When, Matt first mentioned the title of this article, I found myself wondering is there really a creativity crisis? The article made some really good points about why creativity is disappearing. I think the biggest cause is amount of time in a day children use technology and what type of technology they use. I teach computer classes so, I am for technology. But kids, need to be able to put technology down and use their imaginations. It seems that many kids (and adults for that matter) simply want answers in the fastest way possible. They don’t want to have to think or solve problems. Some students were talking in my room toward the end of school this year about completing a science worksheet. One student told the other to just “Google the questions” to find the answers. I asked why you don’t use your book. He said it was faster to type the exact question in Google. Is this a form of creativity or are the students just being lazy?
I see creativity every day when teaching Yearbook and other classes where students are to design different elements of the book. We also create posters of the school activities which are hung on a wall by the office for the entire school to see. Many students simply want to create something fast using no to very little creativity and be done. It is only after some gentle persuasion and the realization that, I am not going accept their first attempt, do they do something creative. If I can get the student to understand that creativity often takes time and usually multiple attempts before something works, then they are less reluctant try something new/different. They do end up creating some really neat materials ounce they get over the fear of failure.
So true, so true. Is the reason that students are limited in their creativity, because we as teachers are accepting of their poor work. Do we allow them to continue to turn in work that shows no imagination, no spice, when we really should be telling the student that it needs to be redone. As you said Lew, we need to get students to realize that creativity does take time. When working on the projects that you are describing and assignments for my own class, my students need to know that their first attempt will definitely not resemble their final piece. The students need to understand that creativity is a process, and in every process there are steps. Wether they like it or not, a step in the process of creating something great is evaluating the piece and adjusting.
ReplyDelete***Side note…there are masterpieces that are just thought up, not ever adjusted, as if by magic just appear. We can’t all be Picasso though.