Do I need a face lift?

The likely reason for decline in US creativity is stated to probably include the abundant amount of hours children spend watching television and playing video games, rather than being engaging in creative activities. Another reason that was stated was the lack of creativity development in our schools. Basically it said that we are not nurturing creativity out of all children.

Why are teachers not being “creative” in class, we don’t have time. At least that is what we are blaming it on. Are we really trying to fit too much in, teach too much and not allow for creativity? Have we taken the creativity out of the students in the fact that we are basing too much on tests scores, on standardized multiple choice questions…would our students be more creative with more inquiry based problems and higher thinking questions? I will argue that you can teach the standards but be creative with your assessments. This is an area that I can work on; I am just as guilty as the next. We get accustomed and comfortable with what we have been doing, because it was working or didn’t want to change…I just need to remember that it is ok to change, or liven things up a bit. I don’t need to recreate the wheel, but giving things a face lift can be a good thing, makes you feel uplifted.

I do not doubt that the over use of video games and watching a huge amount of television is not helping the creativity of students. It is like most things though, don’t worry about what you can’t control and do something about the things you can. I can control how I approach teaching and being creative within my classroom and with assessments. Many other teachers need to ask themselves, “Do I need a face lift?”