EDIM 508: Creativity in the Classroom

Do schools kill creativity?

It is an interesting question to ponder, especially as an educator who has a direct hand in whether creativity is embraced or not 180 days a year.  I know that my own personal teaching philosophy is that creativity is something that should definitely be encouraged and developed as much as possible, and I believe most other educators would agree.  However, in recent years as the focus on standardized testing and AYP has intensified, that same focus on developing the creative mind has declined rapidly.  Schools have started down a slippery slope to becoming factories that simply produce test-takers and not individuals who can problem-solve and think critically or creatively. 

While watching a TED presentation with Sir Ken Robinson, I found myself nodding in agreement and even once shouting, "Yes!" as he made a particularly well-worded point.  Sir Robinson made the statement that "all kids have tremendous talents and we squander them" (2007).  In the course of my short educational career, I have worked with students who are tremendously talented in a plethora of ways.  I've known gifted artists, musicians, actors, poets, and more.  And yet these creative, talented children were asked to sit at a desk and learn or be assessed in the same way.  There were not enough opportunities for students' talents and creativity to shine through.  As I've grown more comfortable in my role of lesson planning and teaching, I've tried to implement more opportunities for creative growth.  I have a goal for next school year to improve upon this endeavor even more.  It is vital that I balance PSSA preparation with development of the creative mind.  I want to believe that the two don't have to be mutually exclusive; I want to believe that I can make the two go hand in hand by developing creative thinking skills that will also help develop confident and proficient test-takers.  As Sir Robinson said in his TED talk, creativity is "as important in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status" (2007).

Sir Robinson also went on to talk about children losing their creativity as they grow older.  "They don't grow into creativity; they grow out of it" (2007).  If we are preparing students to someday enter the workforce and become productive citizens, we should be harnessing their creative genius from a young age and developing it along with reading, writing, and math skills as they grow up and progress through the school system.  We cannot afford to send students to college and the working world without the ability to think outside the box and use creative reasoning for problem solving tasks.

In order to nurture creativity in our schools, we as educators have many options and tools available.  One such category of tools is digital media.  We can teach to the standards and have students demonstrate their understanding and proficiency through the use of digital media.  Blogs allow students to develop writing skills and also design and edit their own webpage.  Using Glogster not only works with the synthesizing mind to have students perform research and then process it all in one place, but it also allows the student to show their creativity by arranging their content in an aesthetically-pleasing way and perhaps incorporating their own artistic or musical content.  Digital storytelling is another fantastic way to engage the creating mind by having students tell a story or summarize what they have learned about a topic and present it creatively.  Sites like Mediachalk and Mixbook allow students to arrange images on pages of an online book and also choose and include music or their own recorded voice.  I would conjecture that no two students' digital storybooks in a class would be the same. 

Those area handful of ideas, but there are many other digital media tools available that would really encourage growth of the creative mind in my students and that I hope to begin using soon!  In addition to those digital media tools, I intend to encourage creativity in my classroom by encouraging exploration, inquiry, self-reliance, and problem-solving skills.  I hope to foster a feeling of openness in my class as well, so that students aren't afraid to take risks and show off their unique talents.  By doing these things, I hope to aid my students in becoming successful teenagers and adults who value their creative abilities.

TEDtalksDirector. (2007, January 6). Sir Ken Robinson: Do Schools Kill Creativity? [Video File]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY.