Do Schools Kill Creativity?

"Take chances, make mistakes, get messy!"
- Miss Frizzle

          Last Thursday we watched an interesting video that featured Sir Kevin Robinson about his 2006 TED talk. This was my first time watching the video and I feel it made a huge impact on my thinking towards teaching in the primary and elementary grades. Not only did Kevin Robinson talk about things that made SO much sense to me, but it was reality. 

          During the video Robinson stated that no one will know what the world will look like in five years, yet we as teachers are expected to educate students about it. This really stuck with me and got me thinking. In today's society with the new and ever changing technology, nobody really knows what the world will be like in five, even ten years time. Yet, teachers have this role that they must fulfill and use the same methods, techniques, and to some extent, curriculum to teach for decades. The times change but the ways in which we teach do not. And when you really think about it, it does not make any sense. We are a technology rich society and should be taking full advantage of this. 

          Minutes into the video Kevin tells a story about a young girl who is drawing a picture of God. Her teacher approaches her, asks her what she is drawing and tells her "no one knows what God looks like". This upset me a little. Not because I was offended because of my religion, but because the teacher immediately shut down the young girls creativity. In my opinion, I would have let the young girl finish her drawing then ask questions to understand her perspective. This was a prime example of how schools really do "kill creativity". At young ages children are not afraid of being wrong. They take chances! I feel as though when students' enter grade three their creativity starts to diminish. This is when tests, quizzes, and memorizing facts start to appear in the curriculum.  Creativity begins to disappear along with their willingness to make mistakes. 

          Sir Kevin Robinson talks about intelligence and how it is diverse, dynamic, interactive, and distinct. This is important for us future teachers to recognize and realize NOW. Students learn in many different ways and creativity in schools is fading more than ever. It is our job as future teachers to bring these important aspects into our classrooms for the students' of our future to experience. Although mathematics is still viewed as one of the most important subjects in educational institutions today, other subjects such as music, art, and drama should not be pushed to the side. Reaching out to as many different learners as possible is a goal that I am sure all us future teachers want to pursue. However, students' creativity should not have to suffer because of the stigmatized educational programs and curriculum that we have to follow as teachers.

          As I was watching the video (for a second time) and writing this blog a great quote came to mind. "Take chances, make mistakes, and get messy!" Being a child of the nineties this will be a familiar quote that many of you readers have heard before. Miss Frizzle, a teacher from the cartoon television show The Magic School Bus, demonstrated how being creative in the classroom can reach out to many types of learners. 

          The video was a great way to get us future teachers thinking about creativity and how we can use it in our own classrooms. Most importantly it made me think about the type of teacher I want to become. 

- Penney