Walk in the Woods
On Wednesday, some friends and I went to Ashland State Park to go kayaking. We had two double kayaks and five people, so we rotated around to ensure that everyone got a chance in a kayak. This meant I had some down time and decided to do my Take a Walk Challenge. From the place we launched our kayaks (pictured below), I walked a little to the right and got on the path that leads hikers around the lake.
As I started on my solo walk, I was initially distracted by the potential constraints of my walk. I was wondering when I’d have to go back to meet my friends, how far I might be able to walk in that time, and if I needed to have my mask on the whole time or if I could just put it on when I saw people coming. I made a conscious effort to push those thoughts out of my head as I started walking. To do this, I took a couple deep breaths, reminded myself that my friends probably wouldn’t care when I reappeared, and decided to just walk until I felt like I was ready to turn back.
As I walked, I made a continuous, conscious effort to keep my mind clear. I focused on the uneven dirt under my feet, the clouds moving in the sky that blocked the sun momentarily before revealing it again, the smattering of trail markings I came across, and the stillness that resulted from being surrounded by trees. I quickly found myself in a kind of flow state where I gave the trail my full attention and was only interrupted by the occasional passing hiker or dog.
Most of my pictures are from the beginning of my walk, because I was trying to remain in the moment and didn’t want to have to think about what might make for a good picture. Eventually, I felt like my walk was done and so I turned to come back. On my way back, I noticed a bench by the water that I hadn’t seen the first time I passed it. I sat on the bench, looking out at the water and taking a moment to quietly reflect on my walk before I rejoined my friends in a kayak. I felt very peaceful and refreshed. Taking that time to myself to go on a walk alone and with minimal distractions was a really valuable experience and something I’d like to try to do more often.
To me, this exercise seems like a great way to encourage students to use their intuition more often. As British literary critic William Hazlitt suggested, “insight often does occur when the rational mind quiets down—at least for a moment, and often unintentionally—and we open ourselves up to the more subtle processes of our unconscious thought systems” (Kaufman). This is the exact thing I had to practice when I started my walk; I had to shut down the rational parts of my mind that were hindering my experience. I had to open myself up and found myself noticing things that I wouldn’t have noticed if I were still distracted by my thoughts. I even missed the bench that I ended up sitting on because I was still trying to quiet my mind at that point in my walk.
I’d integrate this into my classroom using an exercise inspired by the TED talk from Marily Oppezzo, “Want to be more creative? Go for a walk”. In this video, Oppezzo describes a study that indicates that people generate more creative ideas during brainstorming if they are walking while they think. If I were to use this in the classroom, I’d likely set up a scenario where I take my students to an outdoor space, give them a prompt, and have them walk around first without talking to each other and then with limited communication while they come up with ideas. I’d be interested to see how this idea would work in practice. It would also give students this tool to use if they ever felt stuck on a creative assignment.
Reflection
Overall, these creativity challenges have opened my eyes to a lot of the practices I will want to implement in my future classroom. My first challenge reminded me of the impact of doing something in a flow state and of how I want to help my students discover their passions. My second challenge reminded me of the joy that can be found in looser, spontaneous creativity as opposed to creativity that is too structured. My third challenge reminded me of the importance of influential creative partnerships and of the power that can be found when engaging in small acts of creativity to work towards symphony. This has all helped me develop a more clear idea of the kind of environment I want to build in my classroom to encourage my students to be creative. In my head, it is an environment that buzzes with excitement at the thought of a new project. My students are genuinely interested and invested in the assignments I’ve given them and they often ask me if they can modify certain outputs to do something they like doing or they feel they are particularly good at. Artwork from a wide variety of artists hangs on the walls alongside that of my students to remind them of what they can become if they choose. No question is a stupid question, no idea is an outright bad idea. My students feel safe to explore and learn and fail and grow in the space I’ve created for them.
References
Kaufman, Scott Barry, and Carolyn Gregoire. Wired To Create. Tarcherperigee, 2016.
Oppezzo, Marily. “Want to be more creative? Go for a walk.” YouTube, uploaded by TED, 6 Feb. 2018.