COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION

BACHELOR OF SECONDARY EDUCATION MAJOR IN ENGLISH

First Semester, A.Y. 2024-2025
COGNATE 1: CREATIVE WRITING

TERM PRELIM
MODULE NO. 1
MODULE TITLE DEFINING CREATIVITY AND CREATIVE WRITING

INTRODUCTION
The concept of creativity and creative writing will be covered in this module, along with their
value in real-world settings and its rich implications for the teaching-learning process.

I. OBJECTIVES

At the end of the end of this module, students should be able to:
a. discuss creativity and creative writing extensively;
b. identify the purpose and benefits of creative writing in real-life situation; and
c. apply the concept of creativity through a write-up activity

II. DATE AND TIME ALLOTMENT

August 25, 2023 (1 hour)

III. LECTURES

DEFINING CREATIVITY

In order to describe creativity, we also need to define imagination and critical thinking as
essential components of creativity and innovation as the long-term objective of creativity.

CREATIVITY

1. Creativity is imagination applied: doing something, or making something, with that initial
conception.
2. The process of generating new ideas that are valuable.
3. A genuine creative process involves critical thinking as well as imaginative insights.

IMAGINATION – the capacity to conceive of what is not.

CRITICAL THINKING – is the purposeful and reflective process of synthesizing, analyzing, and
evaluating. This is imagination applied by doing something with an initial idea. The process of
generating new ideas that are valuable.

INNOVATION – Creativity that has progresses, changes, or impacts the world.

 IMAGINATION
CREATIVITY

CRITICAL
THINKING INNOVATION

The capacity and willingness to develop innovation are qualities of creativity. The term "creative"
is typically associated with children's play and significant achievements in the arts, sciences,
and technologies, although any form of action or output, whether ideational, physical, or social,
can be creative.

CHARACTERISTICS

Numerous behavioral and mental traits have been linked to creativity, including the ability
to make associations between unrelated ideas and contexts, apply multiple viewpoints, be
curious, be flexible in one's thinking and behavior, produce numerous, qualitatively distinct
solutions and answers to problems and questions quickly, be tolerant of ambiguity and
uncertainty, and make unusual use of everyday objects.

CREATIVITY AS PROCESS

The fact that the human mind can generate novel concepts and ideas requires explanation.
Cognitive psychologists aim to infer the relevant mental processes from observations of how
individuals solve problems that require creativity.

• A creative person's mind spontaneously produces many different random combinations

of ideas, and a select handful of these combinations are manifested in behavior.

• A creative individual may overcome the limiting effects of prior experiences and therefore
evaluate a variety of options.

• Creative people are better able to escape thinking patterns that keep coming to mind even
when they don't lead to the intended outcome or solution. Additionally, it has been
proposed that humans create by drawing comparisons between present and previous
issues and circumstances, as well as by adapting abstractions—cognitive schemas—
learned in one area to another.
CREATIVITY IN RELATION TO IMAGERY

There is a common misconception that highly creative people think holistically and in visual
representations as opposed to the sequential procedure that is meant to be the hallmark of
rational thinking. Systematic evidence supporting this idea is scarce, although being compatible
with often referenced autobiographical remarks by Albert Einstein, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,
F. A. Kekulé, and others. Visual imagery's role in memory recall is well supported by studies,
although its importance for creativity is not obvious.

CREATIVITY IN RELATION TO KNOWLEDGE

Studies in cognition and biography have demonstrated the need for in-depth expertise in the
relevant topic as well as domain-specific techniques for creative problem solving. For instance,
scientific innovation relies on understanding what the present theory predicts in addition to the
tactic of paying close attention to data that deviates from those expectations; creativity in other
fields need various techniques.

It's likely that creativity is not a universal trait or method, but instead arises when a skilled and
informed individual is driven to put out a sustained effort over an extended period of time. If this
is the case, a person who exhibits remarkable creativity in one area of endeavor does not
inevitably exhibit unusual creativity in other areas.

CREATIVITY AND EDUCATION

There is general agreement that the propensity to create can be inhibited, however it is uncertain
if the skill to produce can be improved. Although creative people practice a lot and work hard,
creativity and discipline are not mutually exclusive. However, a heavy dependence on too
scheduled activities might stifle the need to create, which can have detrimental impacts on
students’ wellbeing. In activities that call for design, imagination, or innovation, students with high
ability will do better than others, but taking part in such activities promotes students of all skill
levels to have a creative mindset.

People’s perceptions of creative people are frequently unfavorable because they defy social
conventions and expectations. Care should be taken to identify creative students from those who
disrupt classes because of emotional or social issues. Students who are creative and discover
methods to involve others in their efforts are more likely to develop into outgoing people and take
on leadership responsibilities. Creative pupils who struggle in this area are more inclined to work
on their own projects. In summary, both individualistic and social living styles may coexist with
high levels of creativity, and both outcomes are beneficial.

DEFINING CREATIVE WRITING

“Creative Writing” may probably means writing without using factual, objectively supported
arguments, case histories, interviews, and academic papers and articles. However, in reality, all
writing is creative because all writing is made a thing; in the artifice of the making, we reveal who
we are, slightly or more fully, depending on the level of subjectivity we involve.

Despite the fact that all writing is a made-up way of sharing information, what we mean when we
say “creative” writing is writing that is not trying to appear objective. It is writing that embraces
subjectivity. Even when we write about fact-based subjects, we find a way to declare that it is
our individual wat of selecting facts and telling the story that is important in the writing.

▪ In journalism, history, and science writing, RESEARCH takes the center stage.
▪ In creative non-fiction and poetry, although there may be factual information included,
REFLECTION takes center stage.
 The label “Creative Writing” is one adopted by schools. It generally includes the genres of
fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction. And each of these genres includes multiple subgenres
and/or styles. Journalism may include creative writing in what is referred to as New Journalism,
but there is a big distinction on college campuses in the training of Journalists and the training
of creative writers.

For Journalists, they observe and report on events with an eye toward others and not toward
the response of the observer/author while the Creative Writers are always looking for the interior
story and writes about events as avenues for self-reflection.

Creative writing’s emphasis on practice is what makes it innovative. In order to create their own
original works of literature, students must first get an understanding of how literature is created,
how it is put together, and what its cultural background is.

The key is creativity. Combinatory play is what Einstein referred to as the process of combining
through information, senses, and materials to produce novel and practical combinations. This is
what takes place in a writing workshop and sets writing apart from other disciplines that
emphasize critical thinking over creative thinking.

Teaching writing is essentially a teacher’s brave attempt to put into words what he or she knows
about creativity and producing a piece of work in order to impart this knowledge, mentor, and
motivate students.

To be a good writer a student must first of all be a good reader. There is a special vitality that
comes from the creative writing workshop and the way in which writing as a discipline overlap
with, and exists in, the public sphere, in a way that many other academic disciplines do not.

-------------------------------------------------END OF MODULE # 1---------------------------------------------------

IV. REFERENCES

❖ Bender, S. (2011a). Creative Writing Demystified. The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

❖ Defining creativity. (n.d.). Columbus Museum of Art. Retrieved August 1, 2022, from
https://www.columbusmuseum.org/wp-content/themes/cma/pdf/centerforcreativity/defining-
creativity.pdf
❖ The rise and rise of creative writing. (2011, May 25). The Conversation. Retrieved August 1,
2022, from https://theconversation.com/the-rise-and-rise-of-creative-writing-
730#:~:text=The%20phrase%20%E2%80%9Ccreative%20writing%E2%80%9D%20is,The%20
American%20Scholar’ %20in%201837.

Prepared:

JAN KARLO THOMAS V. RANCHEZ, LPT

Instructor, College of Teacher Education

Checked:

RAYMOND N. CLARO, PhD

Dean, College of Teacher Education