How can educators teach for creativity through a culturally responsive lens?
In this week’s episode of the Fueling Creativity in Education podcast, hosts Dr. Matthew Worwood and Dr. Cyndi Burnett introduce Corey Gray, a PhD candidate at the University of Georgia specializing in educational psychology and gifted education. The insightful conversation delves into key factors that shape creative schooling, such as instructional design, teacher engagement, and collaborative learning environments. Corey provides a comprehensive look at culturally responsive teaching, an approach that honors students’ cultural identities while enhancing their creativity and academic skills. The discussion highlights the systemic underrepresentation of Black and Brown students in gifted programs, largely due to implicit biases in existing policies and practices, and explores creative methods to address these disparities.
Corey shares his vision for creative schools and his belief in the transformative power of culturally responsive creativity. He outlines practical strategies for educators, such as utilizing non-traditional classroom setups, project-based learning, and developing custom curriculums tailored to students’ needs.
Some key things that I think that our listeners can look for if we’re thinking about creative school is one instructional design. How are the teachers teaching? How do they teach as a parent or as a teacher? As a colleague? When I walk the halls, do I see the teachers up engaging with students, or do I see them sitting at desk? Do I see rows and columns, or do I see groups for collaboration? Do I see students sitting doing worksheets, or do I see students standing at whiteboards on the walls working on questions, talking with their classmates? What do I actually see? And how do the students interact? And how does a teacher engage with those students? That’s one aspect of a creative school.
Corey Gray
Corey Gray is a third-year Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Georgia, studying Educational Psychology with an emphasis in Gifted and Creative Education. Corey is a graduate of Georgia State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Master of Arts in Teaching in Elementary Education. As a resident of Atlanta, Corey has taught in a variety of educational roles, such as elementary educator, cooperating teacher, gifted education mentor teacher, middle school math teacher, special education teacher, department head, and adjunct instructor. He has also taught in traditional neighborhood public schools, charter schools, and independent schools. Corey currently serves as the Communication Chair for the Creativity Network in the National Association of Gifted Children (NAGC) and the Vice President of the UGA chapter of Graduate Researchers in Educational Psychology. His research interests include teaching for creativity, culturally responsive pedagogy, abolitionist teaching, excellence gaps in culturally diverse communities, and creative schools.
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