The Creativity Workshop (founded in 1993) is dedicated to helping educators develop and nurture their creativity and that of their students. The Creativity Workshop has developed a unique series of simple and effective exercises aimed at keeping the creative juices flowing both in the classroom and personally. The Creativity Workshop is a professional development opportunity that includes learning, travel, available credits, and association with peers from all over the world.
Detailed Information on the Creativity Workshop
Financial Help
Credit Availability
How to Apply
The Creativity Workshop has helped thousands of educators and their students:
- Develop creativity and innovation in mathematics, the arts, creative writing, languages, humanities and science.
- Get over writers' block and combat fears that stifle self expression and new ideas.
- Employ the creative process to develop leadership and teamwork skills and peer respect in the classroom.
- Engage and focus each person's innate curiosity and imagination to foster a life long love of learning.
But don't take our word for it. Here is what educators say about the Creativity Workshop Experience:
"We brought back a flood of new ideas for introducing new lesson plans and formulas for tapping into our students' creativity and expanding their knowledge and ability to learn on a much more creative basis!"
"I cannot tell you how inspiring your workshop was! I continue to draw inspiration from those few days!"
"The experience that I had in New York at the Creativity Workshop was not only rewarding, but it was life changing. I went with the idea that I was going to learn ways that I can ignite my student's imagination and lessons that I can apply in my classroom, but instead I came back with an experience that would change the way I teach and the way I perceive each one of my students and their unique creativity."
To see what other educators have to say about the Creativity Workshop, please go to our Educators Testimonials page
Detailed Information on the Creativity Workshop
Financial Help
Credit Availability
How to Apply
Detailed Information on the Creativity Workshop
Some of this information may be helpful if you are applying for funding.
Description
The Creativity Workshop has been taught to educators and students all
over the world, from preschool instructors to university professors,
graduate and undergraduate students, in public and private school systems.
Participant teachers have come from the US, Canada, Italy, France,
Britain, Paraguay, Mexico, Poland, the Czech Republic , Hungary, Greece,
Ghana, India, Singapore, Turkey and Australia, among other countries.
They have been specialists in literature, performing arts, visual art,
filmmaking, creative writing, as well as math, business, science, psychology
and computer technology to name but a few. The Creativity Workshop
offers tools and techniques that teachers can implement to help students
develop their creative, collaborative, artistic, and writing skills,
as well as 'out-of-the-box thinking, self confidence, leadership, and
respect for their peers. To this end, the workshop concentrates its
experiential exercises in the following areas:
1. Getting Over Fear of Creativity
And writers block and gaining self-confidence
in one's ideas. Our techniques in free-form (automatic) writing and storytelling
help students get over 'blocks' which make them afraid to express themselves,
say the wrong things, paint a bad picture, take a stupid photograph,
write a foggy paragraph, or sing off-key. The workshop works against
self censorship in the early stages of creation so that critical analytical
skills will come into play later when they can be more effective. To
this end, we use techniques of free form drawing and writing, as well
as visualization and relaxation exercises.
2. Team Work
We believe that by sharing work in intimate groups, students (at times
without their teacher) can learn to develop and feel secure in their
academic endeavors. Such work also helps individuals learn self-confidence
and respectful listening towards others. The Creativity Workshop involves
several modules in which collaborations, ranging from 2 person teams
to a whole class are explored.
3. Map Making
Every creative and analytical project has a process or 'way'. To this
end, the Creativity Workshop teaches teachers how to make journey maps
or scrolls with their students of the process and progress of their
work. The maps, which are a visual and written representation of the
on-going work in the classroom, help students see where they are in
their projects and where they can go with them.
4. Free Form Writing And Automatic Drawing
Teachers learn how to use these 'writing from the right side of the brain'
techniques with their students in order to help them find their innate
ideas and develop them. The workshop also teaches imaginative editing
techniques through our 'writing a jungle' and making an editing trail
through the jungle of words'.
5. Storytelling
Storytelling, be it visual or literary, is vital to how we perceive and
share our perceptions of the world. We do several exercises with telling
and performing stories with found objects and also by interviewing
each other and then 'becoming' the other person. These exercises also
teach listening skills, which greatly enhance our abilities to express
ourselves and learn from our peers.
6. Changing Perceptions
How we see is important to what we see. We teach a variety of techniques
aimed at altering perceptions physically (through cameras, cut out
shapes, kaleidoscopes, telescopes, microscopes) and emotionally (through
fairy tales, memoir writing or inter-generational interviews), which
assist students in broadening their sense of the world they live in.
7. Using Your Environment
We teach participants how to use their natural surroundings to generate
ideas. Exercises to be done in local cafes, libraries, cafeterias,
woods and mountains show that inspiration can come from the most usual
and surprising of places.
8. Time
In our busy, multi-tasking world we seldom feel we have enough time to
create. We teach participants how to "stretch time" and use 15-minute
blocks to do satisfying creative work on an on-going basis.
9. Self-Nurturing
Teachers spend so much of their time encouraging and supporting their
students. At times, teachers forget to nurture themselves! The Creativity
Workshop teaches the importance of self-nurturing and curiosity and
not always knowing the "right" answer.
10. Professional Development
Many schools pay for their educators to come to the workshop as part
of their professional development. Costs for the workshop and related
travel charges may be tax deductible if the course is educational to
your profession. In addition, if you are completing an advanced degree,
you may be able to take the Creativity Workshop as an Independent Study
course. In this way, your university can give you credit for it or
if you qualify you can receive 3 credits from the University of Iowa.
The Creativity Workshop was taught as a regular course at the University
of Iowa for many years, offering 3 credits and open to graduate and undergraduate
students through the International Writing Program. The workshop is 36
contact hours.
"I was learning and actively participating in exciting creativity projects during the day, and experiencing the culture of another country in the evening. I met and collaborated with wonderful people from all over the world who share my ideals and love of incorporating the arts into the classroom, and was able to begin to find my own creative voice as an educator and a writer. I would like to mirror the climate of the learning environment that I experienced in the Creativity Workshop in Crete by creating a safe, positive, and respectful classroom to ensure that my students can share their verbal and written ideas freely and take risks, without fear of failure or ridicule."
The greatest gift I received from the Workshop was to learn in a different way. We took time to focus, take risks, and experiment with different media. I now use many of the Workshop ideas and exercises in the classroom."
Detailed Information on the Creativity Workshop
Financial Help
Credit Availability
How to Apply
Financial Help
Many educators taking the workshop receive help from The Fund for Teachers to attend our summer workshops in Europe. Recipients receive up to $5,000 each. Small groups of teachers who want to collaborate often apply to the Fund for Teachers together.
Also, there maybe financial help from your school district or university.
Contact your Professional Development office.
College Credit Availability for our Workshops in Europe
Through an agreement with The University of Iowa, participants taking overseas Creativity Workshops can apply as non-degree seeking students and receive University of Iowa academic credit at the undergraduate or graduate level. The Creativity Workshop course is set up as elective resident credit.
The graduate/undergraduate distinction is based upon the status of the participant at his/her school and the preference of credit hours. Graduate students will be admitted as "G9" non-degree (graduate) students and will receive 1 credit hour for the workshop and up to 2 additional credit hours for successful completion of independent projects. (Please see the "Academic Program" page for more information on the optional projects.)
Undergraduate students will be admitted as "A9" non-degree (undergraduate) students and will receive 2 credit hours for the workshop and an additional credit hour if they choose to complete one of the two independent projects. It is then up to the individual to have the course approved for requirements at their home institution.
Detailed Information on the Creativity Workshop
Financial Help
Credit Availability
How to Apply
How to Apply
Application Fees for UI Credit
A one-time registration fee of $391 for 1 graduate credit + $41 per
optional project (for a total of 2 or 3 s.h.) or $432 for 2 undergraduate
credits + $41 for one optional project (for a total of 3 s.h.) is due
at the time of application. Participants must register with the University
of Iowa prior to taking the course. The University of Iowa must receive
all application materials and transcripts at least two weeks prior to
the start of the program. If a student's materials (including official
transcripts) do not arrive two weeks prior to the start of the program,
they will be subject to a $100 late registration fee.
College
Credit Availability for our Workshop in New York
Through an agreement with The University of Arizona participants
taking the Creativity Workshop in New York can
obtain graduate or undergraduate credit hours. Contact us for details.
Continuing
Education - Teacher Development Credits Availability
Many of the teachers taking the workshop obtain credits to be applied
to their Continuing Education or Teacher Development requirements In many
cases, your school will pay all or part of your workshop costs. Contact
your Professional Development office to see if you qualify.
Completing
an Advanced Degree
If you are teaching and completing an advanced degree, you should talk
to your advisor and to your Study Abroad office or ask one of your professors
if you can use the Creativity Workshop for an Independent Study course.
In this way, your university can give you credit for it.
The Creativity Workshop was taught as a regular course at the University
of Iowa for many years, offering 3 credits and open to graduate and undergraduate
students through the International Writing Program. The workshop is 39
contact hours.
Continuing Education Units available
Contact us for details.
Detailed Information on the Creativity Workshop
Financial Help
Credit Availability
How to Apply
What educators and students say about the workshop:
"I only wish that more people could experience what you have to offer. You gave me a feeling a freedom that I NEVER felt before. Shelley and Alejandro have a great gift to share with others. They give of themselves in a way that is incredibly beautiful. Thank you for touching my soul, for helping me soar!"
"I cannot tell you how inspiring your workshop was! I continue to draw inspiration from those few days!"
"I wrote my first published memoir because of this class. The instructors are magicians! They gently pushed us into discovering our unique creativity."
"Thank you for the great, great inspiration and fun of the Creativity Workshop. It helped me get a whole screenplay done. It was great for me and my film directing students. I don't think I've ever seen them so happy."
"The Creativity Workshop transformed my art and teaching. It is a gift that I treasure and at every opportunity and share with my students. It gave me new ways of "seeing" and interacting with my images."
One of the qualities of a meaningful experience is that it grows in depth and positive regard as time goes on. That is how I feel about the Creativity Workshop."
There was a diverse bunch of interesting people all bent on developing a side of themselves that is all too often ignored. I left the Workshop with a lot of great ideas to motivate my students to write more and better, a sketchbook full of essays for myself, and many sweet and fun memories. I give this course an A."
I produced as much poetry in the 5 day Crete Workshop as I did in a month in a conventional poetry workshop. The emphasis on 'In process' work really helped me. I also enjoyed the company of my husband in this workshop; he isn't a poet and wouldn't attend a poetry workshop. The multi-genre approach of the Creativity Workshop has many benefits to this end."
The Creativity Workshop is one of the best ways to discover a new city. Exploring our creative spirits each evening opened my visual and kinesthetic senses for the following day. The participants were wonderful. They warmly shared their personal lives through the creative writing and drawing exercises."
I am using the Workshop exercises in teaching hard-core science classes. The Creativity Workshop remains etched in my mind as one of the most rejuvenating, nurturing, enlightening, relaxing, growth-inducing experiences of my life."
I taught a creative writing class yesterday afternoon and felt a new confidence after the summer's Creativity Workshop. My students seem more excited about their work using your exercises. I feel that in several months' time I shall still be doing and saying things that echo what we covered in your wonderful workshop."
The greatest gift I received from the Workshop was to learn in a different way. We took time to focus, take risks, and experiment with different media. I now use many of the Workshop ideas and exercises in the classroom."
I wrote the first chapter of a first novel, and opened a new door in my creative life. The Creativity Workshop in Florence was an unforgettable experience! I'm still in touch with friends I made there."
If it wasn't for this class I fear I never would have finished my master's thesis. I was blocked until I took the Workshop. The class breaks down all your fears about thinking and writing. "
More testimonials about Creativity Workshop
List of educational institutions where the Creativity Workshop was taught
Creativity Articles about the Creativity Workshop
