Redefine Education - Tammy Pannall

Cultivating Creativity in the Classroom: A Framework for Fostering Divergent Thinking

Tammy Pannall

By engaging in this experiential, step-by-step workshop, educators will gain new perspectives on teaching creativity.

Facilitated by Tammy Pannall, the workshop will simulate the creative process as implemented in classroom settings. The workshop will include:

1. Establishing a psychologically safe space that encourages risk-taking and values original thought.

2. Selecting relevant tasks, stimuli, or themes.

3. Identifying and setting aside cognitive biases and habitual thought patterns.

4. Engaging in mental decluttering to enhance focus and idea generation.

5. Designing assessment tools (e.g., task sheets and rubrics) that effectively measure creativity.

6. Using brainstorming techniques, including random prompts and stimuli, to catalyse ideation.

7. Evaluating and prioritizing innovative ideas.

8. Reflecting on the influence of prior knowledge and research on the creative process.

Participants will engage in peer discussions to share insights and refine their understanding. A post-workshop questionnaire will assess the perceived effectiveness of the framework, with a focus on its capacity to generate original ideas.

*Please bring your laptop or tablet along to this session.

Children learn most effectively through active engagement and experiential learning. Creativity, in particular, emerges when students are encouraged to explore, experiment, and construct meaning through doing. My professional focus lies in fostering creative and divergent thinking among teenagers. Over the past two decades, I have taught High School Design and Visual Arts at institutions including Uplands College, Crawford International Sandton, and Redhill School. This experience underpins the workshop I am presenting: Cultivating Creativity in the Classroom: A Framework for Fostering Divergent Thinking.

My academic background, comprising a BEd Honours in Education Management, a Postgraduate Diploma in Education, a BA in Business Communication, and a Graduate Diploma in Brand Advertising, combined with leadership roles such as Head of School, Deputy Principal and HOD: Arts has shaped my pedagogical approach. Implementing theme-based, learner-centred curricula has shown me that when students engage in intrinsically meaningful tasks, they become motivated, autonomous, and capable of directing their own learning.