ACTIVITY 2: RED FLOWER WITH GREEN STEM

The activity consists of reading Helen Buckley's story "The little boy". It is a short story that tells the story of a child who loves to draw. When the teacher asks the students to draw, he starts right away, but the teacher asks them to wait and gives them concrete instructions on what and how to draw. One day the child changes to a new school, and his new teacher leaves him free to draw. The child, however, has run out of ideas and repeats the drawing that his previous teacher had taught him.

This story presents us with the dilemma of the lack of creativity in the classroom. As teachers, one of our main challenges is to enhance the creativity of our students - not only to take care of their rational and academic skills, but also their emotional and creative ones.  In Helen Buckley's story, the new teacher tells the child: "If everyone made the same drawing using the same colours... how would I know whose drawing is whose and whose would be whose?" Using this quote, a discussion can be held to explore the issue further with the students. It is important that students can experiment - creative reading and writing in the classroom pushes students towards learning that enhances their imagination, empathy and emotional development.

The story can be heard in the following video: https://youtu.be/YbjSx3cK6Sw