TL;DR

Creativity = turning ideas into something new and useful.

• Be curious – Ask questions, explore, take risks.
• Make new things – Generate ideas, solve problems, build opportunities.
• Keep going – Test, refine, and persevere through challenges.

In class:

• Encourage exploration and play.
• Value process over product.
• Frame mistakes as learning opportunities.

Creativity is not just art-it's curiosity, innovation, and problem-solving across all areas.

Creativity

Creativity involves exploring ideas and concepts in order to represent thinking, solve problems, explore opportunities, and innovate in unique ways. It is the interaction of intuition and reasoning.

The competency of creativity facilitates the generation and expression of ideas, concepts, solutions, and opportunities that are novel and have meaning and value for self, others, or the natural world. It fosters open-mindedness, curiosity, flexibility, risk-taking, and perseverance to put ideas into action.

Creativity is fundamental to finding and expressing a sense of wonder, initiative, ingenuity, and hope.

Dimensions of Creativity

• Demonstrate openmindedness, curiosity, flexibility, and risk taking.
  • Learners try new things and take risks.
  • Learners demonstrate curiosity by exploring new ideas/possibilities and asking relevant questions.
• Generate new ideas and build opportunities or solutions within a given context that meet a need or challenge and have value.
  • Learners use strategies to generate innovative ideas, solve problems, and/or make a difference.
  • Learners enhance new ideas by building on ideas of others.
• Work through a creative process that includes asking questions and testing and refining ideas to advance an idea, product, or goal.
  • Learners create plans and adjust them as needed to meet a goal.
  • Learners test and adapt ideas or plans, and persevere through obstacles to improve.
  • Learners reflect on their process, and seek and use feedback from others.

Creating a Culture of Creativity

• Create a flexible, responsive, experiential learning environment in which exploring, prototyping, and experimenting are encouraged, and the messiness of creation is embraced.
• Foster a learning culture that values risk taking and ingenuity, and is driven by curiosity, questioning, and exploration.
• Encourage learners to be problem finders, contributing authentic and meaningful solutions to their school, community, or world.
• Adopt a creative or design thinking process that supports a shared understanding of creativity and is evident in classroom practice.
• Value and assess the iterative process over the final product, supporting perseverance in learners.
• Guide learners in seeking feedback and refining their ideas, framing mistakes as valuable and instructive.

Reflective Questions for Teachers

• What does creativity mean to me? How am I creative?
• How do I model creativity and risk-taking for learners?
• How do I come up with new ideas and bring them to life?
• How do I move through roadblocks or challenges when creating?

• What strategies do I share with learners to generate ideas and solve problems?
• How do I encourage learners to be curious, try new things, and persevere?
• Where do I provide space for play and experimentation?
• What opportunities do I create for learners to refine, revise, and represent learning in different ways?
• How do I foster feedback-both peer-to-peer and teacher-to-learner-throughout the creative process?

Common Misconceptions and Partial Understandings

Creativity is about artistic expression.

Creativity is not reserved for sculptors, poets, musicians, or painters, etc., and artistic expression. Creativity transcends all professions, disciplines, and facets of daily life. Creativity ultimately involves "purposeful creation that is novel or unique and has value or significance" (Gini-Newman and Case 51).

Only a small segment of the population is creative (big C versus little c).

There is no such thing as a "creative type." We are all born with curiosity and the potential for creative thinking. A small percentage of people might be considered "big C" creative. These people may be famous inventors, Nobel Peace Prize winners, or have work on display in museums. Our focus needs to be on "little c" creativity which relates to when people come up with an idea that is new and useful to them in their daily life, like creating a schedule for a busy family, finding a new way to address a classroom school supply issue, solving a math problem differently, or finding an inventive way to share learning.

Creativity comes in a flash of insight.

"Creative intelligence is about tools, not lightbulbs. It's something we do, not something that happens to us. It's about what happens during those moments of insight, but also after; it's the hard work and the collaborations that can help bring your idea out of your mind and into the world" (Nussbaum).

You can't teach creativity.

Part of our role as teachers is to nurture, model, encourage, and support creativity. We can do that by creating a learning environment and interactive, organic learning opportunities in which creativity flourishes.

References

1. Gini-Newman, Garfield, and Roland Case. Creating Thinking Classrooms: Leading Educational Change for This Century. Corwin, 2018.
2. Nussbaum, Bruce. Creative Intelligence: Harnessing the Power to Create, Connect, and Inspire. Harper Business, 2013.
3. Resnick, Mitchel. Lifelong Kindergarten: Cultivating Creativity through Projects, Passion, Peers, and Play. MIT Press, 2017.

TL;DR

Citizenship = caring, connected action for a better world.

• Understand issues – Learn about equity, human rights, and interconnectedness.
• Respect perspectives – Listen with empathy, value diverse worldviews.
• Take action – Make ethical, responsible choices that support community and sustainability.

In class:

• Encourage open discussion of real-world issues.
• Model empathy, inclusivity, and respect.
• Connect classroom learning to community action.

Citizenship is not just civics-it's active responsibility toward self, others, and the natural world.

Citizenship

Citizenship involves engaging and working toward a more equitable, compassionate and sustainable world through the development and value of relationships with self, others, and the natural world.

The competency of citizenship facilitates an understanding of the complex interactions among cultural, ecological, economic, political, and social forces and their impacts on individuals, communities, and the world. Citizenship fosters consideration of diverse perspectives for ethical, responsible, reciprocal, and sustainable decisions and actions.

Citizenship is fundamental to understanding who we are and how we have the capacity to make a difference and to make choices that contribute to our communities-for the well-being of all.

Dimensions of Citizenship

• Explore a variety of topics and issues.
  • Learners develop, understand, and reflect on their own perspective in complex issues.
  • Learners recognize discrimination, principles of equity, and human rights in their world.
  • Learners explore the interconnectedness of self, others, and the natural world.
• Consider diverse perspectives to interact effectively with others.
  • Learners seek out diverse viewpoints, experiences, and world views.
  • Learners reflect on/empathize with perspectives that do not align with their own.
  • Learners connect with others in responsible, respectful, and inclusive ways, both in person and in digital contexts.
• Take action for well-being of self, others, and the natural world.
  • Learners realize their potential in contributing to the betterment of community near and far.
  • Learners work to find equitable solutions to support diversity, inclusivity, and human rights.
  • Learners make ethical choices to promote healthy and sustainable outcomes for the natural world.

Creating a Culture of Citizenship

• Model and share thinking routines that motivate learners to seek out and explore complex issues.
• Support learners to independently formulate questions, consider alternatives, make comparisons, and evaluate consequences.
• Model and practise with learners how to listen to understand and how to listen with empathy and an open mind.
• Model and share explicit language of empathy and the value of multiple viewpoints.
• Model language and processes that invite reflection to help learners understand their impact in the world.
• Provide authentic learning experiences to connect learning to the community and the broader world.
• Construct authentic learning experiences that foster personal, ethical, and responsible plans of action.

Reflective Questions for Teachers

• How do I reflect on/empathize with diverse perspectives that do not fit my own?
• How do I stay informed of current issues?
• How do I take action for collective well-being in my own context (school, community, near or far)?

• Where do I model and practise empathy, inclusivity, and equity?
• How might I support learners to connect with others in responsible, respectful, and inclusive ways?
• How might I provide opportunities to explore multiple perspectives in complex issues?
• How might I provide authentic opportunities for learners to connect to complex real-world issues?
• What opportunities do I provide where learners can make ethical choices to promote sustainability and/or human rights?
• How might I provide authentic opportunities for learners to intentionally take action in small or larger ways?

Common Misconceptions and Partial Understandings

Citizenship can be described primarily as teaching civics education and helping learners to become "personally responsible citizens" (Westheimer).

The word citizenship is used differently, depending on the context. As an educational concept, it has a different meaning depending on the jurisdiction in which it is used. Manitoba's definition of the competency of citizenship goes beyond civics education and provides opportunities for learners to

• explore a variety of topics and issues
• foster consideration of diverse perspectives to interact effectively with others
• take action for the well-being of self, others, and the natural world

Large school events such as "culture days" are a sufficient way to learn about diverse cultures and perspectives.

Large-scale events such as "culture days" or school-wide awareness or fundraising campaigns have value but are not the only way learners practise citizenship. Everyday acts of citizenship impact school communities in important ways. Learning about diverse cultures, viewpoints, and experiences while exploring complex issues in the local and wider community can occur regularly. Practising empathy, embracing inclusive practices, and supporting equity as crucial concepts for decision-making help to improve communities every day.

Citizenship practices belong primarily in humanities courses.

Citizenship as a concept might have more regular applications in a social studies course, but learners can be practising the core elements of citizenship in all courses, such as evaluating different factors that lead to decision-making, looking at multiple viewpoints, and finding solutions for the betterment of the world.

Taking action can be reserved for school-wide initiatives or charity events.

Learners need daily opportunities to take action, such as finding ways to organize classrooms more inclusively, promoting peer-to-peer conflict management, or finding more efficient recycling or composting methods. These daily opportunities will empower learners to see they can make a difference in their day-to-day lives.

References

1. Westheimer, Joel. What Kind of Citizen?: Educating Our Children for the Common Good. Teachers College Press, 2015.

TL;DR

Connection to Self = knowing yourself and growing with intention.

• Discover identity – Reflect on strengths, gifts, culture, and history.
• Make mindful choices – Use strategies for well-being, resilience, and goal setting.
• Keep learning – Embrace mistakes, adapt, and build a flourishing life.

In class:

• Encourage reflection and self-regulation.
• Promote student voice, choice, and agency.
• Model perseverance, adaptability, and growth mindset.

Connection to self is about resilience, hope, and responsibility for one's own learning and well-being.

Connection to Self

Connection to self involves awareness of the related nature of emotional, intellectual, physical, social, cultural, and spiritual aspects of living and learning, and the responsibility for personal growth, well-being, and well-becoming.

The competency of connection to self facilitates the development of reflection, regulation, advocacy, and management, which empower one to act with mindfulness and intention. The learner will come to know their gifts, strengths, culture, and history. They will build initiative, perseverance, flexibility, and manage failure and success as part of the learning process.

Connection to self is fundamental to knowing oneself, and one's relationship to others and the natural world, as well as developing hope, resilience, self-respect, and confidence. It is recognizing one's own role in learning, happiness, and well-being.

Dimensions of Connection to Self

• Discover identity by recognizing and regularly reflecting on strengths, gifts, culture, family and lived experience, and history.
  • Learners recognize personal interests, strengths, gifts, challenges, and opportunities to support their learning and well-being.
  • Learners come to know factors that shape their identity.
• Develop the ability to make and reflect upon decisions that positively contribute to well-becoming.
  • Learners understand and use strategies to support self-regulation and well-being.
  • Learners reflect on personal decisions, effort, and experiences, and on others' feedback for improvement.
  • Learners set goals to strengthen their learning and well-being.
• Lead a flourishing life and recognize one's role in well-becoming and lifelong learning.
  • Learners have hope and demonstrate resiliency as they plan for the future.
  • Learners persevere through obstacles.
  • Learners demonstrate an ability to change or adapt to new experiences.
  • Learners recognize and embrace their role in lifelong learning, well-being, and well-becoming.

Creating a Culture of Connection to Self

• Design learner-centred experiences that help learners discover and develop their identities, strengths, and gifts.
• Co-construct skills and habits for self-regulation of emotions, thoughts, and behaviour.
• Model and share decision-making processes and strategies for goal setting.
• Support learner agency by providing opportunities for genuine decision-making, inquiry, and student voice.
• Guide learners through uncertainty by asking questions instead of providing answers.
• Embed reflective processes in both the content and the process of learning.
• Shift roles from "expert" to facilitator/coach; defront the classroom to create shared learning spaces.

Reflective Questions for Teachers

• How am I reflective in my own practice?
• How am I open to learning from mistakes? From others?

• How do I support learner agency by allowing learners to practise genuine decision-making, inquiry, and voice in assessment?
• When do I do the work for learners that they could do themselves?
• How do I position learners as co-designers of their learning experiences?
• How do I empower student voice and honour student choice?
• How do I nurture learners' unique identities, gifts, strengths, and experiences?
• What kinds of experiences encourage learning from mistakes?
• How do I provide opportunities for feedback, reflection, and goal setting?
• How do I support learners to reflect on their learning, build resiliency, and take next steps?
• How do I explicitly teach self-regulation strategies?
• How do I foster a culture of learning rather than compliance?

Common Misconceptions and Partial Understandings

Connection to self is mainly about understanding personal strengths and passions, and about having agency.

The competency "connection to self" has a unique definition in the Manitoba context. While it includes elements of identity, it goes beyond simply knowing one's strengths and interests towards knowing the four questions: Who am I? Where do I come from? Where am I going? What is my purpose? (Sinclair) Supporting the development of learners' connection to self encourages them to know themselves, their world views, their histories, and their ever-evolving identity. It also helps learners to determine how they learn best and develops their metacognition, reflection, self-regulation, and agency.

The teacher's job is to share their knowledge and expertise with learners.

The traditional role of the teacher has shifted from imparting knowledge to modelling and guiding learners to inquire, experiment, solve problems, and think deeply. In doing so, the teacher empowers learners to take an active role in their learning. The teacher as mentor/coach focuses on teaching learners how to think, not what to think. This practice supports productive struggle, helping learners to grapple with uncertainty and build resiliency.

Good teaching helps learners learn new concepts easily without making mistakes.

Making mistakes is one of the most powerful forms of learning. Allowing learners to learn from mistakes, without penalty, focuses learning on growth. Teaching learners how to reflect deepens learning-helping them gain insight into themselves, and supporting student understanding, engagement, and inclusion. Research shows that self-reflection and goal setting can play a significant role in helping learners learn and grow.

Learners don't need to know about themselves or who they are to learn my subject.

Learning doesn't happen in a vacuum, and learners can't become autonomous without truly knowing themselves. They need an understanding of who they are and how they have come to see the world, how they learn best, what their strengths and challenges are, and what strategies assist them in becoming lifelong learners.

References

1. Sinclair, Murray Hon. Who We Are: Four Questions for a Life and a Nation. McClelland & Stewart, 2024.

TL;DR

Collaboration = learning and creating better things together.

• Respect perspectives – Welcome diverse voices and ideas.
• Build trust – Listen actively, compromise, and share responsibility.
• Create together – Co-construct meaning, plans, and goals with others.

In class:

• Encourage group work where every voice matters.
• Model conflict resolution and consensus building.
• Assess process and contribution, not just product.

Collaboration is not just "group work"-it's shared thinking, responsibility, and growth.

Collaboration

Collaboration involves learning with and from others and working together with a shared commitment to pursue common purposes and goals.

The competency of collaboration facilitates the co-construction of meaning to support collective understanding through the exchange and negotiation of ideas. The process of collaboration demands deeper reflection, an openness to different perspectives, and the sharing of responsibilities and planning. Effective collaboration results in the creation of something better.

Collaboration is fundamental to knowing oneself as a learner (in relation to others/working in a group), developing positive relationships, and participating in the learning process with confidence and motivation.

Dimensions of Collaboration

• Appreciate and understand diverse perspectives while learning with and from others.
  • Learners welcome and seek to understand diverse perspectives, voices, and ideas.
  • Learners understand that building on others' ideas deepens thinking.
• Build relationships to support collaboration.
  • Learners value and put trust in others' contributions.
  • Learners practise active listening and asking questions of themselves and others.
  • Learners work through differences and show a willingness to compromise or change perspective when appropriate.
• Work with others to co-construct knowledge, meaning, plans, and goals.
  • Learners co-construct meaning with others.
  • Learners contribute equitably to the collective purpose or common goal.

Creating a Culture of Collaboration

• Create the conditions that will foster a supportive community of learners.
• Co-construct the language of effective collaboration and develop group norms.
• Model and share explicit language and strategies to demonstrate respect and invite diverse voices to discussions.
• Design experiences where learners practise perspective-taking and empathy.
• Encourage learners to change their minds or build consensus when necessary.
• Model thinking processes that push deeper thinking and openness to new ideas.
• Teach conflict resolution so learners can self-assess and adjust interactions.
• Establish routines for respectful and constructive peer feedback.
• Support learners in co-constructing learning plans and success criteria.
• Capitalize on organic collaboration opportunities, not just planned ones.

Reflective Questions for Teachers

• What are my strengths and stretches as a collaborator in my professional context?

• Under what circumstances do I provide collaboration opportunities for learners? How does collaboration enhance the learning?
• How can I design experiences that require open-mindedness and encourage learners to reconsider their thinking?
• How do I support learners to use respectful language and provide constructive feedback?
• What kinds of experiences help learners work through conflict?
• What planning strategies do I share for effective group work?
• How do I evaluate individual contributions in collaborative assignments?
• How do I support learners with social anxiety, language barriers, or poor attendance in collaboration?

Common Misconceptions and Partial Understandings

Collaboration, cooperation, cooperative learning, collaborative thinking, and teamwork are the same idea.

Manitoba's definition of collaboration incorporates all of these elements (i.e., cooperation, cooperative learning, and collaborative thinking) so that learners are learning collaboratively "with and from others with a shared commitment for a common purpose and goal."

There are a number of terms associated with collaboration in the educational context that have different meanings.

Cooperation is working together to achieve a common goal. We sometimes refer to this as teamwork. Cooperative learning involves having learners work in groups, often with roles assigned (such as notetakers, reporters, etc.) as they work on a shared task or product. The ideas in learners' work might be complementary, but the learners do not necessarily have to "think together." They may complete their roles effectively without entering into quality collaboration. Collaborative thinking involves "deeply engaging with and building on the ideas of others for mutual benefit" (Gini-Newman and Case 55).

If I put learners into groups to work, they will learn to collaborate.

Learners will not learn how to work collaboratively through osmosis. They need explicit teaching and modelling on how to, for example, invite diverse voices to conversations, resolve conflicts respectfully, and think through different perspectives. Teachers need to be careful not to make assumptions that learners-particularly in the higher grades-know how to collaborate effectively.

The purpose of collaboration is to learn content; I do not need to teach it.

Most teachers use collaboration for this purpose and for good reason. Collaboration supports content learning and engagement. Learners also need strong collaboration skills for multiple purposes. If they never learn HOW to collaborate and collaborate well, they will not learn the content well either.

If learners confer with each other, they are collaborating.

Collaboration is not simply conferring with others. In discussion, learners may offer their opinions without seriously thinking about what others are saying. Collaborative thinking involves active listening, weighing, and building on each other's ideas.

References

1. Gini-Newman, Garfield, and Roland Case. Creating Thinking Classrooms: Leading Educational Change for This Century. Corwin, 2018.

TL;DR

Communication = sharing and understanding ideas, emotions, and meaning.

• Express – Share ideas and feelings in different ways, mindful of audience and context.
• Receive – Listen actively, notice cues, and seek to understand others.
• Connect – Use dialogue to build relationships, deepen learning, and strengthen community.

In class:

• Model respectful, inclusive, and multimodal communication.
• Encourage dialogue, questioning, and feedback.
• Support digital communication and positive online presence.

Communication is more than sending messages-it's connection, meaning-making, and relationship-building.

Communication

Communication involves interacting with others and allowing for a message to be received, expressed, and understood in multiple ways and for a variety of purposes.

The competency of communication facilitates the acquisition, development, and transformation of ideas and information as well as the awareness, understanding, management, and expression of emotions. It allows one to make connections with others, share ideas, express individuality, deepen learning, and celebrate accomplishments. Communication develops the ability and capacity to navigate personal, local, and global perspectives, and societal and cultural contexts.

Communication is fundamental to connecting to others and sharing/thinking about ideas, and to developing one's identity and sense of belonging.

Dimensions of Communication

• Express ideas and emotions in a variety of ways and contexts.
  • Learners express ideas and emotions while following context cues (e.g., text features, non-verbal communication, tone of voice, digital images or icons) and conventions.
  • Learners consider audience, purpose, context, modes, and forms to effectively share ideas.
  • Learners understand how their words and actions impact their identities and their relationships to self and others.
• Receive messages from others in a variety of ways and contexts.
  • Learners use context cues (e.g., text features, non-verbal communication, tone of voice, digital images or icons) to enhance understanding.
  • Learners seek to understand others' messages through observation, active listening, and questioning.
  • Learners recognize how diverse contexts (linguistic, cultural, generational, experiential) can impact and influence understanding.
• Make connections to deepen learning and build relationships.
  • Learners make meaning and deepen understanding through their own language and the languages of others.
  • Learners connect and build relationships through conversations and discussions both in person and in digital contexts.
  • Learners value how communication strengthens community.

Creating a Culture of Communication

• Use visual, oral, and multimodal media communication appropriate for a range of purposes.
• Provide regular opportunities for dialogue, peer conferencing, and feedback.
• Prioritize respectful and inclusive language, mindful of cultural nuances in non-verbal communication.
• Develop and share thinking routines (e.g., questioning for understanding) that highlight meaning-making and potential misunderstandings.
• Model and acknowledge context cues, conventions, and body language to enhance communication.
• Offer opportunities to communicate learning in various modes, formats, tools, and technologies, considering audience and purpose.
• Support digital communication and discuss digital footprints, online image, and social media responsibility.

Reflective Questions for Teachers

• What do I do well when communicating with others? What am I still working on?
• How do I model effective communication for my learning community? What more can I do?

• What modes of communication do I use most frequently? What others could I enhance?
• What opportunities do I provide for learners to communicate learning in multiple modes?
• How do I teach metacognitive strategies or thinking routines to make learners' thinking visible?
• How do I support learners to understand others' messages through listening and questioning?
• How do I embed purposeful dialogues to build relationships and deepen understanding?

Common Misconceptions and Partial Understandings

Communication is solely the transmission of a message.

Communication involves two directions. It does not end with the transmission or expression of a message. It also requires and includes the perspective of the receiver in the context in which they interpret and make sense of the communication.

To support strong communicators, we need to mainly focus on speaking and writing.

Communication is dynamic, ever-changing, and complex. It involves engaging in dialogue and conversations, as well as expressing oneself in a variety of contexts. It is about creating messages and sharing ideas for a variety of purposes using many different forms or modalities. It also involves receiving complex messages as one reads, views, listens, and interprets both verbal and non-verbal communications.

Teaching communication is the English teacher's job.

Communication drives so much of what we do and how we learn, both in and out of school. It is something we need to address and support within and across ALL disciplines and courses.

Meaning is derived only from the content of a message.

In human interaction, non-verbal cues, such as body language, eye contact, tone of voice, gestures, and facial expressions, all play a significant role and influence our understanding alongside the content of the message. In other forms of communication, influences such as text features, design choices, emojis, and many other elements all impact understanding and the meaning we derive, in addition to the content.