Let me tell you about an embarrassing moment I had with technology recently.

I was midway through a lesson and wanted to quickly transition the class to a short lecture designed to reaffirm some key concepts we had just applied during an activity.
I plugged in my laptop, the large screen at the front of the class displayed my presentation, but I couldn’t get anything to show up on the instructor’s monitor.
I had experienced this problem a few times before, and wasn’t always successful fixing it, so rather than losing time in what felt like a wasted effort, I opted to turn my chair around, crane my neck, and present while looking at the screen directly behind me for direction. Along the way, I expressed some frustration to my students, but explained that we need to be ready for the unexpected.

Later that day, I shared my frustration with a colleague who was responsible for the room. I also mentioned some people I suspected might be unplugging cables at the back of the computer and not putting them back after they finished.

He promised he would investigate, and a few hours later, he sent me a video of the instructor’s screen working perfectly. He then informed me, with humor, that there is an on/off button at the back that turns the screen on.

You’d think I would have at least checked to see if the monitor was actually turned on — but I hadn’t, and I felt embarrassed.

I can look back on that story now and smile, but here’s the part that actually matters. I could have walked into class the next day and mentioned the screen was fixed without offering
much explanation. Nobody would have thought anything of it, and my pride would have stayed firmly intact.
But I didn’t.

Instead, I shared the story with my students — telling them exactly what happened, and how I felt when I received that video from my colleague.
The reason is simple. The story gave me an opportunity to model my own reflection on how the mistake occurred. I explained that I hadn’t checked the technology setup sufficiently at the start of the lesson, and that if I had, I would have given myself enough time to problem-solve and almost certainly noticed that the screen wasn’t turned on.

I was also able to show them how my past experiences in that space had shaped how I interpreted the situation — I assumed the problem was caused by someone playing with the cables, rather than stopping to consider other possibilities first.
We know that mistakes and failures are part of the learning process. But on this occasion, I didn’t just tell my students that — I had the opportunity to demonstrate it.

Welcome to episode six of this summer series, which brings us to the sixth of the ten actions for fueling creativity in education: Model Creative Behavior.

WHAT “MODELING CREATIVE BEHAVIOR” ACTUALLY MEANS So why does this matter for creativity?

Because students learn far more from what we do than from what we say.
And research shows that children don’t just imitate based on what they observe — they also weigh the consequences of the outcomes they see from those observations.
In other words, if we get frustrated, express blame, or give up after something doesn’t work, students will notice. If a teacher takes responsibility, shows tenacity, and works on the problem, students notice that too.

This is why it isn’t enough to talk about creativity, or to tell students that mistakes are part of learning. It has to be modeled, openly, in real time, including the uncomfortable parts, such as feeling embarrassed, so that students can observe how we learn from our mistakes.
Now while we can plan for some of these experiences ahead of time, including identifying stories of failure to share, many opportunities for modeling emerge from unplanned events like the one I shared in this video.

It is in these moments when we have an opportunity to model creative behavior: do we call for help immediately, or take a few minutes to think out loud in front of our students, narrating the troubleshooting process as we go, or even involving them in the process by having them generate a list of all the possible issues, before we narrow them down to the most likely one.

In either situation, it is likely the problem will be resolved, but only one version gives your students a window into how creative problem-solving actually works in practice — and we argue that seizing on this opportunity is worth more than a perfectly run lesson.

THE HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT

So here’s something to sit with this week, not an assignment, just a couple of questions.

First: notice one small moment this week where something doesn’t go according to plan in your classroom or even at home, a tech glitch, a mess up with the calendar, a question you can’t answer, a lesson that takes a wrong turn.

When it happens, notice your first instinct. Is it to express blame? Hide the mistake and move on quickly before anyone notices, or do you pause, share the experience out loud, and in front of your students?

Second: think about something you’re currently learning, or struggling with, outside of school. A new hobby, a new skill, anything where you’re still a beginner. Is there a small piece of that struggle you could share with your students? Not the polished version. The real one that showcases your determination, or frustration, or embarrassment. That is a big part of creativity, and one that we can model to help future creatives succeed.

In the book, we go deeper into the research behind modeling and vulnerability, and share more stories of educators who let their students watch them learn, struggle, and figure things out in real time — including one principal who kept teaching a class of his own, just to stay honest about what teaching actually requires.
Students don’t learn creativity from a poster on the wall that says failure is learning. They learn about failure by experiencing it, and they learn how to face it by watching what we do when

something goes wrong for us too. So we encourage you to think about what you model about creativity in front of your students — because they’re watching, whether you’re ready or not.

Matthew: We hope you enjoyed this episode of our Summer 2026 Listen and Learn series. And don’t forget your letter for this week, it’s E.
Cyndi: Write it down, hold onto it, and keep collecting because you’ll need all ten to unscramble the secret phrase and enter to win a signed copy of The Future Creative. You can submit your entry at FuelingCreativityPodcast.com/summerreading2026, and that’s also where you’ll find more information about the book, including where to pre-order it.

Matthew: We are still booking guests for Season 13 of the podcast, so if you have ideas for researchers or practitioners you’d love to hear from, or topics you want us to dig into, please reach out at ideas@fuelingcreativitypodcast.com.

Cyndi: Stay curious, keep that door open, and I will see you right back here next week. Matthew: Thanks for listening to Fueling Creativity in Education.