HOW TO BE CREATIVE

By: Jonah Lehrer

Published: The Wall Street Journal; March 12, 2012; The Saturday Essay; http://online.wsj.com

Level of difficulty: ***

BEFORE YOU READ

1.       Do you think creativity is inborn or not? Explain.

2.       Would you describe yourself as creative? Why or why not?

3.       Do you know any creative people? In what way are they creative?

4.       Read the title of the text. How do you think one can learn to be creative?

WHILE YOU READ

Below you will see a list of subtitles. As you read the text and answer the questions, decide where you would place them. The subtitles are in order.

Moments of insight, The source of creativity, Relaxation has its uses, Hard work does too, How to decide, Diversify, Increasing creativity and Conclusion.

QUESTIONS

1.       What view that is contrary to popular belief is expressed in the introduction of the text?

2.       What finding has changed the way we view creativity? You will need to tweak the text.

3.       We can enhance creative powers through ……………………………………………………………………

4.       Read the story of Arthur Fry. We owe the invention of post-it to the fact that he discovered he needed ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

5.       Why do scientists give people “insight puzzles”?

6.       What ability enables the superior anterior temporal gyrus to help solve insight puzzles?

7.       The reason why creativity increased while watching a humorous video and while drunk was the fact that in both cases the subjects ………………………………………………………………………………..

8.       The reason for the above state of affairs is the fact that …………………………………………………………

9.       Do the cases of Archimedes, Richard Feynman and Google support or refute the above explanation?

10.   What does the phrase “This relentless form of creativity” in paragraph 21 refer to? Be as brief as possible.

11.   Read the story of Mr. Glaser to the end. What enabled him to think up the final design?

12.   What makes it possible for us to know when to keep at a problem and when to let it rest for a while?

13.   Read the stories of Steve Jobs, The Wright Brothers, Gutenberg, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. What conclusion can we draw about creativity from their examples?

14.   Read the stories of Steve Jobs, Martin Ruef, Google and 3M. The solutions that emerged in all these instances were the results of a process called ………………………………………………………………

15.   What does “This Principle” in paragraph 35 refer to?

16.   Read the story of InnoCentive. The success of the venture is down to …………………………………….

17.   What conclusion can we draw about creativity from the above example?

18.   Read the story of Mr. Adolphe and Mr. Ma. What is the take home point from this story?

WRITING TASK

Use the outline and the thesis statement below to describe how one can become more creative. Refer back to the text whenever you need to but no copying mind.

Introduction

Introduce creativity, not in born, can be learnt, brain involvement.

Thesis Statement: There are various factors that facilitate creativity

Development One

Topic Sentence: A person’s state of mind can go a long way towards paving the way to creativity.

Discuss: relaxation, striving for the state of the beginner.

Development Two

Topic Sentence: A person’s approach to a problem is also closely linked to creativity

Discuss: invoking the rejection process, increasing the volume and diversity of the information to which you are exposed, know when to stand back.

Conclusion

You are on your own. Your teacher will tell you if you get it right. No repetition mind.

HOW TO BE CREATIVE KEY AND TEACHER’S NOTES

This brilliant entertaining text should provoke plenty of discussion and lead comfortably to the writing task. The subtitle activity is a little more challenging and will test comprehension. Have fun.

KEY TO SUBTITLES

Moments of insight: before paragraph 3, The source of creativity: before 12, Relaxation has its uses: before 13, Hard work does too: before 19, How to decide: before 25, Diversity: before 28, Increasing creativity: before 31 and Conclusion: before 42.

KEY TO QUESTIONS

1.       Creativity is a skill ( Shortest)

2.       Imagination is not a single thing separate from other kinds of cognition. Or the next sentence.

3.       Cross pollination with fields outside our areas of expertise.

4.       A reusable bookmark

5.       To study how moments of insight occur.

6.       Its ability to draw together distantly related information.

7.       Were not paying attention.

8.       It isn’t until we are soothed in the shower or distracted by the stand -up comic that we are able to turn the spotlight of attention inward…

9.       Support.

10.   The rejection process

11.   The fact that he refuses to stop thinking about it. OR Because something about the first attempt did not feel right.

12.   The human mind’s natural ability to assess the kind of creativity we need.

13.   If you are trying to be more creative, the most important thing you can do is increase the volume and diversity of the information to which you are exposed.

14.   Mental restructuring.

15.   Not just bringing new ideas back to your field but actually trying to solve problems in other fields.

16.   Outsider thinking

17.   It is the ability to attack problems as a beginner, to let go of all preconceptions and fear of failure; that’s the key to creativity.

18.   If you really want to play well, you need to play with the abandon of a child because a child is playing for pleasure.