Understanding analysis of children’s writings as a means of identifying “creative initiative”

Abstract

Background. In modern Russian psychology of giftedness, a prominent place is occupied by studies of initiative in its various aspects. The author explores a creative initiative, which manifests itself not in the discovery of something objectively existing, but in the creation of something that has not yet existed, in particular, of an individual artistic image.

Objective. Research into the creative initiative in child’s artistic creativity requires a special, “understanding” analysis of children’s works and the very situation of their appearance. Such an analysis is not aimed at the correspondence or noncompliance of the objective results of children’s creativity with the requirements of the task but primary at understanding the goals and intentions of the child, which are manifested in the initiative actions that go beyond the proposed task. It is due to such initiative changes that an external task common to all children turns into an individual, internally motivated creative work.

Sample. The study involved 37 primary school students from one of the schools in Moscow, who studied within the programme by G.N. Kudina and Z.N. Novlyanskaya “Literature as a subject of the aesthetic cycle”, developed for the system of developing education by D.B. Elkonin and V.V. Davydov.

Methods. The article deals with the works of literary and artistic creativity of younger schoolchildren, composed in the conditions of teaching literature according to the developing programme of G.N. Kudina and Z.N. Novlyanskaya “Literature as a subject of the aesthetic cycle”. The author briefly outlines the theoretical foundations of this programme and describes the methodological principle of changing the positions of the author and the reader, which underlies training.

Results. Examples of an understanding analysis of essays created in the process of mastering the concept of “point of view” are given. The works of different levels of understanding of the task and the presence of the author’s initiative in the children’s essay are considered. At the same time, proceeding from the conviction that literary and creative development is, in principle, accessible to every child the author emphasizes that even in a weak essay, an understanding analysis makes it possible to detect the germ of an independent idea that deserves to be noticed and supported. Therefore, special attention is paid to the management of the collective discussion of children’s compositions, which is designed to help the little author not only to see the shortcomings of the work but also, and most importantly, realize the most valuable thing in it, which can be improved in the following compositions.

Conclusion. One of the main conclusions of the study is the assertion that attention to children’s literary creativity and mastery of an understanding analysis of its results is the missing link in the professional training of future teachers of literature.