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ENGAGE . INSPIRE . CONNECT

Writer's pictureKaty Bigsby

Infusing imagination & creativity into practice

Updated: Sep 14, 2022

I'm an educational consultant, but a more apt title would be learning designer. I’m like an interior designer, except instead of co-creating the look and feel of your home or office space, I support school districts, schools, and community organizations design and deliver engaging learning for all learners, particularly those with notable challenging behavioral, social, and emotional needs.


Imagination and creativity can at times get hijacked into belonging solely to the Arts. While, I'm a huge fan of the Arts and the difference they make for marginalized learners (check out my Master's research), I want to be clear that creativity and imagination exist beyond the Arts.


A few ways to activate creativity & imagination in your program are by:

  • Engaging the group in problem-solving activities such as co-creating group guidelines and expectations, getting feedback on scheduling - really anywhere you can involve learners in coming up with solutions together.

  • Learners creating something out of nothing - read my post entitled Engagement in Action for an example of this.

  • Offer choice by asking for different project topics learners would like to explore, and allow for a variety of options as to how they can demonstrate their learning. In grad school, for several assignments, I had the option to write a song. This was an uber-empowering experience for me as a singer-songwriter. I felt validated, seen, and heard in an academic setting.

  • Being flexible takes into consideration there's multiple ways to design, set-up, and encourage learner voice. Have fun co-creating together!

As always, I love to hear your thoughts about anything I've posted or ideas for upcoming posts. E-mail me at REiLlearning@gmail.com




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