EduCon 2026Critical Creativity for Leadership & Change Making
Progressive educators struggle to break paradigms and make lasting meaningful change in the face of myopic traditions, false comfort, and alleged efficiency. We want something new for our learners and families, we want something more equitable and accessible for our communities and edu-ecosystem. And though we seek to engage our learners with multiple modalities and transformative thinking experience, we largely continue to use the same ol’ sit in a circle, brainstorm and discuss, reach consensus and run a pilot approach to problem solving. Our conversation intends to explore ways in which critical creativity – the synergy of critical thinking, meaningful content, and creative expression – may help educational leaders get out of their self-imposed ruts and guide learning communities toward effective solutions to complex challenges. Through a series of stations and voice-and-choice explorations, participants in this session will discuss myriad ways to use their beloved chart paper, sharpie markers, and post-it notes that go beyond brainstorming lists, casting votes, and organizing ideas. From crafting lyrics to composing comics, from painting possibilities to choreographing concepts, participants in this conversation will challenge themselves and others to create in the service of change.
Conversational Practice
Participants in this session can expect to find a space arranged into a series of six to eight stations with each station featuring a critical creativity strategy coupled with a challenge facing progressive education. These challenges intend to reflect the topics that frequently surface in staff meetings and district committees: assessing and reporting achievement, improving attendance, managing technology, engaging families, developing educators, and supporting social emotional learning. The critical creativity strategies will come from the Critical Creativity in Action deck, a free set of 50 instructional strategies using creative expression, proven to improve learning outcomes in classroom learners and just as well suited to problem solving in professional capacities. Strategies included will range from those incorporating sculpture and comics creation, to those involving lyricism and choreography. After ten minutes of station exploration, we will reconvene for fifteen minutes of circle-style conversation, and alternate this pattern through the duration of the session.
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