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European Journal of Education Studies ISSN: 2501 - 1111 ISSN-L: 2501 - 1111 Available on-line at: www.oapub.org/edu Volume 3 │ Issue 4 │ 2017 doi: 10.5281/zenodo.805151 BEING CREATIVE: THE CHALLENGE OF CHANGE IN THE CLASSROOM by CHAZ PUGLIESE BOOK REVIEW Ozlem Yagcioglui Full-time instructor, Dokuz Eylul University, Modern Languages Department, Izmir, Turkey In this paper, I would like to summarize the book, entitled Being Creative: The Challenge of Change in the Classroom. It was written by Chaz Pugliese. It was published by Delta Publishing in England. It has 96 pages and it was first published in 2010. The International Standard Book Number of this book is 978-1-905085-33-0. It was edited by Mike Burghall and designed by Christine Cox. It was printed in England by Halstan & Co.. The first page of this book starts with the Acknowledgement written by the author. On the second page, there is a short article written by the author of this book. As Pugliese (2010:p.3) states; I have always thought of creativity as a journey, and of the creative individual as an explorer. The great film director Federico Fellini used to say that you always need an excuse to be creative. My own excuse to set off on a creativity journey is, quite simply, that I owe it to my students and, ultimately, to myself. Because I love teaching, finding a creative voice is the only way I know to avoid getting stuck in a rut. This book has three parts. Two quotes have been shared before the first part of this book. The following are the two quotes which have been shared by the author of this book: Creativity is necessary for our survival as a species. Our health, happiness and futures depend on our individual and collective creativeness. J. P. Guilford Copyright © The Author(s). All Rights Reserved. © 2015 – 2017 Open Access Publishing Group 22 Ozlem Yagcioglu BEING CREATIVE: THE CHALLENGE OF CHANGE IN THE CLASSROOM by CHAZ PUGLIESE BOOK REVIEW Without creativity, it would be difficult indeed to distinguish humans from apes. M. Csikszentmlhalyi The name of the first part of the book is Part A. In this part, Pugliese (2010:p.7) states that; ‚ book is like a house, with several different rooms or areas. The area you are now entering is an imaginary study corner: you may learn something in a general way about creativity and in a more particular way how you can use creativity in your teaching. I will refer to major creativity researchers findings and will try to supply answers to these important questions: - What is creativity? - Can we all be creative? - Why is creativity important in teaching? - What are some key strategies to teach more creatively? First though, I think it would be a good idea to take a look at what has happened in the field throughout the centuries. In a sense, the history of the research is fairly straightforward and could be summarized in four neat stages: - In the earliest times until the Renaissance, the predominant belief was that all the innovations were inspired by gods. - During the Renaissance, this view gave way to the idea that creativity is genetic. - At the beginning of the 19th century, the debate was nurture versus nature. - In recent times, there has been growing acceptance of so-called biopsychological theories of creativity: that is; the belief that certain acts are generated by a complex interaction of biological; psychological and social factors. The titles of the topics in the first part of the book are as follows: 1. Being Creative. 2. The Concept of Creativity. 3. The genesis of Genius. 4. The Genesis of Research. 5. The Twentieth Century. 6. The Contradictions of Creativity. 7. The Challenge of Creativity. 8. Creativity and Teaching. 9. Creativity and Teachers. 10. Creativity and the Classroom. 11. Creativity and Change. 12. Creative Strategies. 13. Development Strategies. 14. Creative Teaching. 15. Creative Training. In this part, it has been mentioned by Pugliese (2010: p.13) that; European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 4 │ 2017 23 Ozlem Yagcioglu BEING CREATIVE: THE CHALLENGE OF CHANGE IN THE CLASSROOM by CHAZ PUGLIESE BOOK REVIEW Creativity is highly valued by students and teachers alike. In a recent survey carried out in the UK, for example, high-school students ranked creativity second among the top qualities or behaviours of effective teachers. This is hardly surprising, as every teacher knows that the students want to be surprised, want to understand content, want to engage in meaningful tasks. In brief, they want to be taught by teachers who are original and innovative. When we think of motivation and enthusiasm in education, our concern is usually the students motivation and enthusiasm, as hundreds of studies attest. However, the teacher s enthusiasm and motivation are ever more critical, in my opinion. The degree of involvement and enthusiasm that the teacher communicates to the students helps to engage them in the learning process, which often leads to better academic performance. This, in turn, will enhance the students motivation and, ipso facto, the teacher s. The second part of the book is Part B. The title of the first topic in Part B is Being Creative. As Pugliese (2010:p. 21) illustrates that; The aim of Part ‛ is to illustrate how the strategies we outlined can be implemented in the classroom. You will remember what they are: simplicity, combining, playfulness and taking risks. It will be clear from the activities which follow that none of these strategies work in isolation but, rather, they operate in synergy-there is actually considerable overlapping. They are, however, identifiable: infusing not only the procedures but also the outcomes. There are three chapters. Chapter One comprises activities addressing the environment you work in. Chapter Two shows ways of being creative using external resources such as music: pictures and texts. Chapter Three focuses on activities that centre on the students as your primary resource. But, again, three chapters work in a non-exclusive way. After this topic, Chapter One starts. It starts on the 22nd page of the book. The activities on group processes in this chapter are as follows: (Pugliese, 2010: p.22) - Creating rapport - Creating energy - Team building - Getting ready for English - Warmers and coolers - Changing pace and direction - Finishing off European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 4 │ 2017 24 Ozlem Yagcioglu BEING CREATIVE: THE CHALLENGE OF CHANGE IN THE CLASSROOM by CHAZ PUGLIESE BOOK REVIEW In this chapter, many different warm-up and ice-breaking activities have been suggested. The following activity is suggested by (Pugliese, 2010: 27): The best 15 minutes Starting a lesson with the students in a positive frame of mind Be prepared There s no preparation as such activity. However, you might want to think of the best 15 minutes of your day to tell the students. Be creative Ask the students to close their eyes and think about the best 15 minutes of their day so far. Invite them to take some time to think about: - who they were with - what time of day it was - the smells - the sounds - the voices around them Ask them if they can put their finger on what exactly was so special about these 15 minutes. For example: Did something unique happen? Now ask them to think about the following: What would have made the experience even better? When the students are ready, invite them to share their experiences with a partner. Finally, ask them to change partners and compare their thoughts. Comment The same activity can be done more than once, using different adjectives. For example: - most productive - funniest - most relaxing - happiest - most tiring Chapter Two starts on the 35th page of the book. In this chapter Pugliese (2010: p.35) states that; Here, there are activities that focus on external resources: European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 4 │ 2017 25 Ozlem Yagcioglu BEING CREATIVE: THE CHALLENGE OF CHANGE IN THE CLASSROOM by CHAZ PUGLIESE BOOK REVIEW - Music and songs - Art and pictures - Texts (poetry, stories, letters, lyrics….. For some activities, you will need a number of musical recordings, while others require a collection of pictures of works of art. This may seem a lot to ask, but the investment is more than worthwhile, I use The ‚rt ‛ox (Phaidon) - a set of a hundred postcards of very tough, good quality. You can also now get copies of many famous paintings free from the internet. One particularly good site is the Web Gallery of ‚rt www.wga.hu), a collection of images of European art from the 11th to the 19th centuries. Alternatively, a web search using the key words images for education will suggest several databases of free images to download and print. Texts are obviously less problematic-and the students coursebook is your text provider par excellence. Chapter Three starts on the 59th page. It has been mentioned by Pugliese (2010: p.59) that; This final and extensive chapter uses the students themselves as your main resource : - The students own creativity - Their feelings - Their humour - Their thinking skills - Their physical involvement - Their reflections on the lessons The third part of this book is Part C and it starts on the 83rd page. In this part, Pugliese (2010: p. 83) denotes that; ‛eing creative has so far attempted to demystify the concept of creativity and has examined and practised some of the strategies that would help us to understand, explore and challenge our creative potential. In Part A, I highlighted some strategies and frames that researches agree can unlock our imagination. In Part B, I have tried to show how four of these strategies have worked for me in the classroom and how I hope they can work for you. However, I am fully aware European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 4 │ 2017 26 Ozlem Yagcioglu BEING CREATIVE: THE CHALLENGE OF CHANGE IN THE CLASSROOM by CHAZ PUGLIESE BOOK REVIEW that things are a lot fuzzier-that I have somewhat oversimplified the process, and that the road to creativity is paved with all sorts of obstacles. So where to now? I hear you ask. In Part C, there are twelve exercises on different topics. All of these exercises help the readers to be more creative and change or develop their thinking styles. All parts of this book help their readers to develop their teaching skills and help them to be aware of the necessity of being creative in ESL or EFL Classes. In my opinion, this book will help many teachers or teacher trainers to be more creative in their classes. With the help of the sample classroom activities and the exercises on changing, it can be easily said that it is impossible not to create joyful class hours in ESL or in EFL Classes. References 1. Pugliese, C. (2010). From the Author. Being Creative: The Challenge of Change in the Classroom. p.3. Delta Publishing. Surrey: England. 2. Guilford, J.P. (2010). Quote. In Pugliese, C. (Edt.). Being Creative: The Challenge of Change in the Classroom. p.6. Delta Publishing. Surrey: England. 3. Csikszentmlhalyi, M. Quote. In Pugliese, C. (Edt.). Being Creative: The Challenge of Change in the Classroom. p.6. Delta Publishing. Surrey: England. 4. Pugliese, C. (2010). Being Creative. Being Creative: The Challenge of Change in the Classroom. p.7. Delta Publishing. Surrey: England. 5. Pugliese, C. (2010). Creativity and Teaching. Being Creative: The Challenge of Change in the Classroom. p.13. Delta Publishing. Surrey: England. 6. Pugliese, C. (2010). From Strategy to Synergy. Being Creative: The Challenge of Change in the Classroom. p.21. Delta Publishing. Surrey: England. 7. Pugliese, C. (2010). Chapter One. Classrooms. Being Creative: The Challenge of Change in the Classroom. p.22. Delta Publishing. Surrey: England. 8. Pugliese, C. (2010). The Best 15 minutes. Being Creative: The Challenge of Change in the Classroom. p.27. Delta Publishing. Surrey: England. 9. Pugliese, C. (2010). Chapter Two. Resources. Being Creative: The Challenge of Change in the Classroom. p.35. Delta Publishing. Surrey: England. 10. Pugliese, C. (2010). Chapter Three. Students. Being Creative: The Challenge of Change in the Classroom. p.59. Delta Publishing. Surrey: England. 11. Pugliese, C. (2010). Part C. Being Creative. Being Creative: The Challenge of Change in the Classroom. p.83. Delta Publishing. Surrey: England. European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 4 │ 2017 27 Ozlem Yagcioglu BEING CREATIVE: THE CHALLENGE OF CHANGE IN THE CLASSROOM by CHAZ PUGLIESE BOOK REVIEW Creative Commons licensing terms Author(s) will retain the copyright of their published articles agreeing that a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0) terms will be applied to their work. Under the terms of this license, no permission is required from the author(s) or publisher for members of the community to copy, distribute, transmit or adapt the article content, providing a proper, prominent and unambiguous attribution to the authors in a manner that makes clear that the materials are being reused under permission of a Creative Commons License. Views, opinions and conclusions expressed in this research article are views, opinions and conclusions of the author(s). 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