The public education system as it currently exists in the United States is not built for creativity. Born from decades of factory-style systems and legislation designed to keep all students on pace at the relatively same level of achievement, it seems there is little room for creativity or creative assessment in the classroom. Afterall, creativity can be difficult to define, let alone grade in such a way that aligns with a letter or numerical grading scale. Many high school students, particularly those an educator might call high achieving, are more interested in playing school to get the grade they want to move on to the next requirement rather than wrestle with a concept, risk getting something wrong, or come up with an answer different from their classmates. My AP Language and Composition students in particular are grade motivated. As high school students engaged in college level reading and composition processes, many remain rigidly fixated on the AP rubrics and objectives. To explore why this thought process is, the importance of creativity in the classroom as a learning tool, and showcase how creativity can be incorporated in this particular classroom setting, I developed the following objectives:

• I will research high school student perceptions and attitudes towards creativity.
  • Based on these results, I can create an information sheet for high school teachers to help boost creativity in their classroom
• I can design a project for high school students that asks them to use creativity in the classroom

Perceptions of Creativity (or Lack of) in the Classroom

Recent article put out by NPR (2024) most students expressed they do not feel challenged in school, and are less engaged as a whole (Turner, 2024). Creativity, therefore, may be a way to engage students. However, Stone and Hess (2020) found students have “a misconception about where creativity comes from. Participants were unsure of how their creative ability was developed” (Stone and Hess, 2020, p. 313). This shows that while students are not being engaged by traditional modules of learning, they are unaccustomed to engaging with learning in creative ways. With this idea turning over in my mind, I continued researching. 

I found the dearth of creativity in education has been well documented. In 2007, Ken Robinson gave a now famous TED talk titled “Do Schools Kill Creativity” where he argued that the current model of education is outdated, and more focused on turning out students that are all the same, rather than fostering a sense of creativity and wonder. This sentiment aligns with what I explored in my Electronic Assessment for Teaching and Learning course: the current educational system values students on their standardized test scores and as products, not as people or for their humanity (Au, 2008, p. 42). Despite the proliferation of this system, the act of creation is in the highest category of Bloom’s Taxonomy (University of Central Florida, n.d.). There seems to be a paradox then; the education system expects standardization, while elevating creativity as evidence of learning. 

With this in mind, I created a handout summarizing the issue and offering simple ways to incorporate creativity in the classroom for my colleagues. Creativity in the classroom does not have to involve an entire restructuring of the curriculum. It can be as simple as including concept mapping, writing skits, or reflection through drawing.

Creativity in my Classroom

As my AP Language and Composition students were in the midst of reading F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, I thought this would be a great opportunity to apply what I had learned in my own classroom. Beginning with Wiggins and McTighe’s (2005) Understanding by Design, I first considered what my students should be able to do. In this case, students need to be able to understand The Great Gatsby’s themes, characters, and why it is a highly referenced piece of literature and communicate this understanding in some way (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005; Shepard, 2000). However, this assessment needed to be done with equity in mind or I would only be reinforcing the system I am critiquing (Montenegro & Jankowski, 2017). 

I had experimented with zines, independently designed, created, and published works that value “creativity, independence, and personal expression” in one of my other graduate classes  (Moghaddam, 2024). The reflection required to make a zine and the creativity they inspire aligned nicely with my objectives (McIntosh & Warren, 2013; Moghaddam, 2024). Additionally, zines are rooted in “distinct yet overlapping scholarly fields and arts backgrounds: creative writing, photography, literary studies, cultural geography, education, and sociology. Thus, what draws [them] together is critical feminist praxis” (Rodriguez et al. 2025). Though my students completed a largely traditional reading of The Great Gatsby, this seemed like an opportunity for interested students to apply more feminist or socially just lenses to the classic text. Using the research, I developed an assignment. 

The assignment asks students to examine the text in a way that resonates with them, and then create a zine. This act of creating a zine allows students to share their knowledge in a variety of ways. Instead of asking students to conform to a certain way of thinking, they have full autonomy to make a product that is authentically theirs. While moving from a standard assessment like an essay like they are used to could be difficult for some students, I purposefully made the scoring guide focused on components, rather than creativity. Since each zine will be different, and the students’ intent and interpretations could be unclear to me, I added a required reflective component. This reflection will allow me to see students’ thought processes and highlight for them what they understand about the book (McIntosh & Warren, 2013). 

In my own sample, I explored the relationship or lack thereof between Daisy and Gatsby. As I worked my way through the creative process, brainstorming, drafting, and then creating, I found myself grappling with a traditional and feminist reading of the text. While I believe the characters in the novel are all terrible people in some way, Nick’s narrative limits the women in an already limited world. What happens when the reader questions what Daisy truly wants, and why Gatsby simply could not let her go. It was liberating for me to interrogate the text in this way.

By making my classroom a space where students can explore texts in ways outside of the usual multiple choice tests and thematic essays, I can hopefully foster engagement and spark more creativity in my classroom.