All teachers share a kinship in their universal duty to impart education and guide their students along. However, that is often where the similarities end because of how vast the scope of teaching is in general. As a grade schoolteacher, you are tasked with preparing your students for their future studies by laying an educational foundation.

However, this foundation should not only consist of the literal education that they may need to prepare for their next grade. The children must also be encouraged and taught to act on or express their natural inquisitiveness and creativity. There is no better way to help young minds find their genuine interests early on. Keeping that goal in mind, we have a few proven tips for grade schoolteachers to help them achieve that goal.

Appreciate the Importance of Your Role

Children learn from their experiences and what they learn during their formative years plays the strongest role later in their academic, professional, and personal lives. Even the most creative child may never allow their thoughts to find expression later if:

• They are never taught how to provide expression to their thoughts by their teachers and parents.
• Adult reactions from parents and teachers teach them early on to associate creativity with undesirable outcomes.
• Teachers and parents fail to reinforce the child’s creativity early on through encouraging behavior and actions.

As these children go through their years and progress towards adulthood, harsher experiences may further reinforce their learned tendency to suppress rather than express. By the time they grow up, that potential might be lost forever. Early schoolteachers play one of the most important roles in their young students’ lives, so it is of the utmost importance that they understand that fact.

Provide them with the Tools of Creative Expression

Both parents and teachers must provide children with the tools to express their creativity. They must also teach them how to use those same tools effectively. Since we are discussing grade school here, the mediums of free writing and free drawing are going to be the most effective here. Musical instruments are also powerful tools of expression, but they are better suited for slightly older children.

Take a look at these free writing workbooks from Studentreasures Publishing designed for first-graders with sentence starters, writing prompts and simple, explanatory illustrations. Design all your students’ writing and drawing books with tiny probes and prods that stimulate their imaginative side.

Provide Genuine Encouragement

Creative children are surprisingly good at sensing genuineness, so it’s important to be supportive but don’t shy away from some gentle criticism if needed. It will help them get better while also keeping them to do better. A child’s inquisitive and creative nature is something that every great personality from artists, writers, and poets to inventors, engineers, doctors will always retain even in their adulthood.

We all learn by asking questions and solve seemingly insolvable problems by expressing our thoughts in creative ways. This is the reason why all children should be encouraged in favor of being creative and expressive from the earliest possible age.