Collaborative Spirit Fuels Creativity

by Stephanie Bartlett

Co-lab-o-ra-tionkəˌlabəˈrāSHən/

noun: collaboration; plural noun: collaborations1. 
the action of working with someone to produce or create something."he wrote on art and architecture in collaboration with John Betjeman

Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending and presenting at the Innovate West conference at Connect Charter School in Calgary. I was in the company of some amazing innovators.  No matter what workshop we attended, discussions were deep, thoughtful and forward thinking. Here is a common theme that resonated:

Collaboration is amplification. Just like they say at Pixar, when we collaborate we bring more depth, breadth and diversity to any topic than we could on our own. Collaboration is the driving force behind creativity in educational practice.  I was reminded of this as I attended Michelle Baldwin’s inspiring workshop on creativity.  Not only do we speak the same language and share the same enthusiasm, we cultivate the same message. Learn by doing. Laugh. Share. Reflect. Question. Collaborate. Repeat all of it as much as possible.

 And so, as Michelle thoughtfully guided us through an activity entitled The Selfie, where we had to take selfies that included reflection, perspective and shadow, I was reminded of the true spirit of creativity.

Michelle Baldwin‏@michellek107

Friends, please follow #iwest & #iwestcreate today. I just saw adults laughing, running around, taking incredibly fun & creative selfies.

11:48 AM - 24 May 2014

stephanie bartlett ‏@sj_bartlett  May 24  @michellek107 As one of the adults who was running around, you should know that was the highlight of my day! @luckybydesign #iwestcreate

Michelle Baldwin @michellek107 · May 24

#iwest #iwestcreate selfie challenge participants pic.twitter.com/IUkIGrwxp4

Engage in thoughtful task design embedded within play, laughter and choice within constraints and you will learn great things about yourself as a learner, the people you are working with and the subject at hand. And guess what? Through all that laughter and running around the room to capture the best selfies, we quickly established the mood and trust with strangers…so we learned, and we networked. It was an absolute pleasure meeting and learning with @luckybydesign, @michellek107, @MrodgersRodge, @chrisdittman @HeatherMMckay, @JaimeHatchette and @PaulKelba. I look forward to collaborating with all of you in the very near future.  #micdrop

                         

             Caught in the spirit of creativity with my CreativityCollective partner @luckybydesign