standing up we learn 10 percent better. Memory is retrieved better when
something is learned through movement. If you’re using that whole concept of body
memory, the statistics are very high in terms of recall in the work that you’re doing. But I
always have said that movement has to be with intention, so again, there is that whole
sense of a learning purpose behind it.
Not only has Jack adopted this concept of kinesthetic learning into his own teaching, but
in his professional development courses and his work with new teachers, he stresses the need for
this kind of activity, commenting,
That kinesthetic connection in teaching and learning is something we actively have to
cultivate in new teachers, the ability to find those creative connections. Sometimes we
have to spell that out, and really encourage that tendency so that they are constantly
looking for ways to do it. Actually that is one of the professional development workshops
that I’ve presented to teachers…their assignment is to create a lesson like this that they
can take back to their classrooms. What’s been so great is to see a high school teacher do
this, because some folks tend to think, “Oh, elementary school, yes, of course you sing
songs…” But after that workshop, I’ve had high school teachers email me later saying,

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“Oh, this has made a huge difference!” That’s exciting for me – the light bulb moment in
new and veteran teachers. When we can cultivate those connections it makes a difference.
Mia noted the importance of embodied thinking in that it plays directly into a student
population that is inclined toward movement, as she stated,
The student population is so kinesthetic. I think that embodied thinking…or kinesthetic
thinking, comes into play a lot. Whether we’re acting out concepts with our body, like
different punctuation marks or making our bodies into multiplication signs. A lot of
times, kinesthetic thinking seems to really help cement things into long-term memory.
In his teaching of mathematical concepts to middle school students, Adam has found
different ways to integrate movement into his lessons. He described how he has his students
learn about the number line by doing dance moves geared to help them understand the concept in
a physical sense, as he stated,
As far as movement, there’s the number line dance that we do. The negative to the left.
To remind the students that when you move to the left of the line, you’re going to the
negative. And now make a plus sign with both your hands in front of your chest. And
then put your right hand off to the right. That’s plus positive to the right. “Negative to the
left, positive to the right, it’s the number line dance, I could dance all night.”…Actually,
these students taking a test, they’re now doing the hand signals to figure out where
they’re going.
In addition to integrating physical movements directly into the teaching of ideas, Adam
sees value in giving his students a chance to move, to re-energize and wake up their thinking, as
he remarked,

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Sometimes I’ll notice that the kids are starting to get a little tired or they’re starting to
look kind of lethargic, and we’ll get up and do some quick yoga poses or we’ll all just do
some arm circles or jump up and down just to get the body moving.
Or to keep their attention with some movement, Adam has found some other ways to help his
students become engaged and focused, using some simple kinesthetic techniques,
One of the things I do to get the class on task or anything is we do the two claps, two
snaps, two stomps. So we literally go, “On three, one, two, three,” and then they clap
twice, snap twice, stomp twice and then sometimes we’ll do harder claps. Or if a visitor
comes in the room we do the two claps, two snaps, two stomps and then we all say,
“Welcome.” So it’s just a way to keep their bodies moving and attention focused. And
these kids are twelve, thirteen years old. They need to move…I try to get them moving
around without running around because then it just becomes too hectic.
Like Adam, Julia also uses some kinesthetic techniques designed to get her students
moving and engaged in the classroom. She sees this as a chance to get their attention and wake
them up a bit, as she stated,
Some of the things that I do in my classroom…the kinds of things where they’re actually
moving – sit up straight; breathe in some deep air because it’s going to help your brain,
and…we’re going to feel better and more awake; those kinds of things, where we’re
shaking out the cobwebs and waking up. It’s important, giving them a chance to have
some physical movement that’s not at all in the lock step, “we’re in school, you better
behave yourself” sort of stuff.
And like the other teachers in this study, Julia also incorporates embodied thinking
methods into her teaching of subject matter, in order to make the learning more active and

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engaging. She asserted that science in her classroom is an active process, and that she wants her
students to “see themselves as scientists”. Along these lines, she tries to keep them active and
engaged in the process of “doing science”, via the use of physical activity, as she stated,
In my class, doing science involves movement, if you’re going to talk about momentum
and things like that, we’re going to get a bunch of balls, we’re going to go into the gym,
and we’re going to take data on bouncing balls. Instead of watching a movie about
momentum we’re going to actually do it ourselves. I think when they are doing it more of
their neurons are engaged as opposed to when they’re seeing it or hearing about it.
It is interesting to note that there are some subject matter differences to the way that these
teachers perceive and employ embodied thinking. While Carrie viewed it just as importantly as
the other teachers, as a language arts teacher, she honed in closely on the facet of empathy within
embodied thinking, stating,
You know, I can read a book and feel like I know the people in it when I’m done, and I
miss them. [laughs] Because they are gone. I just embrace as a reader and a writer too. In
order to write, especially the fictional stuff that I’ve shared with my classes, I can’t just
write about me and my life. I have to understand other people’s lives. Empathy, that’s
what I use. I put it in the fiction, a short story, or a little novel…for my kids. I really think
the best teachers are the ones who can put themselves in the place of someone else.
This notion of empathy is important not only in her teaching of language arts as a subject
matter, but she described how it has also been useful to her in dealing with parents and students,
commenting,
When my parents of kids come in, usually there’s a problem, either with grades or
behavior. I try to actually – I visualize them at home at night, tucking their child into bed.

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And that child laying there, getting ready to sleep, because it puts me in the place of that
parent. I see that child not just as my student, but as somebody’s child. These kids that we
teach are someone’s dream come true. That’s a big responsibility to teach someone’s
dream. You have to treat them like you want your own children treated by someone else.
That has probably been the biggest part of what’s impacted me as a teacher.
As a middle and high school language arts teacher, Carrie’s notion of embodied thinking
placed the emphasis on empathy. Interestingly enough, the only other English teacher in the
study, Sandra, also immediately highlighted the concept of empathy in her teaching of subject
matter when we discussed embodied thinking. The empathy facet of embodied thinking is likely
very connected to disciplines involving reading, writing, and language arts, because of their
emphasis on characters and their situations or behaviors. Sandra uses this sense of empathy to
her engage her students more deeply in a piece of writing and its ideas, stating,
One thing that will draw a student into a piece of literature is the character. A lot of times
it is that they see themselves in the character, or they get frustrated by the character, they
don’t understand the character. So I use a reader’s reaction to character as a way to get
them to start to work with ideas that are also present in the text. When we think of it that
way, in order to understand a character we do have to empathize with the character. And I
think that empathy is very akin to…holding two conflicting ideas at the same time in
your mind without judgment. When students empathize with characters, it opens them up
to the possibility of working with ideas.
Modeling. Modeling is the fifth trans-disciplinary skill investigated in this study of
accomplished teachings, and creating a representation of an idea or thing in real or theoretical
terms in order to study its nature, composition or purpose. This can include sketchs, drawing,

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diagrams or physical representations of any kind that create a tangible or representational
understanding of a concept or object. The teachers in this study discussed modeling as a useful
teaching/creative skill for helping to make learning or ideas look or feel more real to students.
As one might imagine, the sciences present opportunities to use the skill of modeling in
teaching. Mark commented on its importance in his science classroom, and discussed the
following example, in which modeling and abstracting are used to give students a real and
relatable grasp on the structure of cells, he noted,
We do quite a bit with sketches, diagrams, drawings, that sort of thing; and with models,
often, instead of having them build a physical model of say, a cell, I’ll have them make it
in terms of an analogy. For instance, the cell is like a school. The principal is like the
nucleus, the office is like the nucleus, the computer system is like the DNA and so on.
And then they’ll actually make a poster or diagram of the school as analogous to a cell.
Mark further stated that one reason modeling was so important in his classroom was that
it helped to teach science concepts that are otherwise somewhat un-relatable to students because
of size and scale. In this way, modeling is a way to make learning large-scale concepts appear
more real to students. He gave the following example of modeling objects in space,
One of the other ways I definitely use modeling is…in ideas that are difficult to
comprehend because of their scale. I think especially about modeling of the solar system.
It’s remarkable how much of nothing is out there in space. So we actually try to make a
scale model of the solar system. I have an exercise ball that we use as the sun and have
them do some math to calculate how big the planets will be based on this. So we look at
the data from the planets and the students have to calculate how big they’ll be. They
sketch out or draw or come up with a small model…and show us where they think all of

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these planets would be. We go out in the courtyard, I put the sun in the middle, and they
lay down their planets where they’re supposed to go. We tease the folks who are
stretching it way out to be 100-feet long and say “give me a break”. But we do the math,
and we see that only the first couple of planets would fit in the courtyard, and that Pluto
would be on the other side of town, on the cliffs above town and it would be smaller than
a pebble. Getting ideas like that across with modeling is absolutely invaluable.
So modeling allows highly skilled teachers like Mark to explain difficult concepts in
more tactile or real ways. His creativity in coming up with unique means to model ideas has
helped him to relate large-scale ideas to his students. He described another example of how this
occurs in his classroom,
Or with concepts of time, for instance. I’ll use a roll of toilet paper to model geologic
time where each square on the toilet paper represents 10 million years – all the major
events in evolutionary history, or the earth’s history. I have them estimate where they’re
going to go on this roll of toilet paper that we stretch across the gym. We put them evenly
along there. But then we do the math to see where did the first mammals come onto the
scene, and we find it was only a few sheets of toilet paper ago. All of human history is
only the thickness of a piece of toilet paper. Then students have this image in their mind
for the rest of the year as we talk about rates of erosion or how mountains develop…So
modeling can be really effective for teachers, especially to get across ideas like that.
As a science teacher, Julia also related the concept of modeling to give kids a real or
hands-on sense of an idea. Like Mark, she uses her creativity and resourcefulness to come up
with modeling ideas for her classroom that were simple, accessible and affordable. She described
how, with a few simple food items, she could create a basic little cell model for her students,

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One example that I love to use…We study cells, and we make cell-like models. I’ll have
baggies that have Jell-O in them that I make the night before, and I’ll pick up a big
marshmallow. I’ll say ‘What could this be?’ The nucleus. I’ll drop that into the bag, and
then I’ll say, ‘What does the nucleus do?’ We talk about it being the control center, and
I’ll have all of these different types of candies that I drop in as different cell parts: “What
could these be? They’re long and they’re extended; they’re kind of like assembly lines.”
“The endoplasmic reticulum”, the kids will say it as I put these long licorice strings
inside.
Mia also talked about how she finds ways to do simple yet effective modeling with her
students, in ways that creatively demonstrate an idea in real terms, as she offered the following
example,
I’m thinking about when we’re studying polyhedrons, making them with toothpicks and
gumdrops…we’re making little models to give a demonstration of how they work or
look. And we do stuff like that all the time. Again, the students are creating something,
they’re using their hands, they’re talking about it, and they have that accountable talk.
They’re using all different modes of thinking within modeling.
In the teaching of mathematics Adam also uses modeling, and again, this is done to give a
more real or thorough-going sense of an idea to his students. He noted that models are naturally
prevalent in mathematics, and he finds them useful in his teaching of the subject matter, stating,
When we’re solving an equation, we draw a scale underneath the equation with the
middle of the scale below it, directly underneath the equal sign. So that way it helps them
realize it’s something that they need to keep balanced. Also, the number line dance can
be a model… But then we also talk about real life representations of number lines like

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thermometers and profit and loss and debt and things like that. Or when we’re calculating
perimeter and area, I actually have them build models. We have a math project where the
students build, design their own dream house where they have to calculate square footage
and things like that. So they actually make a model. Models happen all over mathematics.
In the teaching of language arts, Carrie talked about how she used modeling to create a
graphic organizer to help relate concepts in the domain of writing to her students,
When we do writing, I draw a house. The house has a roof, and then the body of the
house is divided into three parts. The kids write the thesis or opening sentence of their
paper in the roof and then three details, three reasons, three whatever that they are going
to write about in each of the columns. And then the little details that go under them.
That’s kind of a graphic organizer. And graphic organizers could be considered models in
language arts, and we use those a lot just to help kids organize their thoughts.
Sandra reflected on the fact that modeling is valuable for moving between the abstract
and the concrete. In trying to take something conceptual and relate it in a concrete way, she is
trying to make something more “real” to students. This notion of modeling as a creativity skill
which helps make learning real or tactile, was summarized by Sandra, as she noted,
Modeling for me, it’s really closely aligned to that desire to move between the concrete
and the abstract. So sometime my models are physical, they’re drawings, they’re
sketches, they’re trying to take an idea and make it concrete for someone else to
understand…What I find is that this applies into so many different areas. Whether it’s the
classroom, whether it’s a novel I’m reading, whether it’s a piece of writing that I’m
working on…any kind of endeavor. I see those models in lots of different disciplines.

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Play. Play is the sixth trans-disciplinary skill studied among highly skilled teachers in
this research. Playing is something that we do just “for the fun of it”, and it involves the
opportunity to play or toy around with ideas or objects. Simply put, play is using knowledge,
body, mind and abilities for the pure enjoyment of using them. And when people play with
things or concepts or processes, they may open doors to new ways of thinking or learn in organic
and vibrant ways. The teachers in this study spoke to the value of play in helping to make
learning fun for students.
Mia noted the importance of play for developing a fun and creative approach to learning
in students. She framed this in the perspective of the current educational climate of high-stakes
testing, and noted that “play” helped give kids a needed mental break, stating,
With this pendulum swing towards standardized assessment, we focus so much on
curriculum, and I think our students need a chance to also have that time to give their
brains a break and play…that can lead to a lot of interesting thinking…That is creativity,
when you’re experimenting, trying new things and discovering what you come up with.
Her notion of play is quite trans-disciplinary in that it involves unstructured play that
ultimately leads to creative output. Adam also views play as a necessary part of a teaching and
learning paradigm, noting that it not only makes learning fun, but also teaching, as he said,
Play is…I think it’s actually crucial and it’s necessary. The truth is as teachers we often
have to deliver the exact same kinds of lessons. So some days when I have all my classes
doing the exact same thing, I deliver the same lesson five times. Sometimes I just have to
let things get weird or let things get fun. I do different characters to talk about how math
relates to different subjects. One special character is “the Math Comedian”, and he tells

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jokes. The truth is some of the jokes only have a little to do with math. But I call it the
Math Comedian so that it can be part of class, and they love it.
Adam further described how sometimes taking a playful approach to teaching made the
lesson more enjoyable, again not only for students but in his role as a teacher, as he put it,
Once, we had to grade 100 multiplication facts. There were 10 rows of 10. By the third
row I thought I was going to go crazy. So I just started doing every row in a different
voice. So, I’d do row three and I would pretend I was a guy from Australia, and row four
I’d pretend I was Barack Obama and...by row five, I’d pretend I was Arnold
Schwarzenegger. And then, of course I drew myself into a corner because after that I
couldn’t ever read answers again without the kids wanting different characters. But it was
just a way to…have some fun and to let the kids have fun with the subject matter.
Sometimes it’s subtle and sometimes it’s not so subtle. But I think it’s just necessary.
Jack also spoke to the value of play in making learning fun for his students. He described
how play in learning had made a tremendous difference in his students’ enjoyment of school and
learning overall, as he remarked,
I see huge value in play. I think it is one of the most essential pieces of learning. And I
have to say that again, that making those learning experiences fun is essential. When we
are learning we are playing around with ideas, but we are purposeful in that play. I was
just looking at one of the pieces one of my students wrote, saying my favorite thing about
third grade is making up songs for learning. “I had so much fun, my teacher makes
learning fun.” And my students met their learning goals that way. To me, that speaks
volumes to me about the value of play – that you can learn new and exciting things and
have a great time. I can read countless examples from students that say “I was having so

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much fun that I didn’t even realize we were learning.” If you can take the mundane out of
things and really explore through play…it is going to make a huge difference.
This notion of deep intellectual engagement with ideas through the process of play is akin
to Mishra et al.’s (2011) notion of “deep play”. Julia remarked on the fact that play is an
essential part of childhood, and that young people naturally seek out play. Incorporating this into
teaching makes the connection to learning both fun and organic.
Kids, they are at that stage – we all were at that stage once…where they want to get up
and move, so I try to make sure they get time for that, and again play is different for all
kids. I have a couple of students who love to draw and sketch, and if they get a hot
minute, that’s their idea of play. Kids who are readers, they want to have more of their
solitude. That to them is just enjoyable, to just sit and soak their brain in a book….I think
play in that regard, is just working in a little time, if possible, where the kids can just play
and let the mind relax.
Julia’s recognition of play as a natural stage of childhood creativity is similar to
Vygotsky’s (1978) notion of imaginative play as a developmental phase of childhood, which sets
the stage for the development of creativity in an individual. She describes how she upholds this
playful sensibility in the atmosphere of the classroom, stating
I have an area in my classroom the “experience station” where there are “natural world”
artifacts. If I’ve been to the seaside, I bring back crab shells, bring back sea urchins. We
have tree limbs that have lichen and different kinds of fungus growing on them. I have
little science games…and things that they can explore. It’s an exploration area. For some
kids, it’s a great place for them to let off a little steam and stay connected by moving their

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hands around in a positive way, and it’s like “wow, look at this; look at that, look how it
feels”, that kind of stuff. They have a lot of fun doing that, absolutely.
Marie noted that the freedom associated with having time to play with ideas or objects in
a learning setting is integral to generating true creativity and curiosity in learning. She
commented on the necessity of working in time for play in learning scenarios and in lesson
planning, stating,
I find that a fascinating thing to do with children when I am teaching is to just allow them
time to explore and play with ideas…Do allow for exploration and some uninterrupted,
unstructured, “let us just kind of hang out with this stuff” time; kids will say “look we can
do this, or how many different colors, or how many different patterns can we figure out,
and what if we did this or that.” Play is an interesting way to help kids learn, because then
the creative spark about understanding something in a much bigger way comes across.
Mark reflected on the fact that he finds play to be one of the essential components of
childhood, and of learning and thinking in was that are fun and creative. He lamented the fact
that the structure of modern schools tends to separate play from learning, and sees it as partly his
responsibility to share that sense of playful learning with his students, as he remarked,
This is an area I feel pretty passionately about, the loss of play from many kids’ lives. As
a teacher, I feel like it is partly my responsibility to allow kids to play and to encourage
not just kids to play, but also my colleagues to play. I guess that kind of goes along with
risk-taking to some extent, that it’s ok to just try stuff for the sake of trying stuff and to
do things just because they’re enjoyable. Oftentimes it leads to a state of mind where
creativity can happen more readily, and also it is kind of a breeding ground for ideas. And
fun. I feel like education, unfortunately throughout the years, hasn’t been all that fun.

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Kids get all excited about going to kindergarten and they’re just stoked to get there…by
the time they get to me in seventh grade, the kids are generally disillusioned with
education and it’s just not fun anymore. I think it should be. I think it has to be. Because
we’re all kids. The whole idea of using kindergarten…to bait kids in and then slam the
door behind, and stick it to them for 12 more years, I think is morally reprehensible.
While Mark highlights the notion of play in stimulating creativity and in making learning
fun for students, he stressed that play in the classroom does require some constraints or structure.
But within this structure there is freedom to try out new things and ideas, and learn in ways that
are fun and creative. He described how he sets up the conditions for play in his classroom, in
ways that uphold its dynamic nature and set the stage for creativity, as he stated,
You can’t just say, “OK, we’re going to play all day.” You give them somewhat
structured conditions to play under. For instance, we’re studying electricity. I’m not just
going to let them start shoving stuff into wall sockets. I give them basic stuff to play with
as an introductory activity. Here’s a bunch of wires and batteries and bulbs and
miscellaneous stuff. See if you can get a light bulb to light up. See if you can get it to get
brighter...Play around with this stuff and see what you can do…Or when we’re studying
erosion, I bring in these big sleds full of sand water, and we’re making streams and
gullies and all that good stuff. I encourage kids to play around and try and create different
things and see what happens when you just, play.
Synthesizing. It must be noted that synthesizing was not specifically investigated among
these interviewees, because it is a very meta-level tendency. It involves putting together the
previous skills or subject matter into a fluid synthesis of knowledge and creative ideas. There
was no specific question about synthesis in the interview guide which could have equated to the

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kinds of questions asked of the teachers about how they used observation, or modeling for
example. However this is not to say by any means that synthesis, as a cognitive skill, does not
exist in their lives or teaching practices. Rather synthesis is the totality of what these teachers do,
and who they are in the broadest senses of the word.
In reading their comments, classroom ideas and philosophies of creativity, it is hopefully
apparent to the reader that creative thinking spans disciplines, life activities and teaching
practices for these accomplished teachers. They commented on the importance of creativity in
their broad range of avocations and in their outside lives; noting the way that creative
sensibilities impact their athletic pursuits, interests in the arts and music, hobbies such as travel
or cooking, and generally all of the extracurricular pursuits of life. They noted examples that
show how connected they are to the world at large, from a standpoint of social responsibility
awareness of the wider world. This real-world knowledge is deeply instantiated in their teaching
practices. They are highly connected and dedicated to their students, in understanding their
emotional, psychological and learning-oriented needs. Finally, there is a clear commitment to
their teaching practices, shown in an emphasis on developing excitement for specific subject
matter in students, as well as an overall passion for learning.
Root Bernstein (1999) notes that, “Contrary to popular myth, we are all whole-brain
thinkers…We sense and make sense of the world in multiple, concurrent, and intersensory or
‘cross-modal’ ways...This is synthetic knowing.” (p. 306)
What was interesting in the comments and themes of these interviews was just how
connected or “cross-modal” these teachers are, in all senses of the word. They are connected to
their kids, to what they are teaching, to the wider world, and to their own selves and their artistic
pursuits. This kind of “synesthetic knowing” allows them to cross-pollinate ideas from different

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domains and areas of life, and combines into a richly creative teaching practice. Root-Bernstein
(1999) again encapsulates the significance of synthesis stating,
What applies to art and medicine applies to all people working in every area, argued
biologist, philosopher, artist, and art historian C.H. Waddinton…he wrote, “The acute
problems of the world can be solved only by whole men and women, not by people who
refuse to be, publicly, anything more than a technologist, or a pure scientist, or an artist.
In the world of today, you have got to be everything or you are going to be
nothing…With so many eminent people in different disciplines proclaiming the same
need, it is incumbent that we listen.” (p. 315)
This kind of synthesis of knowledge, skills, interests and creativity goes a way in
explaining why these accomplished teachers are highly successful and creative in the classroom,
and how this kind of knowledge is necessary to the practice of teaching and the demands of
education.
Summary. In terms of how they defined creativity, these successful teachers did use
some universal definitions of what creativity is, such as novelty and effectiveness/value.
However, they additionally defined it in context-driven and teacher-specific ways. It would seem
that creativity has some generalized elements which are applied and evaluated according to
context. This maps quite closely onto Mishra and Koehler’s (2008) rendering of creativity, in
that it is Novel, Effective, and, Whole (NEW). The “wholeness” here relates to the contextual
and teaching-focused elements of creativity in their definitions. These teachers cultivated a
“creative mindset” as a kind of open-mindedness of thinking, where creativity means being
constantly aware of and looking for different inspirations and problem solutions in the world
around them. In giving examples from their teaching practice, there were central themes that

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their creative teaching approaches clustered around. These included real-world teaching and
learning, cross-curricular connections, and taking intellectual risks. In summary, creative
teachers integrate realistic learning examples, scenarios or lessons in their teaching; they connect
different subject matters or across curriculum; and they are willing to try new things or to take
intellectual risks in their classrooms.
All of the eight National Teacher of the Year award winning teachers noted that they
engaged in a variety of creative pursuits and avocations outside of their work as a classroom
teacher. Most notably they all described ways in which their avocational practices deeply
influenced their creativity, teaching practices and thought processes. The most popular types of
hobbies or creative interests were generally categorized as relating to musical/artistic avocations,
or to physical/athletic pursuits. The teachers with interests in music or art described ways that
this incited their classroom creativity overall, and specifically helped them to bring musical or
artistic habits and knowledge from their personal life into their teaching of different subject
matter lessons. Such findings are remarkably similar to what Root-Bernstein (2003) discovered
about the link between professional creativity and accomplishment and personal life creativity
and avocations. Teachers who described having kinesthetic or athletic hobbies frequently noted
that these physical avocations had an impact on their creative thinking also. They noted cognitive
benefits such as problem solving, focus, and clarity of mind, that stimulated creative thought
processes, arising from engagement in physical activity.
Finally, a major finding of this study is that trans-disciplinary skills are valuable and
frequently used by successful and accomplished teachers. Every teacher in the study provided
examples and discussion of how trans-disciplinary skills were each used in their teaching
practice. In general, how they used each of these skills tended to revolve around a particular

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theme of teaching and learning. Observation improves awareness of classroom dynamics,
students, and learning progress. Patterning helps teachers understand trends in classroom and
school situations and events. Abstraction helps to clarify and explain complex ideas in a clearer
and more relatable form. Embodied thinking makes learning active and engaging. Modeling is
a useful tool to make learning more realistic and tangible to students. Play makes learning fun
and develops a sense of curiosity about ideas. Synthesizing is a function of who these teachers
are, and how they are connected to creative thinking in multiple facets of their lives. The transdisciplinary (or creative-cognitive skills) discussed with these accomplished teachers were seen
as being highly relevant within creative teaching practices, each in its own way.

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CHAPTER 5
Discussion
“Leaders are ‘canny outlaws’ system benders, creative and responsible rule benders. They have
to succeed…because the deck is stacked against creative, imaginative,
and entrepreneurial teachers.”
- Thomas Sergiovanni
In recent years, creative thinking skills have become a psychological trait of increasing
interest and value (Sternberg & Lubart, 1999; Lewis, 2008). Florida (2002), notes that modern
employers and workplaces seek and encourage creativity more strongly than ever. Mishra,
Koehler, and Henriksen (2011) advocate the importance of creative thinking skills in 21st century
education and as a means toward transformational learning and teaching. Despite all of this, as
well as an apparent conviction in the field of education that creativity must be nurtured in the
classroom, creative thinking in teaching is still little understood (Williams, 2002). Almost
conversely, a strong push towards a highly standardized and rigid high-stakes testing
environment has become prevalent in American education in recent years. Such standardization
and “teaching to the test” approaches are not necessarily congruent with constructive, creative
teaching approaches or with authentic and meaningful learning experiences (Guthrie 2002; Mock
et al 2006).
I sought to investigate creative interests and avocations among highly accomplished
teachers, as well as to examine creativity and trans-disciplinary thinking skills in their teaching
practices. Within the framework of trans-disciplinary thinking, specific trans-disciplinary
thinking skills were emphasized and studied among these participants. The participants were
teachers who have won, or have been finalists for, the “National Teacher of the Year” award.

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Eight accomplished, successful teachers were interviewed in-depth with regard to their creative
thinking tendencies, creative interests and avocations, and creativity in their teaching practices.
Long interviews, generally lasting anywhere from 90 minutes to just over two hours were
conducted with each of the participants. With their informed consent of participants, interviews
were audio recorded and transcribed. I analyzed the verbatim transcripts using qualitative coding
procedures, via three iterations of coding, which narrowed and organized several themes and
strands of ideas of relevance to this study (Anfara et al, 2002). These themes were analyzed in
the preceding chapter, and will be discussed along with recommendations as follows.
Interview data revealed ways in which the avocations and creative interests of successful
teachers inform their teaching and thinking. It also highlighted the importance of creativity and
trans-disciplinary thinking skills among accomplished teachers, and how this translates into
successful, creative teaching practice.
Discussion of Findings
As a psychological construct, the variable and complex nature of creativity makes it what
Spiro, Feltovich, Jacobson, & Coulson (1995) define as an “ill-structured domain”. The fact that
creativity is somewhat abstract in nature makes it vulnerable to being marginalized at the policy
level in education, particularly in a climate of standardized, high-stakes testing and teaching. Yet
the necessity of creative thought processes for success in our increasingly complex world is not
lost on many in the field, and there is a great need to understand how creative thinking impacts
effective and successful teaching. Society is progressively becoming more competitive and
interdependent, with diverse knowledge bases and multifaceted problems that demand creative
thinkers and solutions. An ever-increasing interest in creativity in the field of education, coupled

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with the knowledge gap on this topic, means that it is critical to consider and understand
examples of how creativity plays out in successful teaching paradigms.
Based on prior creativity research (Root-Bernstein, 1996; 1999; 2003) the research
questions for this study involve an examination of several different strands of creativity among
proven, successful teachers: (1) the importance and meaning of creativity in general within a
successful and effective teaching practice; (2) how the creative interests and avocations of
accomplished teachers positively influence their overall creativity and teaching; (3) how transdisciplinary thinking skills inform an effective, creative teaching practice.
Defining Creativity & What It Means. Central to the research questions of the study is
the notion of what creativity means to accomplished, successful teachers, how they define it and
how it occurs in their classroom practice. The teachers in this study incorporated some universal
definitions of what creativity is. Additionally though, they also defined it in context-driven ways
specific to teachers and classrooms. The contextual nature of their definitions is similar to
Mishra & Koehler’s (2008) concept of creativity as NEW (novel, effective and “whole”) which
denotes “wholeness” as aesthetic sensibility which is deeply bound to context. The findings of
this study showed that these successful teachers defined creativity both broadly and contextually.
In terms of how creativity plays out in their classrooms, the teachers tended to discuss creative
teaching examples that clustered around several themes: 1) Real-world or “authentic” learning;
2) Cross-curricular connections; 3) Taking intellectual/educational risks.
All of the teachers defined the standard elements of creative work as being novel and
effective. Elements of novelty or originality (i.e. creative things are new or different in some
way), as well as value or effectiveness (i.e. creative things “work well”) are generally part of a
collective understanding of what it means to be creative (Amabile, 1988, 1996; Oldham &

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Cummings, 1996; Fox, J., & Fox, R., 2000; Cropley, 2001; Zhou & George, 2001). After this,
definitions of creativity become more complex and nuanced. In asking eight different creative or
successful people to discuss the meaning of creativity, there were eight subtly different
interpretations of the concept.
Despite this, there were some common ways in which these creative teachers viewed the
construct. For instance, several of the teachers stressed the importance of creative teaching from
the student’s perspective. Novelty and originality were instantiated in statements like, “if it’s
something that the students have never seen before or if it’s something they latch onto or really
like”, or something might be defined as new if it involves tweaking an idea that exists, such as a
curriculum standard or textbook information. Value or effectiveness were also contextually
defined as practices that are not only effective in communicating or teaching an idea, but that are
relevant to students lives, or fun and exciting from a student’s viewpoint. In short, they embraced
a student-centered perspective on their teaching creativity.
Also inherent in these teachers’ definitions is the fact that creativity is a manner of
thinking that is available to everyone, not just people typically termed to be “artistic” or
“creative”. Essentially, these teachers maintained the attitude that people are not necessarily
creative or uncreative, but that it is something that can be learned and developed through
knowledge and opportunities to practice unique and different problem solutions.
Finally, one of the most pervasive and prevalent notions that the teachers had about
creativity is that it is an “ongoing mindset”. Creativity is not something that can be put into a box
or pulled out only in specific moments when creative thinking is needed. Rather it is a constant
mindset based on openness to new ideas and willingness to try new things, which is actively
cultivated by successful and accomplished teachers – both when they are teaching and when they

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are not. Several of these teachers noted that they are always ready to make mental connections to
teaching activities, even when they are engaged in doing something completely different. This
skill for transferring ideas between disparate activities is akin to trans-disciplinary thinking, in
drawing on ideas from another separate topic to apply it to teaching. Lastly, a common part of
this mindset is a willingness to put themselves in their students’ positions when considering
lesson plans and think about what would be “cool” and motivating from their perspective. This
openness even extended to sometimes being willing to ask their students for input about the
kinds of activities or approaches that might be fun or engaging.
With regard to the issue of how creativity actually plays out in the classroom practices of
exceptional teachers, there were several key themes that recurred as they provided examples and
discussed elements of their creative approaches to teaching. These included real-world teaching
and learning, cross-curricular connections, and taking intellectual risks.
Throughout the examples of creative lessons that each teacher gave, one of the frequently
threads was a tendency to create lessons with a focus on real-world learning. Although this was
instantiated in many different ways and with different subject matters, all of the teachers tried to
root their lessons in a real-world, or “authentic” basis or framework, whenever possible. They
generally that such realistic teaching examples made their subject matter more relevant, relatable,
interesting, and ultimately more meaningful for their students. This type of real-life teaching
mainly requires that teachers seek connections between the ideas that they are teaching to their
students, and activities or links with real world applications.
Another finding of this study was the tendency for this group of teachers to teach
creatively through cross-curricular connections. They all provided examples of teaching subject
matter via the medium of the arts or music, which is certainly cross-curricular in that the arts are

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blended with school subjects. But they also used a variety of cross-curricular connections for
teaching subject matter. Whether it’s the teaching of science through a design lens or with a
social-justice dynamic, or teaching mathematics using advertising activities, or the teaching of
language arts via an idea from music theory, it seems clear that successful teachers are able to
maximize and enhance their students learning through cross-curricular styles of teaching and
lesson planning.
Finally, a key finding from the creativity paradigms of successful teachers is a
willingness to take risks. This is not meant in the sense of careless or “risky” teaching, but rather
in a willingness to think outside of the box and to take intellectual or teaching risks by trying out
new ideas and approaches to lessons and classroom practices. In describing how they devised
creative and effective lessons most of the teachers noted that one of the key ingredients in a
creative teaching practice is a willingness to take risks by trying out new, different and unknown
approaches and ideas. They frequently noted that this was one of the best ways to figure out what
kinds of ideas and lessons worked well in their teaching practice. Several of the teachers stressed
that in order to be creative, it is essential to take risks, because we only discover interesting and
innovative approaches when we feel free to try new things out. They noted that it was also
beneficial for their students to see this kind of creative openness practiced by teachers, as it
helped to encourage and instill such creative behaviors in students as well.
Avocations and Creative Interests. The eight accomplished teachers in this study all
demonstrated several instances of what Csikszentmihalyi (1996) and Gardner (1999) consider to
be “little c” or everyday creativity, expressed in a variety of avocations and personal creative
hobbies and interests, which they weave into their teaching practices. One of the major findings
of this study is that people who are accomplished and recognized as successful classroom

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teachers are also highly creative individuals in a personal sense. All of them not only noted a
variety of avocations and pursuits in different creative, kinesthetic and subject matter realms, but
moreover they observed the vital importance that these activities had in impacting their creativity
overall and as a teacher.
Every accomplished teacher noted a combination of multiple avocations and interests. Six
out of the eight teachers regularly engaged in musical or artistic pursuits and avocations. Six of
the eight also pursued physical or kinesthetic hobbies ranging from running or swimming to rock
climbing or yoga. Additional activities that were remarked on included miscellaneous subject
matter interests, cooking, travel and so on. They each gave credit to their outside hobbies and
interests as being quite impactful toward their successful work as a teacher. The impact of these
creative pursuits and avocations revolved around several themes such as: (1) teachers tend to
“teach who they are” and this helps accomplished teachers bring their interests outside of the
classroom into their teaching work, (2) musical or artistic interests tend to work their way into
classroom practices and the teaching of different subject matters, and (3) kinesthetic activities are
a valuable way of both clearing and focusing the mind and stimulating new creative thought
processes.
These teachers frequently noted that outside pursuits always factor into their thinking
about their classrooms, because teachers tend to “teach who they are”. Creative passions in their
personal lives naturally become connected to ideas or subjects that they are teaching in the
classroom. They begin to see connections between their interests in anything from rap music to
cooking or travel, to school subject matters like math or language arts, and thereby find
interesting ways to teach and develop creative lessons. In short, having avocations and creative
interests spawns more creativity within a professional context.

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Another finding was that the impact of music or artistic hobbies on creative teaching was
quite important. Within this small but unique sample, having six of the eight people describe
such similar interests was noteworthy. Moreover all of the teachers with artistic or musical
interests described having teaching practices in which they used these creative skills in the
teaching of subject matter. They might have their students write songs to teach and learn a
subject matter concept, or incorporate visual or graphic design into teaching science concepts or
talking with students about the visual or aesthetic beauty in the natural world.
The notion of using music in teaching activities might seem daunting to anyone
unfamiliar with the discipline, and the same is true of art. But it is important to stress here that
the critical point is not really the medium itself, but the fact that these successful teachers found
ways to co-opt their personal interests and creativity, and use them in valuable teaching
techniques. Dewey (1916, 1934) viewed truly educative experiences as being both aesthetic and
meaningful. In this way, teachers that draw upon things that they find aesthetically pleasing, and
can use this in their lessons to craft educative experiences for their students.
Finally, the findings of this study showed that mind/body connections, in terms of
physical or kinesthetic pursuits, were very significant to these teachers. Again six of the eight
teachers noted physical or athletic interests that were frequently part of their everyday life, such
as running, kickboxing, yoga, etc. The teachers in this study observed the connection between
creative problem-solving thought processes and body movement or physical sensations. This is
deeply connected to the trans-disciplinary skill of “embodied thinking” or quite literally, thinking
with the body. Physical activities appear to be useful to these teachers in stimulating their
thinking and creativity overall. Many of the teachers also managed to work kinesthetic activity
directly into subject matter lessons, recognizing the connection between movement and thought

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processes. Therefore, as with music and art, personal avocations become interwoven with the
teaching practices of successful teachers.
Within an educational and teaching context, all of these findings lend further support to
the work of Root-Bernstein (1996; 1999; 2003) who asserted that people who are successful and
creative within a professional discipline tend to have creative interests and avocations which
enhance their thinking overall. Root-Bernstein’s (1996) findings showed that highly innovative
and accomplished scientists frequently draw inspiration or thought processes from avocational
work which contributes to professional creativity. Based on evidence from my interviews with
these eight highly accomplished teachers, there is also credence to this notion in the discipline of
education and teaching.
It has been previously suggested by some researchers that studies of “Big C” creativity
are more useful for informing our understanding of creativity overall and that this is not
necessarily true of studies of “little c” creativity (Csikszentmihalyi, 1996; Gardner, 1999).
However, this study reveals that there is much significance in the works of everyday or “little c”
creativity, and it seems that this can impact “Big C” or sublime creativity. Incorporating
avocational activities that stimulate creative processes and thinking in everyday life is a key
factor in inspiring bigger forms of professional creativity and success.
There is also research to indicate that when people do things outside their standard
routine, the left side of the brain, which rules logical, analytical thinking yields to the right brain
hemisphere, the domain of creativity (Miller, 1999). This may help to sharpen divergent
thinking, and promote a creative flow of thinking or problem solving (Csikszentmihalyi, 1996).
Essentially as the left brain gets to work in the background while the right brain actively
engages, analysis and creativity come together to find solutions to problems that might have

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initially felt unsolvable. In this way, interesting things can happen, and new ideas emerge, which
is the starting point and often the catalyst for creative thinking.
Trans-Disciplinary Skills in Teaching Practices. Trans-disciplinary thinking skills, or
creative-cognitive skills that cut across a variety of disciplines, have been studied and considered
among respected scientists and among creative minds in different domains (Root-Bernstein,
1996; 1999; 2003). The notion of trans-disciplinary thinking was a key emphasis in this study, in
determining if and how accomplished teachers use trans-disciplinary cognitive skills such as: (1)
observation; (2) patterning; (3) abstracting; (4) embodied thinking; (5) modeling; (6) play; (7)
synthesis
These trans-disciplinary thinking skills – adapted and condensed from Root-Bernstein
(1999) by Mishra, et al. (2011) – have been suggested as key thinking skills for successful,
creative people across a variety of domains in the arts and sciences. Since trans-disciplinary
thinking skills have not yet been studied among successful teachers, this study was an
opportunity to initially understand and describe whether and how they are useful in teaching. The
findings of this study are that, in the experiences of these accomplished teachers, each of the
trans-disciplinary thinking skills are important in different ways.
All of the teachers in this study described the importance of Observation, or careful
attention to and noticing of fine details, for developing an awareness of classroom dynamics,
students, and learning progress. Observation was a skill that the teachers in this study
immediately identified with as an essential component of running an effective classroom, and
developing teaching and learning activities that are on-par with what their students need. They
talked about it as both classroom management (e.g. “always having your feelers out and
understanding what’s going on in all parts of the room”) and teaching/learning theory (e.g.

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“always looking for those teachable moments”; or “observing when there’s an opening,
observing when there’s a chink in the armor of engagement or boredom”). Overall, observation
was considered to be an incredibly vital teaching skill on many levels – from classroom
management, to awareness of student learning, needs and progress, to creativity in developing
activities.
Patterning, which involves both recognizing and creating patterns, was also discussed by
all of the teachers in this study as essential for understanding trends or occurrences in classroom
and school situations. This might involve understanding at the level of their individual students,
or their class or school as a whole. Teachers noted that they needed to be able to see pedagogical
patterns, such as patterns in student behavior, patterns in work that they turn in, or in their
learning progress. Or they observed patterns in the school day, or patterns in different types of
rural or urban communities or school settings that relate to teaching context. The teachers in this
study not only observed patterns in students and classroom over time, but also acted on them
constructively. Once teachers can identify a pattern and assess what’s occurring with students
and class behavior and learning, they can create accurate and useful solutions or change the
patterns if necessary.
The skill of Abstraction, which is a combination of abstract thinking (simplifying an idea
in an accurate and representative way) and analogy (drawing comparisons between different
things to explain the fundamentals of them), was considered quite useful for the teachers in this
study. Overall, teachers noted that abstraction was helpful as a way to clarify and explain
complex ideas in a clearer or simpler form. They all noted the importance of being able to distill
a topic by identifying the essentials. How each of the teachers used abstraction varied a bit based
on subject matter, but it generally was used to teach big ideas in manageable ways. It might

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involve looking at, in very small pieces, the things that will ultimately be seeing in more
complex or whole form. It might involve teaching a complicated concept through a small story or
a single object. Or in many cases, the teachers in the study remarked on the usefulness of
analogy, drawing comparisons between a new topic and something that students already
understood and related to. In this information age where students are bombarded with data, and
where teachers are responsible for increasing amounts of curriculum, abstraction is a highly
useful skill for identifying the most important nuggets of information and the most relatable,
manageable ways of teaching it.
Embodied thinking, or quite simply “thinking with the body” includes physical
movement connected to thinking, and/or empathy. For the accomplished teachers in this study,
this was a key ingredient in making learning active and engaging. Teachers frequently noted that
at one level movement and physical activity helped to clear the mind and “shake off the
cobwebs”, and at another level physical movement with the body could be used to help students
better understand ideas in fun and engaging ways. Embodied thinking might be as simple as
having students stand up and do a few yoga poses to clear their heads. But more often, physical
movements were part of the lesson. For example, some teachers would have their students form a
human solar system in order to see the order of the planets, or create a dance to help understand
negative/positive numbers in math. Empathy also played a part in this, as teachers noted the
importance of helping their students to be able to relate to or feel what someone or something
else would (e.g. having students act out the roles of molecules or organisms in a science lesson).
The options for using embodied thinking were many and varied, the key characteristic was that
physical movement helped them to engage their students’ minds in ideas.

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The trans-disciplinary skill of Modeling, or creating physical representations of ideas and
concepts, was frequently used by the teachers in this study in order to make learning more real
and tangible to students. Many of them noted ways in which they used sketches, diagrams,
drawings, or representations of ideas and topics, to help make things that are large or abstract
seem more real and comprehensible to students. Making models of the solar system, or of
evolutionary timelines, helped teacher explain vast scales to students in ways that they could
grasp them. Even elementary teachers might use candy and toothpicks to have students build
little 3-d geometric figures in a way that better showed what a polyhedron looks like. The types
of models described by teachers in this study were not expensive or fancy, but made use of
resources at hand to represent and explain an idea. The findings of this study showed that
successful teachers found creative ways to use modeling, because it makes ideas and subjects
more “real”, tactile or relatable to their students.
The trans-disciplinary skill of Play, or playing/toying around with ideas, objects or
concepts in a relaxed manner, was commented on by all of the accomplished teachers in this
study, as being integral to how they make learning fun. Across ideas, disciplines and age groups,
the teachers found different ways to let their students play around with ideas or learning artifacts.
They saw play as necessary to developing an appreciation for ideas and curiosity in their
students. Several noted that the tight schedules and results-oriented learning structures of
American education today make it difficult to work in time for play. In any subject matter, the
teachers in this study felt that carving out time for fun or to allow their students to explore and
play with ideas was a necessary, if not always easy, part of their teaching practice.
Finally, while Synthesis was not, as noted, specifically discussed with teachers during
their interviews, it is still a highly present skills in their lives. Their comments, classroom ideas

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and philosophies of creativity reveal that creative thinking spans disciplines, life activities and
teaching practices for these accomplished teachers. Creative sensibilities impact their artistic and
kinesthetic avocations, hobbies such as travel and cooking, and generally all of the
extracurricular pursuits of life. The teachers in this study are highly connected on all levels;
connected to their kids, to teaching and subject matter, to the outside world, and to their own
selves and interests. This kind of “synthetic knowing” allows them to transfer ideas from
different domains and areas of life, and combines into powerful creative teaching
Conclusions
Based on the findings of this study, the following conclusions can be drawn. In the order
of the research questions, the first major finding of this study revealed that creative teachers
noted basic elements of novelty and effectiveness in their creativity definitions; but they
additionally defined in very contextual and teacher-specific, or “whole” ways (Mishra and
Koehler, 2008). Creativity has some generalizable elements, but these are instantiated and
evaluated according to context. In terms of how this creativity plays out in their teaching
practice, there were key themes including real-world teaching and learning, cross-curricular
connections, and taking intellectual risks..
The second major finding of the study is that accomplished teachers engage in a variety
of avocations and creative pursuits in their outside lives which creatively impacts their teaching
practices. People with interests in music and the arts noted various ways that they incorporate
this into a creative teaching practice, and teachers with kinesthetic avocations likewise used
movement and physical aspects of learning in their teaching practices. Teachers frequently noted
that “we teach who we are,” and it seems that those who engage creatively outside of teaching
are able to usefully draw on this in their teaching.

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Finally, the third major finding of this study is that trans-disciplinary skills are highly
valuable and utilized by successful and accomplished teachers. All of the teachers in the study
provided examples and discussion of how the noted trans-disciplinary skills were each used in
their teaching practice. In general, their use of these skills tended to cluster around particular
themes for each skill as previously described..
Implications for Policy and Practice
This study raises several issues about creativity in teaching and learning, which have
implications for educational policy in K-12 teaching, as well as teacher education in higher
education. The results of this study revealed some interesting and important themes of creativity
in successful teaching, but also revealed some of the difficulties of using creativity given the
current context for many teachers. The following addresses this notion of “creativity in context”,
then suggests how educational policy and teacher education might consider infusing creativity
into policy or curriculum.
Creativity in Context. Creativity is, by its very nature, multifaceted and complex. Any
creative thought or action arises out of a web of influences and existing ideas, and is highly tied
to the context that it develops in. Because creativity is such a complex topic, and teaching such
an ill-structured domain, it is clear that context will play an important role in any teacher’s
ability to exercise their creativity in teaching practices. Along these lines it must be noted that
most teachers today struggle to balance the demands of current high stakes
testing/accountability, with the ability to act flexibly, independently and creatively in their
classrooms. Despite being some of the most recognized and lauded teachers in the country, it
was interesting to note that many in this study faced this same challenge as well.

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In discussing what she considered the biggest challenges of the current state of U.S.
education Julia, a middle school science teacher, noted the feeling of discouragement brought on
by the climate of rigor and accountability/testing. As she noted,
I would say discouragement, particularly in this time and era that I’m teaching in, where
teachers are the scapegoat and whipping boy for everybody across the country. (Referring
to the movie “Waiting for Superman”)…Whenever they’re looking at Finland. “Oh. The
great Finland. Yay. Finland. They have great teachers.” They also have a monoculture of
people. They respect the profession. They also actively seek and recruit top college
students and it’s a position of honor to be a teacher. Here…there is this whole idea that
we’re overpaid and underworked….We all wear so many hats because there’s fewer of
our staff to meet the needs. It’s lot of different roles and that can be very energizing, but
it can be very grueling.
Overall, Julia remains positive and highly motivated by her work as a teacher,
commenting that she feels that the challenges of education are some of the most important ones
that society must face, noting, “I’ve tried to be a leader in meeting those challenges.” But it must
also be acknowledged that while she consistently practices engaging teaching, bringing art and
creativity into her science classroom, the challenges of doing so today are not small. Her
resourcefulness in finding grant funding for classroom resources, trips, etc, has helped her to
maintain her creative energy in teaching. But it is clear that this is at times an uphill battle. The
concern then may be that the direction of the U.S. educational system is not always geared
toward creative teachers.
Adam, a middle school math teacher had noted during our discussion of crossdisciplinary teaching, that he felt it was very important to help students make connections

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between different subject matters. Yet he also reflected on the fact that this was not something
that national standards/curriculum was always amenable to, stating,
I actually think that’s one of the weaknesses of American education, is our inability to
make connections across subject matters. We’ve moved so far away from projects to
covering the standards as quickly as possible that we’ve lost a lot of those connections.
I’d like to see American education move towards more of a truly inter-disciplinary
curriculum.
Adam furthermore commented on the challenges of more and more curriculum, but with
less time to adequately cover and explore ideas, noting that this seems to be a problematic
direction for U.S. education, stating
I think that it feels like I’m more overwhelmed now. I’m more an experienced teacher
even when I was at the beginning of my teaching here. But…I feel like the pressure is
building. It just seems to me that my classes have gotten bigger over the past five years
and the pressure to cover a lot more material has gotten greater…I’m trying to do it in
less and less time now. So, there’s this pressure to keep up which I find very
disheartening.
And while Adam, like others in this study, maintains his commitment to creative
teaching, still utilizing the creative, fun and real-life teaching practices that have made him so
successful as a teacher, educational policy makes this increasingly difficult.
Another middle school science teacher, Mark felt very strongly about the creativity in
teaching. He noted that the ability to try new and creative ideas in the classroom is a critical
component of successful teaching, and yet unfortunately many teachers don’t feel that they are
free to do this, as he stated,

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Being willing or able to try new things or risk doing something different in the classroom
is important. That’s something that I think a lot of teachers, they don’t have an
environment, a school environment or climate that’s conducive to risk-taking, for
whatever reason. It could be just that they don’t think of themselves as a creative
individual. But I think oftentimes it’s sort of that fear of “well, there’s so much pressure
right now to keep achievement high”.
At the same time though, context does not always have to play a negative role. While at
the national level, education policy can be quite restrictive to innovation and creativeness in
teaching, a supportive administrator at the local level can make all the difference. Mark
commented that he felt fortunate to have a school setting that was conducive to taking some
teaching risk and trying new approaches. The end result of this key of teaching practice is
ultimately highly positive and has been beneficial for his students:
I know I’ve been very fortunate that my administration has been very supportive and very
hands off…and my principal over the years has been very supportive in the fact that he’s
OK with me trying new things, and ultimately it leads to good results on those sorts of
objective measures of achievement. He also sees the fire in the students’ eyes, the passion
for learning, and the excitement about science. When administration sees that, wow, it’s
not just our achievement scores that are going up, but it’s also a lot of other things that
we are not necessarily measuring.
Overall, the teachers in this study manage to uphold their creative energies and succeed
with extraordinary success at great lengths in the classroom. Yet they still, in this group of the
most accomplished award-winning teachers in the country, struggle to work through or around
certain aspects of the U.S. educational system. This underscores some pitfalls of our current

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policy, which could be addressed through an infusion of creativity or trans-disciplinary thinking
into the curriculum.
Educational Policy. For the past decade, educational policy in the United States has
seen a definitive focus on standardization and accountability, as quantifiably measured through
basic standardized tests. As the pendulum of educational policy has swung in this direction, it
has also forced teaching into a more standardized or rigid position, with approaches sometimes
referred to as “teaching to the test”, “drill and kill”, or “no child left untested”. While there has
been a certain acknowledgement of the problems associated with this kind of policy, there are
continued calls for accountability in the educational air. If the federal government is seen as the
investor in education, then they are certainly the investor looking for measurable results.
The problems with some of the standardized teaching approaches and rigorously paced
content that have arisen out of such educational policy is that they often have the adverse effect
of killing curiosity, creativity and enjoyment in learning; in short, all of the things that stimulate
a desire to learn in school and throughout life (Robinson, 2003; Jones et al, 2003). Additionally,
these approaches have been found to suppress teacher creativity, and detract from opportunities
to explore subject matter and develop critical thinking skills in students (Mock, Moorman and
Lewis, 2006). Broadfoot (1996) found that modeling creativity is an important part of the art of
teaching. When teachers are deprived of the opportunity to foster creativity in their classrooms,
students cannot begin to develop a mastery of critical or creative thinking abilities (Giroux and
Schmidt, 2004).
This lack of creativity in the current educational climate is problematic, because at a
global level creative thinkers are needed and valued to solve problems and develop solutions in
modern society. In business and technology, companies like Apple or Microsoft seek to hire

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innovative people. In mathematics or the sciences, creativity is strongly correlated to
professional accomplishment (Root-Bernstein, 1996). In subject matters from writing, to design,
or to the more traditional arts or music, creativity has always been and will continue to be a
driving force in producing new and important work. So across disciplines, we see creative
thinking as important, yet the current American model of education frequently devalues it within
policy.
That is not to say that there is no place for seeking to meet or exceed standards, or for
having measures of accountability, but rather that the current high-stakes testing model or
“teacher-proof” curriculums have impeded teachers from applying creative teaching methods and
from fostering creativity in their students.
The eight award-winning teachers in this study all have been singled out at the national
level for teaching accomplishments that helped their students to achieve significant and
measurable results. However, they frequently managed to do this against the odds, or despite
educational policy, rather than being supported by it. All of the teachers in this study taught
subject matters such as math, science, language arts, or elementary classes (i.e. no explicitly
creative subject matter teachers, such as art or music teachers). Yet they all incorporated
creative teaching techniques into their practices. Many of them mentioned “sneaking” creativity
or the arts into their curriculum, or struggling to find time to do cross-curricular activities, or
allow their students time for “creative play” in the classroom.
One of the themes of this study was the willingness to take creative or intellectual risks in
successful teaching practice. Yet the “factory model” approach of high stakes testing can impede
this enthusiasm for trying new things in the classroom. As one of the teachers, Mark,
summarized this problem:

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I think that there’s a lot of fear. And when teachers are teaching in fear, they take few
risks. And ultimately I think that’s going to sink our educational system, this sort of fearbased climate that everything’s all about achievement, achievement, achievement.
It should be noted that Marks students have increasingly met and exceeded their
standards (even in a low-income and struggling rural district), due to his willingness to focus on
creative and varied approaches to teaching. Educational policy approaches geared at reducing
this climate of fear, easing the reins on high-stakes testing and nurturing creativity within
national standards and curriculum, could promote the notion of successful risk taking.
In trying to facilitate the teaching practices of new teachers and veteran teachers alike,
our educational policy might be well served to consider the classroom efforts and impressive
teaching records of skilled creative teachers, such as the participants of this study. Involving such
noted, accomplished, and creative teachers in policy making and curriculum creation would be
an excellent first step to opening the doors to creativity in education.
The kinds of creative and successful lessons that these highly recognized teachers
mentioned, frequently used artistic, design-based, or musical approaches to teaching school
subject matter; and they also implemented a variety of cross-curricular learning approaches in
their classrooms. Using these artistic and cross-curricular approaches when writing national
curriculum, as opposed to test-driven or drill-oriented approaches, would be another way to
instantiate some of their successful approaches to teaching creatively. Many of them also cited
doing lessons with a focus on real-world learning, or classroom activities with some focus or lens
on subject matter in the real world. Such “authentic” learning has long been touted in educational
research as important for meaningful and motivating learning; and the findings of this study
show that attempting to tie school curriculum to the real world (as opposed to traditional or cut-

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and-dry textbook learning) may be an interesting approach to creative teaching and learning.
Additionally, the trans-disciplinary skills emphasized in this study were found to be valuable in
the practices of successful, creative teachers. Therefore, policy makers might consider enfolding
them into curriculum and subject matter, much in the way that the teachers in the study innately
do in their classrooms.
As a potential resource for policy leaders, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills is an
organization aimed at infusing creative thinking and problem solving skills, among others, into
education for the 21st century. Their framework for teaching and learning includes innovation
skills as a key component, as stated on their website:
Learning and innovation skills are increasingly being recognized as the skills that
separate students who are prepared for increasingly complex work and life environments
in the 21st century, and those who are not. A focus on creativity, critical thinking,
communication and collaboration is essential to prepare students for the future.
(Partnership for 21st century learning, 2004, paragraph 1)
Higher Education. Teacher education programs in higher education are intended to
provide teachers with the knowledge and skills needed to educate students and prepare them for
21st century learning. Yet the role of creativity there is not always clear, and varies depending on
schools and programs. The findings of this study highlight the importance of creativity and transdisciplinary thinking skills among effective and successful teachers. Based on this, it would seem
that teacher education programs would benefit from an increased focus on creative thinking, and
creativity in teaching practices.
Helping pre-service teachers to tap into their own personal creativity is one important
way that teaching programs could prepare new teachers to think of themselves as creative

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individuals. This study shows that highly creative teachers tend to engage in a variety of creative
pursuits and avocations that positively influence their teaching practice. Teacher education
students should be encouraged to actively spend time on their own creative hobbies and interests,
and incorporate these passions into lessons and activities. This begins to build a bridge early on
in a teaching career between personal and professional creativity, and may help new teachers
more easily fold creativity into a successful teaching practice.
Including more theoretical knowledge of creativity into the teacher education curriculum
may be useful for pre-service teachers, particularly in highlighting the relationship between
creativity and student achievement or teacher effectiveness. Some researchers have suggested
specific creativity training in teacher education programs (De Souza Fleith (2000). However,
most of the teachers in this study defined creativity as an ongoing mindset and not as a subject
that they would treat separately from other aspects of their thinking or teaching practices.
Therefore, assimilating knowledge of creativity more fluidly into teacher education programs
would make sense, in light of the way that creative thinking organically occurs in practice.
Giving pre-service teachers more opportunities to engage in art/design-based or musicbased lesson planning for school subject matters is a possibility to get them thinking about
creative teaching. Cross-curricular lessons are effective and motivating practices in creative
teaching; thereby, pre-service teachers might be required to take courses in the arts or music, or
anything of interest outside of their major specialization in teaching, and integrate this crossdisciplinary knowledge into their teaching coursework. Additionally, teaching courses focusing
on the trans-disciplinary skills may be useful in relating how they valuable for creative, critical
thinkers overall, and specifically how they are useful in the profession of teaching. Overall, a

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theoretical understanding of creativity should connect to practical applications, that give teacher
education students the opportunity to consider themselves as creative teachers.
Recommendations for Future Research
This study was an exploratory and descriptive investigation of creativity and transdisciplinary skills in the thinking and teaching practices of highly accomplished and effective
teachers. Because this study provided strong and rich evidence of creativity and transdisciplinary thinking within the lives and teaching practices of successful teachers, it creates a
basis for further meaningful research in this area. Eight nationally recognized teachers were
interviewed in-depth in this study, but to examine my findings in a more thorough light, more
award winning teachers could be interviewed on the same issues. Essentially the same study
could be replicated with other accomplished teachers, winners of teaching excellence awards at
national or state levels, to determine if the same kinds of results and findings occur.
Also, a quantitative lens could be utilized for research on this topic. A quantitative
instrument like the one Root-Bernstein used on accomplished scientists could be used to measure
personal creativity among professionally creative teachers. Also, a carefully constructed survey
instrument could be used to gauge teaching creativity and trans-disciplinary thinking in teachers.
Survey data could be collected from a much larger population (perhaps all state-level teaching
award winners going back several years), allowing for a larger and more generalizable result.
Since this dissertation study was purely qualitative in nature, this type of quantitative
component could also be added to a qualitative interview process. By extending this work into a
mixed-methods study, there is an opportunity to gather quantitative findings on teaching
creativity and trans-disciplinary skills, which could then be further explained via the interview
process.

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There are numerous possibilities for research on this subject. Observational research
would be a fascinating opportunity to observe the classroom practices of excellent teachers and
understand in more detail how creativity plays out in their classrooms. If possible, comparison
studies would be valuable, between classrooms that do emphasize creative approaches like the
ones noted in this study, and classrooms that use more traditional practices or approaches
fostered by the current high-stakes testing climate. Since creativity is a complex but crucial topic
in the field of education, and trans-disciplinary thinking skills have not been studied much in
teachers, the possibilities for research avenues are limitless.
Limitations and Delimitations
Several limitations in this study may have influenced the results. The degree of openness
and honesty with which the participants in this study discussed their impressions and views on
creativity in the classrooms could have caused the data to be misconstrued. Speaking with each
participant for 90 minutes to 2 hours opens up the conversation to interesting and detailed
discussion. But the sense of openness may lead to offering more discussion of creativity in their
classrooms than what they actually experience. Conversely, my gaining some familiarity with the
participants may lead to over-interpretation by me as the researcher. I attempted to account for
these issues by using a mixture of open-ended and specific questions on creativity, to allow
freedom in honest discussion as well as the chance to address the specific research questions.
Also I engaged in extensive use of direct quoting, to give the reader a sense of the level of detail
in the actual data alongside my interpretations.
Another related limitation is that, in being asked about topics of creativity, the
participants may have felt compelled to answer questions on creative thinking skills in more
affirmative ways than what actually reflected their thinking. I attempted to control for this to

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some extent by asking for specific or detailed examples of how such skills were used in their
practice.
Also, the fact that these interviews took place via recorded phone conversations could
have affected the data. Informed consent of recording was always done, yet it is possible that the
nature of phoned or recorded discussion might affect the interview content. In addition, my
personal ideas or views on creativity could have affected the interpretation. This is always a
possibly in qualitative interpretative analysis, and I attempted to utilize qualitative research
techniques to address these limitations.
A delimitation of this study is that I confined my interviewees to a narrow sample of
specific National Teacher of the Year winners and finalists, who are not necessarily
representative of the overall population of teachers. A further delimitation is that the teachers I
interviewed from this group had responded to my request to interview them on creativity. This
also limits my sample to teachers inclined toward positive attitudes about creativity in teaching.
While this specified and small sample inhibits generalizability, statistical generalizability was not
a focus or goal of this study. My intent was to hone in on the creative practices, avocations and
thought processes of a particular group of exceptional teachers. A small and precise sample was
a function of that.
Summary
The purpose of this research was to contribute to the literature on creativity in education.
The focus was on how creativity impacts the personal and professional work of highly effective
and accomplished teachers. Research has shown that the most successful and accomplished
people in any discipline tend to have varied creative interests and avocations, which influence

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their thinking overall. This was found to be true also of the highly accomplished teachers in this
study.
Prior research in education has suggested a link between creative and effective teaching,
or asserted that they are one in the same. This research revealed that such skillful teachers
actively cultivate a constant mindset geared to creativity and are always ready to draw on ideas
from varied sources and inspirations. They implement creative approaches that utilize real-world
learning, cross-curricular connections, and are willing to take intellectual risks. Additionally, the
trans-disciplinary skills of observation, patterning, abstracting, embodied thinking, modeling,
play, and synthesizing were highly valued elements in successful teaching practices.
The teachers interviewed in this study indicated a strong focus on creativity in their
teaching practices and in their lives overall. Educational literature has previously noted that such
creative teachers are highly significant in the academic growth, learning outcomes, and overall
development and well-being of their students. As one of the teachers in this study framed it:
I think that ultimately what students will gain from your class is not necessarily just the
content knowledge or the concepts. It is how you approach it, that’s how students will
pull away those bigger, creative lessons they’ll take into the real world, which is pretty
essential in this day and age.
Creativity has become a subject of intense interest in education, yet the current state of
educational policy does not necessarily uphold its importance or give it appropriate attention in
the development of policy or curriculum initiatives. This research sought to better understand
some of the elements of the personal and teaching creativity of excellent teachers, and it offers
some implications for how this can serve the field of teaching and research going forward.

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APPENDICES

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APPENDIX A: Semi-Structured Interview Protocol

Open-ended Warm-up Questions
1. Tell me a little about where you teach. (Possible probe: Tell me about your classroom,
setting, students)
2. What inspired your motivation to teach? (Possible probe: Did you start out in teaching
or a different field?)

3. Tell me what it’s like to be a teacher today. (Possible probe: What are some of the
challenges and rewards of this profession today)

Creativity and Teaching in General
4. How do you define “creativity”? Or what does it mean to be creative? (Possible probes:
What does creativity mean in the general sense of the word? How do you define or judge
creativity in teaching practice?)
5. How do you come up with a creative idea for a lesson or a teaching practice?
6. As someone who has been noted as an accomplished teacher, what do you think makes a
teacher effective or successful in the classroom?
7. What do you think makes a lesson or a teaching practice successful for you?
8. What are some of your favorite examples of the creative lessons that you have done with
your students? (Possible probe: What kinds of lessons or teaching practices do you find
that your students have responded to very well?)
9. Are there sometimes connections between different subjects or areas of interest? Can
you talk a bit about this?
10. Do you have any outside interests or creative pursuits that you spend time on outside of
your professional life? (Possible probes: Tell me a little more about these
hobbies/avocations. What do they mean to you, or how have they enriched your life?)

11. Do your activities or creative work outside of teaching ever factor into your thinking
about your classroom or students? (Possible probes: In what ways does this tend to
happen? Are there inspirations in avocations that inspire your teaching?)

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12. In what ways do creative ideas come to you? (Possible probes: Could you tell me a little
bit about a specific creative project or activity outside of teaching? How did the idea or
inspiration come to you? Have you noticed a particular place or activity that seems to
bring about creative ideas?)

Trans-disciplinary Creativity and Thinking Skills
Preface: I have some questions about specific types of thinking skills related to creative thinking
or problem solving. I will briefly define and explain each skill before asking some questions
about it and how it relates to your thinking, teaching, or creative activities. (Sidenote: Separate
notes of definition/examples of trans-disciplinary skills summarize each skill separately before
the question).
Perceiving/Observing
13. Do you consider keen Observation or Perception, as being an important mental skill in
your teaching? Can you tell me about some examples? Are there any other ways,
outside of teaching, that you consider observation/perception to be a useful mental skill?
(Possible probe: Do some of your creative interests or activities outside of teaching
require the skill of careful observation?)
Patterning
14. Do you ever use Patterning (recognizing and creating patterns) as a mental skill in your
teaching? Can you tell me about some examples? Are there any other ways, outside of
teaching, that you see Patterning as a useful mental skill? (Possible probe: Do find that
you recognize and create patterns in some of your creative interests or activities outside
of teaching?)
Abstracting
15. Do you ever use the skill of Abstraction (concentrating on one key aspect of something)
in your teaching? Can you tell me about some examples? Are there any other ways,
outside of teaching, that you consider Abstraction to be a useful mental skill? (Possible
probe: In some of your creative interests or activities outside of teaching, do you ever
think or work with Abstraction?)
Embodied Thinking
16. Do you feel that Embodied Thinking, as a skill, has been something you have used in
your teaching? Can you tell me about some examples? Are there any other ways,
outside of teaching, that you consider Embodied Thinking to be a useful mental skill?
(Possible probe: Do you ever find that your creative thinking in general, has physical
aspects or is connected to physical senses?)
Modeling
17. Do you ever find that Modeling is a skill that you use in your teaching practice? (This
could include sketches, diagrams, drawings, structures or any formal/informal physical
structures that you use.) Can you tell me about some examples? Are there any other

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ways, outside of teaching, that you consider Modeling to be a useful mental skill?
(Possible probe: Do you ever use models of any kind in your creative projects or
interests outside of teaching?)

Play
18. Do you see any value in the idea of “Play” in your teaching practice (not just as a
playground activity, but in giving students the chance to “play around” with ideas or
concepts)? Can you tell me about some examples? Are there any other ways, outside of
teaching, that you have found the concept of Play to be useful? (Possible probe: Can
you tell me about any creative activities or interests outside of teaching where you’ve
come up with something by just “playing around” with ideas?)

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APPENDIX B: Instrumentation Cross-Reference
Table 2
Instrumentation Cross-Reference
Research Questions

Interview Protocol
Items
Questions 5-8

Question 1

Does creativity play a significant role in the teaching
practices of accomplished teachers, and if so in what
ways?

Question 1a

What does “creativity” mean to these accomplished
teachers? How do they define creativity? Is it an
important part of effective teaching practice.

Question 4

Question 1b

What are some examples or elements of “creative”
teaching in the classrooms of these successful teachers?

Question 8

Question 2

Do successful, accomplished teachers engage in
creative practices and avocations, and do these
avocations impact their thinking and teaching?

Question 2a

What kinds of interests and/or creative pursuits do
these accomplished teachers engage in?

Question 2b

Do these successful teachers feel that their avocations
and interests influence their teaching practice, and in
what ways?

Questions 11, 12

Question 3

Are trans-disciplinary thinking skills used by
accomplished, successful teachers?

Questions 13-18

Question 3a

Do these thinking skills help them to be more effective,
creative teachers? In what ways are these thinking
skills important to teaching?

Questions 13-18

Question 3b

How do these accomplished teachers use transdisciplinary thinking skills in their teaching practice
and what are some classroom examples?

Questions 13-18

Questions 10-12

Question 10

Note: Questions 1-3 on the interview protocol were “warm-up” questions, designed to start the
conversation on teaching and build discussion rapport. They do not necessarily correspond to
research questions noted above.

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APPENDIX C: Creativity Notes/Evidence from Finalist Applications

Evidence for Creative/Effective Teaching
Alex Kajitani
California 2009 Teacher of the Year
2009 National Teacher of the Year Finalist
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“My "Making Math Cool" conference workshop offers educators creative ways to make
math more accessible”
My contribution to the Hip-Hop Association of America's efforts to help teachers use
music to connect with students can be seen in their Hip-Hop Education Guidebook.
Created the "Rappin' Mathematician" CDs and workbook
o “I started rapping about all of the math concepts I was teaching, letting the wacky
humor flow (realizing that "cool" really was just being myself, as we often tell our
students). Unlike the songs on the radio, I used language that was positive, and
included messages not only about math, but about believing in oneself, making
good decisions, and the importance of school. The songs quickly became
legendary throughout the school and district, and, encouraged by my fellow
teachers, I recorded them onto an album (and the next year another) so other
teachers could use them in their classroom.”
Profiled by an educational author:
o “some of the most creative work I have ever seen a teacher do.”
o “has not dumbed-down his curriculum. Instead, he has extracted the content's
purest essence and repackaged it in chunks palatable, relevant, and motivational
for his students.”
School superintendant: “Mr. Kajitani is best known around Mission Middle School, the
school district, the city, the county, and even nationwide as The Rappin' Mathematician.
This creative teacher connects mathematics to the students' daily lives via math songs set
to hip-hop music.”

Susan Elliot
Colorado 2009 Teacher of the Year
2009 National Teacher of the Year Finalist
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“we must make cross-curricular connections, use integrated technology, and protect our
instructional time.”
“Because my students are at the center of instruction and lessons are creatively designed
to meet student needs, benchmarks are never taught the same way twice. I am always
learning something new with my students and this generates tremendous energy and
enthusiasm.”
Director of Special Education: “sincere and passionate colleague who brings an
infectious level of enthusiasm and inspiration”
From letter of recommendation: “Her creativity and energy make her absolutely one of a
kind.”
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“My lessons and class projects are purposely “loaded” to cover the essentials of a
guaranteed and viable curriculum emphasizing cross-curricular connections.”
“An essential question requires students to research, make cross-curricular connections,
think critically and synthesize information.”
My students …. “They reflected upon their skills at the end of our unit and expressed
pride in their development. In sum, my students were actively engaged in learning. They
understood the targets and their creativity demonstrated ownership for learning. They
were supported in their interdisciplinary learning, made outside applications, and were
fully aware of their skill development and demonstrated progress.”

Anthony Mullen
Connecticut 2009 Teacher of the Year
2009 National Teacher of the Year Finalist
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A teacher must project passion in the classroom because this powerful emotion sparks the
learning process in children and motivates them to remember key concepts and ideas.
Students can feel the energy, enthusiasm, and creativity radiating from a teacher.
“teaching is an avocation and not a vocation. The professional teacher must transcend
existing models of educational theory and philosophy and become an artist and a creator.
A teacher must perform his work as though it is art because teachers, like all artists,
create. Teachers are entrusted with the imperative task of creating intelligent, ethical, and
productive young adults”
“including forensics, electronics, English, carpentry and horticulture. His lessons are
innovative and stimulating.”

Cynthia Cole Rigsby
North Carolina 2009 Teacher of the Year
2009 National Teacher of the Year Finalist
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We must work to find an accountability model that nurtures teacher creativity—and
lessens the stress that educators and students experience while at the same time reshaping
our schools to meet the vision of the 21st century.
Terry Sanford Award for Creativity and Innovation in Teaching/Finalist – 2005
“creativity and risk-taking may be ideas of the past if we don't reform our accountability
programs.”
“I am so passionate about strengthening our profession that there are times I wake in the
night with an idea, and go into manic mode trying to implement it”
“she inspires something in the soul of her students which draws them out to connect with
their own stories of life. I think of no more compelling reason to write. Cindi
demonstrates those life connections so vibrantly that it opens the door to writing so wide
that others are swept in.”
“Over the past three years, our staff has had the pleasure of taking literacy training with
her. As a direct result of our first workshop with Cindi, our physical education teacher
was inspired to write down some of his own stories about his love of sports. He
connected so deeply to that process that he is writing poetry this year.”

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“she is a reading specialist whose professional task is to remediate high needs students,
her work cuts across many academic disciplines.”

Yung Bui-Kincer
Alabama 2010 Teacher of the Year
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Elementary/secondary science teacher who actively implements lesson plans designed to
be “creative” and “fun”
Provides several different examples of her science lesson plans in her online portfolio, all
of which incorporate creative or artistic elements, such as drawing, creating physical
models, writing stories about topical science ideas, or creating other artifacts related to
the science being taught.
Teacher specifically notes words such as “creative” and “artistic” skills when describing
lesson plans, and notes the importance of learning being stimulating, motivating, handson and fun.
Portfolio demonstrating some lesson plan examples, all of which are “creative”:
https://college.livetext.com/doc/135095?print=1

Megan Marie Allen
2010 National Teacher of the Year Finalist
Florida 2010 Teacher of the Year
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“I am an inventor, developing creative ways to engage every learner, helping them focus
on their education and providing an escape from the daily struggles of poverty.”
“I am a lover of books and words, one who creates a rich, literate environment full of
cozy book nooks, stories, and fantasies that inspire students to become avid readers. I am
an actor of adventures, setting sheet-sails high as we travel through 20,000 Leagues
Under the Sea, creating a tissue paper and fan "campfire" to make campfire tales come
alive, or making a living input/output machine out of a refrigerator box so my students
will be able to create their own input/output table.”
“Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote: "Insist on yourself; never imitate." I'm far from
normal—my students even call me weird! But I love to add my glitz of creativity to make
learning an active and engaging experience for my learners. As a NBCT, I reflect daily to
make sure I stay creative.”
“I love to use costumes; I've dressed as a pirate for a writing craft lesson, I've had
students work in cooperative groups to design a recycled outfit for a recycled fashion
show...I am a very cheesy song writer. My repertoire includes a parody to Beyonce's "Put
a Ring on It" written for Florida's writing assessment. My teammates and I dressed as
Beyonce to perform, "If you Elaborate, We're Going to Put a 6 on It," 6 being the highest
score one can earn. I love to engage students with song, composing songs like "A
Grabber Lead" for writing, sung to the tune of the Jackson 5's "I Want You Back."
Dancing includes the rounding dance or comma dance for math. My class's new personal
favorite is the "Drop the Decimal Like It's Hot" dance for adding and subtracting
decimals! I add my positive energy in little ways such as these to foster You Back."
Dancing includes the rounding dance or comma dance for math. My class's new personal

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favorite is the "Drop the Decimal Like It's Hot" dance for adding and subtracting
decimals!”
“Collaboration and combined creativity multiplies exponentially, and we can learn so
much from each other's experiences and ideas, I have worked on cross-grade projects
from solar cooking to probability fairs. --- …providing our students with a minds-on,
hilarious review of writer's craft. Across the county I have buddy classrooms composed
of teachers I've worked with in the past. Our students mail writing samples, writing
responses, and book recommendations to each other.”

Sarah Brown Wesseling
2010 National Teacher of the Year
Iowa 2010 State Teacher of the Year
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“My elective writing class composes multi-genre papers and creates podcasts to practice
the research process before writing a more traditional piece. My Myths and Legends class
creates a superhero for today using all the concepts we've studied throughout the course.
Using a mock Facebook page and nominating the character for "Hero of the Year," each
student gives an acceptance speech as that hero to receive his reward. My AP students go
beyond the traditional curriculum of literary analysis and constantly work to apply
literary theory in order to become literary critics. They create storyboards for a film
trailer which must convince their audience of a particular "reading" of a film they've
studied in seminar groups. They participate in the Grant Proposal Project and culminate
their year with a standards-based final portfolio and exit interview.”
“students are more engaged when they see their own passions, questions, and motivations
reflected in their work. In each of my classes, you would see learners constructing
knowledge through rigorous and relevant inquiry experiences. Students in New Start
English might be creating their utopian school by generating surveys, composing a
learner's Bill of Rights, rewriting the course descriptions, and composing a school song to
match their school's mission. Sophomores read nonfiction books in literature circles,
record their discussions and create Public Service Announcements that educate about an
issue from their reading.”
“Creating innovative learning experiences provides important context and motivation.”
“I often do guest lectures at Iowa State University in a Technology and Instruction course
for pre-service teachers. Each time, I begin and end with a challenge to the students:
"You're going to be teaching in the 21st Century, but are you going to be a 21st Century
teacher?" Most of them quickly look to their laptops, BlackBerries or Pods, certainly all
indicators of being a 21st Century teacher. I then demonstrate how their favorite
technologies can be tools towards student achievement, but should never be the
culmination of a creative, authentic learning experience… this philosophy means creating
a web of rigorous content, real-world experience, and inquiry-based experiences around
the learner.”

Michael Geisen
2008 National Teacher of the Year
Oregon 2008 Teacher of the Year

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from toty article - “Unifying teaching and learning through creativity, collegiality,
community interests as well as individual, and just a bit of what he calls “craziness”,
defines Michael Geisen’s approach to working with, in his words, “my fellow human
beings…my students.”
“In my teaching I strive to bring together creativity and science, to unite my students into
a community, and to help each person in this community connect with the big ideas of
science.”
“Some of my lessons are based on ideas that colleagues or students have shared with me,
but many of them I simply dream up while in the shower or while driving to work.
However they originate, I try to put a bit of myself, a bit of Prineville, and a good dose of
humor and creativity into each activity, project or assignment.”
“when students are interested, they start to ask real questions. And when they ask
questions, they’re on their way to becoming great scientists and learners. This enthusiasm
becomes contagious…even the non-mathematical/non-scientific kids get into it when
creativity and science fuse together.”
“developed a capstone project that gave students a chance to apply their new knowledge
about energy and electricity into an “Electric Creation” of their own making. “
“found another way to help students integrate science and creativity into a service project
that is both beautiful and educational: we have shrunk the geographic enormity of Oregon
into a 150’ long courtyard outside of the science wing. The courtyard has long been
considered the bane of aesthetics at the middle school…so the science teachers and
students decided to take matters into our own hands and create an outdoor learning
laboratory that was both beautiful and a scientifically accurate model of the native
vegetation zones from the Oregon coast to the high desert…we transformed the courtyard
into a place of beauty and pride, complete with trees, shrubs, native grasses, walkways,
benches, topography and a drip irrigation system.”
Philosophy of teaching includes unifying science, creativity and aesthetics, and to unite
students into a community that connects with the big ideas of science.

Robert Stephenson
Michigan 2010 Teacher of the Year
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“I strive every day to be authentic, caring, creative…”
“I believe that all learners require hands-on opportunities to understand the world around
them, and honor the Confucian saying, "I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do
and I understand." With that in mind, curriculum is presented with unique activities that
encourage students to experiment, manipulate, observe, hypothesize, and synthesize their
learning.”
“At any given moment students may build series and parallel circuits, videotape
commercials, dissect owl pellets, write travel brochures, design Power Point slide shows,
make colloids and polymers, study chromatography, play math games, act out plays,
explore cultural artifacts, gather Internet research and post their learning, write songs, or
read peer-authored books.”

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As one who loves to learn and teach, I would advocate for the preservation of innovation
and creativity in the classroom. One of the things that sets the United States apart from
other countries is our innovation and creativity, which is fostered by the dedicated
educators within our schools.
In the 21' century, it is imperative that we continue to honor this ideal within the
classroom in order to meet the future demands for originality in the work force.
Innovative classroom experiences foster higher student achievement. Students become
flexible, motivated, independent thinkers who are capable of reasoning and solving
unfamiliar problems.
Encouraging and promoting creativity in the classroom is what educators have
unknowingly done for years, but now is the time to reflect and honor how it is done and
pledge that we will not squeeze it out in exchange for teaching designed only to satisfy
standardized assessments. Higher order thinking skills result from engaging methods of
instruction that exploit student curiosity and offer relevant open-ended challenges.

Kelly Kovacic
California 2010 Teacher of the Year
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“I believe students learn best when they analyze historic and current events and then form
their own opinions through critical thinking. For instance, when teaching governmental
policy towards Native American tribes, I have my students examine sources (e.g.,
documents, journals, music, dances, etc.) from the perspectives of the federal
government, the settlers, and the Native Americans. I continue to bring the content back
to the issue of humanity and the importance of mutual understanding and respect.”
“Teaching history is about storytelling. It is about making the past come alive. Being a
student in my classroom …is an opportunity to enter a world of fascinating individuals,
amazing examples of strength and courage, scandalous corruption and treason, war,
peace, and everything in between. It is a chance to learn not only about the victors but
also the victims; to learn not only about success but also disaster. A student in my
classroom is provided a direct connection to our past.”
“Her close attention to detail, her innovative lesson planning, her belief in individualizing
instruction, and her sensitivity is evident in the…work her students do. One of the
projects she assigns her students at the end of the AP U.S. History class is "The Decades
Project." Students select a decade and depict it visually, or in written or oral fashion.”

Lewis Chappelear
California 2008 Teacher of the Year
‐ “The only way I can explain the profession to the “non-teachers” in my life is by using
the analogy that it is like putting on a different Broadway show everyday – a seven and
one-half hour show at that. This is not just a show to watch, but one of interactions with
the audience members who challenge, inspire, and encourage. It is a careful blend of
improvisation and scripting, constantly morphing itself to fit the moment and never
failing to surprise.”
‐ “My classroom is full of everyday stories like these that describe my philosophy of
teaching. One day is never like the rest. … When you walk into my classroom, it looks
like Santa’s toyshop in the North Pole, with groups of students working on different
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projects all over the place. There are natural wood butcher-block workstations carefully
scattered throughout the room with beautiful dark red rolling office chairs at each table.
At the front of the room is a large robot competition playing field that is rarely quiet.
There are robots, computers, electrical training centers, large printers, and mechanical
doodads in every nook and cranny.”
Teaches engineering – incorporates robotics, sound editing software in a musical context,
3-d modeling software, etc – all to connect with students geared toward more
“creativity”.

June Teisan
Michigan 2008 Teacher of the Year
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“…to encourage a sense of wonder in the world around them, to invite students to tap
into their talents and express their unique personalities in innovative ways is a source of
joy for me.”
“Effective science instruction at the middle school level has a certain flavor of “managed
chaos,” and your heart’s gotta be in it as you ‘go with the flow.’ I love the off-kilter
antics and mercurial personality quirks of my little darlings, and I think my students pick
up on that sentiment.”
“What could be to some a ho-hum microbiology unit is transformed into a food safety
investigation, complete with several labs for my concrete-operational thinkers, short
video clips for the visual learners, and in-depth sessions exploring websites like a food
safety tutorial on the web..”
Coordinating these types of experiences (students may choose from a range of options to
show their grasp of content - creating a brochure about proper hand washing or
evaluating the safety of their home kitchen) pave multiple avenues for students to make
sense of core curriculum. I make up goofy songs and sing them off-key because students
will stop what they’re doing long enough to listen to the directions I needed to clarify (to
the tune of Old MacDonald or Blue’s Clues).
“Albert Einstein could have been exhorting us today with his comment, “Imagination is
more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and
understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to
know and understand.” Educators for the new millennium face multiple challenges to
public education armed with knowledge and ready to power the imagination of students!”
“RocketMath!, funded by a grant from the local natural gas company, students will do the
work of aeronautical engineers as they test straw rockets, calculate trajectories, and
construct and launch their own solid-fuel rockets.”
“building educational experiences that foster student creativity, innovation, cooperation,
ingenuity, vision and resourcefulness . . . all traits vital for success in our global
community!”

Thomas Smiegal
North Carolina 2008 Teacher of the Year

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“I worked to develop a curriculum that would make Earth Science relevant to our
students and developed objectives that could be taught in a way that would allow
creativity and rigor.”
“My style is about making my lesson invigorating. Worksheets out of ancient filing
cabinets do not teach students. Students need opportunities to discover who they are as
thinkers and learners. They like to be challenged with real-life scenarios and develop
solutions to problems”
“My philosophy is about empowering my students by giving them the opportunity to be
leaders in the classroom, school and community. This philosophy encourages me to be
creative everyday with my lessons, whether in Teen Leadership or Earth Science. Being
creative is not just thinking outside the box. It is about thinking outside of the room that
the box is in.”
“After receiving the NASSP grant…(it) allowed me to be flexible in presenting creative
ideas to help our ninth graders reach success.”

Andrea Peterson
Washington 2007 Teacher of the Year
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‐
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“Music is an amazing opportunity for children to experience pattern development.
Melodic and rhythmic patterns are internalized actually creating connective pathways in a
student’s brain. These pathways transfer to other subjects, enabling our children to
achieve more complex patterns in math, reading and other subjects.”
“It is truly exciting to see how my music teaching can transfer back to other classrooms.”
“Because I compose many of the musicals my students perform, they see me struggle
through the creative process. I share my frustrations, creative road blocks and bursts of
creative energy with my students, inspiring them to achieve their own goals of
excellence.”
“As a music specialist, it is my responsibility to teach my students, not only music, but
reading, writing, math, social studies, science and anything else I can find a way to meld
into the music curriculum. This needs to be the attitude of every teacher, every parent and
every community.”
“Through lesson studies done in my school, I have had the opportunity to teach
symmetry, geometrical sense, inference and prediction. Some of these lessons have had
nothing to do with music, but have had everything to do with teaching in a way that’s
best for kids….State test scores in all areas have steadily increased since instituting
Lesson Study.”
“Teaching is an amazingly complex combination of science and art. Scientifically,
teachers must know how to teach to students’ individual learning styles, breaking down
the components of knowledge and skill into attainable pieces. Artistically, teachers must
be able to inspire their students to excellence, showing them a world that is bigger than
their own.”

Tamra Tiong
New Mexico 2007 Teacher of the Year

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From school principal - “At any time you could observe Ms. Tiong differentiating lessons
to match the wide range of needs of her students. She uniquely incorporated creativity
and ingenuity to match the students’ “must learns” with music, songs, drawing, sketching
and movement.”
“My philosophy of education involves recognizing, valuing, and addressing the needs of
students of various cultural, linguistic, and socio-economic backgrounds; of learning
styles, abilities and preferences; of multiple intelligences, interests, personalities, and
family types. I use much movement, music, art and compassion to achieve this.”
“They (students) need their classroom experiences to be interesting, meaningful, and
relevant so that their brains say, “Oh, I see!” instead of “So what?” They need teachers
who will take them beyond mere recall of facts, providing opportunities for critical
thinking, analyzing, synthesizing, comparing, evaluating, and applying. They need to
learn how to have conversations with texts, how to agree or disagree with an author or
character, how to acknowledge confusion and forge through it, and, ultimately, how to
determine their own truths.”
“…my goal as a teacher is to do everything I can to keep this sense of wonder alive, to
encourage all children to question and learn, explore with all their senses, to revel in both
the complex and the simple things of the world, to celebrate their uniqueness.”

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APPENDIX D: Recruitment Letter
Date
Dear __________,
I am writing to ask for your participation in an in-depth phone interview, as part of a dissertation
research study on creativity among highly skilled and accomplished teachers (i.e. Teacher of the
Year award winners). As one of relatively few teachers who have received the “Teacher of the
Year” award, you are part of a unique cadre of the most notable and most effective teachers in
the country. Your participation in this research study is an opportunity to share your extensive
teaching knowledge and skills, helping us to better understand creative teachers and improve the
profession of teaching.
The study will explore creativity among teachers such as yourself, and will examine how this
creativity contributes to your high level of success and accomplishment in the classroom. I trust
you will recognize that your prominent position as a U.S. Teacher of the Year makes your
thoughts and contributions an invaluable necessity in this research. Therefore, I hope you will be
willing to take part in a telephone interview, as a contribution to the field of education.
If you are willing to participate in an interview, please send a brief reply to me at this e-mail, and
the PhD candidate for this dissertation study, Danah Henriksen, will contact you to set up a
convenient time to do a phone interview. As a compensation for your time and contribution to
this research, you will receive a $50 gift card to amazon.com, to thank you for your thoughts and
your valuable input.
Participation in this study is, of course, voluntary and you may decline to participate at any time
without penalty. If you decide to participate and then change your mind you may withdraw at
any time without penalty. By using information from uniquely successful teachers to help us
better understand creativity and teaching practices among the effective teachers, together we can
help improve teaching as a discipline overall.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me, Punya Mishra, at punya@msu.edu or
517-353-7211 or Danah Henriksen, at henrikse@msu.edu or 517-256-2344. I look forward to
your reply on participation, and thank you sincerely in advance of your contributions.
Sincerely,
Punya Mishra
Professor of Educational Psychology & Educational Technology
College of Education
Michigan State University
517-353-7211
punya@msu.edu

187

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