It’s half term for many schools in England and Wales this week; a good time to sit back with a cup of tea and read this short blog post in which we look back at participant feedback throughout the phases and recap how educators who have used the toolkits have experienced the Diary Toolkit’s creative aspect in positive ways.
From the beginning of the Reimagining the Diary (RtD) project, creativity has been central to the Diary Toolkits (DT) and the methods of diary keeping explored by the educators we have worked with. As early as phase 3, 92% of respondents saw the toolkit as creative, with half of comments referring to drawing or doodling, and others reflecting on the writing process itself as a creative experience. For some participants the variety of activities in the Diary Toolkit was itself creative, providing “(d)ifferent ways to outlet thoughts” or “different ways to engage with those feelings and express them meant I felt more creative” which in turn gave this participant “more space to be creative”. This continued into phase 4, where one participant said, “I loved the variety and differences of the different tasks.”
Creativity is intelligence having fun ~ Albert Einstein
In phase 4 the theme of enjoyment came up many times in the comments participants made:
“I enjoy being creative and these gave me a chance to be just that.”
“Things such as the affirmations and doodling were great. Also just being able to write and get it out is creative.”
“The creative tasks are my favourite and chance to let go.”
“I loved doodling and drawing affirmations”
“They fully engaged my creative side which I don’t exercise in my work life anywhere near enough, being creative in my work helps to recharge my battery.”
This has continued through to recent phases. For example, in phase 8 creative tasks were especially popular with some participants: one participant suggested “Less written tasks and more creative tasks” in customising and one participant chose activities with “Creative feel. Less formal style”
Creativity involves breaking out of expected patterns in order to look at things in a different way. ~ Edward de Bono
In previous blog posts we’ve talked about the Diary Toolkit as offering perspective, an opportunity to zoom out or to look at things from a different angle.
“I enjoyed the creative activities, there’s no pressure for an outcome and I found the reflection on negative parts of the day that might cause me to mither (moan) were easier to be objective about and move on from.”
Some participants were taken by surprise by the creative element of some of the tasks:
“I really enjoyed the freedom to draw and express myself without words. This surprised me because although I’m a doodler, I really thought I’d need words to release my thoughts and feelings.”
In phase 4 one participant said that “Using different senses and strategies meant it was a more creative process”.
Participants in phase 5 also saw the opportunity for creativity in a variety of activities which might not appear creative on the surface, such as ‘weather tracker’ and ‘positive mindset’ As well as in more obvious creative activities such as ‘free drawing’.
Creativity is a wild mind and a disciplined eye ~Dorothy Parker
Being creative did not distract participants from using the diaries in the most effective way, rather it enabled them to be selective about the activities they used. This creative aspect enabled participants in phase 6 to choose the activities they found most useful. This approach allowed diary keepers to be flexible and responsive to their days in the way they used the diaries; two participants commented that they picked the ones that suited their mood:
“Initially I tried to plan them out for a week at a time, but then realised that some suited my particular mood / day more, so then started to pick at the end of each day”;
“I tended to flick through the book and look for one that matched my mood”.
This choice may help contribute to sense of autonomy; one participant in phase 8 commented that “I was completely in charge of it”.
You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have. ~ Maya Angelou
In phase 7 all the participants saw the DT as something creative.
“It has lots of options for you to try with creative outlets for people”
“I enjoy painting and drawing but never allocate time to it so this allowed me to do that.”
This illustrates how the Toolkit gave them the opportunity to engage in activities that were meaningful to them and to give themselves permission to engage with creative tasks.
Some of the participants who found the DT creative, found that the creative process had influence on their teaching. For example, there are “Lots of ideas to use as a toolkit” and “It made me realise that maybe my students need this too so I have included more of it in note taking activities.”
Creativity requires the courage to let go of constraints ~ Erich Fromm
The variety of responses from participants about the way they approached task selection and which ones worked best for them, illustrates
the importance of the diary as a customisable process; something which is central to the Reimaging the Diary project and forms the basis of the Diary Toolkit.
The creative elements of the Diary Toolkit also have positive outcomes in the form of better communication and creative approaches to critical thinking and problem solving, so we’ll leave you with this final thought…
“Creativity and critical thinking are bound together by their mutual dependence and by their means of development. Creativity without criticality is rudderless and criticality without creativity is stagnant”
~Ellerton & Kelly 2021