Do the Unexpected to Be Creative
How absurdity can benefit learning.
There is little surprise in doing what is expected or in following traditions. We can predict the outcomes because they have been demonstrated over and over again. We can change this narrative by doing the unexpected in our classrooms. By challenging assumptions and doing the absurd, we can completely change the quality of education we offer to our students. This article will look at two examples with positive outcomes from my personal experiences.
Destroy Assumptions by Destroying Your Classroom
One thing I like to do that’s absurd and unexpected is to destroy my room before students arrive. I flip over chairs and tables and make it look like a tornado just came through. As students enter the classroom, I instruct them to take a seat anywhere and anyway they would like.
Some students will search for the most absurd way while others will play it safe and sit like they normally would. After I’ve done an introduction activity then I’ll have students rearrange the room in a suitable way. Two things are happening.
The first is that students’ assumption of what classrooms look like will be immediately challenged. They are forced to be creative in search of solutions that meets their needs. There’s no predetermined answer that leads to mindless action. If they want to participate in the class, they must use their creativity to find what is right for them.
The second is that the group is creating its own environment. This is an act of creativity. The classroom is completely unique to the room that the group has collectively designed.
Students’ assumptions of what a classroom looks like are challenged the second they walk in the door. They experience cognitive dissonance and are unsure what to do about it. This creates a problem that individuals need to solve in ways that are unique to them.
Plus, the group is creating its own environment, making it more unique to them and thus more creative. Instead of requiring students to sit in nice, pretty rows or at designated spaces, do the opposite and create a post-tornado classroom that will ignite their imagination and creativity.
What Comes from Nothing
I used to work as a special education paraprofessional at a project-based learning school. A common theme emerged when I would ask students what they were working on. Students would often reply with “nothing.”
One student I worked with who frequently said this had several diagnoses like ADHD, dyslexia, and a couple more that made life and learning challenging. He would often respond with “nothing” when I asked him what he was working on.
One day after he responded with “nothing”, I suggested he do a project on nothing. He began thinking of what that might look like and naively agreed to take on the challenge of learning about nothing. We began searching for explanations of nothing in the dictionary, online, and through discussions with others in the school.
It became clear that many of the actions required in this line of inquiry were unfamiliar to the student. He had never used a dictionary or thesaurus before. He didn’t know how to ask the right questions to discover useful insights.
One idea of how to approach the project came from his advisor, who suggested he practice writing a 5-paragraph essay. We continued to explore nothing with a clear goal in mind to incorporate it into an essay. We learned a lot about nothing in just a few days.
On that Friday I asked the student to research and write about everything he could on nothing. My goal was for him to come back with lots of information we could use for his essay. I did not get the results I was expecting.
That next Monday, Jimmy shared what he had written over the weekend, and I nearly laughed at first. His writing was so bad it seemed almost comical before I realized he was serious. As I continued reading, it became clear that the student had put serious thought into the assignment.
He discussed how he used to think he had nothing, until he realized what nothing meant. The student recognized that having a family, friends, and a quality education are far beyond nothing. He wrote about gratitude and his new insights about nothing in ways I could have never imagined. What’s more, he learned how to use a thesaurus and dictionary, research a topic, and write a 5-paragraph essay. It all started with an absurd and unexpected prompt.
Doing the unexpected can be scary, but it’s worth the payoff. It means giving up control over the outcomes and believing in the process. Classrooms are great places to defy expectations and there can be surprising benefits from deviating from the norm.
Try destroying your room and having students use their creativity to put it back together as they choose. Offer absurd and seemingly counterproductive ideas for students to pursue. Let go of what you know and what you can control and believe in the power of the unexpected.
