This week I was presented with an interesting question, "are schools killing our kid's creativity?" I wish the answer was an easy one, but the is it is not. In reality, it is a tough pill to swallow, but schools, legislation and teachers are all killing creativity in our kids. I know it's not going to be a popular response but the fact is the combination of the three is the perfect storm of creativity drain.
Schools have the largest bearing on this fact. Their desire to fall under budget, improve test scores and develop "socially responsible" children takes priority over everything else. It is not a comprehensive across-all-grades attack on creativity, rather a systematic poisoning that starts at the sixth grade level. Prior to the sixth grade, the case can be made that creativity is actually so ingrained in the curriculum and the student's daily school lives that discussing creativity issues only occurs when there is not enough. Think about it for a second, Art classes, recess, holiday parties, and vivid classroom decorations are all the hallmarks of the elementary school level. Once a student hits the sixth gradient is as if we automatically shut off the things that they are accustomed to having that represents creativity. We over them from inviting rooms and schedules that foster creativity in to rigid sanitized rooms that prioritize test scores and "adult" behavior under the false premise that this is the best method to prepare them for 21st century jobs.
Legislation, at the state and school administration level, also plays a substantial role in poisoning the proverbial well of creativity. With emphasis on budgeting, test scores and teacher performance in order to either increase their popularity and chances of election or re-election, the priority doesn't seem to be on following current right-brain based educational research but rather on outdated practices and publicity stunts that present creativity as a method for slacking teachers to use. As long as those in charge do not see the value of creativity in the classroom at all grade levels, the slow death of creativity based lessons will continue.
I've saved teachers for last. I have been teaching since 2009 and have been in a variety of school systems, from inner city poverty stricken schools to rural Alaskan Bush schools. From 100% school provided lunches to private schools and if there is anything I have learned it is they all have teachers. Yes, I am aware how obvious that statement is. However, think about it. There is no one individual in a student's day that has more effect on their lives than their teachers. The interaction between a teacher far outnumbers the interaction with administrators and legislators. It is this knowledge that we have to embrace. And with this knowledge comes the fact that we, as teachers, are allowing the death of creativity in our rooms to happen. We have become so focused on abbreviations (PBL, STEM, TBT, NEA, blah blah blah), Common Core, test scores, evaluations and more, that the thought of making our lessons creative has drifted to the furthest reach of our minds. We hold the most responsibility for the dearth of creativity in our classrooms as we are the most impactful aspect our creativity implementation in our kid's lives.
So what do we do to fix this problem? The fact is we do not control our schools or our administration/legislation's decisions, as much as we want to say we do. We do, however, control our rooms and our lesson plans. The first step is to familiarize yourself with the research available and how to apply it to our students. Learning style inventories are a great starting point. Once you have an idea of how you kids prefer to learn you can start creating lessons that appeal to all of them. The next step is to admit that test scores are about as useful as grades. They are simply a measurement tool of standardized information. They are traditional and in reality our kids really do not know their purpose. Saying a student has an F is not always a perfect representation of their intelligence or achievement. It is our job to find the best way to reach in to their potential and help them bring it to the forefront. We need to start thinking of what 21st century skills are and how to prepare them for it. In my humble opinion, the real solution lies in Problem Based Learning approaches. PBL(another abbreviation, I know I know.) offers so much possibility in the realm of creativity. It gives the students differentiation but more importantly it allows them to create solutions to problems presented in a content specific way that not only allows them to be creative but expects them to be! The mindset shift from traditional assessments to one that allows multiple possibilities and outcomes for assessment will be an immediate change in the performance of our kids.
The second thing and arguably the most important is we, as teachers, need to demonstrate creativity ourselves in our classrooms. Think back to what a 2nd grade classroom looked like. It was so inviting. Bright colors, artwork everywhere, bean bag chairs, books galore and more. It felt like a creative atmosphere we all wanted to be in. As we grew older, the rooms became more "intellectual." The funny art and cartoons were replaced with pictures from history. The sticker boards and classroom jobs became replaced by straight rows and a ton of rules. We need to make our classrooms creative and inviting. We need to reach back to the fun opportunities that elementary school presented to make our rooms comfortable, inviting and fun so that our students will embrace the ideas of being creative. They need that built in support system that an inviting room creates. If we can model things we want to see from our kids, the chance of them embracing their creative side will explode like a volcano. Ask yourself, is your room an obvious display of your creativity? If not, how can we expect them to be creative?
