Creative Mavericks: Beacons of Authentic Learning

For over thirty years, Sue Haynes has taught highly creative children who resist standardized learning and who are often mislabeled ADD and/or learning disabled. Through supporting their creative expression, she has developed an alternative lens through which she sees their unique strengths. Through this lens Sue sees, not disabled learners, but talented, intuitive individuals who exhibit a passion for learning what intrigues them and a drive to express their learning in creative ways. These learners are compelled to be true to their inner agendas and thus resist curriculums that lack personal relevance. Sue has discovered that creatively gifted learners, and indeed all learners, need the freedom and support to learn through intuitive knowing and creative expression in order to maximize their potential.

Sue's book about her theories and experiences, Creative Mavericks: Beacons of Authentic Learning, consists of three sections: Section One includes "Who is the Creatively Gifted Learner," which explores the attributes of highly creative learners, and "Seeing Through a Different Lens: Facilitating the Creatively Gifted Learner" which describes her teaching; Section Two, "Heartsongs: The Struggles and Triumphs of Creatively Gifted Learners," includes the stories of twelve individuals who share reflections on their schooling and the fruition of their creative empowerment; Section Three, "Implications of Education for Creatively Gifted Learners: Awakening Passion and Authenticity in All Learners," further explores the conditions which foster learning empowerment through the reflections of nine innovative classroom teachers. These teachers reveal that the passion and creative expression so evident in highly creative learners are seeded within all learners and can be awakened by teaching which honors the uniqueness of each individual.

Sue's hope is that Creative Mavericks may inspire an exploration of teaching and learning that moves beyond the confines of standardized education and empowers our true potential.