The past week we were asked to
view two videos related to children and their ability to use creativity (or the
lack of!). Harry Chapin sings Flowers are Red which describes how a
young boy drew flowers in different colours, yet the teacher demanded that
flowers are only red and green, and there is no other way. This teacher told
the child how it ought to be and did not let their creative ideas flow. Therefore,
from this young age, this child now thinks that flowers are only allowed to be
red and green.
The second video is titled “School Kills Creativity” by Ken Robinson. He speaks of our education systems today and
how we squander children’s talents. Our school systems focus on the math,
science and literacy and move to subjects like art when we are able to squeeze
it between everything. Robinson states that “Creativity is just as important as
literacy and we should treat it the same”.
In education today, students
come to the understanding that mistakes are the worst thing ever. They are
afraid to be wrong, because they are not prepared to be wrong. Students are
getting educated out of creativity.
So what should we be doing as future teachers?
We are to educate the whole
being in every aspect. Students should be able to let their creativity shine
through in any subject. God has gifted each student with different talents so
we should be allowing children to use these God-given gifts! We should also give
our students the opportunities to let their creativity show in the classroom.
Students have wonderful ideas.
We should allow time for collaboration amongst students, where they are able to
work together, share their thoughts, and discover what this world has to offer.
Let students fall in love with learning by allowing their creativity to come
through.
I believe that teachers are
recognizing this and are now working at ways they can let students use their creativity.
Technology is assisting us in making this transition. Students catch on to
technology just as quick as us (if not quicker!).
A question to ponder this week:
What are the best ways to use technology in our classroom so that it will
enhance student creativity?
Great post, Carly! I agree that technology is definitely a tool that we can use in enhancing student creativity. The question that you posed at the end of your entry is a good thought for teachers to think about. It will most likely take time, some investigating, trial and error, but it will be helpful to learn what an be useful in our classrooms to help with student creativity.
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