A new session of each course opens each month, allowing you to enroll whenever your busy schedule permits!
How does it work? Once a session starts, two lessons will be released each week, for the six-week duration of your course. You will have access to all previously released lessons until the course ends.
Keep in mind that the interactive discussion area for each lesson automatically closes 2 weeks after each lesson is released, so you’re encouraged to complete each lesson within two weeks of its release.
The Final Exam will be released on the same day as the last lesson. Once the Final Exam has been released, you will have 2 weeks plus 10 days to complete the Final and finish any remaining lessons in your course. No further extensions can be provided beyond these 10 days.
Week One
Lesson 01 - Creative Teachers
Wednesday
Are you a creative teacher? In this lesson, you'll analyze the traits that creative teachers share and explore how you can apply these traits to your classroom. Then, you'll exercise your mind by using brainstorming to transform everyday classroom routines into creative learning opportunities!
Lesson 02 - Creative Students
Friday
Can you encourage your students to be more creative? In this lesson, you'll discover how to find your students' creative talents and recognize their hidden talents. You'll learn how to encourage creativity and help your students become creative thinkers and learners. You'll also examine how thinking relates to creativity, how to teach students about how they learn, and how to use questioning to initiate the creative process.
Week Two
Lesson 03 - Creative Classrooms
Wednesday
Does your classroom learning environment encourage creativity? In this lesson, you'll explore whether your classroom is nurturing or neglecting creativity. The lesson will provide you with the tools you need to make your classroom a creative classroom—a learning environment that inspires, encourages, and promotes creativity! You'll also explore how to create classroom rules and objectives that encourage creativity, as well as creative testing and grading.
Lesson 04 - Creative Learning Labs
Friday
Can you create a space for creative learning in your classroom? Imagine a classroom where students learn about reading, writing, plants, animals, and mathematics at the same time, with learning taking place throughout the classroom. It's time to set up creative learning labs in your classroom, and this lesson will cover everything you need to know! You'll learn how to design creative learning labs for different learning styles, create theme-based learning labs, and best yet, find grants and other resources that can help you turn your learning lab ideas into realities.
Week Three
Lesson 05 - Creative Reading
Wednesday
How do you encourage reluctant readers and motivate creative students? This lesson will go over many creative techniques you can use to transform reading reluctance into enthusiasm. You'll explore ways to liven up those everyday reading assignments and make books come to life through creative reading. The goal is for you to open your books and teach students to read, respond, remember, and relate—using creativity as your tool!
Lesson 06 - Creative Writing
Friday
What happens when students can't write? In this lesson, you'll take a look at creative ways to eliminate your students' writer's block and encourage them to write creatively. After you get your students' pencils moving, it's time to fine-tune their writing skills with some creative assignments that will challenge them, encourage them, and make them enjoy writing, even if they can't yet write their names. You'll also explore freewriting, dramatizing, imaginative writing, and writing circles.
Week Four
Lesson 07 - Creative Visual Arts
Wednesday
How do you encourage creative thought through art? Even if you don't consider yourself to be an artist, you can teach your students to create art and use creativity. In this lesson, you'll learn how the process of creating produces creative art. The lesson will talk about how to help students turn those early art creations into classroom masterpieces as you explore creative ways to introduce drawing and painting. Then, you'll turn your classroom into an art museum for displaying mixed media creations. After that, grab your easels because you'll take art into your writing, math, and history lessons, too.
Lesson 08 - Creative Performing Arts
Friday
What does it take to get a student interested in music and acting? In this lesson, you'll learn how to put students on stage—a friendly stage, a creative stage. You'll explore how to creatively teach music and drama through self-expression and how to provoke student interest in the performing arts across the curriculum. Some of the techniques that will be discussed include using self-expression in music—using mime, identifying with instruments, and even thinking musical moods. When you go into acting, you'll learn creative methods you can use to teach students to determine characters' emotions, create costumes, and create sets.
Week Five
Lesson 09 - Creative Science
Wednesday
Is science creative? Through problem solving, scientists find answers by using some very creative techniques. In this lesson, you'll find out how to turn your creative students into creative scientists. You'll start by exploring the scientific method and how to use it in all your classes. The lesson will discuss how to use scientific knowledge in your everyday routines, like classroom discipline and testing. You'll learn how to take science out of the classroom as you explore some creative labs and field trips. Grab your lab coats, microscopes, and lab notes and prepare to think creatively!
Lesson 10 - Creative Social Studies
Friday
How do you make a connection to the world from inside your classroom walls? In a world full of facts and figures, there are creative ways to make these items real. In this lesson, you'll learn creative ways to teach students to analyze, interpret, and be active participants in the subjects they're studying. You'll start by relating social studies to your students' lives by using the social studies connections in your classroom: the school's chain of command, classroom rules, and collaborative learning. You'll also use critical thinking to analyze social studies textbooks and create social studies learning labs and field trips.
Week Six
Lesson 11 - Creative Mathematics
Wednesday
Can math be fun and creative? In this lesson, you'll look at ways to make mathematical challenges fun through problem solving. You'll make math engaging, creative, and fun by organizing math field days and look at ways that you can help your students relate their everyday lives to math through math learning labs, field trips, and much more!
Lesson 12 - Creative P.E. and Health
Friday
Can you imagine a classroom of students eager to participate in physical activity? Good, because imagination is the key! In the final lesson, you'll learn how to get students moving by helping them to use their imaginations. You'll learn about creative movement, creative team games, creative cooperative games, and creative assessment. You'll also learn creative ways to keep your students healthy as they promote healthy topics and flex their creative muscles. You'll also learn how to use conflict-solving techniques that will teach students to think of creative solutions for their problems.