Sparking Student Creativity By Patti Drapeau

Creativity is an abstract concept that is crucial as part of our advancements of mankind whether that be in the scientific fields with new inventions and research or in the artistic fields with new paintings and amazing portraits, but most people do not understand that the gift of creativity can be a crucial source of innovative ideas. As a result of the need of creativity, schools must include creativity as part of the daily curriculum that students learn. Students already spent seven hours a day at school, exposing them to a class that helps them efficiently and correctly use creativity would be beneficial to not only students but to all members of society. Places of education such as high schools must include classes in creativity in order to create

Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures rather than undermines creativity. I fully agree with everything Sir Ken Robinson discusses in his speech. The importance of creativity, originality, and the arts have been deemed nonessential in the public school system. The emphasis placed on math, the sciences, and test scores have stifled many children from discovering and flourishing at their talents. If children are not exposed to the arts and the ingenuity needed to think for themselves how will they have the ability to produce an original story, even if they are taught writing and grammar.

During this session we examined the different stages of teacher development and the different types of teachers we may be. I reflected on the fact that to a large degree, we as student teachers are expected to ‘play the game’, deliver the curriculum and are, in many cases, not encouraged to develop our creativity in the classroom. As a reflective practitioner, I must acknowledge that I have felt stifled by this approach but have found myself delivering the curriculum by the dictates of whichever placement I have been involved. Some subjects offer more scope for creativity, science, art, history, music and these are the subjects in which I have felt there has been more flexibility for a more creative approach. The lesson

Furthermore, connections can be made between subjects to develop prior knowledge which pupils have gained with new information that teachers need children to acquire. Similarly, adopting a cross – curricular approach allows the recognition of several opinions and helps teachers ‘to build more knowledgeable, lasting and transferable understandings of the world’ (Barnes, 2015: 261). There are various strategies which can be used to teach thinking and learning effectively. These strategies can assist teachers in planning and delivering lessons which allow creative outcomes to be achieved. Further on in this assignment creative approaches will be shared to suggest how they may be used in the classroom alongside a variety of

In this age of high-stakes standardized testing the idea of creativity in the classroom has become less and less popular. Susan W. Cress and Daniel T. Holm present a compelling case study for keeping creativity in the classroom in “Creative Endeavors: Inspiring Creativity in a First Grade Classroom” published online April 1, 2015 in the Early Childhood Education Journal.

“Do Schools Kill Creativity?” by ken Robinson is a very powerful speech, as well as a good insight on the other side of the spectrum. Mr. Robinson begins his speech he mentions the amount of creativity we as humans have and how we have no such idea where we are headed in the future. Ken makes a point that we are educating and have been educating people to be prepared for the future. He asks why. We do not know what the next few years bring, how do we educate people properly for it. As Mr. Robinson continues he makes a point that creativity should be as important as literacy within education. Throughout the speech he gives countless examples where simple creativity and being different has brought people success and lead them down a path that math or literature never could.

At a local level and as an educator and parent, I see no indication that schooling is preparing students for innovation and creativity. Even when influenced by constructivist or universal design ideas, school tasks - starting in elementary school, up until CEGEP- are generally highly structured, predictable and offered in cookie cutter format. There is little room for creativity and few subjects are regularly offered, such as music or visual arts, that support creativity and out of the box thinking to allow for a more well-rounded approach to education as suggested in the discussion forum (Hector,

In the first English class, I was only there for the last half of it. Before I came into the class, I was worried that I would not find any creativity because English can be a tough subject to add creativity too. The teacher, Mr. Romono, did a marvelous job of teaching the common core and maintaining his students interest, with creativity. Not only did he come up with a creative way to teach his students, or let his students accomplish creativity, his classroom was also creative. He had student’s artwork on his wall of characters from books they were reading. He also had a ton of posters with different ideas behind them. (Quote). This provides the students’ something to look at, and in addition, to develop excitement for learning about these books. (quote form pp). The students in the ninth grade English class are working on

The book Creativity. Inc. , by Ed Catmull with Amy Wallace, is the chronological journey of Ed Catmul and Pixar from the early days until today. The best part of reading Creativity, Inc is that you know that Ed Catmull isn’t just talking the talk, he’s walking the walk. This book is separated into 4 categories: Getting Started, Protecting The New, Building and Sustaining and Testing What We Know.

A smart man said “Creativity is as important as literacy and we should treat it with the same standing.” (Ken Robinson-“Do schools kill creativity?”). There are multiple studies on how creativity helps improve a student’s mind. Project based learning is a huge creative booster for students. A math teacher from California uses projects to do math instead of using the text book. From doing this, she’s had more students pass her class then from when she was teaching straight from the text books. Instead of having standardized tests, using more creative techniques for students to enjoy the learning they’ve done and for them to show the higher officials what the students are learning. Creativity is the process of turning real world problems into an understanding by extending the minds cognitive processes. In Alabama, kindergartners are studying different ways to be creative.

Although creativity is not seen as salient in America, it is critical to the stability of progress and resolution of problems; therefore, adults must provide children with more opportunities to innovate.

In this artifact, Creative Curriculum It refers to a curriculum in which program fosters learning through hand-on, exploration, active thinking, and experimenting to better understand the world, and how things work. The teachers use their own knowledge and other resources to design, implement, and evaluate meaningful, challenging curriculum that promotes comprehensive developmental and learning outcomes for every young child. Children are given the opportunity to be creative and active explorers. The creative curriculum also focuses on four areas of development: Social, emotional, physical, and cognitive. It also assesses children based on their age and stage of development. The creative Curriculum also encourages play. It is believed that children learn though play. For example, in the block area they learn about sizes, shapes and other mathematical problems.

An exceedingly powerful way high-achieving students can hone in on their creativity is by being in a gifted education program. The main reason kids are pulled into these programs in the first place is their ability to see things different than other students, not necessarily their academic standpoint. Their perspective is different, and they’re able to use this perspective to tap their creativity into their academics. However, most public school teachers often have to focus on the lower achieving students more in order to make sure that these students are truly understanding the curriculum, leaving the higher achieving students with no focus on them whatsoever. Gifted education programs will typically pull kids out of their classes once a week and provide a program focusing solely on their strengths. Considering high achieving students typically don’t get this attention for the duration of the week, it’s extremely crucial to have this day to challenge them and push them to be their academic and creative best. These are students that could one day invent miraculous cures or even technology that will improve the average American’s day to day life, so it’s important to give them the attention they need to thrive.

Creative teaching makes learning easier for students because it creates a possibility for students to be entertained instead of bored with the material that is being taught. One way to start the quest to being creative in the classroom would be think differently. Teachers need to think of new ways to teach their students. Think of new sources that make students explore, ponder, and contemplate. Providing a variety of options and resources is another way to keep students engaged and creative in the classroom. Creative teaching is a way to keep students excited about learning, keep them entertained and learning at the same

Creativity is the starting point of innovation, and the United States has reached a creativity crisis. The creativity of the next generations is dropping at an alarming rate and it starts with our school systems. Our country is moving towards standard curriculum, national tests and memorization as the base of our learning. This path of learning closely resembles the