Thursday, December 29, 2011

School and Creativity


I don't know why I've not come across this video before since I visit TED.com often but my friend forwarded this to me the other day.  This video hits very close to home with me.  Personally I think Sir Ken Robinson is hilariously brilliant but relevant in his critique on our school system in the U.S.   Creativity is as important as literacy is his main argument as well as the overlooked fact that we educate children to not be creative.  This all leads to students (children) being breed to fear being 'wrong'.  They fear raising their hand and attempting to engage critically with subjects because they think if they answer the incorrect way (or the way they think the teacher wants) they'll be ridiculed.  A lot of times this is the case but teachers need to start looking differently at this situation.  I believe this issue is one of the corner stones of revamping our education system which is currently in shambles.  I'm not saying to spend 90% of the class time on arts and crafts or 'creative' work; I'm stating that how we engage our students needs to be adjusted.  There are multiple forms of intelligence as well as multiple forms of learning.  It is here that we as teachers must start focusing our efforts on how we deliver lessons.  Do I have a be all end all answer to how? No, but I try to tap into the various creative aspects of my students in the hopes that I can help them find their full capacity as an individual.  Enjoy the video.  It's a good one.

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