I had an excellent school visit last week, at Phillips Brooks School in Menlo Park, CA. During the hour, I chatted with the fourth and fifth graders about creativity, what being blocked feels like, and how they move through those blocks.
My favorite part of the visit was when we discussed four typical creativity personalities. We talked about the architect, who plans everything ahead of time; the gamester, who likes to play with ideas and brainstorm and always look at things through new angles; the hiker, who travels through a project as though they are on a hike, step by step by step; and the dreamer, who follows a creative fancy wherever it leads. We talked about the typical ways these personalities plan, draft, and also the ways each type typically finds themselves stuck. The students were so articulate and had such great insight about what might happen to each type of person. We also discussed how knowing our own creative persona might help us when we do find ourselves blocked.
I shared my own process with the students, using the Sadie books as my example, and then let them discuss their own process. At the end of the session, the entire group was brimming with enthusiastic ideas and thoughts about how to unblock themselves in current and future projects. So much fun! I’m vowing to do more school visits because I feel as though I gain even more creative energy than I give away. Want to help me visit your school? Even if you’re out of the Bay Area, contact me via this page and let me know. We might just be able to work out an unexpected solution!
